2023 WEEK 40: The Pivot

The word "pivot" - in conjunction with businesses or careers - always made me cringe. Take an admission of failure and slather generously with self-congratulatory top notes. That's what it sounds like.

Yet, after 2 years of self-employment, pivoting is practically my way of life. A freelance career is all but a series of pirouettes driven by financial precarity. You can spend years cornering your market, only to lose it overnight. Those uncushioned by employment contracts do not have the option of plugging away in a dead niche. Pivoting is not a choice.

When you pivot as a self-employed person, you're barely aware of it as it happens. A typical freelancer has several hustles going on at the same time. Over time, certain gigs gain ascendancy while others recede. Yet it always feels temporary while you're doing it. ("I'll just do A to make a little money during the lull period for B...")

I recently realised I have pivoted completely from freelance writing into my current pets-and-books work combination - after doing the latter for nearly a year! 

Of course the accidental-ness of it all is usually hidden from public view. I know someone who, after quitting his banking job, became a successful content creator with paying subscribers. But he didn't get there right away. In between, he's done everything from public speaking to direct-selling kitchen blenders. A business doesn't sprout overnight, and a man's gotta eat.

Pivoting has a nice side effect: I find myself much less attached to a particular type of work as the source of my identity. This year is the first time in a decade in which I didn't write for a living. Of course, I can still say I'm a writer, but my past 10 months' bank statements say otherwise. This work-identity decoupling leaves me free to explore other ideas of who I might be.

Maybe the deepest effect of pivoting is how it changes the way you relate to work, money, and the economy. Pivots, after all, are prompted by economic and cultural shifts. After a time you gain awareness of how insignificant you are in the face of marketplace forces. I have become more cynical than ever (if that's possible!) about the tenets of the career coaching and self-improvement industry - that success is a matter of personal development and upskilling. 

I find that "success" seems a matter of offering the right service at the right time to the right people - in other words, completely fortuitous. But then "failure", being just as circumstantial, becomes much easier to accept. Overall I'd say that's a win.

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This has been the first week of the year-end bunny boarding rush. We only had 3 boarders but I, unused to the workload, found myself a little overtaxed. The trouble is that every bunny has different habits, and I watch each one of my charges carefully to monitor their stress levels. 

First we have tiny Jill (a boy!). He's a tense sort of bunny and it took him a bit of time to get used to the new environment. For a few days his blanket was his only comfort, until I took it away to wash it, replacing it with a blanket of my own. He was upset about that and wouldn't eat for a few hours! Luckily he got over it.

Next, Orey, a super sweet black bunny, much doted on by his parents. I'm the least concerned about him since we replicated practically his entire setup back home. He is sensitive to the smell of other bunnies on me though, and if I had other bunny hairs or scents on me, he'd assertively circle my legs as if to tell me to get off his lawn. 

Finally, Momo! Being an unspayed female, she had to be kept in her own room. Unsterilised bunnies are a bit hit or miss. We've had wonderfully sweet-tempered ones but also territorial ones - Momo is definitely the territorial kind. She runs in circles whenever she smells us (laden with foreign bunny scent) or the broom and dustpan (equally laden). But she's still super cute. She likes rather rough petting (like how you'd pet a dog). 

I also groomed Jerry, a 10-year-old(!!!) Netherland dwarf. He's still feisty and in great shape.

Sad news this week: one of our regular bunguests Mocha passed away. I still can't believe it. We've watched him grow up throughout his stays here in the past year. :( Rest in peace Mocha.

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After 2 weeks of pet drama I am ready to take it easy next week. Maybe I'll even go back to playing Apple Arcade games.