How My New JOB Manifested and Why I Went Back to Work

I went back to work full time. 

Have you ever heard the statement, “You don’t know what you have until its gone!”? That’s how I felt on my first day at work on my new job. I didn’t know how good I had it at home until I walked into the office and had to stay there for 8 hours. I checked my watch 5 times in a 15 minute period on my first day. Fast forward to day 24, I feel better. 

I’ve always worked. My first job was at Bills in Evanston, IL when I was 14. I flipped burgers (and even made me few to eat when no one was looking). Over the years, I’ve hated more jobs than I’ve loved, and that’s just being honest. I remember when I first married my husband and we talked about our career and family goals. He told me that he’s always wanted to be the one that provided for his family and his wife didn’t have to work if she didn’t want to. *Note: his mom hasn’t worked for years, so that is what he knows from childhood. 

I thought that was sweet, but that wasn’t my reality growing up. My mom has always worked. My mom was married and still worked. My step-dad left when I was in 11th grade, and so my mom kept working. My grandmother worked. I didn’t have a problem working, I just really wanted it to be enjoyable. I wanted to love what I do. So although my husband didn’t mind if I stayed home, I went to college for a career and I wanted it! 

Well, my last full-time job was with BMWK, as a digital editor. I stopped working there in June 2015. It was just in time for me to spend the full summer with my children. I loved it. Fall came and went and I wasn’t thinking about working for anyone. We then finally made the decision to move to Florida, so it no longer made sense to look for a job in Georgia. Once we moved to Florida, I spent the first year getting to know my surroundings and making sure my children were fine with their schools and activities. However, I did decide to substitute teach. It allowed me to get an insiders view of this school system and make extra money. Some kids would ask me, “So, you want to be a teacher?” “No! No, I don’t.”

Over the course of 2.5 years, I started:

• The Knighten Project, non-profit
• One Dream Tees, online t-shirt store (check the side of my blog)
• Bailee’s Nail Box, eCommerce business with my daughter
• My Dream Year Planner sold on Amazon

While all these things are great and I’ve made money with them. I wasn’t making enough for me to not go back to work if that makes sense. My goal was always to go back to work, but I wanted to wait until my youngest was in kindergarten. Well, he goes to Kindergarten this coming Fall and he’s in pre-k right now. While I love everything that I created, I know that I need a team in order to grow bigger. I’m the queen of “doing it all by myself” and I need to get help. That’s my 2017 lesson for myself, GET HELP. 

Well, we (my husband and I) have a goal to buy a home in 2018. My husband is self-employed (realtor). While we can get a house with his income, it will be easier if at least one of us had a W2 job. So, my husband said, “You don’t have to go back to work, but it would make things easier and faster if you do. You can quit after we close!” 

I started looking for full-time work. Although I agreed to go back to work, there were a few conditions and so I prayed. 

One Monday in early November, I had just dropped my youngest son off at pre-k and decided to pray a surrender intentional prayer (when you pray to GOD and you 100% let it go because you’ve done all you can do).

Dear God,

When you are ready for me to go back to work, send me a job. Please let this job be:

• Close to my house
• The $$ I want
• A job I really like doing
• A job I can do with ease
• A family like atmosphere
• Bosses that don’t micromanage
• and LET THIS JOB COME TO ME. 

That afternoon I received a call from a staffing agency about a job I applied for weeks ago for a Social Media Specialist. I was told that based on my resume, she believes I would be perfect for the job. Although she was calling me from the agency, the job was a direct hire from the company. Well, I went in for the interview on Tuesday afternoon and blew it out of the water. Wednesday afternoon, I was offered the job. 

Let that sink in. I prayed on Monday. Wednesday, I was offered the job. 

I’ve been here 24 days. My title is Marketing Coordinator (because I do way more than social media). Did God answer my prayers? This job is:

• 23 minutes from home
• $1,000 less than I wanted but I’m fine because it motivates me to make up the difference with my other businesses.
• I LIKE this job.
• I CAN do this JOB easily but I’m also learning a lot of things I can use in my own business.
• They are a small business and although they make millions each year, they only have 43 employees. It’s such a family atmosphere here.
• The bosses are a husband and wife and don’t micromanage at all. They trust you to do your work. They are approachable, down to earth and open to new ideas for growth. 

What’s cool is that on my 2nd week of working here, I was able to get my job on our local morning show. We secured a 12-month contract to go on this show once a month over 2018. I will also be the spokesperson when we do our segments. I’ve created the new logo for a separate business they are starting, will help with the design of that new website and be the marketing person behind this new business. I will also be able to travel around the country and represent the brand. I’m learning so much about running a small business. It’s amazing.

Oh! I forgot .. the first 2 weeks I hated working. It wasn’t the job itself. It was just working. I got off, came home and started cooking. Once we finished eating, I had a couple of hours with the kids and it was bedtime. I was so tired the first week, I didn’t touch my computer to blog or anything. I told my husband, “This can’t be life! This can’t be my new routine!” Then, I remembered – we have goals. 

I now see how women can say that don’t have time for themselves because the routine of the daily grind is something else! 

Now that I’ve had a glimpse of what it looks like for my husband to provide for me (like he originally wanted to) it’s very niccceeee! 

I’m 24 days in and although my husband said I can quit if I wanted too – I think this is a place I just might stay at for a while (remember, I have goals too). I do like it here and I like the money. 🙂