Location-independent vs. Stability

Lately I’ve noticed a lot of buzz (on many of the post-grad, figuring out your career blogs I read) about location-independent jobs. I have mixed feelings about this.

At first glance, it sounds like a great idea: set my own hours, autonomy, opportunity to do something I truly enjoy.

But I also have to consider: Setting my own hours would mean I wouldn’t be able to “leave for the day,” and I probably wouldn’t get paid while on vacation (though, theoretically, I could do some work then); Work wouldn’t necessarily always be available, and sometimes there might even be too much to process; I like not having to worry about having health/dental/eye insurance.

It’s a tough call, but something I might be interested in trying at some point. I would absolutely love the flexibility of the scheduling though. Something I really miss the the ability to be out and about during the day.

Since lately I’ve been thinking so much about my career, I made a list of paths I may be interested in pursuing:

• Graphic design (advertising/marketing): This would give me more of a change for the location-indie lifestyle. But it also could mean for a company in a regular hour position.
• News/magazine design: Not newspapers, though, for obvious reasons (unless it was strictly graphic design and I didn’t have to work evenings/weekends).
• Social media: This also has many possibilities. I prefer either a nonprofit or a good company I believe in.
• Somehow working with environmentalism: This is an issue I have a strong interest in and could include social media, graphic design, or something else.
• Teaching: This is still a possibility, but probably not until later down the road. I’m mostly interested in it for the “giving back” aspect, school holidays, I do usually like being around kids, and it would be stable.

In the meantime, I’m just trying to be happy and continue working on side projects that hopefully will begin to lead me in the right direction.