How I Accidentally Created My Ideal Work Situation By Being A Sulky, Easily Dissatisfied So-And-So

The job I loved paid $16 an hour. So.

I’m so glad you’re here! I’m Sarah Von Bargen, a long-time online writer, marketing consultant, and coach. Every week we’ll be exploring ideas around spending our time, money, and energy on purpose + how to build a life we love that doesn’t make us broke or exhausted.

When I was 21, I landed what - at the time - felt like a dream internship writing for my local newspaper. Sure, the newspaper only came out once a week and I was making minimum wage but I was getting paid to write. I would have a byline. I was sure this was the first step on a professional ladder that would lead somewhere incredible.

And a lot of things about that internship were great; I learned skills I still use today! I learned how to write an enticing lede (yes, that’s how it’s spelled). I learned how to edit a story down to the best, most important bits and how to take a photo that made something boring look interesting. (It’s mostly about angles and cropping.)

I also learned that I didn’t want to be a journalist.

I didn’t like working evenings and weekends when stories broke or, more likely, when there was a city council meeting I had to cover. I didn’t enjoy it when my good ideas were held hostage by the newspaper owner’s mood. I didn’t want to ask people questions they didn’t want to answer or type up the court report and see friends’ and neighbors’ names.

I realized that as much as I enjoyed getting paid to write for that newspaper, the joy of seeing my name in print wasn’t enough to outweigh the unpleasant day-to-day realities of that gig.

Now, I wish I could tell you that I took this wisdom to the bank and cashed it to the tune of One Dream Job.

Instead, I spent the next, oh, 20+ years doing jobs that I liked … well enough. It sort of felt like dating. Each time I’d try something new, hoping that this would be the one. When it wasn’t, I tried to be honest with myself about what had worked and what hadn’t and choose better the next time.

There was the event planning job where I realized I loved working on projects with a concrete end date … and hated working for bosses who’d been gifted the company by their wealthy husband as “something to keep them busy.”

There was the ESL teaching job where I discovered how great it felt to come up with an idea and implement it the next day. I also discovered that I probably needed to earn more than $16 an hour.

And there was full time content creation. I learned the joys of setting my own hours. I also learned that unpredictable income, the content treadmill, and parasocial perfection trolling could decimate my wellbeing.

Sidenote! If you’re trying to juggle self-employment, fulfillment, and - ya know - actually making enough money, I think you’d love the Autonomous Creative Conference - it’s FREE! I recorded an interview for it about uncomplicating self-promotion and there are tons of other great talks about finding clients without cold calls, rebooting your relationship to social media, and so much more!

Increasingly, I realized that what I did was only one small piece of my personal career satisfaction puzzle. Just as important were where I did my work, when I was expected to do it, who I did it with, and how much I got paid to do it.

The awesome what of being a fulltime content creator couldn’t outweigh the who (hundreds of mean internet strangers in my DMs) or the how much ($15,000 one month, $1,500 the next.)

Being an ESL teacher came with a great who, what, and where - sweet, appreciative students, fun work, and jobs all over the world. But the how much and when? $34,000 a year and 8-to-5, not including prep? No thanks.

Scenes from my time as an ESL teacher in Taiwan and Nepal. I also taught in Peru, Brazil, Italy, New Zealand, and St. Paul, Minnesota!

What happens when you make the when, where, who, and how much as important as the what

So what did I do with this epiphany? Well, I basically reverse engineered my way into a work situation that feels goooooood on a day-to-day basis.

I looked at my ideal when, where, who, and how much and THEN I looked at the what - the skills I had that would give me access to those.

My ideal when: Whenever the hell I wanted 💅 As long as I met my deadlines, I wanted to be able to set my own hours, whether that was 6 in the morning or 8 pm on Saturday night. Also? I don’t want to work more than 30 hours a week.

My ideal where: Anywhere with a wifi connection! I live in St. Paul, Minnesota but I’m currently typing this from a little yellow bungalow in Durham, North Carolina.

I am having such a good time in North Carolina! P.S. I post to IG Stories pretty much daily, if you want to follow along.

My ideal who: People who value my expertise and listen to me. People who can easily afford my services and pay on time. People and companies who do solid work that’s contributing to the world in some way - it doesn't have to be sexy or “cool,” but it can’t be problematic, exploitative, or slimy.

People who own their role in outcomes and don’t complain about results they don’t get from advice they didn’t take. (!!!!)

My ideal how much: $8,000 - $12,000 a month, consistently.

And the what? Once I got really honest about all of the above and looked at my skill set, I built out a business model that allows me to check all those when, where, who, and how much boxes.

I realized that even though I looooved teaching, thrifting, planning road trips, and making surprisingly good recipes out of weird leftovers - none of those whats were likely to give me the where, when, who, and how much I wanted.

So I thought about all the skills I’d developed from being a content creator for 14 years: SEO, content strategy, social media, copywriting, launch strategy, Canva-level graphic design.

Then I bundled all those skills into a marketing retainer package that starts at $2,000 a month for a three month contract. I work with 3 - 5 clients at a time; they pay at the beginning of each month, and then we work through their allotted hours. I have the stability of knowing how much money I’ll make every month without having to work specific hours, drive into an office, or spend five years with a boss I hate.

Sometimes I fantasize about using my thrifting skills to become a reseller, but then I think about the who (neverending strangers asking me for information clearly given in the item description or who try to haggle down an already reasonable price) or the when (scheduling my day around Facebook Marketplace pick ups who no-show.)

Or I dream of owning a yurt glampground. And then I think of the where (probably needing to be nearby to help guests) and the high overhead that would dramatically impact the how much.

Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't follow your passion or base your career on what you love to do. What I am saying is that if you’re currently dissatisfied with your work situation, you might be amazed by how much you can improve your day-to-day life by switching the where, when, who or how much.

How are you feeling about your career these days? If you’ve built a work situation that feels really good - logistically, financially, emotionally - tell us how you did it!

P.S. Don’t forget about the free Autonomous Creative Conference!