Not the military type.
My recent activity has all but concluded.
Six months of hiring.
An important job.
Hiring, negotiating, structuring, whittling.
And now I have a contractor.
My plans are submitted.
So, may god’s love be with me!
Now,
I want a job.
Sure, I spent 6 months working on key life projects (purchasing an apartment; hiring contractors).
Now I’d like to return to work.
It’s a weird experience for someone who
has only ever run his own business.
(Sure, there was a year-long stint as chief of staff to the ceo of a tech company.)
I’ve only ever gotten jobs from referrals.
And most of those are self-directed.
Now,
I seek something stable.
I’d love a remote job with clear deliverables.
What are my skills?
- Writing. Blog posts, website copy. I’ve done lots of reliable work here. (Earlier this decade, I was the most sought-after ghostwriter in the Bay Area tech scene!)
- Fundraising pitches. I’ve raised $1.5M for one startup and $800k for another, both by rewriting and workshopping their pitches (and the former by actually doing the pitching).
- CEO whispering. I navigated one company through a cofounder split-up, served as chief of staff to the ceo of another, and helped a third rewrite her sales contracts and sales calls, tripling her ARR in 2 months.
What else?
- I do good work, turn it in on time, and my coworkers generally like me. That’s worth something too.
I feel this odd sense of loss. Of distance from myself. As though I wish for this situation – this need for occupation – to be solved. But also, a reticence to exist in a box where it is solved.
I’d enjoy this occupation because the rest of my activity is more lax.
The books I’ve written; the apartment I’m remodeling; the weird medical and legal systems I’m working through: all would be improved if my head were also often somewhere else.
And also, it would be nice if that somewhere else also gave me money.
Julian Wise 