Archive for 2009

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Never Would've "Thunk" That I'd Spend a Day This Way!

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

At the Match® Vegan Meats Production Facility. Pictured with Match® Executive Chef Freddie Holland., originally uploaded by SusanIsk.

For the last several months, I’ve been the consultant helping Match® Vegan Meats with their digital efforts. Today, I spent the day observing this awesome company prepare their Vegan Stuffed Holiday Roast that is sold at Whole Foods.

I never realized how strict the regulations are when within a food production facility. I was basically covered from head-to-toe!

This was my first (and probably last) experience wearing a hair net, but it was a great time.

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LinkedIn and a Look Into My Future

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Earlier today, I was on LinkedIn, and I saw that one of my connections just wrote a loving recommendation for one of her colleagues (we’ll call her “Rae”) whose job is what many would consider a totally normal, every-day office job. Millions of people now, just like millions of people before Rae, have done jobs like hers.

The job for which Rae has been recommended is nothing truly remarkable from the outside. Perhaps for Rae, her career and her life is remarkable enough. Perhaps her dream career is the job she has. She has a steady income. Perhaps she’s giving their kids’ better lives than what she grew up with, perhaps she’ll have a nice pension and be able to retire and get a condo in Florida. Maybe she’s involved with her church or temple and helps the needy. It doesn’t really matter that the outside doesn’t find her career or life remarkable, only that she does.

I know that in theory your job doesn’t make YOU, and that by having pride and by doing the best job of anyone who has held your job, is the most important thing. But you see, I’m not Rae. I have something inside me that’s telling me that, despite my marketing clients that I LOVE working with, what I’m doing now isn’t what I should be doing. I don’t feel like what I’m doing is remarkable enough and I do not want to settle.

Also, in the back of my mind, I constantly think, “Do I want to be like Rae? Do I want to go down in history being a twice LinkedIn-recommended, office worker who might make a difference with her family or small network? Or do I want to take some big risks, and have the possibility to do something great (perhaps something that lands me an IMBD listing) and have the recommendation (more like respect) of a larger population?”

(I realize this post doesn’t really establish what that great thing is that I want to do, but trust me, I have ideas. I have grand, grand ideas.)

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My Thoughts on Applying Your New Media Skill Set to the Workforce

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting on a panel at the St. Louis Interactive Festival titled “Applying Your New Media Skill Set to the Workforce.” Along with two wonderful men, Jim B. and Brad H., I discussed “what companies are looking for as well as how to tweak that resume and parlay your new media skill set into an offer you won’t want to refuse,” (that’s what the panel description read).

I took a measured approach, only chiming in when I had (what I thought were) thoughtful responses to audience questions. Some of the points I raised included:

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Living a Meaningful Life Without Feeling Like 'Every One Else'

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

I’m struggling to decide if I’m stereotypical of my generation, or if I really am special. I’m also struggling to decide if the “symptoms” of my generation are a problem, or if they’re a motivator for us to help ourselves lead more meaningful lives than the generations before us. I read a blog post called My job/career does not align with my true personal brand. [Generation Y and the mainstream workplace] passed along by my San Francisco-based DJ friend Phil. Although snarky (it’s published on a blog called Hipster Runoff), I think this portion of the post really describes myself and my friends:

  • “I just want to live a meaningful life without feeling like ‘every one else.’
  • I deserve more than I have.
  • I am entitled to a fulfilling career.
  • I am entitled to a fulfilling life, even if I ‘don’t take things seriously.’
  • I wish people could just ‘chill’ and give every1 like $55K/year, and we could all just sort of ‘be happy’ and ‘buy some cool shit.’
  • I feel like I shouldn’t have to work.
  • I feel scared.
  • I feel like I’ve been lied to/might have been lying to myself based upon lies other people told me.”

What’s funny is that in the eyes of most people, I’m fairly successful for my age in the standard ways people define success. But meaningful life-wise, I don’t feel very successful (as I do think that leading a meaningful life is more important than being a financial success). I’m still struggling to successfully intersect my passions (media, technology, music, the doors) with a career. I think this is where the entitled-ness of my generation comes in: why should I be entitled to “feel successful?” Sometimes I agree that I should have to pay some dues before being able to “live a meaningful life without feeling like ‘every one else.’” Other times, I feel like the only people who live those meaningful unique lives are the people who don’t accept the status-quo and don’t accept the fact that sometimes life has to be mundane. I actually quite often worry that one day I will lose my drive to have that meaningful life and will instead just start accepting whatever my life is at that point. So … what say you? Are Gen-Y career attitudes a blessing or a curse?

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Music to Turn Off By

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

I LOVE consulting, but the hours can be overwhelming when not managed. There’s always work to do, and I’m still learning how to “turn off” work during the weekends. Here’s tonight’s playlist to hopefully help me “turn off” tonight:

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"Meat" One of My Fall Projects

Saturday, September 19th, 2009



Match Meat Loaf, originally uploaded by MatchVeganMeats.

Growing up as a meat eater in a vegan household was quite the challenge. Several years ago, my parents discovered Match Meats which are vegan meats that actually taste like meat. It was nice to be able to eat meatloaf with my family again.

Imagine my excitement when a family friend introduced me to the founder of Match. We clicked, and after working together on some social media training exercises, it looks like I’ll be sticking around in a consulting role as the business continues to expand.

It’s going to be a fun way to spend the fall.

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Learning to Say "No"

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

I consider myself a pretty nice and helpful person. I do things for friends, family and colleagues without the expectation that they will return the favor. That said, I have recently asked for small favors from some people who I’ve helped in the past, and every single one of them have said, “no.” This leads me to believe that I’m either too nice and am taken advantage of easily, or other people are too selfish. In the past 6 months I have dog sat, house sat, kid sat and lead seminars for non-profits all free of charge, and often when asked at the last minute.

I will be moving (not far, no big announcements here) in the next few weeks and I’ll also be leading a seminar on social media. I asked a handful of people for easy moving help (i.e. taking a piece of furniture in their mini van less than a half mile) and was told they would help me only in return for money. I also asked the large non-profit to which I recently spoke if they’d e-mail my presentation to their board members in attendance along with an invitation to attend my upcoming seminar, and they said, “no.”

I’ve helped friends, family and colleagues in the past because it’s the nice thing to do; and I believed that it helps to build good karma. Now I’m thinking that I’ve been taken advantage of for being nice and helpful. I might just have to learn how to say, “no.”

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I'm Here Not There

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

At this very moment, I was supposed to be somewhere over the Atlantic, en route to Tel Aviv for a year of volunteering, hiking and all-around “sewing my wild oats” if you will. I was going to take a year-long break from public relations in order to work hard as a volunteer in Israel, by teaching children English, helping foster a better understanding between Muslim and Jewish youths, learning about the Middle East peace process, farming, working with the military, and having enough experiences to hopefully come back to the USA and put those experiences to work in my career somehow. In addition, I’d learn a new language and have the weekends to hike through awesome Middle East terrain.

…but I’m not over the Atlantic – I’m in my St. Louis home office, and the reason why is not why you may think. It’s not because I’m afraid of the “dangerous” Middle East (honestly, I feel safer there than in some areas of St. Louis), but it’s because I didn’t want to go into debt. Not only would I be forgoing a year of paid work, but I’d have to spend money in order to sustain myself overseas. On one hand, I’m proud of myself for being logical (it doesn’t make too much sense to go into debt in order to volunteer, does it?). On the other, I’m sad that I’m going to be missing out on some incredibly unique experiences; specifically learning from young people, enjoying the out-of-doors and becoming fluent in a third language.

So, I’ve made the resolution to devote my next year in the United States to taking risks, getting outside more, teaching kids (perhaps through Nature’s Classroom this spring?) and learning a new language (in addition to communications consulting, something I enjoy which sustains me and immensely helps the clients I serve) and not going into debt as I would have overseas. I’m still slated to begin my MBA next fall, and I’m certain that the experiences I allow myself to have over the next year will help me to realize if the degree is still in the cards. I figure any “non traditional” experience I have will help me improve at my craft (communications) or help point me in the direction of my next “move,” right?

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Retirement

Friday, August 21st, 2009

I look forward to retirement – not so I can sleep in, but so I can finally explore the world without obligations to return to after vacation days are used up. Bank of America has a handy little tool that allows one to estimate how much they must save monthly in order to retire by a certain age. Personally, I plan to retire by 30. In order to do this, I must save around $25,000 per month. So, basically I either need to find a hidden trust fund or invent the next Snuggie.

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Job Criteria

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

I’m learning more and more that there isn’t a perfect job (well, except for The Best Job in the World – blogging in Australia for $100,000). There are great jobs that allow for skill growth and development, travel, world-change and a myriad of other possibilities, but rarely does a job meet every single criteria for the “perfect job.” Even a business owner has to do the books, or take out the trash once in a while.

I think that I enjoy consulting so much because I can pick and choose the type and amount of work that I do (and I can work from anywhere), but I sometimes miss working for a cause or organization bigger than just me. Lately I’ve been thinking about the criteria for my “perfect job,” so that when jobs come along, I can decide whether or not they align with my wants. If a job meets at least one criteria from each category below, I think I’d be satisfied. Let me know if you’d add any.

Type of Industry

Type of Work

Location

Top Benefit

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