- Work is good, and my team is growing
- A little praise goes a long way
- This has certainly been an unexpected part of my unplanned career change
- You win some, you lose some—but you can also help others win
- I’m still figuring out the ins and outs of this unplanned career change
- Though I enjoy blogging, cutting down on the frequency has been good for me
- Still going strong with Instagram posts as part of my unplanned career change
- All work and no play makes DC CopyPro a dull boy
- Though nothing to do with my unplanned career change, streaks are important to me
It’s been a little over six months since my last update. That previous update came a year after switching careers due to losing my job of 17 years. It seems like a good time for another update on my unplanned career change. As per usual, a lot has changed—while a lot has stayed the same.
Work is good, and my team has grown
When I started as a copywriter at Xplor Education, I didn’t know where my unplanned career change would take me. The marketing team consisted of a director, a manager, a copywriter, and a graphic designer. Then, I joined the team along with a marketing website operations manager in July 2021. How things have changed since then.
The director moved on, and the manager filled that role. The original copywriter left for another opportunity. We hired two more copywriters, and I became the team lead. In the spring of 2022, we hired another graphic designer. We then expanded our team with a marketing lead and a community lead.
The team went from a five-person team to a nine-person one in a year. It seems likely our team may continue to grow in 2023—time will tell. Despite Xplor being based in Brisbane, only three team members live in Australia. The rest of the team is scattered across Korea, the Philippines, the US, and Morocco. We’re very much a remote team, but as I’ve written about before, we function very well.
A little praise goes a long way
Xplor Education is my first experience working in a corporate environment. I’ve previously written about how much I enjoy the “praise” channel at Xplor. It gets a lot of traffic.
We also have quarterly awards. Anyone can nominate a co-worker for embodying our core values:
- Make life simple
- Build for people
- Move with purpose
- Create lasting communities
I recently learned that even when you don’t win, you still win. When you submit a nomination, you include a reason or example of why you’re nominating that person. The person who collects the nominations shares the feedback anonymously with you. Here are a few things my co-workers said about me last quarter:
- Dean is the best person that truly shows the care for people, thus he truly deserves to be called Build for People. He motivates each individual team members while ensuring that we work collectively as a team. He even extends beyond work and make sure each one is taken cared of both physical and emotional.
- Dean puts the customer at the heart of all the materials he makes (with the marketing team). He always wants to make sure marketing work is of a standard and that it genuinely helps our customers and builds trust and rapport.
- Our Marketing team lead, he’s always making sure to explain the complicated tasks through a recorded video (like a tech guy).
- Dean has been doing a lot of work over the quarter ensuring that the customer experience is always forefront of everything we do. It seems like small tasks but they are making a difference in our day to day lives and customers are noticing too!
- Without him, the Marketing team in the education vertical would be just people punching a clock.
This has certainly been an unexpected part of my unplanned career change
I’m not sharing this to boast. I’m sharing because it feels good to have your efforts noticed. As I previously wrote, I worked at my last job for 17+ years. Not a single member from my department contacted me during the 2–year period that my termination hung over me.
My job is to keep our team running smoothly, not to please my co-workers. But I try to do both. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care if my team members appreciated my efforts. I work hard because that’s what I know. And I’m privileged to work with a great team of people. They constantly go above and beyond for the team and the organization.
This has been quite a change, considering where I came from. I was never a part of meetings, and my efforts were never noticed or appreciated. But I enjoy being a part of this team. I try to make an extra effort to thank my team members and co-workers in the praise channel. When you work with such a great team, it can be easy to take it for granted.
You know, it’s the little things—even when using our company communications platform. When someone replies to a task request with “Sure!” it may not seem like a big thing, but it makes a difference. And when you thank someone for helping out, and they reply with, “No problem!”—that’s when you know you’re part of a great team.
You win some, you lose some—but you can also help others win
In my last update on my unplanned career change, I was still doing an extra ten hours or so a week for another client. That was manageable in the beginning. But after becoming the marketing team lead with Xplor, I was working 40 hours/week. Finding the time to fit in those extra ten hours/week became harder.
At the end of April, I was reminded that freelance work can end at any time. On April 27, I received a message that the person who hired me was leaving for a different company at the end of the month. On April 30, my freelance contract was terminated.
Though rather abrupt, it was a good thing. I was feeling a bit burnt out. I enjoyed working with that client and learned a lot from them. But it was a good reminder not to get too comfortable with freelance contracts.
I’m still figuring out the ins and outs of this unplanned career change
Since then, I haven’t looked for any new jobs on freelance platforms. I’ve only accepted the occasional task that comes to me via channels in Korea. I still haven’t started focusing on the Korean market. I’m slowly building my business and reputation. When the time seems right, I’ll switch my focus.
In August, a Korean client contacted me via LinkedIn. They had a large amount of steady editing/proofreading work, but I was too busy to take on that volume of work. I offered to contact some fellow editors/proofreaders. They accepted, and I reached out to one I felt was qualified.
I follow several fellow copywriters, editors, and proofreaders online. (Side note: I need to post about people calling themselves proofreaders despite a plethora of typos and grammar mistakes on their homepage. But I digress.) I felt a couple of these online contacts might be well-suited for this job.
I reached out to my first choice, and they expressed interest in the gig. The client who contacted me and this fellow editor/proofreader I’d reached out to were able to strike a deal. A year or so ago, I would’ve jumped at this job. But it felt good being able to help a fellow freelancer and a client who’d reached out to me for editing help.
Though I enjoy blogging, cutting down on the frequency has been good for me
After a year of blogging weekly, I decided to cut back to blogging once every 3-4 weeks. Well, that has turned out to be every four weeks, and I’m not going to lie by saying I don’t regret that decision. Actually, I doubt anyone noticed, but due to a miscalculation on my part, it’s been five weeks since my last blog post. I’m happy (or sad?) to report there has been no flood of angry messages asking when my next post will be up.
Blogging takes a lot of time and effort. Now that I’m working a steady 40 hours a week, it’s nice to have some time back in the evenings and on weekends. Writing my daily Instagram posts takes up more time than you’d think. I enjoy blogging, and it’s been a great experience, but I couldn’t have maintained that pace.
Though I can’t do it with every post, I’ve experimented with translating some of my blogs into Korean. Living with a professional translator has its perks! Unfortunately (fortunately?), my live-in translator is too busy to translate all my blogs. But if I ask nicely, hopefully, I’ll get a few more translated in the coming months.
Still going strong with Instagram posts as part of my unplanned career change
As I mentioned above, my daily Instagram posts are still going strong—despite commanding a lot of my time. I enjoy them and view these posts as a kind of portfolio to which I can refer future clients. They’ll be able to see:
- My ability to identify mistakes/errors in English (even when they’re not obvious).
- My ability to fix or improve those mistakes (without the need for consultation).
- I am consistent—I haven’t missed a day of posting in over a year.
- My desire to be helpful—I offer help with small tasks for free.
- How I can improve copy in a wide variety of areas.
I continue to add to my collection of examples. As the pandemic eases, I find myself going out a little more often. I continue to annoy my family as I pause to snap pictures of examples I stumble across. And I continue to receive submissions from friends and followers every week. My collection has grown to 900+ pictures, meticulously saved and cataloged weekly.
I love that people think of me when they see examples of awkward English. It’s also fantastic that they take pictures of awkward English and share them with me. Posting daily on Instagram wouldn’t be possible without your support—thank you!
All work and no play makes DC CopyPro a dull boy
I previously mentioned that I value streaks. I’m happy to report that all my streaks are still intact. At the end of January, I bought a used rowing machine to aid with my weight loss. I’ve been doing both Keto and intermittent fasting for over two years now. I don’t eat carbs, and I only eat in the evening. I usually have a homemade shake at 5 pm with a handful of almonds and then dinner between 7–8 pm. Despite this strict regime, I noticed my weight loss had stalled.
I can also say that I’ve managed 30 mins of rowing almost every day since purchasing that used rowing machine. I’ve rowed every day I’ve been home, including during my mild bout of COVID back in April. I’ve only missed my rowing machine sessions when I’ve been physically away (camping or trips). A quick check indicates I’ve only missed seven days since I started. Since beginning this routine, I’ve gotten through several series on Netflix.
- Cobra Kai (need to watch season 5)
- Better Call Saul (finished)
- The Blacklist (up to season 9)
- The Walking Dead (currently on season 6)
I’ve also lost a fraction over 8 kg (about 1 kg/month). But a recent trip to Jeju Island, coupled with my son’s and wife’s birthdays, has resulted in a couple of “cheat days” as of late. But those are in the past, and I’m committed to strict Keto until Christmas. I hope that’ll help get me back on track to getting below 80 kg.
Though nothing to do with my unplanned career change, streaks are important to me
I still use Duolingo every day while I do some stretching. If this blog had come out a week later (it’s already a week late), I would’ve been able to share a screenshot of my 1,500-day streak. I’m also still meditating/napping daily—my app shows a 439-day streak. Those meditation sessions often turn into 15-minute power naps. But I still find value in them—a quick break in the day is a nice reset.
After doing a push-up challenge last December, I decided to continue doing 100 push-ups a day. I can also report that I’ve maintained that streak (you can still do push-ups in tents and hotel rooms). To date, I’m just shy of 30,000 push-ups for 2022.
Those are all the significant updates I’ve got for now. Let me know if I’ve missed anything. Wanna chat about my Netflix choices or ask me about something? Drop me a comment!
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