Re-inventing when it hurts.

“Desabafo” is a great word. Hard to translate into English because it requires an understanding of Portuguese angst. It means something like “open your heart”, “vent your anger” or “share your sad life” with someone. Normally a close friend.

Doing so with all the 40plus audience it’s scary. But if you work as a freelance in any creative industry, you will understand. And brave you must be.

“A ticket to the creative game is a box seat in a stadium of self-doubt”. Mike Sager

Here is the thing: if you are a creative person, sooner or later in life, you will have some sort of identity crisis. Unless you are Keith Richards.

“Am I any good?”, “Am I a fraud?”, “Will people ever hire me again?”, “Is my style out of date?”, “Am I skilled out of the market?”. These kind of questions are terrible if you love your work and your livelihood depends on getting paid jobs. So, do I have a solution for this? Certainly not. Self-doubt comes with the package of being creative: it is the price to pay for not having to go the “repartição” every day. For having fun working, being a photographer, designer, writer, musician, illustrator, et al.

What 40plus can do to help? It can let you know you are not alone; it can help with self-evaluation, connecting with your peers, and even — if you are good and lucky — to get some nice, paid work. Yes, this is the ultimate goal of 40plus: getting Professionals connected and informed, so they can get their “mojo” back.

This whole thing started last year when I reached rock bottom. Yes, I started waking up at 4 in the morning wondering if I will ever get another job. F***ing scary stuff.

Does this mean 40plus will be some sort of therapy group? In some way, yes. Because if you are frightened to the point of freezing, it is nice to know that you are not the only one. That you can relate to other kindred spirits, that you can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

But then we want to move on. To focus on solutions for our problems. To make ourselves really sexy for the market. To identify and highlight our strenghts and to adapt our sales pitch to the right tone of our audience. Sure, it will not be easy. But it will be more useful than hiding your head under the sand.

40plus will not be a “us against them” proposition. 40plus will be a place where potencial Clients will feel right at home too. It will also be their space, with a comfortable couch and cool and pleasant cocktail.

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