Apparently so.
Marty Fahncke, a gentleman whose skills with guiding business people toward social media adoption I greatly admire, writes about my getting-fired experience.
Marty shares my deep frustration with direct response marketers not “getting it.” I’ll never know exactly why I got fired. The reasons behind it were probably a little bit cultural, a little political, and very much technological. The tech adoption gap loomed wide between the decision-makers and the younger group of me and several colleagues, and it became a huge disconnect culturally. When mistakes were made, deadlines were missed, departments fell into mismanaged chaos, and someone had to be thrown under the bus, it’s not surprising that the “Squeaky Wheels Geek Club” was scrutinized before any managers were.
So, of course life is unfair, but it’s also terribly instructive. I’ve learned a great deal over the past two weeks, and I can honestly say that being fired (for all the right reasons) was the best career move I’ve ever made. I’ve learned that optimism isn’t always unjustified; that for every nine people who don’t “get it”, the one who does will seek you out and be your advocate as you would be his; that tech isn’t absent from an industry just because it’s not visible; and that hard work can pay off in the funniest ways.
Speaking of hard work, you may know I’m starting a new venture of my own. Several of them, actually. There’s the blogging/vlogging. There’s consulting. There’s ad mag writing. There’s web and interactive design and production work. And there’s a super-secret mobile project I’m working on. I could tell you, but you’d have to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
But I tell ya, I could always use more work. I think this is the part in the movie where I start screaming…
[wait for it]
Long story short, if there’s any way you and I can show one another some money, I will work tirelessly, passionately, and creatively for you. Get in touch with me; tell me about your products, projects and dreams; and let’s start collaborating.
2 Comments
May 13, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Sucks you got fired, but sounds like it wasn’t a good fit anyway. Go get ‘em! I’m sure you’ll prevail. Sounds like you’ve got some momentum going, so good luck with that.
May 13, 2008 at 9:25 pm
“If you never get fired, you’re not pushing hard enough.”
Platitudes don’t sign rent checks, though. As I said to Morgan earlier today, “Getting fired is the best thing that ever happened to me. It will eventually happen to you. Avoid it at all costs.”