Hello and welcome back! All you crazy stalker people must be having a blast reading about my life and all these little personal tidbits. And if you haven’t been reading all the along, why not? Am I not worthy of you taking a creepy level of interest in my life history? If you think I am, go ahead and check out the first post here. For now, let’s jump back to where we left out last week! Today, we’ll dive into how I handled my diminishing business income and what that meant for the future of Evorath.
When Business Gets Slow
There I was, seeing my income diminish before my eyes. I had always been marketing adjacent, and I saw that as a more lucrative opportunity. So, while my writing work slowed down, I focused on finding new clients to help manage their Google and/or Facebook ads. I also drummed up a bit more freelance writing business but seemed to be stuck in project-based work. I wanted something more stable and consistent though, and at the time, a SaaS company I was using to build marketing funnel was hiring for support roles, so I jumped on the opportunity and after more than five years being self-employed, I rejoined the employee workforce.
It was a bit of an adjustment, as my new role was in Technical Support, which meant my hours were set. But with a forward-thinking attitude, I excelled at the position and within six months I was moved to a more senior position. And within a year, I was able to advance into a role in their Customer Education department. All the while, I was spending my off hours learning some new skillsets, and I was determined to put those skills to work.
Learning New Tools
You see, working for a software company, I got exposed a new side of computers: the field of data science. This isn’t the time to dive into the implications of that decisions, which I plan to discuss in more depth in a future, standalone post. But suffice it to say, I had some strong reasons why I went down this path. First, it was a lucrative career opportunity in high demand. Second, I’ve always been good with math and logic, and statistics was just about my favorite course in high school (maybe in college too). Third, I could see a clear path, and after dipping my toes into some educational materials, I decided to go full force.
My focus was in Python and SQL for data science and analytics. I went through a few different courses, including a bootcamp from Yandex, and ongoing training through DataCamp. I also found some more targeted training through Udemy courses, which I’d snag when they were on sale. And if learning development or analytics skills is something you want, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend them all! For me, it gave me a clear career path, allowing me to implement better analytics into my Customer Education role before moving to a Customer Experience team, where I got to really put my new SQL skills to the test! After just a couple years, I was making as much money as I had when I had my own business and the future income potential was promising, to say the least.
But with all this going on, what sort of attention was Evorath getting?
Evorath Abandoned?
Most people might imagine this means Evorath faded away into the background, a relic of a young dream that, like so many others, would go unfulfilled. And while I wish I had prioritized it more, and if I were to advise others, I might recommend taking a more direct path, the truth is Evorath was always there for the ride. No, I wasn’t actively writing the stories, but you better bet I kept adding notes and capturing story ideas as they occurred.
And though I wouldn’t return to actively writing Evorath until 2022, the plans to refocus on the world were already in place when my wife and I found 5 acres in north central Florida in 2020. Eager to escape the city life, especially in that infamous year, we had our visions set on a family homestead and I had my vision set on telling Evorath’s stories.
Next week, I’ll dive more into our transition to the slower country lifestyle. And we’ll explore what ultimately gave me the push I needed to get back into writing. Until then, thanks for stopping by. May you have a glorious week and a whatever adventures you seek, may you find them!
