Greetings, my new UK and US readers! I guess introductions are in order, and then I will quickly (or not so quickly, depending on how things turn out) try to explain what gave me the idea to start this blog. My name is Pete Smith, born and bred in jolly old Putney, London. Up until my 28th birthday, I firmly believed I would spend my life in London, with the occasional excursion abroad. Unlike many people, I love London and Putney overall. But then, life happened – and it was about to take me to a place I never expected to call home for almost ten years.
How Did I End Up In Sacramento, California?
I had finished college with a Master’s degree in marketing, but I couldn’t see myself in a cubicle for the next decade, labourously climbing towards the coveted corner office. It was not my dream and goal then, and it never became one. Still, I had to pay the bills and find a job quickly. Then, fate (or serendipity, who knows?) intervened. Over coffee, a high-school mate mentioned he was having the gig of his dreams – a part-time, work-from-home, freelance job for an American marketing company based in Sacramento that paid really well. Too good to be true was my first reaction, but when he mentioned his employers were always looking for people with fresh ideas who could put them into writing, I couldn’t resist the temptation.
The job offer proved even better than my friend described. Since the job paid per 100 words, I could set a monthly mark that would cover all my expenses and leave something on the side. Then, I would hit the presses rolling. It is incredible what you can achieve with the proper motivation and boy, was I motivated! I could shoot 30,000 words in fifteen days, get a Gargantuan paycheck, and have the rest of the month off. Or I could hit 60,000 words and put some money aside towards my lifetime dream – buying a quiet country house on the southern outskirts of London and giving a shot at writing fiction.
Then, serendipity hit again. Evidently, my productivity and content had made an impression on some of the higher-ups at the Sacramento headquarters. The marketing company had developed its own proprietary and very clever internal system for assessing marketing content. Every single outsourced content writer had a quality score – mine was in the top five among a thousand-plus writers worldwide and the only one outside the US.
One day, I got an alarming email from the head of the creative department – at least, it read alarming to me. He wanted to have a video chat to discuss my performance and future with the company. I knew that was not common practice with other freelancers, so I had no idea what the fuss was about. It turned out it was a job offer.
Dave Harris was in his late thirties, a corporate shark with an uncanny feel for talent. “Pete, let me be frank with you”, he opened with a calm, self-confident manner, “I don’t think you know how good you are. Most freelance writers write precisely at the expected level – and not an inch above. You obviously enjoy writing for the sake of it, and money is a byproduct.”
It was a funny way to look at things, but the moment he said it, I knew he was spot on. Dave continued by saying his creative team was greatly impressed by my texts and harassed him to hire me full-time. The catch was they wanted me at headquarters—in Sacramento, California.
The job offer came out of the blue and sent my head spinning. The money was outrageous (at least for my 28-year-old self), and the career opportunity was too good to miss. The thing was, I had absolutely no plans to move to the US, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. Fortunately, my dad stepped in and kicked some sense into my thick skull. “You would be a total jackass to pass on such an offer, lad! Most people dream of such opportunities. Don’t squander yours away!” Two days later, I accepted the offer.
My Moving-in Woes Begin
One of the big perks of the job offer was that the company would help me find decent accommodation and cover my first six months of rent. I must say I have never been too prickly about accommodation—make sure the place has a decent shower, a good bed, and an excellent Wi-Fi connection, and you can count me in. I found a good apartment, half an hour away by car from my company’s headquarters, which was top-notch commuting distance, as my new colleagues didn’t fail to mention. But the nice facade was hiding some problems that my inexperienced eye didn’t catch on time.
The first issue was the carpeted floors. I have always lived in lodgings with either tile or wooden floors, so I had no practical experience with carpet maintenance. Then, mould appeared in the bathroom around the syphon and in the corner of the shower cabin. My kitchen pipes got clogged twice, and I had to change the lock of my front door because my key stuck three to four times a week in the old one. None of these issues was critical, but they proved to be an everlasting, irritating nuisance.
My First Disappointments With Local Service Providers – And A Few Good Examples
Throughout my ten-year stay in Sacramento, I had numerous run-ins with local service providers. But this blog will not be about reviewing their services – frankly, I would feel preposterous reviewing something I had no expertise in. But I do know websites, and I can tell a good one from a poorly planned and executed one. I would also give you some tips on recognising red flags, what signs to look for on good websites, and overall advice on looking for information online more efficiently. Let me give you a couple of examples.
The first time my kitchen pipes got clogged, I immediately searched for Sacramento plumbers. To my shock, the number one result on Google belonged to a guy who no longer provided the service because he had moved to San Diego. Of course, he hadn’t bothered to take the site down, and it was still perched on the top spot of page one. There were some red flags that I didn’t bother to check – but more on that later.
The second example is a more positive one. I needed an external window cleaning job after a particularly nasty rainstorm that had made a complete mess of my windows. The number-one search on Google looked thoroughly underwhelming, so I didn’t even bother to give them a call. The number two result, however, was the exact opposite. Why? You would have to check one of my next posts to find out!