Decisions, Decisions . . .

 

 Sometimes making a decision isn't just a simple this-or-that. Sometimes it's this or that or the other thing, or maybe something else. It is tough enough deciding on a new piece of furniture, a movie to see, a place to eat, but when the decision could possibly impact your life, well, the deciding becomes angst laden.

2014 has been a year of some truly life changing decisions for me. When I lost my job in March I had to decide whether to jump back into the same industry I'd worked in, and hated, for years and years. In fact, the decision to even go back to work in any type of sales position (I sold cars, advertising, body jewelry, shoes and furniture) made me a wreck. 

After 40 years as a grown-up, after who knows how many jobs, after working at jobs I thought I was supposed to be, I decided that I needed to decide what to do from here. I knew I did not want to sell stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty good salesman, and I did my job with tremendous integrity and dedication, but the whole process really went against everything in which I believe - candor, honesty and truthfulness. That made me take personal inventory. What do I have to offer aside from knowing how to sell stuff?

As it turns out I have a creative facet. I always knew I could write, and I have had a few news articles published in a local paper, but perusing the job ads I knew I needed to have more to offer than just being able to put words together in a seemingly pleasing fashion. So, what else? I'm no dummy, I know that. What else though? What more did I need in order to not only earn a good income, but to ensure that I was feeling fulfilled? 

I decided to approach the decision making process from a different perspective. Sometimes there's more to see in the negative space. The want ads began to tell a story, a story of how things have changed, a story of what it would take to best market myself. Suddenly things started to come clear. 

I needed to fill in the blanks. Learning how to work within the guidelines of 21st century technology was more than I could handle on my own, so, here I am, an almost 60 year old community college student, working to fully embrace the things that will make me more embraceable. 

Ultimately I will be able to not only create websites for people and businesses, but I'll be able to write all the copy and market their sites on various social media platforms. But, baby steps, right? I do need to create my first website on my own, without dragging and dropping, and that's what this blog has been leading to. What should be my first actual site? I do have two that I put together the easy way, and one of them was going to be my maiden coding voyage. One, www.focalfusion.org is something I put together to attempt to start an Adult ADD support group in Sussex County. 

The other, www.brooklynboymarketingsolutions.com is a website I began as part of a potential advertising/marketing company. Thanks to the advice of one of my great professors my decision was glaringly clear - organize and categorize all of my years of photography and writing and market my history via the future. 

Brooklyn won. The next two months will be filled with hard work, frustration and a sense of self satisfaction I can't remember ever feeling. From this point on my blogging will be focused on my progress during this, what should prove to be, most daunting task. It was a decision hard found, but well made.