Last Updated on July 17, 2018 by Palessa D
If I couldn’t write fiction, would I babble to myself in the streets about these crazy Baxters who won’t leave me alone? Probably? Who said I wasn’t doing that already…🤪
For years, I technically wasn’t a fiction writer. I ignored that path for a while, but the characters came to me anyway. So, when I get a question like this, I know exactly what I’d do. But, and here’s the trick, I’d still be writing.
This is what I mean…
Like many, I had a life (or two) in corporate America. I punched a clock 40+ hours a week, starting as a Technical Manager. I have a STEM degree so this position was what I was educated to do, but it wasn’t what I really loved to do. That’s the difference I’ve figured out after all this time.
You see, during my college study time, the “Internet Marketing” bug bit me. The problem was, people viewed it as this spammy, gaudy path that was akin to some dark corner street lounge with a twitchy, blinking neon sign reading “XXX Girls Here” There wasn’t this well-choreographed marriage of content, advertising, and analytics back then because TV and radio still dominated.
I kept an eye on it but most of my attention was on life, as it was more complex. Eventually, I landed a corporate position for a major retailer as a marketing analyst. That position taught me a few lessons about the emerging industry of MarTech and life: That if you keep working, what you ask for will come to meet you.
After trying to continuously fit my round butt into a square hole, the corporate life drained me too much to ignore. Luckily (for me, at least) we had a mass lay off that led me to revamp my life as the economy was in the beginnings of what would become known as the Great Recession.
During all that time, I read all sorts of books, articles, blog posts because on top of writing reports for work, I pursued certifications and worked on projects. That experience helped me to rejigger my marketing muscle.
My current marketing business project is still forming and I’m proud to call it “my preshussss” as I shape it into what it needs to be.
Is all of this writing stories and pursuing practical data-driven marketing tips that’ll help me to achieve my goals exhausting, challenging, brain busting, frustrating? Yes, to all of that, and then some. But it’s mine.
So, there never was a time when I wasn’t writing or reading something, even if it was some choke-me-to-death-it’s-so-dry book (PMBOK, I’m looking at you) It’s just that now, my focus is on creating a system that’ll take me to where I want and need to be as an entrepreneur.
Do you have any “alternate paths” of your own?
