From Branding Copywriter to Publisher/List Owner in Just 382 Easy Steps in Only 10 Years If you told me 10 years ago I would be doing what I'm doing now, I would've said "No Way, Jose." In 1992 your humble publisher (that's me) was a branding copywriter, turning out award-winning print, radio and TV spots that cost over $600,000 a pop. I was certain I would be doing that for decades to come. Then came the Internet. I saw it coming back then as clearly as I see it now. I was a creative type. I didn't have entrepreneurial skills, negotiating skills, or simple street smarts. What I did have was the ability to draw attention to myself and to this new medium, which held so much promise. I didn't have a real plan or destination back then, just a general direction towards which to navigate. The rest I would have to learn and make up on the fly. Through lost opportunities I learned how to turn brand awareness into business opportunity. The truth is I'm still learning and will always be learning. I started this publication in April 1995. It was the first marketing newsletter on the Net. It was a PR gambit. Later I realized it could throw off ad revenue, so I learned how to sell ads. With each passing year, I wound up doing less copywriting and more editorial writing, sales, speaking, consulting, and so on. The point here is that I bridged over to new skill sets from the old ones. I see many people still in advertising or in careers that had a good long run and are now turning a corner. Like looking at the wake of a ship, I look back each year and wince at what I didn't know before now, and realize wincing is a good thing. If I didn't wince, it would mean I was dead in the water and not moving forward. At the tender age of 49, I look out from here and try to project where I'll be headed next. Many of the Internet land masses are filling in while others have fallen entirely away, so it is easier to navigate now, but never will be a perfect science or art. Part of what guides me nowadays is an inward compass. Knowing my own nature better helps me to navigate the ship. I draw various possible scenarios and imagine how happy or unhappy I'd be in each. As I get older I find myself comparing where I am in life and career to where my parents were at my age. While there are many places where the comparison diverges, it is very eerie how often the pattern between the two generations runs parallel; more than I care to admit, frankly :). LC |
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