Chocolate indulgence

A while back a commenter on this blog asked if I wanted to be part of a word-of-mouth campaign for Dove chocolates. Basically, he was offering me free chocolates in return for me talking about them, so how could I resist. It took a while, but at the beginning of the summer they sent me "Dove Pleasure Kit".

It was quite a package they sent. I got a lovely shopping bag filled with goodies. There were four huge chocolate bars, dozens of 'purse packs' -- four bite-size chocolates in each, four packages of sharing chocolates, with about 15 bite-sized chocolates in each, along with a blank journal, a wine glass and a mini-pedicure kit. I assume it's all to reinforce the idea that Dove chocolate should be a woman's indulgence.

It's not a bad word-of-mouth campaign, because I've seen a bunch of other bloggers, all women in Toronto or Vancouver, blog about the chocolates. And I've mentioned them myself in my Facebook feed and my e-newsletter. It's been tough, though, having all this chocolate around my house and trying not to pig out on it. I've shared some with friends, but now I think I should pass more out so I don't have this much chocolate all to myself.

I like the taste of them, although I'm not a huge dark chocolate fan, but I like their milk chocolate and just adore their "dusk" flavour, a mix of milk and dark. And I like the wrappings on each chocolate, because they have really cute suggestions for indulging. Well, some are cute or inspiring, like "Stand up for yourself", "Order dessert first", or "Have a candlelight dinner." But some are kind of goofy, like “A push up bra isn’t cheating,” or ”Remember your first.”But it's fun, like little fortune cookies! Apparently, you can even order Dove chocolates with your own sayings printed inside. I bet these would be great wedding favours.

Anyhow, I recommend trying them, if not for the taste then at least for the amusement factor. And now I've spread the word good and proper, so hopefully someone else will think me influential enough to send me more free stuff!

Picking up trash earns trip to space?

When I was a kid in the 70s, we all thought that by the time we were grownups, we'd be jetting off to the moon for holidays. Ah, the George Jetson inspired dreams of the future.

Well, eight years into this new millennium, I'm not going to space any time soon, although my seven year old is at a science camp this week and who knows, it might spark the bug that leads him to the space program. Anyhow, I was intrigued by this news item I just saw, Air hostess picks up chocolate bar, wins space trip.

Not that it really has anything to do with my musings on being 40 and work life, but this Charlie-and-the-Chocolate-Factory dream come true for this woman is pretty cool.

I love writing!

I'm writing a speech this week, and it's both immensely stressful and incredibly wonderful all at once.

Most communicators like me write speeches from time to time, but most communicators hate doing it, and/or are not very good at it. But not me. I LOVE writing speeches. And frankly, I'm pretty good at it. I wish I could write speeches all the time.

Why don't I give up the rest of my freelance work and concentrate on just speechwriting, you ask? Good question. A few years ago I thought I'd try that. I hung out my shingle as a speechwriter. I told all my contacts I was looking for speech work. I networked specifically for that end. I answered RFPs and RFIs and all those other acronyms looking for speech writing services. And I got some speech work, but not enough. The reality is, I live in a city without a lot of head offices and not a lot of government -- not a capital city of either a province/state or federal capital. And those are the places where speeches get written.

I guess if I'd wanted it badly enough, I'd have networked more and better and gotten into those places -- after all, I can write a speech from anywhere -- but after six months of trying, I decided that while I still love speech writing, it couldn't be the focus of my business.

Why do I love speeches? I think I've always had an inclination for the spoken word. I'm the girl who went on vacation to New York and came back with the accent. I'm the girl who can speak four languages but not write well in the other three at all. And of course, I do like writing. I love writing sometimes. With much of my other work, there are lots of details to deal with -- emails, media lists, calls, client discussions, etc. My day can tick by without feeling like I've really finished much of anything. But when I'm writing like this, I clear my day and concentrate on just writing. My brain clicks into creative gear, my fingers fly on the keyboard, and it feels almost luxurious to just be writing.

I only have four more days to finish a keynote speech, with a lot of weighty content, so this is a big job. But I'm really enjoying it.

I know, I know, this is something I'm passionate about so should pursue it more. Hey, how do you think I got this assignment in the first place?! ;-)

Everyone has a story

I was watching the news this morning with my kids, when my five year old asked me, "If there's nothing happening, do they just make up the news?" So I talked to him about how if nothing is happening anywhere in the world, the news people will just tell good stories. Everyone has a story to tell, I said.

Now my son, being five, said "What's my story?", and then I spent the next ten minutes making fake news reports about each member of my family: My five year old's story was about the trend of his daycare situation (he's in two different programs because as a January baby, he's too old for the 3-5 year-old program but too young for kindergarten); My seven year old's story is about his prowess at such a young age as an indoor rock climber; My husband about how obsessed he is with neat and orderly that he mowed the neighbor's lawn.

Later this morning I got to thinking about how true it is that everyone has a news story in them, even if it's just a profile or interesting angle about their lives. I had lunch yesterday with a journalist friend, and when the subject came around to my career questing, I asked her if she thinks about leaving journalism to join 'the dark side" and work in public relations, a move many, many of us PR types have made. Her answer was that she wasn't ready to give up reporting yet, because there are too many great stories out there to tell.

I've worked in PR for most of my career, but from time to time I do take journalism work, just to keep my hand in. And while it never pays well, and is never glamorous stuff (my last assignment was a profile of a machining shop, for example), it's fun to find the story in every person, company or situation.

I guess that's what I do in PR as well. I help clients find their stories, tell their stories, and get their stories told by the media and their customers. And I do it well, I think. It's one of my favourite parts about my work. I should remember that when the time comes to make any career changes.

What's your story?

Searching passion

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days -- assuming anyone is actually reading what I'm writing. It's kind of strange to put this out there without really knowing if anyone is following. But I started this more to help myself by putting it all in writing and committing to the process, so even if no one is reading, I'm still writing.

Anyhow, in my last post I explained how I figured out how important it is to figure out what I'm passionate about. The problem is, I'm having a lot of trouble with that.

I've spent a lot of my career as a generalist, and while there are a lot of clients I've really enjoyed and others that really speak to my heart, I'm not really sure where my passion lies. And it's been pretty heart-wrenching to realize that at 40, I don't know where my professional passions truly lie. I have some ideas though, and have been doing a lot of mulling over. It's why I haven't posted for a few days.

For some people it seems easy to find their passion. But for me, it's been a big soul searcher, and I'm not close to an answer yet. I guess I'm grateful at least to know that once I figure it out, the rest might be easier...

What's my passion?

I had a coffee this morning with another person, a man this time, in my field to get an opinion from someone who's been in the PR business longer than me. I've been doing this a lot, asking for input about what I should aspire to if I stay in this field for another 20+ years. And his take was a bit different than the others.

Mostly to date, I've been hearing that I'll need to take a job, either with an agency or a corporate job, to build some specific expertise and contacts. The advice I've heard a lot is that I should go in-house for a couple years, try for as much flexibility as I can but expect to work regular office hours without much time for the kind of work-life balance I have now as a freelancer. And after I pay my dues, so to speak, then take steps to either gain more flexibility from my employer (who now will be willing to make concessions to keep me) or to go back to freelancing but from a position of more strength.

But today I heard something else. My collegaue today told me that if I could find my passion, the thing I like best about my work, and become the best at doing it, I could find the money and security that are perhaps more illusive in my current freelance career. He drew me a picture, which he credits to this book:


His point was that if I find my passion and it's something I can be or am the best at, I can find the money. And to me, this says that maybe, if I can figure out the passion part, I can stay as a freelancer for another 20 years.

But figuring out my passion is easier said than done. I've had a career primarily as a generalist, so to narrow it down is hard. But I do have some ideas, which I'm going to give serious mulling-over time to now.

Finding your passion Part 2

A 50-something friend and I recently had drinks and talked about this professional dilemma of mine. She has had a varied career in marketing, and has had some serious highs and lows in both her career and personal life. She worked a lot in high tech -- 'nuff said.

For the past year she's had a job she enjoys but that bores her, but she's okay with that right now because she found her passion outside of work. She's in love with a new sport, and enjoys it so much it's become the focus of most of her free time, her travel and her play time. Her partner enjoys the sport too, so she has someone to enjoy it with. And she's begun blogging about it, which has offered her a creative outlet, mildly related to her profession (marketing/writing). And she's really happy.

This brings me kinda back to the boiled frog post -- do you really have to enjoy work that much, or is it okay to just put in time at your job and have your 'passion' outside of work?

Finding your passion Part 1

I did some work last year for a 25-year-old guy who decided to try a job a week for a whole year. Sean Aiken's goal is to find out what kind of work he wants to do now that he has finished business school. I think in the end he's found a career as a speaker talking about his one-year experience. He's blogged the whole thing of course at One Week Job. It's a fun experiment that is perfect for someone of his age and generation. And Sean has a lot to say about his generation and their lack of commitment to the workplace.

Sean talks a lot about "finding your passion" -- seeking out something you feel passionate about and making that your life's work. I think it's great advice, but am not sure it gives me any answers. What if my passion lies outside work life? What if my passion is what I already do? As I've said before, I don't believe I can keep earning a living at this for another 25 years, even if I'm passionate about it.

More on this topic tomorrow.