Pamphleteering: Finding your voice

Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, once the printing press had become more common, there was a self-publishing phenomenon. Books, yes, but from what I understand a great deal of pamphlets, or what we might understand as articles, white papers, and booklets.

For political purposes. For scientific glory. For vanity. For scandal.

Great titles like "The Migratory Habits of the Peruvian Mudhatch, Modestly Proposed by a Gentleman."

The means of publishing had become accessible enough that people were willing to fork over some money in exchange for getting their ideas in print.

We are obviously going through a similar phenomenon today.

80,000 blogs are apparently being created everyday. That's a lot of people with something to say. Of course, most will not rise about the digital noise to be heard, but many will, and more could. I daresay the gentleman who would write something like The Migratory Habits wasn't intending on all of London reading his pamphlet. In fact, if he was smart, he was probably hoping for a few key scientists, natural philosophers, and nobles and merchants with money to read it. He probably had a target audience.

It is a wonderous time. Our ability to broadcast what is on our mind is an opportunity.

I wonder whether we are at a peak in popularity for self-publishing, or whether this is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

How can you use this opportunity to develop your career? What do you have to say? Is it going to be more and more of a requirement as things develop or will it stay a nice to have for a small sub-set of the market?

I don't know. As you can see, I have been at it, broadcasting my message, my ideas, my voice for close to 4 years now here at BoldCareer. it is an integral part of what I do.

How about you?

• Build and maintain a personal online portfolio


• Explore your area of expertise


• Develop you interest in your professional area, even becoming a thought leader, or influencer


• Start conversations. Conversations that help, or support, or provoke debate.


• Be a hub for something you are passionate about.

This just scratches the surface. Of course, I am thinking of writing here. But the same goes for giving presentations. Bringing people together for real-time conversations. And on.

Your voice. Your message.

Interesting possibilities, Modestly Proposed, of course.

The fun and headache of a new laptop

Once in a while, life throws you roadmarks - signs that allow you to measure your progress. Something happens that reminds you of the passing of time since the last time the same thing happened.

I bought my new laptop this weekend, sticking with the same one I had before - the amazing Apple Powerbook G4 15”. It really is a great system, with lots of hardware improvements over my previous model.

Thinking about it this morning, it was a sign of the development of my solopreneur business (a good sign) that I am focused on getting it working, and not playing around. A few years back when I bought my previous system, I had the time to play with it. Yes of course, it was a business tool, but being honest, a really nice toy as well. This time around, I do not have that time. My business has grown, and the value of my time has increased. Of course I notice the cool features (two finger scrolling on the track pad!), but I have to get this up and running as efficiently as possible. I have clients to serve. Products and services to develop. Articles to write. And a family and personal life to enjoy.

So, I was delighted to try the Mac to Mac file transfer with firewire cables yesterday. It saved me a lot of hours. I wish I could say it was perfect. One essential, but complicated program I use didn’t like the transfer and will not start-up. My goal of being up and fully functioning this AM did not pan out. I will get it sorted.

The cool thing, going back to the roadmarks, is that working on my business is a funner, more satisfying endeavor that playing with a new tech toy. Now that’s cool!

Portfolio Career

There is a middle ground between full employment with one employer and full entrepreneurship. That is the realm of the self-employed, freelancer, independent contractor, free agent, solopreneur, etc. When I worked at Monster.com with responsibility for this self-employment market, we had long debates about what to call this kind of person - one label that fit. I think self-employed was the broadest category, but it was a lesson in how broad people's careers can be.

One model of self-employment is the portfolio career. This is a strategy that appeals to people who desire the independence and flexibility of self-employment, but who want to minimize the risk of full scale entrepreneurship. Judging from the clients I have worked with, it resonates particularly well with people in the late 40s, early 50s. The concept is simple: pursue multiple streams of income, with different clients, doing different things. Short-term and long-term contracts. One day engagements. Define a mix that works for you. To learn more, read my latest Monster.com article Pursue a Portfolio Career.

Getting personal...

One of the powerful things about blogs is that their very nature encourages we authors to share what is going on in our lives, professionally and personally.

I am often guilty of editing myself when it comes to posting on my site, but many readers and coaching clients have let me know that the value they receive from me is in large part made up of my personal experiences - both the successes and failures.

So, I remind myself to get personal.

Which is a neat segue to how I am feeling today. Running your own business is an amazing adventure and I treasure the experiences, rewards, trials, and tribulations. There are days, however, like today, when success or failure is a deeply personal thing.

In business, when you are earning a pay cheque, your focus is on your priorities, responsibilities, milestones. Market share, competitive landscape, brand awareness et al are the big focus. And rightly so.

When you are in business for yourself, all these things apply. And more...

*No competitor has the power to wipe you out like you do yourself. You can be, if you aren't careful, your greatest foe.

*If you aren't productive, focused, doing the right things at the right time, you don't get paid. Period.

*You are alone. Well, we are all alone, ultimately, but you know what I mean.

So, what happens, in my experience, is that you go from strings of positive outcomes, to invariably, strings of negative or non-outcomes. Managing through these so that you don't lose momentum, or heart, is the key thing.

Like I said, I love it. But getting personal, some days it is a grind. So, I think I will watch the Vancouver Canucks battle the Calgary Flames and catch the last episode of the Apprentice tonight. After all, I am my own boss.