Real Joe

Time mag’s Young & Jobless article this week is no surprise. College grads have no better idea on how to land their ideal job than anyone else, booming economy or no. “College seniors… are often finding that not even impressive diplomas and face-to-face networking can coax a job out of a sluggish economy.” I was pleased to see Time’s Create a Job sidebar but it’s a bit of a misnomer: it’s not “create a job” in the What Color is Your Parachute? sense. It’s “start a business.”

I had lunch with one of my twenty-something sons this week. He quit high school a few credits shy of a diploma, and has never gone to college. He’s had a good-paying web design contract job for a couple of years, working out of his house for an outfit in NYC. But he’s grown tired of working alone and is not sure he really wants to keep doing web design. He’s opted to end the contract at the month and asked me to coach him a bit on figuring out what next. He’s heard enough from me over the years about mission and passion and creating an ideal job that he’s decided it’s time for him to take a whack at it. So I gave him my new copy of Parachute and he’s agreed to work the exercises in it over the next month. He’s got something cooking in his brain already… not quite formed in his head enough to tell me, he said, but he’s already so excited that he feels “like a kid.” Hah.

It might be interesting for me to revisit those exercises with him. It’s been a few years since I’ve done them completely. Who knows what I might learn?

CafePress.com has a promo going on this week:

“FREE standard shipping on orders over $50*! Hurry! Offer ends 6/9/02.”

So grab some Joe items for Father’s Day in the RJ Store.

A Real Joe baseball cap and t-shirt arrived today — my own order from the Real Joe Store at CafePress.com. The cap looks great. Logo printed fine. It’s a very lightweight, summer cap.

Not so sure about the shirt — looks like some residue left over from the process, as there’s a rectangular shadow around the logo and wording, front and back. I called their support line and they said to wash it. If it’s not better, return it. I did wash it and it’s now borderline. I think I’ll keep it for now and just order another to see if it has the same problem.

My day job is getting demanding. When we filed for an extension on our taxes, it became pretty clear that our financial situation was worsening, much to my wife’s dismay. So I suggested that I meet with her once a week to go over my prospect list and update her on billings. That simple step has done wonders for the business.

My problem now is that I’m neglecting Real Joe. I’m way behind on audio essays. I often fall 3 days or more behind on postings. The magazines and newspapers are piling up unread. I told my Inner Circle group last month that I was going to double the number of Real Joe subscribers every other month for the next year and I’ve done zilch to accomplish that this month.

It’s frustrating, but it’s really no different than a gazillion other people who are trying to launch a business, write a book, go to school, etc. while keeping their day job. So it’s a good problem to have, I tell myself. I believe it for a while, but then the frustration creeps back.

I’m soon heading home. Our local clubs (UMTA, WOTA, and NMRA) got lots of kudos from the FIM, motorcycling’s international governing body, as well as the riders and manufacturers.

I spent the entire weekend taking photos and posting them along with scores on the site’s weblog. The plus: lots of recognition, both from those following the event who couldn’t be there, as well as those who visited the site before arriving in Duluth. The minus: I missed out on a lot of socializing before and after the event each day since I had to be holed up sorting through photos on someone else’s laptop in their hotel room.

In some ways this fits my more introverted personality, as I tend towards reluctance when it comes to inserting myself into unstructured social situations. But I tend to enjoy myself more when I overcome this reluctance and put on a social face. So I don’t think I’d like to cover live events too often. Taking photos for later publication would be ok, or just uploading them for someone else to sort through and publish.

A camera can be a good way to meet people at an event but it also can be distancing. They’re “subjects” initially, which colors how I see them and how they see me, now that I think about it. Too often, I’d just snap their photo and get their names without seeking them out to get to know them better. Slam bam thank you m’am. So maybe with a bit of a different perspective, I could get the hang of it.

I slept like shit last night. That late afternoon cuppa joe to get me here to Duluth without a nap did me in. But I’m psyched, the weather is gorgeous, the crowd should be huge, and I’m looking forward to acting like a journalist, taking photos, writing up event reports — stuff that I don’t really know how to do but figure I’ll just learn as I go. I wonder if learning these skills will lead me to something unforeseen? A job covering other events? Working for a motorcycle manufacturer in some capacity? Hmmm. Gotta keep this possibility in the back of my head, but not think about it so much that I don’t enjoy myself.