If someone asked you what your dream job would be, could you answer the question? How specific could you be or how specific do you think you’d need to be?
I’ve thought about this question a lot in the past 18 months since I left Microsoft. I’ve written about it and talked about it and identified a number of characteristics of a dream job for me. The fact is, I had no thought of working for anyone else so you’ll note that these characteristics are those of a freelancer.
- Autonomy
- Freedom from being an employee
- Compensation appropriate to my skills and experience
- Time that is my own to schedule
- Coworkers whom I adore
- Work that keeps me interested and engaged
- Responsibility coupled with the authority to do the job
I think I may have found the job. I’ve put together an agreement with one of the best web design studios in the country to direct their SEO program.
Gravitate already ranks number one on Google for a number of keyword phrases that are important to their business. They know how to do high search engine positioning. My job is to direct the search engine optimization efforts for Gravitate’s clients and to grow that part of Gravitate’s business.
Why does this fit my definition of a dream job?
I’ve known the owners of the company for years and they’re among my dearest friends. We originally worked together when I hired Gravitate to build a website for Ancient Egypt Research Associates, Dr. Mark Lehner’s team. Working on that project was one of the most satisfying professional experiences I’ve ever had.
We enjoyed working together so much that over the years, we’ve looked for other opportunities to repeat that experience. Gravitate has a very capable team working on SEO but when we started talking about collaborating this year, the discussions led to the fact that the SEO team needs to grow to serve all of the requests the company is getting for search engine optimization services.
Another dream-job aspect is that I’ll be able to run with the same level of autonomy that made my job at Microsoft fun. The position at Gravitate will actually afford more autonomy because of the level of trust I have with the principles and our shared goals.
I also like that my compensation will be based almost entirely on performance. I love that kind of challenge, which brings out the entrepreneur in me.
I’m already hip deep into it this week. I imagine this blog will become even more SEO focused than it has been, with continued evangelizing for the importance of SEO copywriting.
I’m a very lucky boy.
