I want to share three personal short stories with you all before I go on to make my point.
Story 1: How I Got My First Job!
In December 2015; I went to a camp with a travel group. On the way to the camp, I had a brief conversation with an Advertising professional. I was specializing in advertising too. I happened to mention my interest in writing. 8 months later, out of nowhere, I got a call from her and she offered me my first copywriting job even when I wasn’t looking for it. It was an excellent profile and very satisfactory for a first job.
Story 2: The Wrong Jobs!
After working with that company, I left the job to pursue higher studies. Sadly, I didn’t find a course that excited me enough. Sharing an equal love for photography along with writing, I joined a family friend and started learning editing software. I left it after a few weeks. A few months later, I went on to join an advertising agency. Although this job again didn’t work out too well for me, I handled social media accounts of 4 major entertainment and fashion brands.
Story 3: Finding A Relevant Job!
Failing 2-3 short span jobs, I did not feel like working full time anymore. In the meanwhile, I had also been writing for a micro-fiction platform for almost 10 months. It was very exciting, but not at all time-consuming. I started looking for freelance jobs. At least 10 pages offering jobs on Facebook and other social media were followed by me. I started talking to all my writer friends and colleagues for opportunities. But writing product reviews or fancying financial advice has never been my thing. I wanted to write positive and inspirational stories. After a lot of research and talking to various people, I finally found a freelance job that gives me the platform to write stories that satisfy my passion to a certain extent.
The Lesson:
Be out there. Meet people and share your interests. You never know from where the opportunity comes knocking on your door.
Even when I wasn’t at my dream job, I took the little opportunities and learned and polished relevant skills. I did not take up any random job and put my time and energy into it. I actively looked for one and even found it. In the meanwhile, I did not stop writing or polishing my skills.
No, I am still not at my dream job. I am still working hard every day and tapping the right opportunities. More importantly, rejecting the wrong ones.
It is true that there’s a lot of competition out there and people of your age are much ahead of you right now. This world has a lot of young CEOs who are below the age of 30 today. But why do we forget this is the same world that also has inspiring and vibrant personalities who started late in life but are now internationally famous, like Sam Walton(Age 44, Walmart); Ray Kroc(Age 52, McDonalds); Colonel Sanders(Age 62, KFC); Takichiro Mori(Age 51, Mori Building Company); Henry Ford(Age 45, Ford); Martha Stewart(Age 40, the book ‘Entertaining’); Doris and Donald Fisher(Age 40, GAP) and so many more.
The only thing you need to do is be out there and take all the right opportunities, no matter how small or brief.
image: source