It’s been a while since I’ve updated.
A few years ago, I lost my job for the first time. I got another one. Then I quit that one because it was terrible. Then I got another one, and I liked that one a lot, but it didn’t pay much, and it got in the way of my recreation and family time, (especially when iOS7 launched), so I quit. Then I got another job, and that one was good, and I met a lot of really great people, and then that job went bonkers, and I lost that job too. So, in about seven years, I had a lot of jobs. Some I liked, some I didn’t. I was good at all of them. Anyone of those jobs could have been a career, except for the fact that they didn’t end up being one.
After all that happened, I decided I didn’t love marketing. If you roll backward in time down this here blog, you’ll see some of the things I was doing as far as trying to make myself fall in love with marketing again. It didn’t work.
I think it’s possible to do marketing and be a good person. I know a lot of people who are good marketers and who are good people. And It’s a struggle for them every single day. They fight for excellence, authenticity, and compassion, and they face an impossible crashing wave of spreadsheet-driven mediocrity.
That’s not for me, though. I honor those sword-wielding paladins, but that’s not for me. The truth is, those people survive on their discretion; knowing when to pick their battles, advancing strategically when it matters and retreating when necessary. I tend to meet force with force and eventually get downsized out of a job by a coward who pays a hired goon to escort me from the building. There is honor in losing that way, I guess. But it’s not a satisfying resolution for anyone. It’s still losing; I hate losing.
So I’m not in marketing anymore. That’s the facts.
Someone I care deeply for once told me I was the best writer she’d ever worked with. That kept coming up as I was searching for my next big thing. Nobody I wanted to work for cared that I am a great writer. Nobody who wanted me to work for them had any work for someone who excels at getting all excited and doing stuff.
I went to see my college writing partner a few days ago. I was telling him about “getting all excited and doing stuff,” and I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t need to explain that to him. “Yeah,” he said. “Isn’t doing stuff great?”
So, yeah. I’ve been doing stuff.
Still alive. Hope things are well with you.