Keep Pushing

“Nuno, unfortunately, I'm going to make your day even worse. I'm going to let you go.”

These were the words that made me, to use a euphemism, available in the job market. My girlfriend at the time ended our relationship one day before that. Things were brewing, my head wasn't in the right space, and my performance dropped.

Losing a job was fair, but losing it after ending a relationship was brutal. To put it mildly.

That's life for you, like the Navy Seals motto goes: "The only easy day was yesterday."

There I was looking for a job, and trying to focus on the only things that were under my control. Going to the gym and applying for the job opens online.

In the meantime, not being afraid of starting over is a great skill to have. So I took full advantage of it. I needed some money, so I took a job at a restaurant as a cashier. The salary wasn't great, but it was honest, and it kept me busy.

Between my new job, gym, applying for a job, and reading books, I didn't have much time to dwell on my bad luck, and with time, I started to change my perspective.

As a marketer, I decided to study customers at the restaurant, observing how they behave, learning their habits, and even predicting when they would walk in from the door, and what their orders would be.

Life ceased to suck.

A little bit, at least.

I wasn't doing what I wanted, but I wasn't miserable either.

This made people start to notice me. I had a few job offers from customers who thought I was out of place. “You're too smart to be stuck here.” I wasn't stuck; I was preparing for my next opportunity.

The opportunity came.

“You are a marketer, right? I need someone to manage my company's social media.”

Awesome. Give me two weeks and I’ll start.

Social media management wasn't my thing, but since I know content well, I decided that I would do the best I could. I kept working as a freelancer social media manager for that company. Until the day I saw this tweet:

This is my dream job.

Ryan is my mentor. I took his course, and we worked together at Fomo.

I always wanted to work with him again, because Fomo's culture stuck with me. Those were my best years. I knew that getting this job would make me a better marketer. With Ryan, you will always have fun challenges to solve and evolve in the process.

At first, I didn't want to apply because, after almost a year away from tech companies, I was afraid of not being enough. But feeling like I lack the talent for something is my normal behavior. 

Knowing that I don't feel I deserve things, or even that I'm a smart and capable person, I decided that I would apply anyway.

If he dies, he dies. Right?

Well, I didn't “die”.

I got hired.

Today, I'm growing TRMNL's plugin marketplace and TRMNL's community presence.

The thing is:

If you keep pushing, you will end up somewhere better. You will not always land on a dream job, but I guarantee you that your life will improve.