Navigating that freelance life

 Well, it's almost been three months since my previous post, where I delineated the biggest job change I've had in almost a decade.

I've been pounding the proverbial pavement (i.e. spending a lot of time on email and Zoom calls) figuring out the next moves in my content creation career. 

The biggest one thus far started in October, when I signed a freelance contract with Rogers Sports and Media. It's actually to work three different roles on an on-call basis: weather radio anchor for CityNews 680, sports radio anchor for CityNews 680 and weather TV anchor for City TV Toronto.

Since I am able to perform three different roles, it's actually been really busy being plugged into their weekly schedule at different shifts throughout the week. I've really enjoyed my time at Rogers thus far and the ability to do all three of the jobs remotely from home has been great from a work-life balance perspective.

I've been averaging around 2-3 shifts per week and will continue that amount through the end of the year.

In November, I picked up another freelance job, this one in marketing and communications. I am working as a content creator for Stock Marketing, where I produce, write and host marketing and communications video content to raise brand awareness and the communications profiles of publicly traded Canadian companies.

And it's marketing and communications where I see myself transitioning to my next full-time job. The experience I've had over the past decade, plus the experience that I'm currently gaining are all strong tools to add to my communications toolkit.

I mentioned last time that I had signed a representation agreement with AAB Talent for on-camera film and television work. I've submitted audition videos for a lot of roles, had a number of callbacks and holds and finally booked my first gig. I got a role in a Genesis car commercial that was shot in Toronto at the beginning of the month. That will air in March.

It was a great experience and I'm hopeful to pick up some more roles into 2023.

Writing-wise, I had a non-fiction feature published by the Canadian Baseball Network in November. I actually wrote it back in 2017, but some extenuating circumstances meant it went unpublished until now. Here's a link to the piece and an explanation behind the publication. 

I am continuing to work as a virtual event host, hosting trivia challenges for select corporate clients, which is a lot of fun. I've been doing that since 2020 and I'm hopeful it will continue into next year as well (I have one more scheduled in the month of December. Below is a holiday-themed session I hosted earlier this week).

I've also had preliminary discussions with production partners from CrossFit to continue working as a sideline reporter at a number of events next year. Once those details are finalized, I will share them here.

So, it has been a busy fall and it appears as though that is going to continue through the winter.

Hopefully, I will have more news to share over the coming weeks. You can check this space or also follow me on Twitter and Instagram @MikeGArsenault.

Thanks for reading and watching!