Anti 9-to-5 profile: Amy Beekley

The anti 9-to-5er: Amy Beekley, Frederick, MD

My job: I am a recruiter, a small business owner, and a blogger within the employment services industry, helping frustrated and frayed individuals find work at businesses that offer flexible scheduling options and family-friendly benefits.

What makes my gig anti 9-to-5: I work through email and the Internet almost exclusively and therefore find myself writing, responding to emails, and connecting with clients almost anywhere and virtually every time I find myself behind a keyboard. Even sticky notes with my article ideas and to-do lists are virtual on my iGoogle homepage.

What I did in my former 9-to-5 life: I worked in administrative positions in the healthcare industry and then in human resources in the engineering industry. Each of my past jobs was unfulfilling and I have never worked for someone else without finding myself bored.

How I made the anti 9-to-5 leap: Working online, I launched my business using entirely free software. My best advertisement has been my blog, capitalizing on the writing process that I love so much. I slowly built readership and the clients followed.

My biggest obstacles: My biggest obstacle has been my utter lack of business sense and networking skills. As a fairly introverted person, I struggled at first even to tell people about the business venture I was starting. My friends were my biggest support and my best marketing device. With faith in my vision to achieve greater flexibility in the corporate world, I have taught myself basic business skills along the way.

My tips for other cubicle expats: Muddling through various admin jobs, I had no idea what my passion was, much less how to capitalize on it. I knew that I loved writing and started the blog as a creative outlet. Even if you don’t know where your passion will lead you, do what you love until you find your niche.

What’s that link again? Flexible Workforce

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Add comment July 24th, 2007

Wow, 70 more cents an hour?!

You’ll be hearing today about how the U.S. minimum wage finally rose from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour, its first increase in a decade and an end to the longest stretch of time without a federal minimum wage hike since the law hit the books in 1938.

BFD. It was hard to live on $12K a year twenty years ago when I was fresh out of school and sleeping on a futon on the floor (with no dependents). Imagine being a single mom trying to feed your kids on that pittance. And to those who say increasing the mimimum wage is bad for businesses, how the heck do you sleep at night, endorsing poverty-level pay? If a business can’t afford to pay an employee a fair living wage, they don’t have any business hiring an employee.

Looking forward to 2009, when the minimum wage rises to $7.25 an hour, which still won’t be enough to live on and is less than many middle-class kids currently get paid to babysit.

9 comments July 24th, 2007