The Internet

This post might actually call in to question all of that "hard" work I was talking about in the post below. Maybe a better term for what I was trying to describe was consistency in ambition--or something like that. Anyway, my overall point there was that to get to a point where you have a manageable schedule doing what you enjoy, you have start at the bottom and that takes drive.


This actually leads me to another point too...I've known people who did not start at the "bottom" per se of their craft. Rather, they chose to go through the suburban route of schooling, only to find when they got out of their schooling with post-graduate degrees, they were too far up the ladder in expertise to be comfortable starting at the bottom. For example, the PhD who loves literature and aspires to be a novelist full time, but won't deign to write articles for the Internet at $20 or less a pop, just to pay the bills. And then there's any person with a J.D. or Masters degree whose graduate school friends are doing exactly what their degree was meant to do--staying on that same suburban path--but who aren't humble enough to ask if they can crash on their paid friends' designer couches while they look for a job. I got off track. And, start at the bottom, what you learn from there is the only way to prepare yourself for the top. NO, that doesn't mean skip college. Just don't assume college is your fast ticket up the ladder, espesh if you're going for a creative-type career.


ANYWAY, the Internet. Here's a piece of sage advice: do not underestimate the knowledge you can gain from the Internet--literally. Most of the time when I hear people say "you know everything about that!" or "How do you know that!?" My answer, almost embarrassingly, is that I googled it. And not only that, but this knowledge (such as some of the more esoteric grammar rules) took about 30 seconds to acquire.

Hard Work. Mother Fu**er.

Okay, so I here's the deal: I work seven days per week. Every single day. I usually wake up between 9 and 11 a.m. I dick around on the Internet for a few hours, answer emails, look at slideshows and then by around 2 p.m. I start my writing for the day. This, right now, consists of articles I write for a website in Italy about Italian fashion and lifestyle. I also write articles for a casino website in the UK. Quick little news briefs about what's happening in that world. In addition to that I work as a managing editor for a luxury lifestyle magazine that runs out of the Caribbean. And at the end of March I'll start writing copy for a new luxury lifestyle magazine that is going to be published in Switzerland. I'll write stories about yachts and fashion, etc. When I'm not doing those things, I'm scoping out the Internet for new jobs, because I love the International Luxe Mag gigs, but they don't pay the bills because they're new publications. Hence, the casino and Italian stuff--which is also not doing a whole lot for the bills situation. I apply for jobs just about every day or every other day. Most of the jobs I get offered, don't pay enough to make it worth me quitting the current jobs, which is awesome.


I also run my own fashion blog, that funny enough is the opposite of Luxe living. It's called the Lo Lo and all it's just a collection of slideshows of affordable, cute, stuff. I pepper in quotes about style and fashion. Each post takes about an hour to do because I curate it, in an effort to make it visually appealing. In addition to the posts, I've got to promote. So, I get on twitter and facebook and post my butt off. I try to post every day about the Lo Lo. I'm a member of Independent Fashion Bloggers and am using that as a promotion tool as well.


Often my work day doesn't start until 2, but doesn't finish until midnight or later. What's the point of me talking about this? Because doing what you love is work. It's getting up every day and trying again. It's sending out another resume, another form of self promotion, even when you want to cry because the job that would have solved all of your problems went to someone else, less experienced and qualified. 


No one should be fooled that following your dreams and working at what you enjoy is somehow easy. As a matter of fact, in some ways it's worse. Because it's taking a risk. It's actually quite frightening. Even when you get one or two jobs that really utilize your skills, and you tell someone "yes, I can!" You have to wonder, "Can you?" Something not necessarily the case in a data entry position. 


Why do we do it? Because life isn't safe, it's not easy, no matter what you do for a living. There are tragedies and disappointments and failures. And it literally does not make sense to play it safe 8 hours a day, only to deal with all the real world has to offer in your evenings and weekends. As they say, life is just too short not to live it. 


Oh, I forgot, I'm a business partner and creative director for an online fashion magazine in New York. And I'm bitter because we got invited to the most exclusive shows, we've ever been invited to, for fashion week and I'm not going. But, there's always September. 


7 days per week. Every day.

Is Everyone Doing What They Love?

The answer to this question is: a lot more than you think. I've talked before about growing up in the Midwest, in a suburban haven of safe productivity, of success defined by landing an "office" job. But as I keep working toward my goal, however much I'm stabbing in the dark--and I am, I'm realizing that surrounding me everywhere are the products of someone's labor of love. 


We make a huge deal about "following your dreams" because it's scary and it's hard and maybe we didn't know people growing up who followed theirs; or maybe we know someone who did and "failed." It is a risk, to be sure. It can put off personal relationships and it can destroy them, too. And every time someone goes a different way than their tribe they risk ostracism, which is horrifying. They will absolutely meet with loved ones who smile and nod and friends who "just don't understand." But you should always remember that if you choose this path you are not alone. You are surrounded by labors of love and risk-takers.


For example, the ongoing commitment to improve medical care, the thousands of years that doctors have put into experimenting (not always in the best ways) to find a cure, find a treatment were all endeavors of obsession. Every invention, every single one, involved a prototype and the commitment to research and plan and try to make it perfect and figure out a way to get it into your hands and your life. Even accidental inventions had a long way to go before they became a post-it note or a tub of Play-Doh. Every film you watch, whether fantastic or awful, was someone putting their ideas and their heart and their dreams on the line. Every book that fills every book store and every library was written and published by a risk-taker. Whether it's a biography, a work of fiction, a best seller or something that sold six copies; it doesn't matter. We take for granted the work, dedication, commitment and ability to overcome fear that makes our lives more enjoyable, more worth living. And these are just the broadest of instances. Someone invented your favorite flavor of ice cream. There's a woman in Dexter, MI who owns a store that sells nothing but buttons. Local crafters and sewers reap the benefit of her risk to open up that shop.


So is everyone doing what they love? A lot more than you think, in all sorts of ways.

What Turns You On?

I mean to ask the title question of this post in exactly the way you're thinking. What turns you on? Because I believe that love and passion and excitement, even bordering on the erotic, is one of our compasses for our life's work. 


Tonight I was watching The Next Iron Chef and one of the last contenders was working with a very expensive slab of beef. While he was cutting it up he said, "This is so beautiful...I'm having a sensual, romantic moment with this beef." I remember writing a gchat status a couple of years ago that said "I think I'm sexually attracted to clothing." At the time I wrote it, it didn't even make sense to me. And yet, write it I did. 


So ask yourself, what turns you on? What gets your dander up -- in a good way? What makes you hot and heavy? It could be a side of beef or The Theory of Everything (TOE), hell it could be a new dress. The only caveat to this question's answer is to love responsibly. Now, go get off.