There's a funny question about money that goes something like, "You can't buy happiness, but have you ever seen a homeless person skip?" I guess I can honestly say, it's not about the money. After all of these blogs about being talented, going after your dreams, and Nike sloganing... I did it. Go figure.
On February 18th, 2013, I made the jump from creative recruiter to Jr. Copywriter. I recently realized something about this jump that I can handle, and you most likely, cannot. I took a pay cut. Living in NYC is expensive (everyone says this, but until you get here, no one 'gets' just how expensive), mine happened to be a 13k pay cut when I took my first job here 8 months ago, and now, I took another. The next few months are going to be interesting to say the least. That being said, I took a look at the numbers and at 31, with no wife, no kids, and only having to pay for rent, crippling student loan debt, and multiple credit cards, I can handle the cut. You have to be very honest with yourself if you can or not. And, you have to know if the end result is worth the pain you're about to go through. I decided that it is.
The strangest part about it all is that with less money than I've ever had (until a god sent tax refund in a few weeks), living in the most expensive place on the planet, in one of the most competitive industries ever, I couldn't be happier. I've never felt more alive, more driven, and for the first time in my adult life, happy to answer, "so what do you do?"
I'm a Jr. Copywriter at a NYC Ad Agency.
While, I'm not allowed to tell you my client list, I will tell you that it's awesome. On my second day on the job, I was asked to head over to the NYC Facebook offices with a team to chat about an upcoming project. It's insanely exciting and the most fast-paced environment I've ever been in. I'm writing this blog with a smile on my face, still trying to figure out what tornado I latched on to to actually make this happen...
(to be continued)
