Staying In a 9–5 is The Best Thing I Did as a Creator
Last year this very time, I was a self-employed creator.
Last year this very time, I was a self-employed creator.
I was consulting for a finance company and writing on Medium. Even though I had steady revenue streams, I was anxious most of the time.
The thought of losing my only client and wondering about how much I’d make every month from writing was stressful.
I did have the liberty to wake up whenever I wanted, work whenever I wanted, and take off more frequently — but it was meaningless in front of the mental pressure I was carrying.
The ideas were getting monotonous.
The confidence was going down, and my anxiety was at its peak.
To get over this phase, I decided to find myself a job and work on personal projects on the side.
It’s been nine months now while working as a marketing designer at a tech company and managing my side projects.
Here’s why it was a great decision to get back into 9–5 and even for my side business.
The Safety Net — this One is a No-Brainer
I had never taken my finances seriously before this year.
I was living paycheck to paycheck. However, the self-employment phase taught me the value of savings and emergency funds.
Even when I could pay all my bills and save some money, the pressure of making ends meet the following month made it impossible for me to focus on my creative pursuits.
I would constantly worry about the next month and the next month.
Once I joined my current job, I stopped worrying about money at all. I knew I’d get my paycheck every month, and that brought me peace.
That peace of mind allowed me to focus on working harder and efficiently on my job and my side hustles.
It allowed me to create what I was genuinely interested in and avoid creating content only for the sake of money.
I may be wrong about a few things here, but you can’t deny the peace of mind when you have a steady income stream.
No Pushy Content Because of Pressure
Okay, this one may hurt some people.
But it’s true. Creators go crazy after becoming self-employed.
Their production increases by ten folds and they start posting so often that it turns into spam. I recently muted my favorite writer on Twitter because of the very reason.
Leaving your job gives you more time to work on your passion projects. However, it doesn’t mean that your readers are prepared for so much more from you.
I may have annoyed my email subscribers a bit during my full-time creator phase, but I have been very mindful about not being pushy when it comes to content.
The full-time creator shenanigans, after a point, become meaningless to your readers. They do not care if you write your piece in the middle of the day from a beach or record a video after work hours.
The pressure to keep up the same lifestyle makes the new full-time writers produce 2X more content than they can which ultimately hampers the quality.
More Time, Less Intensity
With a 9–5, I am more mindful of my time than ever before.
If I want to create content after office hours, I know I have to be efficient and ruthless about my time.
But that wasn’t the case last year. I would get 9–10 extra hours without a job. And because I had more time, I’d take 5X more time to finish the piece than usual.
That was when I learned about Parkinson's law which says the more time we have, the more time the task at hand will take. We divide the task based on the time we have. And once you’ve invested so much time in that content piece, the Perfectionism Monster takes over.
More intensity comes when you have fixed time to work on a task. As C. Northcote Parkinson cites
Work expands to fill the time available.
Creativity Comes When You Are Not Forcing Things
When the pressure is lifted, you become more creative.
When there’s a safety net covering you, you don’t worry about writing 50 average articles. Instead, you focus on writing the one you want to.
Forced efforts can get short-term results, but to be in a long-term game, you’ve got to enjoy what you do and give yourself enough time to come up with crazy ideas.
Your audience can read through your words and know you through your voice.
When you write an article to make money, you forget the art of writing and storytelling and obsess over stats and tricks.
The energy that should have been invested in crafting a better story is now invested in growth hacking. It is not wrong, but your primary job should be to create your best work as a creator. The marketing part can always be delegated.
“Our best work is the work we find ourselves doing, when there is no obligation to do so.” — Naval Ravikant
Opening Up to the World of Possibilities
A creator needs to have an exciting life to create compelling content.
When you’re a solopreneur working alone and having zero and marginal interaction with others, you get into a tunnel vision.
Your ideas remain the same. Your thinking pattern stays the same.
As a result, what you create becomes monotonous.
I was writing about the same 2–3 topics, which were helpful for me to create a niche, but they were not allowing me to show my true potential.
When I joined this tech company, I got introduced to Web 3, and it opened a whole new world of possibilities for me. I could have never known what NFTs were or what content creation on Web 3 would look like if it weren’t for my current job.
Imagine if Ali Abdal left his medicine job right after gaining 100K subs, he wouldn’t have content to talk about productivity and running a Youtube channel while being a doctor.
We need to open ourselves to new circumstances, different people to find new ideas and fields to explore our creativity.
Lastly
I had been listening to tons of creators talking about leaving their 9–5 and becoming full-time creators. But, people don’t realize is when you take that step, content creation becomes your job.
I tried both these options, and I am much happier with doing it on the side.
Fellow creators, don’t let media and fellow creators fool you into believing that you have to let go of your job to be a successful creator.
If you have a job you love and manage your time efficiently, you can have your cake and eat it too!
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