What does it mean to be a “free agent”? We love this Wixii™ term because to us, it describes someone who is independent and thus has individual control and flexibility to create the work-life mix that s/he wants. Being a free agent is a route that many choose to find their survival+ mode. And, as we have discovered this week, it is an option that is available to many of us, especially those of us who are willing to create our own definition of success, and live it.
My personal free agency has landed me in an entrepreneurial opportunity that provides great professional control and flexibility (as well as responsibility) so that I can stay “in control” and be flexible in my family life. First I was a big firm associate, then automation and business development guru at a high tech firm ascending the ranks, but I didn’t have a clue of what my life would look like with children. When my first son was born, my perspective changed, really surprising me, and it took me several years to reconcile my new definitions of personal and professional success. Creating Women in the Mix allows me to use and grow my skills and experience while maintaining the hands-on parenting style that works within my family.
This week’s featured Wixii Virginia Spivey also shares that she didn’t start out planning to be a free agent: “Generally, I’ve most enjoyed the freedom to pursue multiple interests simultaneously. I’m developing a broader range of skills than if I was in a single, full-time position. In addition to the work experience per se, it’s allowed me opportunities to engage in professional development, especially in learning new technologies and staying current around new practices/theories in the field. I also think it’s telling that, at least in my fields of education and non-profit museums, I have found it possible to earn more as a freelancer than as a full-time employee.”
Daniel Pink, author of one of this week’s Wixii Reads: Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself, explores that “not all “free agents” are highly paid athletes whose main skills are dunking a basketball or hitting a baseball. In fact, as Pink (contributing editor, Fast Company) reveals, over 25 million Americans are now self-employed, and fewer than one in ten works for a Fortune 500 company. This excellent work synthesizes the seismic shift in attitudes about and patterns of work in the economy from the early 1950s era of William Whyte’s The Organization Man to today’s independent worker, the free agent. Pink astutely summarizes what this major shift in the definition of employment now means to millions of Americans and explains the various types of free agents (including soloists, temps, and those involved in their own microbusiness).”
Once upon a time, I believed that once you started down one avenue, you must keep at it. I still believe follow through is important, but so is staying true to my priorities and re-evaluating what success means to me in the given stage of life. The work itself and results matter more to me than the face time or the title. I want to be professionally relevant but also a hands-on mother. It is a delicate balance and my definition is exactly that – mine. We are each individuals. However, defining and redefining our definitions of success is key to a thriving work-life mix. Please join me in creating that definition and being brave enough to live it!
