The kids are begrudgingly accepting that next week they’ll be going back to school. After almost three months, they’ll be navigating a new head teacher and a new class combination with a reshuffling of who’s in Class A and who’s in Class B.

So right now, they are deciding who they want to be this upcoming school year. My son has decided to continue as is, so he can more easily reconnect with friends from last year. That means: same bag, same haircut, same everything.

My daughter wants to experiment with something new, heavily impacting the assortment of keychains attached to her school bag and requiring a new pencil case. We updated stickers on notebooks and her hairstyle.

I love this energy of “everything is possible” combined with personal ownership. And even my kids are aware that this is partially an illusion. They won’t be able to control how others react to their bid to keep going or start something new (and which bid those kids made themselves).

And who cares, there’s joy in getting ready and dreaming about what could be. We’ll handle reality when it gets to us.

I’ve been doing something similar over the past year or so, experimenting with how it feels to present myself as a tax advisor for Spain-based freelancers. I got certified as a financial advisor (because I don’t need to compete with my business partner, who’s the tax specialist). I did and redid the website until it now finally feels like us. I purposefully wear my pink flower dress to networking events, to visually create a mismatch between how I look and what I do. It helps people to remember me.

Taxes already create anxiety for freelancers, so the minimum I can do is to bring some levity to the conversation. Knowledge doesn’t require a suit, and I want our clients to know we care enough so they can ask ALL their questions without feeling intimidated.

And yes, not everyone responds to this approach. But those who do are a delight to work with, and I want to work with and for people that I like.

That’s the advantage when you have more than just school as your playground. If the type of people at an event don’t feel like “your” people, you can leave. There’s no participation medal for networking events.

My bubble used to be the tech startup world. My background is Customer Support, so I have experience with explaining complicated systems to someone who just wants their problem to go away.

Now I am working not just with developers, but also with consultants, artists, lawyers, and therapists. Suddenly AI automations aren’t THE topic anymore. We discuss pricing strategies, how to start saving for retirement, how to manage anxiety when things suddenly go really well (yes, that’s a thing too).

All of them use AI in some capacity, but “orchestrating agentic workflows” isn’t their goal. The freelancers and micro-companies I now support, they work with real humans (the lawyer, the therapist) or real stuff (the artists). Creativity and connection is important to what they do. Showing up as a person is part of the job description.

Coming from tech, this is so refreshing. Tech isn’t everything. AI isn’t everything. There’s real people out there having real conversations. You just have to show up!

Real life also means that I can play around while showing up. Right now I am mostly showing up as the tax advisor. But I can easily shift into pre-mortem coaching (how to get the admin done ahead of time), or accountability partnering, depending on where I am.

I guess there are advantages to adulting. I don’t get the 3 months of summer vacation. I do get the liberty to reinvent myself, using all my experience as I see fit in a new context without having to wait for September.

PS: If you are online a lot, I still do think that you need a website of sorts. You don’t own LinkedIn and Instagram, so they can cut you off. You can own your own website. If that’s something you’ve been thinking about, check out 1K in 1 Day with Lea Jovy, and create your own website. In a day. Alongside many other people. I’ll be there to support on Oct 10th: https://leajovy.com/1k-in-1-day/