I spend a lot of my time working on seasonal sites, which I know many Online Marketers decry. I like them, they are hard work but I enjoy it. They give a shape to my working life that is often lacking for people who work online. We don’t have quite the same seasonal influences in our working life – we don’t go past the shops daily on our way to the office, we don’t have the buzz of the office parties, the holidays and the work social life that marks the passage of time in the workplace. We work in our offices at home, with just a PC (Or Mac) and Twitter for company and we lose touch with many of the social aspects of work.
The fact that most of us are self-employed has a lot to do with the lack of social interaction as well. If we don’t work, we don’t get paid, and if we don’t get paid, we don’t eat – sick days are not an option. If you are still working at 2.00 a.m. to get it finished, you are still working, there is little choice. Despite all that I wouldn’t swap it for the world. I love working for myself, even with all it’s uncertainties.
We create a world for ourselves that it quite unique. The advent of services like Twitter gives us the office chit-chat that we would otherwise miss, and it doesn’t matter what time of day you are working. I find myself intrigued by the goings on of friends all over the planet these days, Stephen Fry’s recent arrival on Twitter has caused me so much amusement and enjoyment. I find myself interested in things that would otherwise have passed me by. I avoid newspapers and the like, because they are so negative but I have a good grasp of what is really going on in so many places because of the constant flow of information that bubbles up in the right hand corner of my screen.
Granted there is a fair amount of drivel from some quarters, but I can soon stop following them and gradually the quality of the conversation rises and I find I do have colleagues, people that I work with and can ‘chat’ to and share the large and small things in life. I have the privilege of choosing the people I converse with in the office, unlike so many. Important information drops into my ‘In Tray’ without having to seek it out, I can share my discoveries with people who are genuinely interested. I have a window on the world that would be denied to me if I was stuck in a ‘normal’ job. I wouldn’t swap it for the world.
Tomorrow is Halloween, and I can lay down my persona of Susy Slime for a few months, fun though it has been (and profitable!), I shall be gathering up the reins for the next onslaught, my work continues. In the meantime the ‘office chat’ will give me continuity, support and feedback. The names I look forward to hearing from, dare I say –‘my friends’, will continue to pop up and keep me company.
There are some people you just have to follow because they are important in our industry but there are some who deserve a special mention as my days would be less sparkly without them, Philoscribe, YouCould2, Rock_The_Ice, thefluffanutta, PaulDuxbury, NextInstinct, GeorgeLane, spud, Riquochet, and of course garethjax, though I will have to improve my Italian to understand everything he says. Please don’t be upset if you are not named – this post would have gone on forever if I included everyone.
If you’d like to be part of my office chat then you will find me here flaminglacer on Twitter. If you’re not on Twitter, I leave you with this song and I’ll look forward to ‘chatting’ soon.
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As another “Office-Chatter-Challenged” person, I will also sing the praises of Twitter. It did take a bit of time to sort out who my Twitter-Friends should be, but all seems to be flowing well these days.
It’s not that much unlike the old days of working in “that other” office. Some folks you look forward to seeing at the old water-cooler and then, there are a couple of others where you find yourself doing an about face and deciding to use the restroom instead.
The neat thing is how much less uncomfortable it is to merely “Unfollow” someone as we can do with Twitter. In “that other” office there was no politically correct way to avoid certain co-workers — there wasn’t an “Unfollow” button to click.
Great post — and thanks for allowing me to be one of your “water-cooler” friends.
Peace,
Ron