I use to admire people with more seniority than me at work. Only because it seems like what my future could look like.

Like many people, it took years to get to those lofty (well what it appeared to be) roles the people above me had.

I would then ask in a casual setting how long it took them to get into their role that appealed to me.

I would get responses I didn’t really want to hear.

“Been with the company for 8 years…”

Or something along the lines of

“Lots of hard work and proving myself!”

It’s three problems here:
– 8 years is 7 years too long for me.
– I prefer to work smarter than harder. Smarter, in this case, is what I choose to work on.
– It’s hard for me to put that much trust in a company to guide my career.

(Those same people, at that same job, we’re laid off in the past 2 years due to the company going under. Unfortunate situation but, it happens.)

Freelancing accelerates this process.

Want to bridge the gap of 8 years? Choose better clients.

Want to work smarter? Find clients willing to give equity in addition to pay.

Want to be more strategic? Entertain some free work small projects during downtime for equity.