How I spend my week as a feral free agent

More or less

One thing that fascinates me—and for some reason is not often talked about—is how people spend their working time.

I am very curious about this especially among feral free agents. I would love if everyone I knew created a breakdown of what they do throughout the week.

Since you should always create more of what you want to see in the world, I will start. Below is a relatively coherent outline of how I spend most weeks:

Writing for The Art of Accomplishment

• I’ve been helping AOA do email copywriting since around November.

• The best way I can describe AOA is that it produces personal development courses, and that the idea you have just conjured up in your brain in response to that phrase is probably very far from what it actually is.

• Another way to describe AOA is that it is one of the coolest companies I have ever worked for and I feel incredibly lucky to be learning from some of the most open-hearted and effective people in the world. The love and care that everyone brings is so evident. And the impact it has on people is stunning to witness.

• I’m currently in the middle of a four-month contract where I am in charge of writing several email sequences for the newsletter. This week, I am working on a welcome sequence about transformation from the head, heart, and gut.

• The hours vary per week, but tactically these emails consist of brainstorming sessions with Joe (the founder and a brilliant executive coach) and Mattia (the CEO who is like single-handedly undoing all my work trauma) where they help me ideate and tell me what they want to convey. I also spend a good chunk of my time listening to podcasts and actually taking their courses (the last one I took was Great Decisions which blew my socks off), and I am likely also doing MasterClass in June.

• Then, I go off on my own and kind of let it all percolate and marinate. Long showers, focusing on other things, and not letting myself overthink too much are the best tactics I find for creative writing work like this. Eventually, an outline appears. And then, I will sit down at my desk first thing in the morning before checking my phone and write anywhere between 30 minutes and two hours.

Developmental Editing for Parents Are Human

• For those of you who know Mel lore, you know that as of the past three years there have been a lot of “cofounder Joes” in my life. Three, to be exact. The past cofounder at the startup I was working at was named Joe, the current cofounder at AOA is named Joe, and my partner, Joe, is the cofounder of Parents Are Human. You may psychoanalyze this as you please.

• Right now I am helping partner-Joe write his book! (About healing parent-child relationships). We have about five chapters written (rough draft) and are currently working through outlining and writing about a dozen more.

• This is a contractual agreement btw, where he has hired me as a (feral free) agent. As in, every Joe in my life pays me. This has been interesting to work through together, and we have started doing couples therapy to support this dynamic. (Shoutout to my therapist).

Editing for Creator Logic

• I have worked with TheFutureParty for about three years now as a part-time editor and writer. They recently partnered with a newsletter called Creator Logic and I help edit and schedule their twice-a-week posts.

• I spend about two to three hours on this every week, and it’s a nice way to do tasks that are less taxing on my creativity and more in the admin-execution editing realm. It has also been a good way to flex my detail-oriented muscles.

• I’ve also been learning a ton about how the creator economy works which is a great segue into the next thing.

Creating Together

• I am running a content creation accountability group (not for pay, just for fun) called Creating Together which just kicked off last Friday. It was my first time facilitating a group of that size (around 9 people at our first kickoff call, with 15+ total people in the group). It was really fun!

• I definitely see some sort of facilitation/coaching/retreat-hosting in my path, so this is 1) great practice and 2) good accountability because I am experimenting with making video content.

melodaysong

A post shared by @melodaysong

Listening Hours

• This week I kicked off something that I’ve called: “Listening Hours” where I dedicate an hour of my Friday afternoon to sitting with and holding space for someone.

• Since posting this offering on Tuesday, I am now booked out for ten Fridays through mid-May, which is pretty dang cool if you ask me. Twitter continues to completely redefine what I believe possible.

• I am excited to see how these calls feel, and if they go well I may dedicate an increasing amount of time to them and potentially take on regular clients.

Okay! I think that about covers most recurring worky things. I do not know if this is forty hours or not, I think it probably is? But honestly a lot of it doesn’t feel like work, and that is kind of the idea. My principle for work and life is that I am having fun, including Type 2 fun.

I tend to do the things listed above between the hours of 11AM and 4PM. Then, I either go lie down on the floor and do some NSDR, or go outside. I am trying to take more long walks, especially now that we have more sunlight and the weather is getting warmer.

If you decide to create a post like this too, I would love to read it. (Email me, DM me, etc).

With lots and lots of love,

Mel 🫀