Goodbye Bulb
I started at Bulb on July 9, 2018.
Before then I was unemployed for three months. Let me tell you about being unemployed for three months. It really sucks. I started to doubt I was any good at anything. That I would ever have a job again. That I would remember to put on shoes when leaving the house.
Deep existential shit.
The same week Bulb offered me a job a small advertising agency invited me to join them. It was the first job offer I'd had in all my time of looking, and I felt a panicked compulsion to take it. I didn't want to, because I was tired of advertising. I wanted to be useful, and it seemed to me helping people move to renewable energy was the kind of useful I should be. So I waited for Bulb.
When the offer came, it was to be a copywriter. (To be clear, that’s what I applied for.)
Michael Laws asked what my title should be, and I said it didn't matter as long as the rest of Bulb knew what I did. This was a dumb thing to say. How people refer to you matters, both internally and when you're representing yourself to the outside world. Think carefully about your title.
Within a month I decided Bulb didn't need a copywriter as much as it needed... (Googles)... a content designer. I mean, it needed copywriters but it had a new one in Max who joined at the same time as me. But no one was looking after the (checks notes) product writing and interactive copy.
This is important for two reasons. One, I mentioned this to Bulb and Bulb agreed with me. Agreed and paid for a training workshop so I could be better at the thing I'd only just discovered. And two, content design is totally my bag. It's probably what I've always wanted to do but didn't know existed. It's what I think I'll do the rest of my working life.
Between then and now, a lot has happened. I did a Meet a Bulberino where I talked about suicide, mental health, divorce, and being Canadian. In my first month. You know, standard Thom stuff. I've spoken at four Making Bulbs about, uh, divorce and, er, mental health, but also writing! and rethinking success!
I'm going to miss these opportunities. Not because I won't have any at Miro, but because of the very specific ones available at Bulb.
I've trained something like ten intake groups on why we write the way we do, and what it means to be Bulby. It's a responsibility I've taken very seriously, and will carry with me into my next role.
I became obsessed with error messages (go/error if you want to see the results of my madness). In the Warm Home discount form I got to significantly improve something I’d worked on a year before, which I’d never previously had the chance to do.
#BetterThanItWas - Nat Buckley, 2019
Mostly I've met really remarkable people. Just outstanding people.
I think Bulb will ultimately have two legacies. One, being at the forefront of convincing people to use renewable energy in the UK and around the world. And two, introducing so many good people to each other.
I’ve been exceptionally lucky in this regard at a number of places I’ve worked, but, and I am well aware of how this sounds, I’ve also seen the other side.
Good people can be found anywhere, but there’s a critical mass of them at Bulb. Never take that for granted.
I did my best to meet and get to know as many of you as I could. I wish I could have met more.
Keep standing up for what’s right. Keep speaking out. Keep being weird, and true, and fair, and kind. Keep being you.
So long.