Hey there!
You’re getting this email because at some point in the last year or so, I told you I had left my design job and was considering what to do next, and I wanted to share an update.
The short version is that I’m doing accounting work now, and I’m liking it! The looong version is the rest of this email, if you’re interested lol (truly, no pressure). Either way, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for being a part of where I am today.
I hope you’re well. Attaching some recent pics of the fam—we just got back from Japan! If you’d like to let me know what you’ve been up to, please reach out; I’d love to hear about it <3
Ok, so: Last fall, I took an online bookkeeping course, and I reached out to a bunch of folks working in accounting and financial services for informationals. I had been curious about this field for a long time, so I hoped to build conviction that it aligns with my skills and interests, and follow the positive signs along the way.
I have some clients now, and I continue to validate this hunch I had about the work. I’m finding satisfaction in keeping the books balanced, and in figuring out what’s going on if they’re not. I’m fascinated by the visibility I get into a business via how money moves through it. I’m excited by how much more there is to learn about all this! To those of you reading who are entrusting me with this work: THANK YOU again for the opportunity.
How do I feel about pivoting away from design? A little relieved, honestly. I think I needed to separate capital-C “Craft” from “job” to hold onto both. There’s more cultivating to do to bring the “craft” back into my life … (long solemn pause 😅) … in the meantime, this work helps me leverage a different kind of creativity and technique.
How do I feel about working freelance? I don’t know! I love the flexibility I have with my time now, but/and I’m exhausted by the need to create my own structures for how I spend that time. Working contracts means that I don’t have to pretend that my professional allegiances ultimately lie with myself, but/and it means that I pay for my own health insurance which suuucks. I feel both like a badass and an impostor running my own business; I’m running it with Kevin though, so thankfully I don’t feel alone. At the end of the day, it seems like a worthwhile thing to try, and I have the opportunity to do it. So I’m doing it.
It’s still so early and I don’t yet feel ready to like, update LinkedIn or whatever. But I am definitively on this path for now, so I thought it was the right time to let you know what’s up and how it’s going. Thanks for taking a moment to read about this in-between I’m navigating.
And THANK YOU AGAIN for helping me get here, whether by offering your time to share your own career experience with me, introducing me to someone new, commiserating on the excitement and uncertainties of changing jobs, or allowing me fumble on about pivoting? to bookkeeping? accounting? financial services?? You helped to create the conditions for me to explore this as an option ✨
With gratitude,
Yoko
