Katelyn’s First Anniversary!
For someone whose adult career is one year old, a work anniversary is kind of a big deal.
My journey with Brand Yourself started a while back, when I worked as an intern at a coworking site. When Tami worked out of the space, I completed projects for her and tried to avoid eye contact because she intimidated me. Eventually, Tami took me out to lunch, and it’s been clear skies ever since. Turns out she’s a pretty nice lady!
Though I’ve worked for Brand Yourself in a project-based and part-time capacity for longer, a year of full time employment is quite different. Employee status has provided me unique opportunities to know Brand Yourself far more intimately than writing content for our clients.
In the past year, I’ve worked on business and product development, pricing, training, creative strategy, product development, and so much more. Each opportunity to learn more about the company and help shape its future is a privilege rarely afforded to employees of my experience level. It’s not very often that a 22-year-old has helped define a company’s mission, written job descriptions, and discussed business strategy with the CEO. While understanding the complexity of a business is challenging, it also gives perspective to my work and motivates me. I know this year of myriad experiences has developed me professionally, and I like to think I have impacted Brand Yourself and our clients in return.
The unique nature of my position in a small company constantly also requires me to tackle all sorts of projects and gain new skills. Graphic design? Sure. Launch a website? Why not. In digital marketing, new strategies and methods constantly crop up, which means I’ve learned to be flexible, curious, and eager to try new things. It also means I’ve spent a lot of time on the Google machine.
In addition to diverse types of projects, I have also been fortunate to work with a range clients this year. Spanning from beverage distribution to eco-friendly retail products, Brand Yourself boasts a truly unique portfolio. While my work is oftentimes similar across clients, I consistently learn about new industries and meet the kind, intelligent people who work there. I would never have predicted it, but I can tell you more about comfort height toilets and avian influenza than I care to admit.
The first year of my career has seen it all: mistakes and accomplishments, inspiration and exasperation, creative exploration and weeks of putting my nose to the grindstone. I’ve gone to (too) happy hours, babysat my boss’ cute kids, and tried to convince people that I’m more capable than the 14-year-old I look like. We might not have an office space, but I’m pretty good at finding the best place to sit in a coffee shop for 5 hours without being questioned.
The best part so far has been getting out of my job what I put into it. Working for a company that values flexibility and doing what you love means I get to make sales that I want to work on, spend more time where I find inspiration, and ask for input where I’m struggling. My goal for year two is to put more work into the parts of the business that will allow both Tami and me to do what we love.
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