six months in

After six and a half years freelance I’m coming up to six months in at Bloom (I started at the beginning of January but couldn’t announce it until February for various reasons).

I’ve been rather lax on the blogging front since I joined Bloom because there’s loads of things I’d like to write about but can’t due to NDAs, proprietary tech, client confidentiality or simply running the risk that current clients would read a rant about client behaviour.

So what have I learned that I can share? Well, it’s been a bigger adjustment that I expected to get back into the swing of client politics, invoicing cycles, inter-agency negotiations and HR. I love having all the resources I need to do my best work on hand and a room full of bright people to bounce ideas off, but I’m not so keen on the lack of control of my diary. My digital vocabulary has shot up and my love for data science grows daily, but I could do without the hour-plus commute.

Having a Tourism client with sites at the seaside wasn’t much fun in January but is a definite perk in June and I know considerably more about security systems, roulette and gym members than I did this time last year.

Overall, it’s been a really good move for me – but then I work a short-ish, flexible-ish week. I honestly don’t think I could hack the typical agency 50 hour week (and even longer in pitch season) any more, and I’m increasingly thinking that no-one should. Bloom is pretty into non-traditional contracts and I honestly think it’s the way forward. Knackered, stressed people don’t produce their best work – and The Work is all an agency has to sell.