Featured: Harbor + Pine Pursuing Your Dreams While Still Working Your Day Job
Note from Harbor + Pine:
“Today we are sharing our good friend, Haley, of HB Creative Co. and her story on pursuing her dreams while working her day job! She is such a gem and so talented, we couldn’t be more excited for her new business adventures!!”
Living life as a full-time marketing employee of a local university and owning my own marketing freelance company, HB Creative Co. has many pros and cons but I wanted to talk to you all candidly about my experiences living this way of life. Now, I won’t go into the nitty-gritty details of how to start a company but I want to give you a backstory of how I got to where I am.
Just like many people my age, the allure of working for myself has been a lifestyle I’ve always been attracted to. Having recently graduated from Northern Michigan University’s public relations program and having worked as a freelancer through college, the idea of owning my own company didn’t seem too far off. After being handed my diploma, 24 hours later I moved to a new city two hours away. One week after that I started a job at a small local marketing agency. Although the job seemed to be the perfect fit on paper, three months later I handed in my letter of resignation. Did I think this is where I would be three months after college graduation? Heck no! Being unemployed and four months away from having to start paying off student loans, financially, I was pretty uncomfy. I spent the next two months trying to find a job where I was a better fit and started my own business to pursue my creative endeavors as a marketing professional.
Now one main factor that I refuse to ignore would be, you guessed it… money. You may have thought throughout the beginning of this article, “How the heck did this girl have enough time and resources to drop everything after college graduation and start her own business?”, Well, to say it quite frankly, I didn’t. I couldn’t drop everything and get started working for myself right away. I still can’t. Although I spent some of my last dollars and invested it into my future, I needed to get my feet back underneath me. I was applying and interviewing to the very slim pickings of marketing jobs available near me. After a couple of interviews and the humbling rejections later, I was in the dumps (at least that’s how it felt).
This was a scary, surreal, and challenging time. I was fortunate to have some kick-ass people around me to help me get through, but I was scared. Someone (*cough *cough...God) was watching out for me though. I picked up my phone to a local creative director saying, “Hey, are you still looking for a job?”, and then four days later I was employed with an awesome group of creative people.
By leveraging all of the marketing experiences I already had, designing a company website, creating packages to offer clients, talking to entrepreneurs, and getting myself out there in a new city, I was able to work toward my future goal of being my own boss AND get a job where I can pay the bills.
That is how I got to where I am now. Where am I now, you ask? I am paying off my student loans, working for a university that is in a crucial time of change, creating an emergency savings account, planning a mini- winter Olympics compiled of luge, curling, and ice sculpting (I live in a very cold and snowy climate). I am freelancing for a functional medicine doctor, an Air bnb turned super cool outdoorsy brand, an Etsy shop, and a yoga studio. Besides all of that, the most important aspect is that I am learning to live life for where I am at this moment in time. I know where I want to be in the future, but I am enjoying where I am, right the heck now.
Note from Harbor + Pine:
Following your dreams can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be! There are many ways we can follow our dreams and still feel secure. We hope this blog post inspires anyone who has been wanting to take a leap and do something they have been dreaming of!
Thank you, Haley for sharing your story and journey with us! Make sure to head over to instagram and give Haley a follow: HB Creative Co!
