Eidolon Alternative Lifestyle Career Blog

How Much Do You Care?

Gary Vay Ner Chuk (business-advice/personal branding juggernaut) declares (quite passionately I might add), "I care about what everybody thinks! But ultimately not as much as I care about executing against my wants and my needs professionally!"

My question to you is: How much do you care? How much do you care what everybody else thinks? How much do you care about meeting your own needs and putting yourself and your passions first?

Click Here to watch "Execute Being You" (length 2:37)

 

Why Do Things Half You-Know-What When They Can Turn Around And Bite You In That Same You-Know-What?

So I was at a local alternative event last night, just enjoying myself and a MySpace friend of mine sat down next to me and handed me a CD. He explained that he had been in his car burning them to pass out at the event. He also mentioned that his one-man band had an event or two not long ago where he was asked to do a live show with 15 minutes preparation. He went on about how he was “not happy with how the show turned out”.  One of my contributions to this 5 minute conversation included my inquiring as to why only his musical name was written on the burned CD instead of his music website/contact info. He said that he didn’t have a lot of time and all someone had to do was Google the name on the CD and they “should” be able to find his MySpace page, website and other online media.

There was a lot I wanted to say to my friend. The intense passion he had for his dream (turning his one-man “band” into a full band and making it big) was evident from his eyes and revealed in his tone. He wanted this bad. But I could also tell from his self-described actions that his business sense was lacking.

I make a point not to do “business” when I’m out playing and having a good time. Admittedly, it’s difficult sometimes because coaching, mentoring, and consulting come so naturally to me. Yet I somehow managed to bite my tongue and promise to listen to the 3 song CD.

I did listen to it. I’m listening to it now actually. It’s an unfortunate, but common combination I noticed. A very talented musician with a not so talented business acumen. In my article How to Catch a Career in the Indie glam, Goth, Industrial and Synth rock Music Industry I highlighted the need for professionalism, but I could have emphasized the importance of business acumen as well. I also highlighted the importance of taking advantage of opportunities. Thing is, it’s actually more important to always being prepared for them (because if you’re not, it may actually be in your best interest to turn them down). For my own business, I don’t accept every invitation to “partner” and I don’t accept every invitation for a reciprocal link. Things aren’t always a good fit. In other words, don’t take an opportunity to showcase what you have if you’re not ready. Those perfectionists out there should keep in mind that you may never be 100% ready, but you can still allow yourself much more than 15 minutes. What you showcase could be the last chance you get. Manage this risk accordingly. It can leave a bad taste if you’re not careful. Why would we expect 15 minutes worth of preparation for a live show to result in success? His time may have been better served graciously asking for a rain-check and following up with the coordinator to ensure he got it.

And another thing, don’t make it hard for potential fans to find you. Put your band name and website on your CDs. What do you mean you didn’t have time? If you don’t, then truly, what’s the point? And stop with the burning CDs in your car. Manage your time better, and always be as prepared as possible. Work smarter, not harder. You and every one of you should always have time to do your best and put your best foot forward.

Did You Know 2.0 - Global Workforce Outlook & Statistics

An official update to the original "Shift Happens" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, this June 2007 update includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions and a fresh design. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com -- Content by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, design and development by XPLANE.

O business card, business card, wherefore art thou business card?

By "wherefore?" Juliet means "for what purpose?" So think on this. For what purpose is your business card? Ah-ha! Yes, it's a means to network with others. It's a means to remind that person exactly what you do and how you both can work together for mutual benefit.

I just had to post about business cards this month. This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending Katsucon 15 (an anime convention with over 6,000 people) and being an alternative business person, I was invited to a VIP party. I was amazed about how many of the other like-businessed folks had either run out of business cards or didn't have any on their person whatsoever. Don't make this mistake! Yes, you're going to the party for fun, but you should also be going for business. For networking. For success.

Don't ever run out of business cards. Ever. When you're inebriated, it's easy to spell your website or phone number wrong. At the end of the night, that bunched up napkin you used to scribble your company name and website might look like a bunched up napkin (instead of your impromptu business card) to the person you gave it to. What happens to bunched up napkins? They become nose wipes and then trash. Or just trash. The point is, why take that risk? It's easier to mistake a napkin for trash than a business card. You could have missed out on that one, ultimate, break-through opportunity because of something that could have been prevented.

Disproportionate Lack of Representation of Alternative People in Politics

Even now there is a disproportionate lack of representation of alternative people in politics. Yes, there’s a handful of GLBPQT (still not a representative number) and I don’t know of even one Goth, Punk or other member of a Dark Alternative Culture in politics today. Do you?

Are there no black suit, steel toe boot sporting, skull net-tie wearing Goths or the like willing to take up politics? Why are we not represented? Do we not care about such “mainstream” things as politics? Is it truly because some have tried but have failed to get past the barriers? Do we not care? Is it because we’d simply prefer other occupations? I’d love to hear your opinions on this.

The inauguration of the first President of color is an indicator that the ball is rolling. And like most balls that get tossed from one to another, they eventually end up rolling off somewhere far and underneath some dark, spooky corner, with cobwebs and strange stuff…sounds like the Goth scene if you ask me. Am I just being optimistic? Maybe. Maybe not. Most manifestations begin with a vision and hope. What say you on that?

Want to check out some more fun photos of Goths in politics? Visit the Poligoths blog by Tanja Stark, getting the "Getting the GOTHIC back into Politics - one politician at a time." 

 

You May Be Disappointed If You Fail, But You Are Doomed If You Don't Try.

 In this time of lay offs, declining stocks, people so desperate for a good deal that they trample a Wal-Mart employee to death as he opens the door, overpriced gas and more overpriced gas…people’s hobbies turn into full-time careers everyday. Better yet, many hobbies turn people into millionaires. Are you a club promoter on the side because your “real” dream is to be a successful musician and club promoting is as close as you can get (at least for now)? Do you go to work everyday, answering phones and taking messages, come home and work another few hours penning your bloody American horror story, drawing, or doing whatever it is you actually love to do? Well keep it up and don’t get discouraged! Seriously.

In the article, Trism spells success for iPhone developer  author Mike Smith discusses 29 year old and former software designer Steve Demeter who developed a cool phone game called "Trism" – all in his spare time.  Steve Demeter put “it on Apple's App Store for $4.99. Just Two months after putting it on Apple’s App store “the game had earned Demeter over $250,000, and prompted him to quit his day job at a bank and start a development studio.”

My point is, you never know. And whether or not you ever earn enough to “quit your day job” it’s really about continuing to do what you do “on the side” because, simply put: it makes you happy. That by itself should be motivation enough to never give up and just enjoy the time you use to do what you love to do. You never know when that point in time will come, if it ever will - when you can earn a living from your passion i.e. pay all of your bills, have money to save for retirement and spend for fun (becoming a millionaire can come later). But if you give up, you’ve just assured yourself it never will.

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.”- Beverly Sills, 1929

8th Grader Ordered Not To Wear Goth Make-up At School

Recently in Ohio, a thirteen year old eighth grader, Matt Allsup was ordered by school authorities not to wear make up to school after he came in with black eyeliner and lipstick. School authorities said that it was “distracting”.

Fortunately and to the dismay of the school leadership, Matt’s mother, Mindy disagrees and supports her sons right to express himself.

This young man is learning it’s okay to express himself as long as he limits his expression to those based on the values of others, not his own.  

Black eye-liner and lipstick are often expressions used by Goths, emos, and alternative rockers who just want to wear what makes them feel good. Would it be different if Matt wore red lipstick and blue eyeliner like 8^th grade girls? If the school system would order a female not to wear black liner and lipstick then should Matt be allowed to wear pink lipstick instead?

Is this about gender expression or goth/alternativeness? Either one is cause enough for concern. Why can jocks wear their letter jackets but Matt gets reprimanded for wearing what identifies him into his chosen clique? Who was actually “distracted”? The students or school administrators? How many people complained, if any?

This is clearly another example of society trying to bring a “stray” back into the herd. Obviously the “herd” didn’t appeal to Matt, otherwise he wouldn’t have needed reining in. Let the boy be himself. Black liner and lipstick stops being distracting after a few weeks at most. The other students will get over it. Maybe instead of teaching intolerance school administrators need to be teaching acceptance of diversity and expression when there’s no life threatening issue at hand. Sadly, “distracting” as a rationale sounds too similar to one of the rationales used to keep schools segregated during the 1950’s.

If more schools would embrace or at least be more tolerant of these types of expressions, then maybe, just maybe when my clients step into the workplace everyday they’d have less adversity facing them. It's not just Matt who's learning a lesson here, it's each and everyone of his classmates.

~ Ebony

Just Because You're Necessary Doesn't Mean You're Important

Have you ever received career advice along the lines of "Make yourself invaluable so you can get a promotion or be too valuable to ever get fired!" or "distinguish yourself as an outstanding employee your company can't do without!"

Well, this is all fine and dandy. It's a good concept if implemented strategically. Just to 'shoot off the hip' and implement this common advice at face value could actually put you in a rut. As you manage your talent - be proactive about keeping potentially self-sabotaging decisions to a minimum.

If you follow this common advice without keeping tabs on yourself - you can make yourself so invaluable you'll be too valuable to not just get fired, but to valuable to get promoted, reassigned, or otherwise be afforded the opportunity for career building assignments. Case-in-point: In the August issue of Talent Management author Kate DCamp, a senior executive adviser at Cisco wrote an article in which she confessed:

I was very guilty of this career-limiting thinking for some 15 years early in my career. I loved the work. Like many others, I became protective of it, believing it was always faster and better to do work myself than to let others in. Only after I lost the opportunity for an international assignment because I was too necessary in my then-current role, did I realize the trap I had set for myself."

Ask yourself: Are you setting a trap for yourself or building the foundation for future opportunities? Are you 'letting others in'?

So go ahead and be invaluable, but don't lose sight of your importance. Or, as DESPAIR, INC., (developers of "soul-crushingly depressing Demotivators" designed to skip delusions and be realistic) tell us, Just because you're necessary doesn't mean you're important.

Food for thought, eh?

~ Ebony

Let Your Online Identity Work In Your Favor

In the September 2008 edition of my One Life newsletter, I wrote an article titled
Take Control of Your Online Information. I want to highlight one of the paragraphs:

"Be proactive and make it harder for noisy people who have nothing better to do to harm your career. At the same time, be proactive and make it easier for employers and friends with good intentions to find and learn more about you in the way you'd like to be seen."

This is a balancing act that's only moderately difficult to do, but your return on investment will be amazing. Don't act like you don't care about the information that's out there about you! If you don't care, you should. You have no idea how many people "google" or "yahoo search" you. A friend may google you, your boss, a colleague from work, or as I describe in the full article, a prospective employer may be searching all up on you Indiana Jones style. That date you had last night, she's probably googled you already. And if you haven't googled someone you know, you'd be kidding yourself if you said you haven't at least thought about it.

In short: Care about your online identity. Take control over it by creating and monitoring it yourself. If something is wrong or unflattering, research it's source and ask for it to be removed. There use to be a time when we could "hide behind our computer" online. That's becoming less and less the case. Let your online identity work in your favor.

~ Ebony

"Murder in the 8th Grade: A Tale of Bullying, Sexual Identity and the Limits of Tolerance"

"In the sixth grade, a girl started a "Burn Book" - an allusion to a book in the movie "Mean Girls," where bullies scribble nasty rumors about the people they hate - about Larry. The Larry book talked about how he was gay and falsely asserted that he dressed in Goth and drag. And it ended with a threat: I hate Larry King. I wish he were dead," according to one parent's memory of the book." - Newsweek, July 28, 2008 pg. 42. "Murder in the 8th Grade: A Tale of Bullying, Sexual Identity and the Limits of Tolerance". 

This article in Newsweek immediately caught my attention because of the title right smack on the cover page.  Some people still don't think being Goth is a legitimate minority group that's discriminated against. Yet - in this article we have another unfortunate reminder that, at least for children in the 6th grade accusing someone of dressing Goth is in the same vein as saying they dress in drag and are gay. It's still meant to be a negative. That 'Goth' is "bad". Dressing in drag is "bad" and so is being gay.

One thing the article fails to mention is what, if any punishment or discipline was given to these student who were bulling and harassing this young, gay identified young man before Brandon McInerney, 14 year old, shot him twice in the head at school.