Monday, June 05, 2006

Official Word

I just learned that I will not be working for Brad. Major bummer! I think I'll be doing Discovery as freelance work. I'm about to go find out if that's the route Kyle wants to take or not. I'm not sure what God has in store for me. It may be a lot of kneeling and meditation. Just keep praying for me.

11 comments:

Mat Brewster said...

Bummer. Did he offer reasons why?

Will continue to pray

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry, Charles. We've been praying hard on this, man.

Let's definitely get together this Friday (Jamison? Sound cool?).

Either way, let's get together and chill.

We'll keep praying, my friend.

To tell you the truth, though, I'm shocked. At that rate with the professional work you showed, I was sure it was in the bag!

kermitgrn said...

Well, here's the transcript of his e-mail.................


Charles,

Greetings friend. I appreciate your patience and your willingness to be a part of the work. Jimmy and I have met (several times) in an effort to evaluate your work (which was very good), and the possibility of working together.
Let me begin by saying those pages were some of the best work I've seen you do!! Good stuff. While I don't want to "bring you down" I do want to share with you what we decided. It is our hope and dream that Focus Press continues to grow into other outlets (i.e., Bible class material, homeschooling material, etc.). We are already expanding into several different types of media, and we aim to continue that growth. What we desparately need is someone we can bounce things off of "in house." We are concerned that with you in Florida we will be limited as to what we can do.

Charles, if you were able to move to Nashville then this would probably be a different email/letter. I hope (and
pray) that you can appreciate us wanting someone who is "on the team" and can help us grow this thing. If we used you for the magazine it would simply be a "contract job"
and you would probably be great at it. We are really hoping to have someone who is on the team rather than simply a contract job.

Now, having said all that, this doesn't mean we don't plan on using you in the future. If you make this change to freelance we will want to work with you on some upcoming projects.

I realize this is not the answer you wanted to hear, (or the method), but know I am praying for you and the work here. Hopefully we can continue our friendship and professional relationship into the future.
I'm here if you need me man!
Sincerely,
Brad

Mat Brewster said...

Well, that's good, I guess. At least its not "you suck" So maybe you can do some freelance stuff for him sometime.

bigsip said...

That was actually a pretty positive letter.

Could be God's way of helping you to spread your freelancing out a bit.

In any case, we're praying for you and your family.

It's going to be alright, man.

kermitgrn said...

As Josh knows, It's tough to hear the words "we like it, but..."

I'm feeling a little better about things. I was hoping to have the decission made for me. But as we all know, that's not generally God's way. I'm going to suck it up and hit the ground running (and praying). Maybe God knows I wont appreciate what I have if I don't work for it.

Now, I have a lot of decissions to make. Do I buy a laptop, software, printer, etc? My plan right now is to wait until we are moved and then start making those decissions.

bigsip said...

Good idea, my friend. No need to add stress to stress.

Moving and starting over elsewhere is enough for the moment...

Prayers are being said...

and yes, I know the feeling all too well...

lilsip said...

Here's my two cents; you've already got plenty of clips from your work with AP and what you've done to show Brad. Do you have a good solid business card/letterhead, name for your business, etc yet?

I'd say work on your corporate identity first. Prepare things to mail out and promote yourself. Because new hardware isn't going to do you much good until you've got people interested in your services.

All that'll kill enough time for you to shop around for just the right computer/printer/whatever. Are you planning to print materials yourself for clients or send them just the original work? That makes a big difference in startup costs.

Maybe too much advice there, coming from someone who's just starting out herself. But that's what I've learned from my research.

mullinz8 said...

I think the last line of “I’m here if you need me…” is sort of funny in an ironic sort of way. The initial contact is a need. Just me I guess.

I do think it’s a positive email. I’d have already zapped him back offering the freelance work and try to figure out a way you can help facilitate it.

Don’t buy anything. If you’ve got the ability you can make what you have sing and upgrading will be based on unjustified needs. When you buy a pizza how often do you inquire which oven was made to use it. You’ve got the experience and portfolio to show your work everything else is secondary to that.

Hit the pavement. I’d find some smaller businesses and ask them what you can do for them and their printing business for advertising or what ever.

You could get some work stringing several smaller business as a freelance together than trying to hook one really big fish.

Something will hit. Then again we must always consider our options too.

kermitgrn said...

Great Comments Rachael Mullz. BTW: Rach, I don't know what happened. I responded to your comment a couple days ago and it looks like it did not post.

Anyway, I have to put some money in, Software especially. I've also got to create my Website (minimal compared to the software). I've also decided to buy a laptop for in-house designing. I can't get myself into a situation where someone calls and says, hey can you swing by our office and do some work. An answer like "Yeah, sure. But First let me swing by Best Buy to purchase a laptop."

Eventually I'll need a wide format color laser. But, that can wait.

Oh, and Rach. I wont be printing stuff myself, just handing them the files.

lilsip said...

Sounds good, Charles! Not printing will save you a bunch of dough. If I was going to get a laptop I'd spend the extra and get one that's got a drawing tablet built into the screen. Just my 2 cents.