My Liberation Story: Laura Roeder

[Editor’s Note #1: This post, by Laura Roeder, was written a LONG TIME ago and I’m an idiot for not posting it sooner.  Anyway, since writing this, Laura has moved to Venice Beach and become one of the most sought-after social media consultants in the industry.  She’s virtually “blown up” on the tech scene (speaking at numerous conferences including SXSW and BlogHer) and is definitely a rising star.  I highly recommend you subscribe to her newsletter and check out her new video blog.]

[Editor’s Note #2: This post is part of my Liberation Stories Project.  Click here for more information.]

Laura’s Liberation Story

I had just been at my first job out of college for a little over a year. I felt like wanting to quit was irresponsible. I was surrounded by people telling me to "pay my dues" and "put in my time."  It’s not even the old cliché of the corporate ladder, I was a designer and enjoyed a creative job at a small company. By most accounts I enjoyed my job just fine. But I wanted something more. I loved being able to speak with clients, be invited to presentations, to brainstorm about strategy. However in my role as a junior designer I only got a limited glimpse. I knew I would have to work my way up to art director before I got to be fully involved in all these aspects. And I knew that would take five more years at the VERY minimum if I was a superstar. Just getting through the next five years, not doing the things I really wanted to do did not sound very appealing to me.

There was something else. . . . Coming from the college environment, my first "real" job felt like being sent back to the first grade. Show up when we say. Eat lunch when we say. Go home when we say. I am not the anti-authoritarian type at all, I’m more the goody-goody suck up to the teacher type. So these things honestly didn’t really even bother me. They just seemed stupid. Mostly the part where I had to sit at my desk all day whether there was anything to do or not. What was the point in this? Why were we all sitting here, following arbitrary rules that no one actually cared about? Who, exactly were we doing this for and why? On the rare occasion that I got to be home during the day, I loved taking walks around my neighborhood and people watching. Who ARE all these people? Why aren’t they at work?

Their life seemed so glamorous compared to mine.

A close friend of mine had recently moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. Back then she was still working the counter at a restaurant and hustling to go to every audition she could. She worked hard (and still does today). Still, when I visited her I saw an amazing element of freedom that was lacking in my own life. When my friends came to visit Chicago I would have lunch with them and see them after work but they would have to fend for themselves during the day. When I visited LA my friend was able to move around her schedule to make time for me. Spending time with our friends is very important to both of us, and she was able to make it a priority in her life. I was not.

When I got back to Chicago I started thinking about all the things I wanted. I wanted to be able to clear my schedule when my girlfriends and family come to visit. I wanted to sit on a patio at 10 am, sipping coffee and reading a book. And I wanted more responsibility and autonomy in my career. I knew I had the talent to do more. It occurred to me that I had choices – I could stay in my career in its current form. Or I could quit and start my own company. If I stayed I would be stuck at the bottom for years, and stuck in the same dull pattern of sitting in the same place all day, having to plan my precious 2 weeks off months in advance. If I quit I would have total freedom over my schedule. TOTAL freedom! And I had a realization that was even more appealing to me – if I quit I would be able to leapfrog past the entire lifetime of working my way up straight to the top! *I* would be the art director! *I* would be the CEO! *I* would be the boss! That is what truly inspired me. I kind of felt like I had discovered a secret – it was almost too easy to skip all that stuff I didn’t want to do!

That visit to Los Angeles was in February. In May of that year I said goodbye to my job for good. By May of the following year I had experienced some of the best times in my life – a romantic week in Cozumel, a yoga retreat to a village in Belize and an award recognizing me for my leadership in volunteering at my favorite non-profit. These are some of the sweet rewards I’ve received for taking total control of my life.

Logistical Stuff:

I might not have had the courage to quit my job if it weren’t for a few baby steps that didn’t pan out. First of all, whenever I told people I was going into business for myself they would always say oh how many clients do you have lined up? The answer was NONE! I don’t know about your business, but I don’t get a ton of calls from people telling they want to sign a contract for work that will be done in 3 months. You can’t really plan this stuff out in advance. People don’t call you until they are ready to go. Some designers freelance on the side for years and then launch their business when they’re at full capacity. I never did that. I have never had any desire to work two full-time jobs or to work all night after getting home from work. Guess what a good motivator for making your business work is? You HAVE to if you want to eat because you don’t have any other income coming in! But you know what, that isn’t really accurate. That is not what motivates me. What motivates me is not fear of not having money but the excitement and fulfillment of succeeding. When I started I was SO full of excitement and energy about my new business that it was impossible to contain my enthusiasm! And when you are that enthusiastic about your business it’s hard for that not to rub off on others.

The logistics are boring to me but maybe they will help someone else get over that hump. I spent all day dreaming and planning with a friend about how we’d go into business together. Of course that didn’t work out, we never even spoke about it again after that day! But because of that conversation I had it in my head that it was feasible. So after it was clear it wasn’t going to work out with her, I asked my job if I could go part-time because I wanted to focus on my own business more. They said yes! I was ecstatic, it seemed like the perfect solution. And then they said no. By that time I had already decided I would launch my business, already decided to detach myself from my job so quitting all together didn’t seem like such a big leap anymore.

I am still on my journey. I am not yet one of those stories making $50k/month for doing a few hours of work a day. I am still deciding what kind of life I truly desire, and making my path towards getting there. But I will tell you what I do have now. I have complete and TOTAL freedom over how I spend my time. I have an amazing staff that helps me run my business. I have enough money to be able to do the things that my my life easy – eat out, have someone else clean my house, buy a plane ticket to see my friends and family when I miss them. When I feel like taking a break during the day I go cuddle my cat, or stroll around the neighborhood for however long I desire.

Life is sweet.