The Great Re-Employment Is About to Start as Side Hustlers Face Reality
Creating, as a full-time gig, is hard
It’s never been easier to make a living by doing what you love, and folks are taking notice. “American workers are quitting their jobs in record numbers,” reads the opening line in an article about The Great Resignation. I began my job as a full-time content creator just over a year ago. It’s been great, but along the way, I’ve realized that there’s a reason more people don’t do it —in reality, it’s really hard.
Signs of pending re-employment are beginning to arise. We can look to the recent cohort of newsletter quitters for signs as to why. Delia Cai writes in Vanity Fair, “[W]riters begin navigating the logistical implications of signing themselves up as a one-person subscription product: How do you keep up with your publishing cadence? How do you make sure your readers are continuously getting their money’s “worth”? Does it feel fair to take a few weeks off for the holidays when people pay a monthly subscription?”
In other words, these creators are beginning to experience what I’ve been learning for myself. Creating, as a full-time gig, is hard.
These newsletter creators might be the canaries in the coal mine, signaling a shift that for many, it’s simply easier to go back to regular…
