When I was little, I adored learning.
To be honest, I was an incredibly pretentious child, and there was nothing I loved more than to share facts and stories with people. The reading corner was my happy place because each book contained a treasure trove of information that I could relay and show off with.
In short, I was an unstoppable nerd with a God complex. While I grew out of my know-it-all phase, I also outgrew my passion for learning and confidence in my abilities. I stopped interrogating people for knowledge and questioning things I didn’t understand. As a result, many opportunities to discover something new or to dig deeper sailed past.
I was always ambitious throughout my time at school. I had big plans for my future. But like many people, as I got older and the time to leave school rapidly approached, the enthusiasm got lost. I ended up in an admin role whilst also working in hospitality. After becoming redundant, I was apathetic and bored. To add to the confusion, I wasn’t alone- many unemployed people during the pandemic were in the same boat. It didn’t feel like we were living real life; Someone had pressed pause on responsibility. Filling our schedules became a full-time job, as we spent our days sunbathing, doing Joe Wicks workouts and day drinking.
While this felt like a dream at times, it also triggered panic. I felt like I wasn’t progressing or laying solid foundations in my life. Further to that, it had been ages since I’d genuinely learned something, and I could feel my brain melting away. So I threw myself into whatever online courses I could find. I also started obsessively cooking, baking, reading, and exercising. At one point, I even attempted to make a Papasan chair from a hula hoop and foldable IKEA seat.
I decided to focus on what I knew and liked with an entirely clean slate. I enjoyed being creative, and through my previous roles, I knew that I loved being around people. Marketing seemed like a logical next step due to the experienced I gained during my admin role. I already knew some of the marketing basics and the ins and outs of specific systems.
When first branching into this sector on my own, I was very naive about the degree of planning, care, and consideration needed to create a marketing function. As a result, the learning curve was steep and brutal. Each new project was an uphill battle. Because I had no immediate support or cushioning, I had to rely on learning, LinkedIn courses and even social media.
One of my favourite quotes is, “the less you know, the more you think you know”. Having a surface-level amount of knowledge can be incredibly limiting. It’s impossible to strive for something that you don’t know exists.
The best things about my generation are the infinite opportunities for learning and growth. There is quite literally nothing you can’t learn on the internet (step-by-step heart surgery, anyone?). We have blogs, youtube videos, and just a wealth of information available at our fingertips. The best part is that it’s all designed to be simple, digestible and appealing- you just need to be open to looking for it.
Personally, the decision to expand my marketing skillset and become a freelancer was heavily inspired by a TikTok made by a social media manager offering suggestions for remote pandemic jobs. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a confusing blend of indecisive and decisive. If you needed proof, that sentence in itself is a paradox.
Since starting at MiM, I’ve learned a lot personally and professionally. First and foremost, I can confidently say that I have improved my decision-making abilities and independence in the workplace. Additionally, the prospects for learning and growth are huge, and working for a startup has been perfect for me for many reasons.
I love the freedom to ‘try all flavours’ that working for a fledgling business empowers me to do. The startup culture of ‘all hands to the pump’ enables me to partake in a little bit of everything, and I have enjoyed many projects and assignments to date. Everyone in the team can pitch in, and there is something that you excel at; the development prospects are enormous.
The leadership team at MiM has also been instrumental in my professional growth. Each team member has enabled me to build upon the elements of my job role that I enjoy the most and even funded courses to further my skill set. The encouragement I’ve received has also assured me of my own capabilities. As a result, I feel confident making creative contributions without someone holding my hand each step of the process or completely dismissing my ideas.
Something else that I am trying to gain confidence in is the ability to advocate for myself. Some people have the natural ability to know what they want and go after it. I have always struggled with this. My advice to anyone unsure about what they want to do in the future is to think about what you enjoy or what will help you achieve something you enjoy. For example, it could be getting a remote job that can support travelling or something else for some people. Either way, once you determine your objectives, just learn all you can. Every piece of client feedback highlights a pitfall in my process. I can bear it in mind next time I create something.
You can learn something new from everyone you meet by asking the right questions. Everyone has the potential to add value, and having the confidence to ask questions has been key to my learning process. Passion, persistence and being a professional plate spinner are crucial for startup success. Things are fast-paced in startups, and there are always new challenges to overcome. Even when you second-guess yourself, you have to keep going as workloads pile up and deadlines fast approach. You also need to balance different clients’ needs with preplanning and proactivity.
From the outset, I was included in conversations with clients and meetings about the business that I had previously felt was exclusive to higher-level staff. These conversations were a tremendous learning opportunity for me and still continue to be. As a result, I was able to obtain insights into the process of building out a marketing strategy. I was also able to gain an honest view into the business’s operations (shout out to operations director Cindy for all of her help in this regard) and how to interact with clients professionally.
I tend to romanticise things- which may be due to my age or personality. So many people live the bulk of life outside of work, and jobs are simply a means to an end. Other people have ended up in roles they don’t enjoy because of circumstances. I cannot express how fortunate I feel to enjoy my job!
I’m not sure what will happen over the following few stages. Still, I’m comfortable not knowing the next step and gleaning as much experience as possible. I’m still learning, but I don’t feel rushed- like I need to race my way to an endpoint. Instead, I’m happy to see how each content piece develops and shapes my writing style. I am beyond excited to watch opportunity doors open around us as we remain open-minded and continue to learn.