Explaining My "Job"
Marc Norris
One of the hardest things for me to do is to explain what I do for a "job". You see, most of my friends have traditional jobs that can be easily defined. For example, I have a friend Tanya that works at the front desk at a hotel - that definitely paints a vivid picture for me.
But when it comes to explaining what I do for a living, it becomes a challenge. You see, I am an entrepreneur than runs a network of forty web sites (at the time of this writing) and I am continuously building my business. The problem for me is that all of my sites are not just on one topic - so how do I describe what I do?
Originally, I tried to tell people I run a home based business on the Internet - but in most cases, people want more details. So, I tried to explain it in greater and greater detail, but the more that I explained what I did, the more glazed over their eyes became.
It was getting me nowhere.
What I have found is that most people are familiar with "real world" jobs such as waiter, accountant, restaurant owner, etc. but can’t put a "face" on the Internet. The reality of the matter, most of my business happens somewhere on some computer and not in any tangible location that one can visualize.
After much thought and testing, I have been finally able to come up with a description of what I do online that most people can understand. It goes a little something like this:
I am like a child playing with Lego: I visualize what I want to build and assemble the blocks I need to make my ideas a reality. Then I make money from what I have built or sell it to someone else for a profit.
By explaining what I do in this context, most people can get a grasp of what I do online. Sure, it is a little vague, but it offers a real-world example that they can relate to. It is like I paint a picture for them to see instead of boring them with the details.
So, the next time someone asks you what you do for work, stop and think of how you can put your business in a context that your audience can understand. Paint them a picture instead of giving them the details so that they may better understand what you do.
Marc Norris @ May 13, 2008
Marc Norris