Hi friends,
Thank you so much for subscribing to my new newsletter! I know it’s kind of weird to ask people to subscribe to something that isn’t defined yet (we’ll get to that later), so the fact that over 1000 of you did just blows me away.
In today’s newsletter, I’m going to share some of the personal details about why I decided to leave my dream job, and what’s next for me. It’s long, because I wanted to share my heart with you, but don’t worry, this newsletter doesn’t exist just to be my personal diary.
So, let’s get to the real reason why you all subscribed: where am I going to next?
Drumroll please...I’m going nowhere! There is no new job, new company, or even a plan for what I want to do next. My plan is to make a plan!
You are probably thinking that I am crazy, to quit an amazing job in the middle of a pandemic. And honestly, maybe I am. I still wonder if I’m making the right decision.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned while living through a pandemic, it’s that life is short. We aren’t guaranteed another summer, and it’s time for me to start creating the life that I want, instead of what society wants for me.
(I recognize this is an extremely privileged place to be in right now - I live in a city that was one of the least-affected areas in the entire world, and I work in tech, an industry that wasn’t hugely impacted by Covid-19, which has allowed me to keep my job and my savings. I also live in a country with free healthcare, which means I am empowered to quit my job without fear that I won’t be able to get care if I’m sick. I’m extremely grateful for all of those things).
Quarantine has been hard, but there have also been many silver linings that have come out of it for me. I feel like I have totally re-prioritized my life in the last few months. The things I value now are completely different than what I valued in February. I’ve realized that so much of my life was rooted in living for the Instagram flex, seeking validation from strangers that would make me “successful” in their eyes, instead of my own.
Speaking is a good example of that: I was constantly travelling and speaking at different events and conferences; this year I had 4 keynote speaking engagements lined up, and I was starting to finally get paid for doing it. This had been a big goal of mine for years! But what I realized in quarantine was...I don’t really like it. I certainly liked the external validation I got from posting on Instagram about it, but it’s not something I particularly enjoy doing.
I’ve been living life on the hamster wheel of white feminist #girlboss culture, and it’s time for me to get off, stop spinning, and take a good hard look at what my career means to me.
So while I may not have specifics of what, exactly, I’m going to do next, I do know a few things:
I need to take time off for my mental health, and force myself to actually take time off from work (it’s already been hard for me!). I need a couple months to work on myself, go to therapy, and figure out what I truly want...and that takes time.
I want to build my own business and go after my dreams of being an entrepreneur. My dream is to have a lifestyle business that I can run with my friends and husband, while living wherever I want. What that business is? No idea.
I am not looking for a new FT job. I obviously will still need to make money, so I’ll start consulting and taking on freelance projects at the end of September, but I won’t be actively applying for jobs.
It’s already been so tempting for me to just throw myself into work again, because that’s what I do to distract myself from actually confronting issues I need to work on. (I’m a Capricorn Sun/Virgo moon, Enneagram 8, and Type A). But I really need to stick to these 3 things!
And now, for the second most common question: why are you leaving Later?
In re-evaluating my life these past few months, I started to change so much of it. But one thing I didn’t get around to truly looking at was my job.
About a month ago, I took a week off work. As most of you probably know, I struggle with managing my mental health, but because I’m super organized, I tend to forecast my own “burnout” and plan vacation time around it. 🤣
Before I went on vacation, I basically had an emotional breakdown over Zoom because I was so exhausted. I listened to a good podcast about anxiety from Brene Brown, where she talks about how people can under or over-function during times of stress. I am someone who over-functions, throwing myself into work and using it as a distraction from actually confronting my fears, issues or trauma.
I was looking forward to coming back to work after my vacation, rested and ready to tackle Q3. But that’s not what happened. 1 week off wasn’t going to magically fix everything in my life.
I started to acknowledge that I was ready to make some really big lifestyle changes, and after talking to a few friends, I realized that I was confident enough to try going out on my own. I had learned so much (SO MUCH!) in the last almost 5 years of working at Later, and now I wanted to try to build my own brand. If not now...when?
During my week off, I also came to another really powerful conclusion: I’m not meant to be a middle manager (at least, not right now). I love content, I love creating, I love building a business and a brand out of nothing. But what I’m not passionate about is managing. Later has grown to over 100 employees now, the company is in a completely new stage, and I’m a Director with a capital D. That means I have totally different responsibilities than I did even a year ago. I work on creating strategy but not actually executing it, so I review a lot of things but I don’t actually create them.
And for a lot of people...that’s the dream!! I worked so hard to get my Director title. But now that I’ve had it for a while, I know that I actually like executing the strategy just as much as I enjoy creating it. Being able to do both is a skill that is really valuable when working in startups and early-stage companies, but can easily turn into micro-managing when you’re in a larger organization (and who wants to be a micro-manager?).
My best friend Tim works in HR, and about a year ago he said to me, “do you think that you’re just better suited to work in smaller companies?” and his question really stuck with me. At the time I brushed it off... how could I ever think about leaving my Later family?
But Tim was right. I love the early stage, and I guess I’m pretty good at it too. Knowing what stage of company you enjoy working in is really valuable. This isn’t the first time I’ve quit a startup job because the company has successfully grown up, and it probably won’t be my last.
Coming to that conclusion also helped inform my decision for what to do next, which led to me wanting to build my own business. And if I’m ever successful enough to have a high-growth business, I now know that I’ll probably sell it or hire someone else once it reaches a certain stage.
A lot of you might be thinking that I’m “taking a step back,” or not “leaning in” to my career, and that’s fine! Maybe I am. Sorry to disappoint. But right now, I just want to do what’s best for me, Russell, and the chill, happy life that we want to lead. We’re going to be moving to North Vancouver soon (a cute, seaside suburb of Vancouver), and I’m looking forward to starting a whole new chapter.
This has been a lot of change in a short amount of time, and it’s honestly been really hard for me. I love my team, the brand, and the Later community SO much, and the decision to leave wasn’t an easy one.
That’s why I don’t have a “plan” all figured out, and why I didn’t launch this newsletter with a big marketing campaign. Because honestly, I only came to the decision to leave Later about a month ago -- this hasn’t been a long time coming, nothing dramatic happened that caused me to quit, I’m just trusting my gut here.
And I’m not disappearing from Later overnight! I still love Later and will continue to work on projects with them. All of our content has been a big team effort over the years, so while you may have been seeing my face or reading my name, there was a team of amazing social and content marketers working alongside me who will continue to put out the amazing content you know and love.
Technically, Tuesday is my last official day as Director of Content Marketing, but I’m super happy to say that I’ll be contracting part-time to help produce LaterCon, our free social media conference happening September 23rd (registration opens tomorrow!).
I am really excited to bring you the coolest virtual experience you’ve ever had...and I’m also really excited to only be working a few hours a week for the rest of the summer.☀️
Coming Up Next Week:
The next newsletter you get from me will be all about Instagram Reels, what’s happening with TikTok, and where I think the future of these platforms is headed. This newsletter won’t be your breaking social news source (you’ll still have Later’s newsletter for that), but I want to continue to share my perspective on the industry with y’all.
Rumour has it that Instagram Reels is dropping on Wednesday, so read up on it here. I also recommend creating a video now so you have something to post once it goes live -- Instagram Reels are posted to the Explore page, meaning that for the first time in forever, they actually have the potential to help you grow! 📈 (A tip for your videos: unlike TikTok, reels can only be a maximum of 15 seconds).
Thank you again for all of your support and subscribing! If you have any feedback, comments, or ideas for me, you can DM me on Instagram or just reply to this email 💛
Talk to you soon,
Taylor
Kudos to you for doing what you needed to. Living in America, I unfortunately don’t have many options in terms of having access to health care and taking time off— I have to make the choice between a job that offers subsidized health insurance but won’t give extended time off or paying full market price for health insurance (or going without) in lieu of job based insurance. If I had the option for affordable health insurance without employment, I definitely would have taken more breaks between jobs to develop brands/businesses or simply to take a much needed extended break! Excited to see what the future holds for you and happy you’re offering this resource so we can follow along.
Got goosebumps reading your blog. Good on you to taking the step out. Outside of the box and expectation of others but also of your own. That step is the hardest to take.
Congrats and looking forward to see what you end up doing.