Saying ‘yes’ to who you really are

Two people walk into a bar. A resume-writer and a location-independent remote professional. Which one gets up and walks out after a dissatisfying 30-minute conversation?

You guessed it! The location-independent remote professional.

I’ll come back to this story in just a bit; let me first introduce myself…

Beloved job-seekers – and the larger Growmotely family. Hello!

My name is Vanessa, and I have recently joined the Growmotely team, tasked with the awesome responsibility of delivering valuable – and perhaps on occasion even juicy – content to our growing community. Please feel free to think of me as your remote work cupid; I will strive to use my arrows to educate and inspire you in the most positive of ways on all things that we love to talk about here at Growmotely. In return, I ask that you reach out to me* (when you feel inspired to do so), and share what you are thirsty to learn about and explore.

So you know: my professional background is in personal productivity coaching; I have been properly location-independent since 2017 (and informally so for about four years before that); I am a dual US-UK citizen; and my soulmate country is in West Africa – le Sénégal. 

OK! Let’s get back to the ‘bar’ story.

Job-seekers – this was not just *any* location-independent remote professional! This was me, and I walked into the bar (which in reality was actually a phone call), bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, brimming with excitement as to what sort of magic a professional resume / CV-writer might be able to whip up – by taking my old CV, and adding a whole slew of new and unique skills that I had acquired in the last few years – living and working as a digital nomad.

I will not bore you with the gory details, but in a nutshell, the resume-writer proceeded to take everything that I wanted to showcase about my nomadism, and explain to me why – instead – I should actually be ‘hiding’ this and ‘playing down’ that. Companies would not take me seriously. “These are not the skills to showcase if you would like to get hired.” etc.

Needless to say, I broke up with her after this first (resume-writing) date. I said ‘no’ to her ‘advice’ and I stuck to my guns. A little less than a year later, I said ‘yes’ to accepting an offer at Growmotely, a company that *matches* my enthusiasm for the skill set I have been so proud to acquire as a location-independent remote worker and nomad.

Let’s all say ‘yes’ to who we really are, and see where we end up.

I can’t wait to go on this journey with you!

Article by the newest addition to the Growmotely team:
Vanessa Kettner (*vanessa@growmotely.com)