The Street Cat, Craig Colby

In the television production world, I had been a house cat for 28 years, making programs inside a broadcaster. It was a comfortable place to be. I noticed the difference when the streets cats, freelancers, worked on my projects. They seemed a little hungrier. In 2017, I was told my sweet corner office job was being moved to the United States and I wasn’t going with it. Suddenly, I was the street cat. Friends told me to take some time to relax, enjoy the summer. That was not going to happen. I needed to hunt.

For the first three years, I did pretty well as a freelancer. Then the pandemic hit, and all my customers disappeared. My back was against the wall. In order to raise my profile in the industry, I needed to start marketing and branding myself. I created some podcasts and a blog, to get my name out there. I also started networking in earnest for the first time in my life.

It worked. Calls came in along with contracts with new customers. I promoted everything I did shamelessly. The best years of my career, financially and creatively, came out of my new push. My work has either brought in lots of money or won a bunch of awards. People look at me differently than in the past for all the right reasons. I’ve also published my first book, a memoir told through my hat collection, ALL CAPS: Stories That Justify an Outrageous Hat Collection. It’s won 4 awards.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this new life but I think that’s just the way it is for a street cat. I’m starting to feel like and entrprenuer.