Tiny Confession Time

 "I see dead people."

You may remember that line from M. Schmaylayalayan (I'm not going to bother to get the correct spelling) movie, The Sixth Sense. I saw it coming. Tiny confession: I guess a lot of movie endings and have a 37.1% success rate. I think it stems from my brief foray into screenwriting and knowing that one must expect the unexpected.

But it's also what I think when I see fellow freelance copywriters and art directors trying to hawk their wares in today's very competitive and less-than-lucrative job market with the Open To Work hashtag.

It's something I would never do.

About twenty years ago, I started my life as an advertising mercenary. And for a very long time was up to my large aquiline nose in projects. Double Dipping. Double double dipping. And double stuffing my bank account with beautiful 1099 checks from all four corners of the Earth. I was national. And international. For lack of a modest term.

Not once during those halcyon days did I announce my availability. I didn't have to. This blog was my self promotion. As well as my many worstselling self-published books. I did what I had to do to stay on the radar. 

And the work found me.

But here's the thing. Another tiny confession, if you will. 

Even when I wasn't busy, I was more than happy to have people believe I was. The demand might not have been there 24/7/365, but the perception of the demand being there 24/7/365, was invaluable. And I did little to dissuade people of that notion.

In retrospect, I wish I hadn't let the infrequent slow periods freak me out so much. I should've enjoyed the lapses and made more time for my family. And myself. 

Stupid Jewish Neuroticism.

I'm in a different boat now. Rocked by the loss of my wife, I'm older, gentler and wiser. Though all those points can easily be argued. And while my phone no longer rings off the hook -- mostly because phones don't have hooks anymore -- I am seeking work.

But there's a caveat. In the past few years, I've been steeped in client side performance marketing. I've written enough subject lines, CTAs, referral cards, and heavily ignorable landing page copy to stuff a thousand email trashboxes. Don't want to do that anymore. Hey ChatGPT, it's all yours.

In short, I'm Open To Work.

I'm just not Open To Desperation.