I was never one for group projects at school. I dreaded having to partner up and divvy up the workload with someone else. To this day, while I love brainstorming and bouncing ideas off of someone else, when it gets down to actually doing the work, I much prefer when everyone has their own respective projects. You know where you stand and you know what needs to get done.
I’m always worried about being honest about this because I feel like it makes me look like I hate teamwork or can’t work well with others. The truth is I can - I just like being able to work independently as well. It’s a big part of the reason why I love freelancing. I am completely my own woman.
Just recently, though, my ability to play well with others was put to the test. I took on a copywriting project where I essentially joined a startup as an unofficial employee for a few months. I was excited - I was going to join team meetings and enjoy a remote office atmosphere for the first time in a year.
Quickly though, I started to feel overwhelmed by the workload. There was so much to get through during the day that I had no clue how I was supposed to manage it all. Cue stress headaches and five-minute lunch breaks in the middle of ten-hour days. Not a good look for anybody.
Being a new person on the team, I felt like I must be the only person struggling. Everyone else seemed calm, cool, and collected. I started to wonder if my year of freelancing and making my own hours had meant that I was now incapable of keeping up with salaried 9-5ers.
Three weeks in, I had a catch-up with the lead for the project. She asked how I was feeling about everything with a smile and I bit my lip - then it all came out in a flurry. I explained how overwhelmed I was feeling and that there wasn’t enough time in the day. I expected disappointment, stress, maybe even anger.
Instead, she smiled again and said ‘no problem’. She offered to reassign some responsibilities to herself and another copywriter to give me more time. She also gave me some insights on the project that helped simplify a few of the tasks on my lengthy to-do list.
After I’d got off the call, I realised that I had joined a team but was still treating myself like a freelancer. I’d gotten so used to telling myself that I work better alone that I had apparently refused to acknowledge that help is often welcome, especially on larger projects.
The whole reason why companies need larger marketing teams is to divvy up work equally. I had been brought in to be one part of a bigger team, but my freelancing-focused brain was a little slow in catching on to that.
Although I still think that I’m at my best when I can get my head down and focus on my own work, the whole experience taught me that sometimes bigger and better things can be achieved when working with others. I would never have been able to achieve half of what we did together on my own and I’m really proud when I look back at the campaign we ran.
Moving forward, I won’t be saying goodbye to my independent freelancer life anytime soon, but I’m also more open to taking on projects where collaboration and teamwork are at the centre. And next time, I’m going to take of my Solo Freelancer Hat much quicker. Like most things, a healthy balance of both ways of working seems like the dream set-up.