Hola hola,
Hope you’re doing well? It’s almost been a year since this COVID thing hit us, so how are you doing and how are your defensive mechanisms working for you?
This month, I found myself relaxing a lot. It’s honestly so refreshing to not have anybody emailing you for work or anything. I have a few commitments here and there but it’s not as demanding as a full-time job. This break is honestly making me realise that I may want to do some time in consultancy. I’m currently interviewing for roles (and I hate interviews, especially when I’m not the one interviewing). I’m always nervous to be honest which is funny because my process is so easy. I know the role already because I applied so I’m sure I can do it. The only thing I have to do before the interview is to try to find out more about the company and the interviewers if I have their names. However, I’m still nervous until I start talking.
Anyway, that’s going fine. I have a few I’m really keen on and I hope that I’m writing that I got the job by the next newsletter. If not, maybe I’ll do a GoFundMe for y’all to fund my life and all.
All The Good Stuff
What does an unemployed person do in his leisure? Consume a lot of content. You bet your ass that’s what I’ve been doing.
Here’s a list of television shows and movies I can remember:
Behind Her Eyes - Stressful watch but it’s a good twist
I Care A Lot - My husband, Chris Messina is in this
Cuties - Beyond the Netflix outrage, this is something.
Minari - Exciting watch!
Industry - Loved this. Looks similar to Billions
Bonding - You bet I’ll always recommend some content like this
One Night in Miami - It’s Regina King’s directorial debut
Firefly Lane - Female friendships + This Is Us
Malcolm and Marie - Wahala
Promising Young Woman - Real
Wandavision - Watch everybody act surprised that Wanda has that much power
And here’s some music I’ve been listening to
Crazy - Patsy Cline
Liability - Lorde
Surprise Yourself - Jack Garratt
Vois sur ton chemin - Bruno Coulais, Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc
Levitating - Dua Lipa, DaBaby
Away - Arya Starr
The Shape Of Water - Alexandre Desplat
Ass Like That - Victoria Monét
UK Hun? - United Kingdolls Version
Yellow - Coldplay
Oh, obviously some good articles too
This one about having a serial killer as a father
This man who joined a cult and omo, I’m in shock
This column on living a fulfilled life
Last but not least, some books.
A Serial Killer’s Daughter by Kerri Rawson
My Son, The Killer: The Untold Story of Luka Magnotta and 1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick by
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz.
Of Women and Frogs by Bisi Adjapon
Serious Conversations
Last week, while I was scrolling past Twitter, I saw this tweet from Fu’ad where he says this
I made my peace with not having concrete "career goals" in 2018. As e be like this, I no know wetin I go dey do 5 years from now. E never even sure me wetin I wan do
in response to a tweet that says this
Does anyone else struggle with career convos and defining "career goals"? I have never had a solid answer. I just want to work on interesting things??
And I felt very seen, and so did a lot of people very clearly. At first, I thought it was because I think I’m a generalist. A little backstory with that yeah? At my last job, I was in charge of marketing-related activities. I also juggled a few operational activities too. I was involved in hiring processes, handled a few essential partnerships for the company, was sorta the guy who everyone reached out to for stuff to work with. During a conversation with my former boss, he mapped out a few career points he thought I would excel at and I found them interesting. I remember he said something about being a CEO, a COO or a CMO and I really think I’ll kick ass at it (still scared of CEO abeg abeg) but you know, I liked that he thought my career was not linear and I could do whatever I wanted.
That has been a driving force for me. I’m open to opportunities and the goal for me is that I’m doing something I enjoy doing and in some type of way, doing stuff that people enjoy. I know I say this a lot in interviews and all, but building meaningful products and creating stuff that people find meaningful is really exciting to me. I like the idea of knowing that something I worked on is providing value for people I don’t know.
So what do you do if you don’t know what you want to do in the next couple of years?
Kickass at what you’re doing now - The world is changing and a lot of things will change in the next couple of years. A few years ago, we didn’t have jobs like social media manager or anyone to pay attention to digital strategy etc. Now, we do and a good number of people you know are employed in roles like that. So, relax and do the work you’re supposed to do. Identify blockers, identify issues and talk to your colleagues to help.
Never be scared to show your skillset - This one is tricky because Nigerian companies do take people for idiot sometimes, but don’t be scared to say that you can try things out. A lot of us are generalists, and for the some who aren’t, you’re able to do other things outside what you’ve set aside as a career. Yes, try that out more often! Create opportunities and see how that works. You won’t know if you don’t try.
Get better - Innovation is the unrelenting drive to break the status quo and develop anew where few have dared to go. Yes, do that! While you’re good at your craft, keep pushing yourself to get better. You’re great at content marketing? Push to do more with SEO. You’re great at that? Try paid advertising? Just try to get better.
It’s okay if you don’t know. Just keep kicking ass where you find yourself :) They can say you don’t have a plan but they can’t say you didn’t do the work.
I saved this for last because I wanted you to remember. I have a new video series on Clout Africa where I talk about Nollywood and the film industry generally. If you know me, you know it’s something I’m passionate about. We’re about five episodes in so please check us out on YouTube for now.
I’ll end with this line from one of my favourite internet people Don Blu that says this life is like bread and beans. Life is bread, money is beans.
Love,
Franklin.