I knocked back and Internship recently. A couple of years ago, at the age of 48, I decided to go back to University. Now it has been 27 years since I left for a year off from my Bachelor of Business degree. I left because I was lost and was defeated doing something that obviously didn’t interest me. In fact I had no idea what to do so I aimlessly just meandered along and let life take me with the tide.
And as you guessed, I never went back to it. I did 3 years of a 3 year degree with one year to go. What a dropout! What a waste of time.
I wished I had of just travelled looking back! Jumped on a plane and head to Europe or the States and then rent a van to cruise through a while. Oh life would be so different wouldn’t it!
Photo by Kevin Schmid on Unsplash
I decided that I was going to make sure I finished this course in the 3 years even if was going to kill me! Can I do it in the 3 years? I mean, is pretty much full-time study. Bloody ridiculous goal I would have thought, if it wasn’t me that set it. Fast forward everything until now and I am literally on the verge of finishing this damned thing. I had a bit to prove to myself really and it feels bloody amazing that I am now so close.
So this degree was going to set me up to work in the online space. Some people would argue that I don’t need a University degree to do anything online and it was going to be just a waste of time. I am also sure my family were also thinking the same as I struggled to complete many things in my life. When it wasn’t really the shiny thing I was actually looking for, the gloss wore off and I would continue on my search for my Holy Grail.
I needed to sow the seeds to the next part of my life.
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
This was however the thing that would give me the grounding that I needed whilst I set myself up to be working in a space that I was drawn to. I was drawn to all things online essentially that had to do with media and communications. I was fascinated with the concept of stories and listening to peoples stories and how they impacted others.
So for those people that are looking and waiting to see me fail again (including myself) take a seat in the back row and get ready to clap me on stage at my graduation.
Earlier this year, I thought I would look at dedicating a day a week to do maybe an internship. There are a couple of places online that will enable me to work with startups and freelancers to get experience in SEO, Online marketing, social media blah blah blah. There were some genuine offers, but most of the people on those sights were just wanting someone to do the work for free. I realised playing around online working on various things through the years, I realised I had learnt more than I realise. I mean, heck, I built a live online e-commerce website for someone on a major commerce platform.
We just built a podcastchannel from scratch!
There was a couple of reasons why I didn’t end up taking that pat. Sure, the stuff I did was going to be good on my CV, but was it going to get me to where I want to be?
- I wasn’t sure I want to work in the corporate field again (Actually no I didn’t)
- A couple of the companies outlined some of the things they wanted me to do, and it was tasks that I could do, but it wasn’t going to be much of a mentorship type setup.
- A lot of time was going to be dedicated to someone elses work. I was busy as it was driving and studying in between kids and travel
In the end I changed my mind and turned down a couple of apprenticeship opportunities.
I decided I was going to hire myself and setup some things online which I could build and grow and nurture. Through building the blog and podcast, I realised I knew how to do a heck of a lot of stuff already.
At the end of the day, I set on this journey so I could live a life where I was not stuck in the one place or office or life. I wanted to be free of the constraints of a suit or higher management telling me to conform to there way of doing things. You must be dreaming I hear you say! You bloody better believe it. Whats the alternative?
Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash
Can you tell I am a very visual kind of guy right?
I am learning a lot by building this blog and it is something that I can build and document to show others, my journey. So much so I am enjoying adding content and topics t write about. Right now, I have 32 topics in draft in the backend of this baby.
I know that right now, at the beginning, very few people will even read this article if any. Someone asked a question on the University online discussion board the other day about how to get a portfolio together and whether they needed one. Hell yeah! This blog is my live CV. Every letter I type and every person we interview to how we work our strategy on social media. It is all part of my Portfolio.
How fortunate I am that I found Lisa through the course and we are on this journey to wherever it is it will take us to.
So if you are offered an internship, tell them to stick it! No, I am kidding. Do what you feel is right for you and when it is right for you. I made a decision to knock back an internship, because I had a plan.
Thanks for reading if you got this far.
Cheers,
Live Work Digital Rocks.
Luki
Live Work Digital 