Making Moves: Going Out on Your Own w/ Aaron Francis

Hey fam! I am back from NYC and I think I ate all the food in NYC like there’s nothing left. If you are planning to go to NYC in the near future here are some spots I would check out:

• Golden Diner - in Chinatown brunch was LIT

• Miznon - in Chelsea Market best greek food you will ever have 

• Cafe Lyria - best coffee I had all week 

Anywho, I’ve had a bunch of conversations lately on my podcast around freelancing and consulting. I just feel like, after talking to people, that salaried jobs just aren’t as safe anymore. Genuinely want to hear your thoughts on this. But I wanted to highlight an amazing conversation I had with Aaron Francis. If you haven’t checked him out please do so. He’s an unreal storyteller, great technical chops, and just a very real human. 

As always, let me know what you’d like to see from this newsletter! My inbox is always open for you!

I know we’ve all had the thought of, “Why am I working so hard for someone else?” And if you haven’t, great for you and whoever you work for. But to the rest of us, I think it’s worth addressing what’s really holding us back. Aaron, who was recently laid off and made the switch to going out on his own, had some great points what is making people hesitant to make the switch (himself included).

Well first off it’s scary. That much is obvious. Beyond fear of failure, it’s also fear of losing your ‘safety net.’ With essentials like healthcare and other benefits linked to your job (that’s a conversation and debate for another time), suddenly you’re pushed into a world of finding coverage in a short period of time. From personal experience, it's not exactly a joyride, but I can assure you, it's navigable.

When Aaron was laid off, he tweeted about it. That one post not only got 500,000 impressions but it also flooded his inbox with job offers and leads. The lesson here isn’t just randomly tweet that you need a job, but that you should be building a following and putting yourself out there now for when you need it later. But isn’t this newsletter about going out on your own? Yep, even with all the options he still had people telling him he should just start something instead of working for a company. His suggestion is to capitalize on your existing audience and their curiosity about your next move, using it as a springboard to start your own venture. In the worst-case scenario, you can always frame it as a return to working for someone else, without the stigma of leaving a direct competitor.

Do y’all want to hear more about the specific details of making the switch to freelance/consulting work? Well you can start by watching the full episode I had with Aaron. But I think this a lot of people are facing the choice to keep with corporate life or go out on their own whether because of layoffs or wanting a change of pace in their career. If you have any specific questions, I’d love to hear them.

As always, you’re not alone.

-Taylor

Gun.io/taylor