Well, its happening. I’ll soon work for a startup. Yes, after all this work I’ve put into my freelancing WordPress and Design career, I’m jumping over to something else.
Why?
Because my ultimate goal is to be a founder. I want to start a company. I’m trying to get all the experience and skills I can that will help me succeed in that ultimate goal.
I started learning design so that I could be a more valuable founder. I became more of a WordPress guy which was bad in that I didn’t focus on design as much as I wanted to, but good in that I enjoy it, am earning good money doing it, and now have the skills to launch simple websites for my own projects and ideas.
So now I decided to work for a startup so that I can have that experience too. I’m sure I’ll learn a ton working for a startup that is funded, still small (15 employees), and growing. I’ll have a wide array of responsibilities, which I am quite excited about. I feel I’ll be able to contribute quite a bit and through my experience will develop stronger skills and really focus in on the things that I am best at.
I’ll be sad to stop doing WP and design full time, but I plan to continue to take on one or two clients per month and work in the evenings on my freelance work. Its a skill that I’d like to keep active and a source of revenue that I’m very grateful for. I’d like to start putting a bit of cash towards my own side projects so this will be a good way to earn the extra cash. It’ll be hard work to do both, but I’m up for it.
The thing I’m going to miss the most is the flexibility in my schedule. I love being able to come a bit late in the morning if I need to and then stay late the next day to make up for it. Or to take a 2 hour lunch to meet with a fried and talk life, plans, and business (I did that last Friday). Or to take a week and travel to St. George, UT with my family and work from there. I’m really going to miss all of that.
But I’m really excited to work with this new team. From what I know of them thus far, they seem great. I’ve had the most interaction with the CEO in particular and he is the type that keeps his commitments and works hard. I really value that. He is excited to have me join the team and that helps keep me excited. Plus, once things are set in stone and I am able to tell you the name of the company and where they are located, you’ll understand another reason why I am looking forward to work with them.
All in all, it will be a good transition. There will be a lot of “new” about it, but I am excited.