Swirleigh
Good luck! I was in similar situation back in May. It took me 7 weeks to accept an offer... and then all the offers really started pouring in. Will follow on twitter (swirligh)
I’ve worked as SEO in a SEO firm, as an in-house SEO and as an independent doing side jobs now and then.
The SEO firm was a rush, rush, rush to get a site optimized as quickly as possible and move on to the next one. Focus was only on keyword positioning in organic results.
I never saw the site again unless clients went for a monthly maintenance plan.
The side jobs I try to pick and choose, but usually it’s someone I know that needs work done. The clients pay for a specific goal/project. Not much follow up if goals attained. I’m thinking I should start charging a maintenance fee, to continue tweaking and building links after main project complete. . .but really no time anyway.
As an in-house SEO, I get to work on long range goals, I get to check and test results all the time. Keyword rankings isn’t the only goal: traffic and conversions is even more important. It’s great to see the results of different projects, redesigns, to see better conversions, and gain links naturally.
There are downfalls to in-house though. You’re stuck with the same clients, the same site, the same topic day after day, week after week, year after... ugh.
Story: Search Expert Forced to Live Under Bridge