The Second Door Opens

In late November, I parted ways with my last job working in Incoming Tourism. While there was a certain level of disappointment at the time, I was also very optimistic about what I saw as a change in direction (if you are interested, I shared my feelings at the time in the blog “Doors Close and Doors Open”). Last month, I decided to take advantage of the fact that I am no longer stuck in an office every day, and I went back to school in pursuit of my never-ending-Bachelor’s-degree-from hell, and I blogged about it in “Opening The First Door”.

So, now a Second Door has opened, and I can barely contain myself for the excitement. As mentioned in “Opening The First Door,” I have been participating in a course to be a guide at Neot Kedumim – Israel’s biblical botanical nature reserve, which is just a few minutes outside of Modi’in. When I interviewed for the course, I mentioned my background in sales and marketing as well as my love of writing, and asked them to consider me if anything came up. A couple of weeks ago, I received a call from Neot Kedumim letting me know that they are looking for a person to write and edit their newsletter on a freelance basis, and could I come in to discuss it with the Director. I did so, and then waited while they met other potential candidates for the position.

Earlier this week I received a call from the site’s Marketing Director further discussing the position, as well as an additional project of English content writing for the new website which they are in the process of building. Afterwards, she sent me a couple of documents to translate (the position will involve writing, editing and translating articles from Hebrew to English). Besides providing a fairly straight translation of what was a very interesting article about a particular plant, I also sent a suggested revised copy of the same article after editing it. Yesterday I received an email asking if I could join the Marketing Director and three other staff members for a meeting in Tel Aviv with the company that is building their website. This morning, I asked if this means that we are “moving forward” and that they will also be using me for the newsletter, and the answer was yes. To make sure that I wasn’t missing any obscure messages of indecision, I also asked if that means that I can tell my wife that I have found a job. Again – the answer was in the affirmative, thus putting to rest any doubts that I may have had rooted in my personal insecurities.

I don’t yet know exactly what the conditions and terms will be – I am meeting with the Marketing Director on Sunday to work that out, but it is looking like this work will be fairly long-term between the web site and the newsletter as well as other projects (one of which was already brought up today by the Director of Incoming Tourism for the organization.

So, as I keep telling myself to remind me that it’s real – I have a job. Even better, it’s a job doing work that I absolutely love doing, and with an organization for which I have tremendous respect. Even better than that, it will be working very flexible hours, mostly from home, which will allow me to continue spending a lot of quality afternoon and evening time with my family – something that was sorely lacking in my life throughout the years that I was a full-time employee sitting in an office. I took a chance in not looking too hard in the field where I have worked for the past 7 years, preferring to follow my heart and do what would make me truly happy, and it feels as though that chance has come back with wonderful dividends.

Of course, now a lot of the “real” work begins. I need to work out with Neot Kedumim the conditions which will be good for me while also fitting into their needs and resources. I need to open a file officially declaring myself as “self-employed”, but before doing that I need to sit with an accountant and explore as much as possible the various options open to me and the pros and cons of each one (when it comes to some areas of knowledge, I am a complete Neanderthal, and everything involved in accountancy, self-employment, etc. is of course one of those areas).

Then of course, I need to start working, and finding the balance with school work and Neot Kedumim work, but after going through all of the bureaucratic and accountancy stuff, that should be a breeze.

Sharon has often quoted her parents in saying that a if a person follows their heart, the money will then follow.

I love that idea and here I am, really following my heart. Considering that I’m middle-aged, overweight and out of shape – if my in-laws are right and the money is following, I hope it doesn't take too long to catch me…