December 18, 2016

I spent the entire morning and early afternoon trying to create a web page on www.wordpress.com. I joined Word Press so I could see Camilla's blogs, but it occurred to me that I could use it as a self-promotional vehicle – uploading my postcards, writing about my observations of the job search process, etc. However, Word Press was not intuitive to me, so I found the experience to be unpleasant. I called Camilla to ask her whether she bought an upgraded package, but she hadn't. So, I "built" a home page – basically my resume – and left it at that.

​Since I'm here for at least a month, I've decided to institute military rule on myself: out of bed at six-thirty (I'm often awake at five, and I remain in bed reading and doing Sudoku until seven-something), take the dogs and my coffee for a one-mile-long morning walk, exercise daily (stretching, aqua fitness, or my own routine), and walk the dogs on the beach in the late afternoon. That will leave me two-three hours to look for work, and one-two hours to write and attend to the banalities of life. Structure! I love it.

Over the past few weeks I've noticed a change in the dogs. When we lived in Providence, they slept in a cage during the night. I would get up, make my bed, make coffee, do my ablutions, and empty the dishwasher, before taking them out for their morning walk. They didn't make a sound during the 20-30 minutes it took to complete the routine. The crying started only when I put on my dog-walking clothes. In BOB, they are free-range Westies, so they sleep wherever they want. In the beginning, they didn't agitate for “Puppy Love” until I put on my dog-walking clothes – just like in Providence. Recently, however, they have begun to emerge from their places of slumber when they hear me gargle. It’s the last thing I do before I put on my dog-walking clothes, so they are anticipating my next step! They circle me like sharks, waiting for me to get dressed, so I can give them puppy love, and we can start our day together.

It's a half mile to the beach from our site, and the distance is largely inside the park. The dogs are not used to being walked long distances because our neighborhood in Providence was neither conducive nor pleasant to do so (mostly the latter). When I lived in Philadelphia with Chloe and Duncan, we could walk out our door and cruise Elfreth's Alley and Independence Hall without breaking a sweat or navigating through trash. They had fewer but longer urban walks. By contrast, Addison and Jasper went to work with me, so they had more frequent but shorter walks. By the time we got to the beach this afternoon, they were dragging. They didn't run around, and they only had one brief period of play. I thought I'd walk them for 20 minutes on the beach, but we only walked for a little more than five. They liked wading in the low surf, but they didn’t want to walk at a pace. It was hot and humid, so perhaps that was a factor, too.

After the beach walk, I devised three new postcard concepts. I shot them to Kim and Kate via email, and worked on the backside of one. Having created the original template, the ensuing ideas have come more easily.

Years ago, I worked for a company which needed a Chief Financial Officer. I could have filled the role, but I had been hired to run the direct-to-consumer business, and was therefore labeled as an “e-commerce” person. I spent the last decade of my career functioning as a Chief Operating Officer, but my “public” face was as the sales and marketing person. When I sold the company, the acquirers praised my marketing work. Hmm. I had hired a creative person to do the original work, hired her to teach an employee to replicate it technically, and I followed up thematically. It didn't make me feel like a marketer because my work wasn't really original, but I was gracious enough to accept the compliment. I was also good enough at sales during trade shows and on store visits, but that never made me feel like a salesperson either.

In order for me to get a job, I have to be good at sales and marketing: I am my product, and I have to convey the message that I am a “must-have” entity. I have never been good at selling myself, so I struggled with my job search until I started the postcard campaign. After getting that one encouraging response yesterday, I decided to embrace my “new” sales and marketing role. I will be successful because I can’t disappoint my new client!