I have a big girl job these days. The company I work for has doubled in size and I have a lot of autonomy when it comes to strategy, business growth and processes. It’s a hard gig. I don’t always come into work super jazzed, but most days I leave inspired. Our company develops a technology that helps dentists run their practices more efficiently and takes an ethical approach to software development. Ethics, business, tech... all these experiences are stirring up prolific thoughts around our current industrial revolution and the socio-economic effects of rapid technology growth. I feel a drive to start blogging personally again.
What have I learned? Sometime you’re a better number 2. When I was running Lu Curates Media, the social media agency arm of this blog, I felt like I was working in a silo. Being a business owner is isolating. There are a million moving pieces and a lot of responsibility. That’s not to say I’ll never own another company again, but for now, I’m excelling where I am. Plus, I don’t have to worry about filing the companies taxes! I get to focus on my clients alongside marketing and sales strategies. I’m loving my role but I also had to have a heart to heart with myself. I want to write and give very few fucks about making money on Lu Curates. Trying to get a blog to profitability is not impossible but it is a full time job. If I’m honest with myself I simply don’t have the bandwidth to get Lu Curates sister blog, Curated Living, off the ground.
The other day our CEO and another colleague and I got caught in a conversation for two hours as we were all trying to leave for the day. Talking about the state of the tech industry, where it can go, what other tech leaders are doing in this space etc, etc.
The tech start-up I work for has a team, resources, budgets and is working with the most advanced cloud technology in the market. Part of self-awareness is acknowledging your own limitations. For example, I don’t even know how to design a website on my own without the help of Squarespace. An idea is only as good as it’s execution.
When we are younger we have these ideas of what our lives should look like and being an art maven was mine. It has been a long standing part of my identity. I’ve been involved in arts and culture for over 10 years. However, I have to accept that my relationship with art has changed. I must let go of this long standing vision I had for myself because it is no longer me. It isn’t easy.
Art will always be a part of my personal life. But as far as my career is concerned, my art history degree is being used to develop marketing materials and to critically evaluate design.
It’s been a rough month for me. I’ve been dealing with my mental health issues, but the conversation with my CEO reminded me that I have been put on this earth for so much more. I have lived an intense, complicated life and this world needs people to share their experiences. As other authors and entrepreneurs inspire me, I realize we are all at different levels. And when people see rather average human beings executing ideas successfully with self-awareness - the world of business becomes a little bit more accessible to all.
I was told that I’d never graduate high school, that I’d never go to college (let alone one of the best in the country). Teachers, professors, and administrators believed that my siblings and I were lost causes. They worried I’d never find a “real career” because of my art history degree. I have proved them wrong every single day.
I want to curate each facet of my life and that includes helping others’ run their businesses. In the next five years, I want to live a life that proves that empathy, drive and opportunity provide the tools for greatness. I feel a strong urge to document this experience. Unbranded, raw and honest. I don’t have the bandwidth to execute brand but I have words. It only makes sense that I come back to Lu Curates.
****If you like what you’re reading please feel free to donate to the cause, all proceeds go to helping me pay to maintain the site and pay my editor/occasional co-writer Mallory Brand.
Mallory is a non-fiction writer and bartender living in Atlanta. She has been a fiction editor with Hobart: another literary magazine for five years, and has also been the recipient of a Hambidge Writing Residency and a Glen Fellowship Scholarship. You can find her on Twitter @MalloryBrand.