That’s where I’ve been. Fishing. Casting my line out to Boone Oakley and Big Noise and no bites. Recasting my line out to Gopher Dogs and starting another venture. That’s when the question becomes “How bad do you want it?”
I don’t have that answer yet. Every time I get close to making a decision to focus on something, another door opens up. I can’t stand on the tracks forever. Eventually I’m gonna have to pick a direction and run.
My original plan was to document the whole process of creating the resume that was to be sent to Seth Godin. After the shift in the economy and personal urgency, I’m now on the hunt for a position with a smart and cutting edge creative company here in Charlotte.
The opportunity I missed was documenting the creation of Hire Me BigNoise. I spent about two weeks researching, designing, and tweaking it. With the help of Photoshop, CSSEdit, Wordpress, and the suggestions of close friends and family, version one was completed. Butterflies in stomach, I sent it out to BigNoise on Wednesday and heard back today.
They thanked me for going the extra mile, but informed me that they aren’t looking for any help right now. I knew that rejection is part of refusing the traditional route. It’s still a bummer.
After my first rejection letter, I realized that this is the part I need to document. This is the part where there are less rules and examples to follow. If I can help or inspire just one person to pick themselves up try again, then I’ve succeeded.
Here’s how I’ve handled rejection #1. I thanked Logan for his time, and asked for his insights on improving the resume. The way I see it, if I get rejected eight times, I’ll have at least eight sets of eyes that have seen my work, and hopefully eight sets of insights and improvements. The best part? These are the best sets of eyes in Charlotte.
FWIW, this is much more fun than hunting for jobs on Monster.com!
I would bore you to death yammering on about the life changing shifts that have happened, so I’ll save us both some time and post a short list.
Posts will be a little light over the next couple of weeks as Timothy (my brother-in-law) and I create one heck of a competition.
As far as I can tell, no one has been truly successful at what we are attempting to do. Basically we are going to take our blogs and a handful of other blogs and compete for traffic, challenge wins, and donations (most of which will go to charity).
So yes, the posts will be light, as I am saving up some good material to help get some traffic to the site.
I created instead. I made a $20 Gopher Dogs gift certificate to an event that’s being held early Saturday morning. I also found a plugin for a gallery so I’m going to start putting my stuff up there. Yay.
…is because I’m tinkering. I’m playing with the back end. I’m downloading plug-ins to make writing easier. I think I’m doing it to procrastinate. One of these days I’ll have a nice and fast and shiny website hopefully with some content to show off.
On a completely unrelated note, I need to do a mental dump one of these days and sort out the shit from the stars. At least this way I’d feel better about where I’m spending my time.
It’s been a few days. Here’s what’s been going down:
I totally kicked my toilet’s ass this weekend after it kicked mine for a while. Lesson learned: If you are changing the toilet, change the toilet. Don’t think about any other crap that’s in your head. Just focus on the toilet. In letting my brain think about all sorts of random stuff, I cut the top a bolt that needed to be trimmed…after I threaded the nut. It’s almost impossible to thread it once the top of the bolt is all jacked up.
I also forgot to put the plastic washer in between the nut and the bowl base that attaches to the floor. So after I spent 15 minutes trying to thread a nut over a jacked up bolt, I had to get it back up over the top. FYI - It’s just as much of a pain in the ass to take it off as it is to put back on.
I’m also putting some resources and time back into my Doggie Social Network, CLTDog.com. I met with a very cool lady on Sunday who will hopefully be the Community Organizer. We’ll see how close to Seth’s definition I can make this (unpaid) position work.
Look for more posts this week about clutter, NASCAR, terrorism and what ever else bubbles up.
People of the Internet love lists, so here is my quick top five list right now:
So I’m being a tad over-dramatic. It is frustrating, however to be turned down when you offer to help someone. I don’t mean a cold no, I mean a passive aggressive no. I am not blaming anyone, and I’m far from upset.
I’ve finally channeled my frustration into a very clear and concise letter to two instructors at my Tai Chi class. I love these teachers with all my heart, they do an incredible job. I make sure I let them know it. And they know I still love ‘em which is why all the names have been changed.
For background, Sifu is the head of the school, and the teachers are in charge of the website.
Hi Mr Teacher and Mrs. Teacher,
This isn’t what you think it is. I am not here to pester you. At least that’s not the intention.
I could tell when he called me over last week Sifu really wanted to write. I can understand. I started a blog a few weeks ago and it’s totally cathartic.
I love to read when Sifu writes in the newsletters. He’s incredibly engaging. He’s got a style that’s very natural, and not pretentious at all. The stories that Great Gandmaster told to Grandmaster we the stories that made him the man he is today. And without him, we wouldn’t have been so fortunate to have Master Sifu running our school. I want to hear what Sifu has to say, and so many people who aren’t as fortunate as us would benefit from his insight.
I know i’m not the most vocal person in class. In fact, it’s the opposite. I know I am very quiet. I’ve never been good at small talk and making many friends. But when I bow in, I’m equal. I’m in the zone. I am super present. I love it, I just show it differently than most people. My way of giving back to the school is with this web stuff. I love it. I’ve been eating/sleeping/breathing this stuff for the past 4 years. It’s my passion.
So Sifu asked when he wanted the blog up. He said tomorrow. I took that as a challenge. I did all that I could without seeming like a pest. I don’t want to step on any one’s toes, so let me just make clear that I just want to help.
I’m the kid in the corner offering my help and I want someone to take me seriously. I have a little free time right now, I’m taking on a huge project and trying to tie up all my loose ends. I’m offering free help, no strings attached for three months. I’ll totally work with everyone. I am offering to jump start it, get it moving and then turn over the wheel when it’s running itself. If I suck, you can get rid of me (not as a student though).
I can meet either one of you before class tomorrow to talk about taking over the blog. And if you are wondering about my qualifications, I know Dreamweaver, Photoshop, FTP, Wordpress, a little HTML, some CSS, and best of all, I know where to find the answers to almost any problem I will face.
Shoot me an email and let me know if this is doable.
Thanks for listening, and thanks for being such awesome teachers. I usually don’t stick with anything longer than 6 months, so kudos for keeping me interested for the past year.
I realize that I need some self-editing. So I am trying something new. I should have a couple posts “simmering in the pot” at all times. This way I can just write. It doesn’t matter if it sucks, because I’ll edit out all the shitty parts over the next day or so, leaving behind the good stuff.
My shipping crate is here, so I’m just waiting for that magical writing fairy to enter my blood stream so I can start writing the resume. While I’ve been waiting for said fairy, I picked up a copy of Spore, which is amazing. If you enjoyed SimCity, you’ll love this. Just what I needed, another distraction.
If there’s anyone out there actually reading this, thanks for your patience. I don’t know how you’ve stumbled down my dark corner of the Internet, but here we are. Welcome. Pull up a comfy chair and make yourself cozy. It’s just me here, trying to find my voice and outgrow the fear of criticism.