Jet setter

The new job has been keeping me pretty busy. For the most part that's a good thing, as it makes the days fly by . . . but the bad thing about the days flying by is that I blink and the week has also flown by, and I still have a lot of stuff to do.

In a nice change of pace, I flew to Philadelphia Monday morning to attend a symposium on the Retail Clinic industry at the College of Physicians. I love that place because it's the home to my favorite Philly museum, The Mutter Museum. I arrived a few hours early, so I used the time to explore the two floors of medical oddities on display. Cheng and Eng's liver. Babies in jars. Human horns (fans of the show Futurama may get this reference: "wooooooooh!") I looooves me some good medical oddities. Had I been in the city for more than eight hours, or trapped in the symposium for fewer than three hours, I would also have tried to check out the Bodyworlds exhibit (not to be confused with Body Works, which is a similar but in a shadier, bodies-swiped-possibly-illegally-from-Asian-prisons kind of way) at the Franklin Institute . . . I saw it in Cleveland a few years ago and it rocked my world.

In the taxi heading back to the airport, I was treated to a lovely sunset. The sky was awash in pink and gold, and it was a fine way to end a day.

Come for the rugs, stay for the Pilates

My hubby and I took a last-minute trip to the Tampa Bay area last weekend. We spent a lot of our time driving around and seeing what there was to see. One of the highlights for me was a business whose sign read "Oriental Rugs and Pilates." It's nice to see entrepreneurial diversification in these trying economic times. I wish them success!

Taking the plunge

After much thought, I have decided to take the job.

I can't believe how tough a decision this was to make, and how bittersweet the whole scenario has been for me. I have loved freelancing for the past two and a half years. Even when I didn't have much work to do and was worried about paying my bills, it was so liberating to know I was in business for myself.

I'm proud that I was brave enough to quit the cubefarm and start my own business. I'm proud that I can say I have been moderately successful in my freelancing endeavors. And I'm proud to say I am good enough at what I do that one of my clients actually wants me to work for them full-time.

If it were any other client, or any other job offer, I don't think my answer would have been the same. I was so jaded by the time I ended my tenure with the cubefarm that I swore I would never go back into a corporate environment. That should tell you something about how special these people are. It's a small business, which is enough to differentiate it from the cubefarm--but the most impressive thing about them is the employees really seem to care--about each other, about their work, and about their clients. It's sad to say, but that is a rare find in a business these days.

I'm going to continue to do some freelance work on the side, but obviously I won't have a whole lot of time to devote to it (I have no intention of giving up all of my free time!). I will continue to blog, though perhaps not as frequently as I have in the past (although that's been pretty infrequently of late, I know).

Thanks for caring enough to read about the goings-on here in my little corner of the freelance world (I started this blog in July 2008!). I hope you'll wish me luck as I plunge back into the 9-to-5 world!

What's a girl to do?

My agency client asked me to be project manager for an upcoming project related to the report I wrote recently. It's a pretty big deal, and I'm excited to tackle it. But . . . they also asked me if I wanted to keep going on a freelance basis or make things more permanent.

I'm torn. On one hand, I love working with them and have been basically working on-site with them full-time for the last few months, so becoming an actual employee isn't really going to change my day-to-day existence. On the other hand, I'd be giving up that sense of "freedom" that comes with being a full-time freelancer.

Of course, there are other considerations as well: Is it a smart move financially? Will I be able to manage my other clients in the evenings? Would I even WANT to keep freelancing on a part-time basis?

Guess I've got some thinkin' to do . . .

While I'm giving my noggin a workout, How about telling me what you would do if you were in my shoes?