Guess who started a sch-amazing new gig? This guy!
Before we delve into that, however, can we please stop for a minute and give a shout-out to everyone in the wonderful world of freelance?
Each and every one of you deserve medals.
When I’m in-between jobs, freelance work has saved my butt more times than I’d like to admit. It’s fun to have freedom and flexibility, but at the end of the day, I need structure.
Like, structured structure.
I also need benefits, a healthy office culture, and a team of like-minded, collaborative-friendly individuals.
When I left my sales job back in November, relief washed over me in spades. Given that I’d never quit a job in thirty years, it was an epic leap of faith. (Ask me if I chose wisely.)
Over the holidays, my friend Kim Kramer and I started a casual dialogue about what my next steps entailed. She owns Square Peg Marketing & Branding, an award-winning boutique marketing agency in the Crossroads. She specializes in helping small and mid-sized businesses stand out with bold, authentic strategies. (It’s also worth noting that Square Peg has earned The Pitch’s Best of Kansas City’s Best Ad/Marketing Agency honors two years running. Not surprisingly, they’re also up for Best of KC 2025’s Best Place To Work. Hint … click here to vote.)
Kim asked — half joking, half not — if I’d send her an email about what my dream job entailed, should it materialize out of the ether. “Pick your top five things,” she said. I saw it as a way to manifest all the things rattling around in my creative, caffeine-addled brain.
Because serendipity and timing (and, uh, ether) is always on my side, my robust wants and needs aligned with a new position she was pondering. It had been on the back burner because Team SPMB had just moved into a fab, new Crossroads loft and taken on a slew of new, big-name clients. Call it the culmination of years of blood, sweat, and tears in the marketing trenches.
When the planets aligned in February, Kim came out swinging with a job description that was unequivocally M2. It was an irony/kismet combo. Fact — I’ve never gotten a big boy job by applying for anything. I’ve always been plucked off the freelance brigade for each of my last several positions.
Given that Kim is all about girl power (and has never hired a dude), I considered myself the luckiest human alive.
So, as SPMB’s new (drumroll, please!) Director of Business Development & Branding, I’m gonna be up to my eyeballs in new creative whatnot, while also being out and about in the community. (Ask me if your company needs curated marketing assistance. I’m guessing yes.)
Since SPMB specializes in, among other things, targeted marketing, PR, and events for restaurants, this is right up my alley. Nobody eats out more than me. I was destined to do this job — and to the very best of my ability. (PS. I love that their website is neverfitin.com. Clever!)
True story. On my first day, Kim pulled me aside with a very serious face. It was a little daunting. She asked if we could speak in the breakroom. Holy crap, I’d been here less than two hours and thought I’d done something wrong. She said, “This is weird to ask, but since we’re all girls around here, can you please remember to put the seat down when you’re done in the bathroom?”
Then we both died laughing.
Yeah, I think I’m gonna like it here. (PS. Ask me to invite you down to visit the new digs. You’re buying coffee.)