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On Be Jane
The first time I heard about Be Jane was a few months ago on the houseblogs.net forum. A few days later David asked me if I had heard of Be Jane. A friend he used to work with was now working there and he had contacted David to see if David was interested in working at Be Jane. What are the chances of that? I passed David a link to the discussion on houseblogs.net. David promptly forwarded the link to his friend.
Then David said it. "They are looking for a designer. You should talk to them."
"Hrmph. First of all, I'm not looking for a job. I like working from home and the freedom of doing freelance work. It probably wouldn't be a good fit."
"What are you talking about? You are completely obsessed with the house thing."
"Obsessed is a strong word. It makes me sound like a stalker."
"Well, you have a strong interest in houses and house related topics, you are their target demographic and you are a good designer. Plus, I think they might contact you. I just sent them your resume and design portfolio."
I had several interviews with Be Jane. One of the founders brought up the feedback on Houseblogs.net. She was very nice about it. The more time I spent talking with everyone at Be Jane, I realized that they are very smart, sincere and have exciting ideas of where they want to take the company.
I started doing work for Be Jane in a freelance capacity at the end of January. They treat their employees well. What other company buys lunch for all their employees every single day? Part of my job includes looking at house magazines and visiting home improvement websites. This is something I do anyway but now I am actually getting paid for it! It's almost like I have died and gone to home improvement heaven.
Last week they asked me to join the company full time and I said, "Yes!"
Being a redhead, there is no WAY I could wear a pink tool belt.
I am now an art director for Be Jane. I'm working on a new look for their website to tide them over until a brand new site being designed by an outside agency (in the works before I came on board) is completed. You know the company is pretty special when I would give up working in my pajamas and timing my lunch break with Oprah and Dr. Phil to be a part of it.
Posted by heather at February 25, 2007 12:46 AM
Comments
Congrats!! It's a wonderful thing to be doing something you love and being paid for it. I'll have to take a closer look at "be jane"!
Posted by: Leslie at February 25, 2007 8:32 AM
Wow! That is so cool.
Posted by: Greg at February 25, 2007 10:35 AM
Congratulations.
Posted by: Aarlene at February 25, 2007 12:20 PM
How cool is that? Congratulations!!
Posted by: Victoria at February 25, 2007 12:37 PM
Wow, what an awesome job. It really makes a difference when you find something that really interests you and get paid for it. Great deal! Woohooo! Congratuations!
Posted by: teri at February 25, 2007 7:05 PM
I'm a newspaper columnist in Vancouver, B.C., and am interested in chatting with you about your blog, for a story I'm doing this week on house blogs.
I can be reached by email at sfralic@png.canwest.com if you are interested in being featured.
Thanks.
Shelley
Posted by: Shelley at February 26, 2007 3:47 PM
Good for you. I wish I would get a job like that. I know I criticized BeJane, but really honest feedback is the highest compliment. ;o)
Posted by: Jocelyn at February 26, 2007 6:40 PM
Pssst...you've been tagged by ournewfarm.blogspot.com for the 5 things meme ;)
Posted by: Tiffany at March 2, 2007 7:03 AM
Well done - you definitely thought this out and it's great that you'll be getting paid to do work you already enjoy. How many people can say that!
Posted by: Chuck at March 3, 2007 12:48 AM