I wonder what Shakespeare would think if he read some of the things we write today… I seriously doubt that most of it would stick around for hundreds of years and our descendants would want to recite it. Maybe that’s just how it is- things are different now. Most humans read, and a message can be clearly said and posted on the Internet without a unreasonable amount of worry. We don’t need to write grand plays to make social commentary- we have reality tv. Nowadays, everyone has the ability to write and have an audience so we have to make room. Does that mean we should ignore what for so long has been considered excellence? I may focus on nonfiction as a writer, but I was still bothered by this headline. If we let go of the Arts, where are headed?
Why I Won’t Be Adding You On LinkedIn
I wasn’t very popular in high school. Yes, I knew people, but it was never my goal to be liked by a whole bunch of people. It was always more important to be liked by certain people. I guess that’s why I am baffled by LinkedIn and Facebook sometimes. For some people I feel like they treat these social networks as an extension of our juvenile existences and scream out everyone like me!
Whoa! This is quickly becoming one of those posts where my husband would say: “Are you sure you want to say that?”, but before I virtually put both of my feet in my mouth, stick with me till the point.
I have never wanted to be popular. Not in high school, not in my career and not on the Internet. I’ve always wanted to be the best. When you are the best but not popular you can quietly make your money without having to worry about the paparazzi. Unfortunately, entrepreneurship requires a little bit of self promotion, and our global economy is becoming more and more focused on who can advertise themselves- so, the best is becoming antiquated to the most noticeable.
When I was 14, I worked as the campaign manager for a friend of mine running for student body president. I was not a big talker in those days, but even as a young teen I had a knack for the copywriting.
I was a band geek. I lived behind my saxophone. Unfortunately this meant sitting second chair to a loud and very popular junior who did his best to ignore me. As first chair he was responsible for leading his group of saxophone players, helping us with difficult music, and keeping us in tune. For him, that leadership role meant overplaying the entire section, leaving us to struggle through our parts, and pretending like he was the only saxophone player in the band. Yes he was good, but I wasn’t far behind him, and I was 2 years younger.
His disdain for me was so blatantly apparent that I still get irritated thinking back on it. So when he announced that he was running for student body president, I knew I had to do something about it. I couldn’t challenge the most popular person in school, and I was ineligible to run, but I had to do something.
What my solution ended up being was finding someone to run against him and making them run. This was easier said than done, because seriously, everyone but me loved this dude. I found a shy trumpet player – a first chair junior who would give the shirt off his back for anyone- as his opponent. I then planned his campaign, wrote his slogans, designed his poster and hung them around school. My shy candidate reluctantly went along with it, softly saying “I don’t know Jenn, he’s pretty popular” and I calmly replied: “You are the better candidate, and that is all that matters.”
On a slogan of “Those who talk the loudest say the least” we won that election, and I learned a very important lesson.
Being popular can take you very far in life, but in the end, if you don’t have good content, even the most popular people can fail.
So, bringing it back- I have no interest in adding every random person on LinkedIn to prove I know people. If you want to build a connection, do it the old fashion way- email me. I’ll write back.
So I quit my day job…..
So this is my first week as a dedicated freelance writer since 2000. I have to say it is exciting yet terrifying at the same time. Why the sudden change? Well, let’s just say that my body doesn’t respond to a time-clock very well. .. As I have hinted in previous posts, my health is, well, interesting. I knew that I might have challenges going into my full time job, and for years I balanced the rigors of a 9-5; 6-3 and 2-11 shift… It actually came as no surprise that my body won in the end. I was tired and I wasn’t having fun- not that work needs to always be fun- but c’mon why spend your life doing something that makes you unhappy if you don’t have to.
So when my health came into question, and I started to show more and more signs of fatigue. I started to wonder if my day job was doing more harm than help. Could I possibly better manage my health by going into business for myself?
When human resources told me that my inability to hide my discomfort was costing them money, and they couldn’t afford to wait for me to get better, I knew I had my answer. It was time to move on and take the step that I had known for so long I would need to take. I needed to go into business for myself.
I am sure other people have their reasons for going into business. For me it has always been health. There is something about corporate America that I seem to be allergic to. Perhaps its my upbringing. Being the daughter of a small business consultant, I grew up learning the basics of entrepreneurship and had real life successful business owners to judge success by. Sure, I knew a few successful corporate professionals- my grandfather retired from IBM- but that list was significantly shorter than those with their own businesses. Working for myself was written into my DNA, and every time I tried to do otherwise, my body would flare up in retaliation like I had drank poison.
So was I surprised when climbing the corporate ladder sent me down a rapid free fall faster than my daughter in a room full of dog hair…
(She has allergies.)
I was not.
So while I pick myself up and reorganize my work schedule to fit the needs of my business, I am encouraged by the possibilities in front of me. Much of what is needed for a successful business is time- and I now have a lot of that to go around.
RamblePost: Bills, Feminism, Writing, Job Interviews
To make up for last week, I am doing my #Reblog Sunday post a little bit early.. because it’s technically Sunday most everywhere else..
Hello! It is 1:30 in the morning and I am writing to you because I am an insomniac (and I work closing at my #dayjob). I believe that this post will be somewhat rambling, so please bear with me.
So I work in retail for my #dayjob in a #glitterfactory (also known as a fabric store where we sell glitter tulle. There is nothing worse than glitter tulle! Except for foil tulle. 😦 ). The store has a certain set of music it plays all day long. I’m not sure if it’s an internet radio station or an actual collection of music someone loads in. It plays things like Bob Dylan, Metric, and Dusty Springfield. Basically it is a collection of Pop music from the 60s (possibly the 50s!) to today. There are several songs that repeat, to the point where I want to tear my hair out if I…
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Writing My Way Up 