FREELANCING [A PLEBEIAN'S VIEW]

When you retire to bed, like a night shift bugger, some like yours truly get down to the business of turning my machine into a hole in the wall, say a cash cow. It’s like a gambit, though. When your schedule doesn't fit into neat little boxes, it can require some special skills to keep everything in order. And that is the world of freelancing. That is why I am working on having a schedule center that can optimize where flexible tasks can fit because the freelance world has constant uncertainty. Sometimes you find it hard to detach yourself from work and recoup. Especially when you should task switch amid overlapping objectives. Yet, it’s so much interesting and worth giving it a try.

I don’t know whether to infer to myself as a recluse or just another bugger who has opted to find some meaning into what life generally is. After a year of working in the sales industry and making no proper in roads, I am now into something less ‘ish ish’ than ever before, online data entry. I have a love hate relationship with it. It’s kind of what I can call métier. For once, I have a job where I am never worried where the work will come from, someone else has to be worried about that.

That said, working online is not a bed of roses like I though. There is constant uncertainty, you sometimes find that your memory and ability to focus becomes impaired. During the working hours, you have to call in to see if there is work. And that is the most interesting bid. It’s synonymous to going to prospect for work in industrial area where the Indian banyans have control over your financial status. Only that, working online is kind of a surefire especially if you work for a growing institution with an organogram that augurs towards progress and stability.

I freelance for a small company called Cloudfactory (the total office space is a far cry from where I used to work from). It’s one of those firms that offers work yet it takes more than just the ability to work to withstand the work environment. This means that like any other institution, there are a fair share of challenges. It means you have your own to do list. Only that it is quieter and like liquid gas, quite combustible. And like everything else, there is the good, the bad and the ugly side of this job.

While there is more money in the field of sales where I formerly was, it can be lonely and not even a tinge of sparkle if all you are doing is looking at everyone as offering an avenue for a sale. Which inadvertently sometimes contributes towards a stupor of unhappiness. A world where you live for others. Where rivalry, selfishness and a sales cycle awaits you. While it strengthens your negotiation, communication and people skills, it can kill the ethical bit which is never within the scope of law. You can decide to lie at will, or worse still give empty promises in your customer interactions. That said, it’s more interesting to work as a salesperson than an online freelance data entry clerk in my opine if you can make it to be a success story in both. The skills in sales make you a better person, while those in data entry make you a better worker.

The reason why I had to call it a day in sales had everything to do with stress, a job never aligning to my goals in life and constant worries. The manager I was assigned to was the mechanical type who thought I deliberately refused to work even though the support she provided was not up to standard. Her sneer was enough to tell me that we could not gel because a salesperson is concerned with making money at the expense of anything else. As such, I was in constant worry of being laid off, pressure to perform to meet rising expectations but with no increase in job satisfaction and finally due to low motivation, I lost control of what I should do. Plus other exogenous variables, I felt like the impact was contributing to my deteriorating physical and emotional heath. I felt powerless. Yet there is a hotline which I never took advantage of looking back. Would it have changed much?

If in any way the sales thingy would have generally been a cup of tea, I would have done it for the rest of my life without much ado. But since it became a tough to cruise without hitches, I thought that it was time to pursue new exploits. Here, then is my parochial view of what it is like to work as a freelancer for an online company.

I have always been yearning to make forays into the ‘make money online’ thingy(sic). Just to quench my thirst for being able to attest to the fact that you can be able to make money online. If not for the fact that I love adventure, writing and finance industry through investments, I would have looked for guys in the freelance industry to give me more roles, and worked meticulously towards being a fulltime freelancer. Since I am still ish ish, I think I would say I am in it for the money, adventure and what else, the aspect of killing idleness.

Sometimes, I usually think that I should have focused on a career, a fully-fledged one where I am sure of a constant stream of income and growth. In sales, I saw people who had graduated, with more than five years’ worth of experience but were content in the cocoon of serving as a salesperson. Then I thought, ‘The growth trajectory I am to assume was that of being a good salesperson, then a personal banker, probably a branch manager in a tiny branch and the list is endless.’ Before you know it, you have this killed dream and you cannot go back.

When I look back, I feel like I have not made much progress in life, it’s like ‘I am still stuck in a rut’. Ideally, I own only what I need like clothes, a pen, a note book, my shoes no phone, I even misplaced my certificates and a laptop. I pay no rent given that I am housed by a relative. I am carefree hoping one day things will happen out of the woods. Should I be bothered about it? Hitherto I am yet to see real hardship in life. Still, I am sure I will come out unscathed after the hustle.

Here is a gist. Sometimes when you take up low income jobs and become used to them, you find it hard to even apply for a better job with a better compensation package and an intellectually satiating thrill because of the inadequate mentality you may have conjured. It’s like a slavish addiction that is oscillatory and apprehending. You seem like a script cast in stone. Then you wonder what went wrong. Going forward, you understand that life offers more than just being a pessimist and a conformist. Many fear rejection, and that is why we end up accepting our situations. You get tied to such situations and think that they are what you were guaranteed. But when you take some risk, perhaps you can achieve more than you did.

That was a by the way. Working online is like being an entrepreneur. It has it upside and downside. Then again, the upside out surpasses the drawbacks, there is contentment in a way when you are assured of a reliable income. The best part is that you have your rota to stick to. You know when to tweak it to align with your objectives and how you can achieve the most from it using the time everyone else has. The pressure with working online is that it is usually from within. Nothing is as rewarding as having the knowledge that you are doing what you love and you make yourself do it without feeling guilty.

Another trivial reason why working online is enthusiastic has to do with music. You can decide to listen to music while working and this makes the monotonous work more enjoyable. It has become inseparable to the tasks that I do. It is a work aphrodisiac. Music get the physical tasks juices flowing given that the natural sounds improve my ability to concentrate and execute (sounds sexual, nah). As such I listen to music I love and the result is that I have been able to focus on the task at hand for long hours. And that is how I came to learn of baroque classical music. It builds on the tempo. Sometimes there is humming which is soothing, dulcet tones creating a wordless melody, something to help you drift away to a reassuring state that even though you are working, you are still having fun.

There is also the pleasure of deciding that you will work or not. Let me put this straight up. We are human beings, we have feeling and moments in life. There are those times when you never feel like working at all. When in an eight to five job, nobody may understand that you need to have your me time. You put up a brave face, force a fake smile and do what you need to do even though you are suffering inside. When the moment ends, you return to reality, feeling empty and move on because that is life. But with online work that is moderated, forget about the other crowd sourcing platforms where you work with a nebulous crowd that is may not be skilled for the task at hand, you can decide to work when you are in the mood.

The fact that I work from the house is another advantage on my side. It can be lonely though. And few think you have a proper job. None thinks you get tired and consequently must relax. Guys want you to have the traditional job where you have somewhere to go. Where you wake up, go to work and go back to the house after work. When it comes to freelancing you can easily connect to nature when you want. You can visit a friend and when it’s work time, you unleash your workstation and you are good to go. You are never stressed because you only need a laptop and internet and you are good to go. You can even go to a coffee shop, order for one and do your thing there when you feel like. And you get paid on a weekly basis. Sounds good, right.

When it comes to work, the more you become consistent and turn up every day for the task, the more accurate and faster you become. That means that you also earn more. While it becomes hard at the onset, after looking for ways to ease it up, it becomes more interesting and fun. You perfect your skills and become the type who is waiting for work to be dispensed. For those of us remaining because the turnover rate was high, the zeal of eagerly awaiting for tasks is unabated. It motivates when you share the same status in life with others. You know that you are not alone.

The growth prospects are also many if opportunities arise. I have already attended one interview for a conventional job and even though it never amounted to much because chances are I was not well prepared for it. I felt like it was a delectable opportunity even though it was kind of conducted in a hurry. All in all, even being called for it was an exposure that was good. At least, you can be called for an interview given the skills and knowledge you have. Guess my unpredictability in the many jobs I have been in must have contributed towards the rejection.

In terms of the setbacks, there is an avalanche. First, you need to be trained and qualified for tasks. That is a rigorous kind of process because it may be frustrating to go through the exercise if you don’t get it right the first time and the second. You also need internet and a computer, which you can get from a cyber café. But still you need a computer to make it easy for you given that there is a custom-built web browser for the tasks. In the event you don’t have a laptop, you may easily opt out a this becomes a setback.

Again, there is no consistency in work availability. There are times when you think you will find work then it is not availed. What do you do? Many have given up because of the unpredictability. And that is not the major reason. The income stream is quite low for a starter. Even for the more established individuals, it’s not a very solid figure that is competitive. I have a feeling that when you are told by an employer, ‘You pay is within your disposal,’ you should think twice. You can be phenomenally very good, or a lackluster. It all depends on the attitude they say. But the truth is that you are never told that it also depends on other factors beyond your reach. So, with all due respect, be very sagacious as it may not be what you bargained for.

Sometimes you may just be working for the money. To pay the bills, and never to be an omba omba. This job is both physically and mentally involving. You have to skim through a lot of data to be able to decide on the right one to transcribe. That means that you have to be very thorough in your checks. If not, your pay reduces and what else, your motivation. The workload though not very much can be wearisome. You have to keep your eyes wide awake behind a computer and if you don’t regulate the screen resolution, you may end up having eye problems. No insurance is provided. Luckily, my glasses have antiglare.

The monotony of the job is that you never become adventurous. In sales, I used to determine where I worked from. I would visit many companies to solicit for sales, make presentations and that was motivating. I met many people, talked to many and even got new insights that I have documented on this blog though they are mediocre.

What is more frustrating with this job is that sometimes the goalpost shifts when not expected. For example, you may think that what you were doing was right then it becomes the opposite. At some point, I got irked and decided to go and sleep when my average pay started plummeting instead of descending. But because I am looking at the bigger picture, I regain some stamina and decided to learn from the mistakes. Chances are, I was having emotional disturbance.

My final verdict. Nothing is ever rosy. You might think that you will get it conducive somewhere else but it becomes challenging where you are heading to also. But learning on the skills and never giving up hope counts a lot. Your peanuts maybe another’s plenty. At the end of the day, I have realized that the pay does not matter. But a pay with a good working environment matters a lot. Most of all, loving what you do counts a lot.

Hasta la vista baby.

PS: During those no jobs moments, I discovered #DigitalSkillsAfrica and decided to pursue their online course on online marketing. I finished it within a day and realized that I don’t know what I will do with the certificate in terms of job hunting. But then again with the knowledge, this blog came to mind. Once I am stable, I will buy it a domain name, sort a profession web design interface and use the knowledge got to improve its visibility and it reciprocates by bringing in some income. I think that that course is intellectually stimulating but still not thorough for a guy who loves challenges.

[Picture Source: Google Images I redid] 

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WHAT'S NEXT?

Thinking can be a very poky process. You seem to have got it right then when you execute the idea, it turns pukey. Then you wonder what the problem really is. Many times, you find yourself in those situations where you really have to think hard. Then amid all the web of jinx, you find you have no idea at all of what you want to do. Your plans are in shambles and you have no financial clout to execute the irradiant thoughts you hand in your mind. When you get into such a situation, you become lackadaisical.

Sometimes life usually hits a dead end. There is no much progress you are making and the little that you think you had is nothing to be proud of. It’s situations like this that make you ask yourself candidly, ‘What am I in for?’ Well, there is so much that we want to achieve. You may be in a catch 22 situation like I am currently in. Nothing seems to be working out right.

There is usually one big problem that normally arises when one finds himself in tricky situations. For example, you are employed, you work because you are supposed to. Nothing is enviable there. It reaches that point where you become like a carousel. Doing things because you are programmed to do so. There is virtually nothing to motivate or take you to the next level. Progress seems impossible, and the mind is kind of lethargic. You want to make headwinds. The more you try, the less you feel like you will ever make it.

I finally sat for my exams. If I can remember the hours that I did put into study, the fact that the exam sidestepped me for once and the possibility of a masters (repeating), I feel obliged to write about it here. Yet I am short of the right words to drive the point home. As such, it does not hurt to digress. 

I also lost my phone after finishing my exams. I remember running like a mad person on the streets hoping that I will finally trace the person who stole; nothing much. A trace of the last place where I was online indicates it was next to the exam room. I wish I had an iPhone. It has one of a kind security that local cryptographers cannot crack. You lose it and you are sure it is never going to work again. The circumstances under which my phone got lost is an experience that has served to broaden my perspective about the Samsung phones that I have owned. Are they cursed, and they normally get lost in downtown Nairobi. Yet, I still love the brand when it comes to a mid-range phone. Probably, I will get another before the end of the year, but in the meantime, I shall remain phone-less to be able to remove myself from the world that I have to be in amid it being networked by mobile phones. I want to feel the pinch of not having a phone.

Back to exams, I cannot say I was fully prepared to do the exams. It was a fifty-fifty thingy (I loved the way a certain home-schooled nine year old used this word 'thingy' and also got hooked to it). You know you have the exams at hand, time has flown so fast that it has been difficult to put your act together, but still you sit for it. Perhaps I should have studied just a little bit longer and harder. Perhaps I should not have strained commingling between two jobs, and study. Perhaps I should have not been so much motivated by money. Perhaps! Perhaps! Perhaps! Perhaps! Perhaps!

When I look back, I tell myself, the situations you put yourself into were more than you could handle. They made you lose out. You lost weight, lost meaning of why you are working, lost friends, lost it in terms of happiness and now you have lost your phone. The most prized possession after the laptop that you own. It was a sign that you can work, make money and start buying new things.

I am officially back to job hunting. I read a very interesting article written by someone about graduates. It was a scathing attack that belittled education, a personal opine that illustrates the situation of a plebeian graduate. You graduate and enroll into the system of search for work. You spend years looking for work and when you find it, you spend the rest of the time being enslaved to the job, by the time you know it, you are in midlife crisis. You have a nagging wife, a family to take care of, a small car to fuel to show that you are somehow doing well, a loan the bank does not give you space when you are not servicing it because they will CRB list you and a tattered perspective about what you want to be other than reporting to an eight to five job, waiting for someone to determine your destiny at the expense of shaping it.

There is a certain colleague who loved phrases like ‘see you at the top’, ‘Flourish! Flourish! Flourish!’, ‘Blossom! Blossom! Blossom!’ and many others that when you meet him, you start uttering them even before he does. I asked one of the friends of my sister who works with the guy closely and she was unrelenting in her description of their professional status back at work so much so that they were not in talking terms. I was left flabbergasted for lack of a better word to use because the guy is really a celebrity back at the office where I used to work. He does not fear speaking out his mind and will encourage you with a bible verse here and there spoken in fluent Swahili.

It’s amazing that a prophet is never accepted in his hometown. That is why sometimes he finds it easy to preach for those far and wide because Kenyans love the gospel but not practicing it. They get motivated by his word and even give offertory when he is allowed to preach whenever he has pitched tent. A certain salesperson who saw him collect over ten thousand after payday of some civil servants narrated how he had wished he could be sliced a percentage of the offer but given that andu a nyumba is so magnetized to mullahs, he had to kula kwa macho.

On my part, I sometimes feel I lost it. I concentrated so much on looking for ways to pass an exam then forgot to focus on my job. Yet I really tried. I am not a multitasking kind of dude. Probably it has resulted in the situation I am currently in where I will have to be a freelancer just to be able to make some few peanuts and also look for ways of getting to the next phase of life. I want to finish my exams, then, if will result in a job in the investment industry, I will be glad, if I fail, then this writing has to go to another level.

While I am pondering on what next, I remember that I have this blog. My only source of solace when I think I have no one to out pour my tribulations. It has been real working with this blog. It has made me go through situations that are well worth writing about. It has taught me to remain strong even in the face of adversity. It has tremendously improved my writing skills. It has made me more of a daredevil and still a cower at the same time. It made me work as a salesperson. It made me visit corners that I would have naturally not gone to. It has gotten me abused for being a good Samaritan. To sum it up, it has been a heuristic platform.

Well, I am now looking for new opportunities. I have not been able to break even in the past few years. I would like to make a new start. I would love to be a free bugger from the jaws of penury. I am now adjusting back to normal life after perusal process.

When you have been preparing for an exam for a colossal amount of time of  the year, and the line manager you are working with only thinks of what the employer will think of you when you have taken some short study leave, you feel obliged to decide whether to go for it or not to. The best decision is that which you engage in and never regret about it


What is however quite a task is the fact that when you leave work, you must program your mind back to having long hours of idleness. You still wake up early as usual. The only presence they will never find is your normalcy in social media. Sharing those forwards, videos and nobody ever realizes that you are phone-less. You wake up instead of going to work, you head to a cyber cafe to finish some tasks online. They give you money. After that,you head to Uhuru Park, there you sit next to a a certain hobo who is reeking of stink with grime filled attire. It attracts flies, but you are looking for a short story. When you get tired, you go to your former office, where because you were in good books with the sentry, courtesy of giving him tips, he willingly allows you in.

In this transition period back to normal life, no serious job and having to find meaning in my objectives, there is only one thing that keeps hope alive. That stories to tell never end. the experiences in life keep on twitching and they provide a good learning ground. All in all, there are books to read to get a new twist and most of all, the desire to have a breakthrough when push comes to shove.

Hasta la vista baby.

[Picture Source: My own]

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