Freedom is super important to me - it always has been and it was a big part of the reason why I became an ESL/EFL teacher more than 20 years ago. I wanted freedom to travel. I guess that is a major reason many people choose that path.
Before I completed my CELTA qualification (Certificate in English Teaching to Adults run by Cambridge Assessments) in my home county - Kent - in the UK, I'd mainly been working in advertising sales for county-wide newspapers. There was a lot of cold calling and it was often really as dull as dishwater. I was good at it, being promoted quickly, taking on more responsibility, and looking like I was going somewhere. But I really hated it........
Sitting at a desk for at least 8 hours a day, making repetitive calls and having equally repetitive office small-talk conversations. The best thing about that job was the social aspect. After doing that job for however many hours a day, many of us wanted to go out and let off a lot of steam - pubs, clubs and raves. For a twenty-something, that part was FUN. Many of the people I know who stayed in sales though are STILL on this track, but high-end restaurants and swish hotels are involved too. Same shit, different locations.
So after getting "qualified" ( it's a complete shocker, but just a 5 week course deems you "qualified"), I applied for some of the more lucrative jobs and within a couple of months I was living and working as a business English trainer in Tokyo, Japan. BOOM! Those two and half years of my life were priceless. I got a real taste for travel, for language, for culture - for more FREEDOM. My adventures in Tokyo and in Japan are worthy of their own post, but you can guess that I loved it since I stayed a while.
Working in Japan had taught me a lot about virtue-signaling. Productivity was pretty low since everyone was expected to be at their desk all the time, even when all the work had been done. If the boss stayed late, all the "underlings" had to stay behind too. It made me sad to see so many of my (mostly male) business English students work 12 +hour days, rarely spend time with their family, and feel apathetic because they had to seem busy when really they weren't. It really seemed absurd to me.
Since that time, I'd worked in many language schools, in a Further Education college, and in a university in Vietnam. Although government institutions provided me with stability and in some cases - an easy life - my love of freedom was quashed and again I was surrounded by virtue-signaling. Pointless politics and lots of seemingly pointless admin that (almost) nobody questioned. Nobody wanted to stand out or to innovate for the students, because of the admin hell it would cause. For me, the moment I stagnate is the moment my students also stagnate. But that's just me. I've almost always focused on a growth mindset. I actually teach the growth mindset where is it needed and have had great results, especially with teenagers and undergraduates.
Then - at lunch with a good friend one day - they mentioned to me that their mum's friend owned a corporate training business and that I should apply to be a freelancer. I applied and started as a freelancer within a couple of weeks - I think - and I didn't look back. No longer did I have to sit at a desk in an office. No longer did I have to pretend to be busy, or carry out pointless admin tasks.
I could go to the office and use their resources if I wished, but mainly I worked from a cafe, from my local gym, or in the comfort of my own home. In between clients I went rollerblading in Hyde Park with a friend or two, or I went to the gym, or a I went to an art gallery, an exhibition, or a museum. I travelled all around London and I was in the FLOW. Of course, sick pay, benefits and a pension were non-existent, but when you are registered as self-employed you benefit from other things.
So long as the students (delegates/ clients) were happy and reached their goals, it did not matter how I arranged my time. In the whole time I have worked as a freelance teacher/ trainer, I have only had one unhappy client. And to be honest, I don't think that client's problem was really with me, so much as the fact that her manager had made her have English lessons to undermine her; there was nothing wrong with her English and it wasn't the first time I'd witnessed this. I'd seen many non-native speakers with advanced level of English being made to take English class because their line manager felt threatened. I learned a lot about people because often I was the only person my students could talk to about these things - and I learned even more about the dark side of the corporate world.
Definitely, working as a freelancer in the corporate world opened my eyes and contributed immensely to my spiritual awakening, especially since I was working a lot in finance in the City of London (did you know that the City of London is a corporation, owned by "The Crown". It has its own mayor, its own police force, and is 1/3rd of the corporate trifecta that has been dominating the world- Washington - The Vatican - The City of London?) I learned a lot of pleasant things too and I met some fascinating and well-connected people who opened my eyes to a lot of things.
Fast-forward to today, and I'm currently in Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula enjoying life and yes - you guessed it - freelancing. This time I am 100% online. One of the benefits of all the craziness over the last couple of years is that more people want flexibility and doing things online and often from home also suit them better too! It's a win-win. I'm currently working with people in Greece, Turkey, China, Germany and the UK, and inbetween jobs I go to the beach, nap, play with my pets, blog (as I am now), hang-out in a local cafe, or go visit a cenote, for example. I also have time to pursue my many other favourite pursuits. All that time I have because I'm not travelling to and from work, not sitting at a desk for no reason, not clockwatching, not box ticking.
Time to blog, time to connect, time to time to do things differently.
Freedom to flow.
Happy Days.
Love, Marley and Me xxxx
Images my own
Made in Canva