Archive for 2006
The New York Times ran a long piece in its business section yesterday called “How Suite It Isn’t: A Dearth of Female Bosses.” Among the reasons given for less women at the helm of U.S. Fortune 500s: Being herded into dead-end staff positions in departments “like HR and communications” rather than groomed for operating roles. Having a hard time penetrating “the thick layer of men” crowding U.S. boardrooms and corner offices. Not wanting to sacrifice their home life for an extreme job that requires living at the office.
The article interviewed a number of generous women CEOs who were more than willing to share their experiences, like Carol Bartz, who was one of the first female CEOs and recently stepped down from her role as head honcho of Autodesk. I especially like how Bartz said that in her career, she’d found networking more helpful than any formal mentoring programs. Since a good mentor relationship is hard to find (and no one really knows what one is anyway) but networking opportunities abound everywhere you look, I have to agree.
Curiously the Times piece mentions that spokespeople for nearly all the female CEOs contacted claimed their bosses were “too busy” to do an interview or that they didn’t want to participate in a piece on women CEOs because they wanted to be recognized for their achievements, not their ovaries. Perhaps reporter Julie Creswell didn’t give her sources enough time to respond, though I think that’s being generous to the CEOs in question. Considering so many women at the top had no role models to speak of, you’d think more of them would want to tell aspiring female execs what unique challenges and triumphs await them.
So if you want to hear what it’s really like at the top, trot on over to this SmartMoney article profiling eleven fearless women who bought or started their own company and have since become wildly successful. Yeah, you’ll get more touchy-feelie cheerleading in this piece, but if you want to run your own show, you’re going to need all the pep talks you can get.
December 18th, 2006
It occurred to me this weekend that the Seattle power outage marked the longest stretch of time I’ve gone without email, internet, TV, stereo, DVDs, and all things tech since April, when I went here. Which is pretty pathetic if you stop to think about it. Especially when you add up all the hours I could have spent chasing other pursuits, like, oh, I dunno, writing a six-figure-advance-worthy book, or hatching a plan to work overseas for a year.
At the wireless cafe on Friday, a neighbor and I, each unable to work in our dark, cold homes, were self-consciously chuckling about how hooked on technology we had become. I admitted that time had slowed down a bit for me that day, the way it is wont to do whenever I find myself lucky enough to be holed up in some remote cabin. In fact, I told my neighbor, I actually had spent ten minutes that morning enjoying the goofy little birds foraging for worms and whatnot outside my bedroom window. My neighbor related a story about an equally joyous moment or two spent doing nothing in particular in his garden. Then we each turned back to our laptops, where he continued to bid on knickknacks on eBay, and I set about sifting through the spam in my inbox.
December 17th, 2006
By now you’ve no doubt heard about the incredible windstorm that tore through the Pacific Northwest Thursday night and knocked out much of the region’s power. I only lost power for a day, and I was lucky enough to not have a tree fall on my house or head. Others were not so lucky. Sadly, Seattle lost a vital home-based businesswoman, Kate Fleming, a well-known narrator of audiobooks.
According to this article, Fleming was trying to save her basement-studio recording equipment when a freak mid-city flash flood trapped and ultimately drowned her. Shocking. And terribly sad.
A writer friend I was having coffee with yesterday said, “That’s us, Michelle. You and I would have done the same thing. We’d be rushing around trying to save our computers and manuscripts.” Probably true a week ago. Only now that I can’t get this awful example of how 30 seconds can cost your life out my head, I think not.
I think I’ll call my insurance agent Monday and make sure that my coverage really would pay for a new PC and printer should my current setup be smashed by a caved-in roof or swallowed by sinkhole. But more important, I’m looking for new ways to store all my electronic files on a virtual server, so if the worst happens, I won’t lose so much as a sentence.
Currently, I store my most important digital files by transferring them to this storage stick thingie (when I remember) or emailing them to my Gmail account. But this isn’t a great long-term solution, and I never have everything in one spot, which, as I learned Friday while working on my dinosaur laptop at a wireless cafe, makes trying to send out invoices next to impossible.
I’d like to be able to stash all my digital files in one easy-access virtual place, preferably outside my office but with a better interface than, say, Gmail. I’m probably the last to know this, but I just learned (from my mom!) about these online backup services that do the trick, affordably and automatically no less. That’s on next week’s to-do list, too, right after “count blessings,” “make emergency preparedness kit,” and “promptly blow off all emergency preparedness stuff I swore I’d do at 2 a.m. Friday morning while willing the giant conifer in the backyard to not crash through my bedroom wall.”
December 17th, 2006
While all of you have been scurrying around buying holiday presents, the elves over here in anti 9-to-5 land have been hard at work on a new feature for this site. Starting, well, now, this site will begin running profiles of the many fabulous cubicle expats who were nice enough to share their experiences and ideas for The Anti 9-to-5 Guide.
Since my pal Traci Macnamara kindly offered to round up the first batch of anti 9-to-5 profiles, it only seems fitting that she should take the first turn. Besides, she just launched her travel blog Monday, so the timing couldn’t be more right. So without further adieu, meet Traci, globetrotter extraordinaire, who’s currently working in Antarctica, radioing scientists in remote field camps on a daily basis to make sure they’re alive and fully stocked with supplies.
My story: A year after I graduated from college and began working in the real world, I knew that office life wasn’t for me. I am currently working for the third time as a contract employee in communications at McMurdo Station, Antarctica’s largest station for scientific research and exploration.
The perks: The sun never sets during the summer, and the climate resembles a mild Colorado winter, so it is enjoyable here and stunningly beautiful — allowing things like skate skiing on the McMurdo Ice Shelf with a view of the impressive Royal Society Range in the distance.
The downside: Sure, doing contract work in Antarctica is an amazing experience, but there are drawbacks to the contract-job life, too: geographic instability, financial insecurity, and spotty benefits, to name a few. For instance, I know that I will have work during the five-month contract, but when my contract ends, I have to find my own health insurance and make darned sure my money lasts.
Dealing with health insurance: After a third season of contract work, I’ve learned to prepare for its challenges by saving money while working to pay for post-contract health insurance. It’s not as hard as most people believe, and sites like this make staying covered between contract jobs a cinch. Options include catastrophic coverage, premium coverage, overseas coverage, insurance cards sent by PDF, and so on. When I broke my ankle in France, I had insurance I’d purchased online and was able to submit receipts to the provider in both Euros and U.S. dollars. Plus, the customer service rocked.
More on managing money: While on contract, I also try to focus on saving money that I will need for travel and short-term residence hunting. The idea is to enter a contract job with zero debt and then to save while you work (often easier said than done). Before starting contract work in a remote area, I would also suggest setting up all your bank and credit accounts online. Many creditors will allow you to set up online bill paying as well, which can help you stay on top of your finances whenever you have access to the Internet. And it is also a good idea to designate a trusted family member or friend as your power of attorney (I use my mom). That way, they can help you with financial transactions and other tasks you specify. See this site for state-specific details.
The ultimate flex gig: Besides allowing me to live and work in Antarctica, contract work has given me the flexibility to do the other things that I love: reading, writing, and running around outdoors between jobs. In the past three years, I’ve lived eighteen months in Antarctica, nine in England, five in France, and the other months in various U.S. locations. Not too shabby.
You, too, can work at McMurdo: Think you might like to give Antarctica a try? Denver-based Raytheon Polar Services Company hires contract workers — from dishwashers to equipment operators — for the U.S. Antarctic Program and has an annual job fair in April. If you go, try to make personal contact with those doing the hiring, and follow up with a phone call or e-mail. Who knows? I just might see you out here next year.
What’s that link again? Down and Out, Traci’s Antarctica blog.
December 13th, 2006
In the online class I’m teaching this month, the question of whether to send holiday cards and gifts to clients — and if so, when and how much — came up. If you’re self-employed, holiday cards for smaller clients and gifts for larger ones are a must. Besides, it’s a tax write-off ($25 per client, per year, last time I checked).
This New York Times article outlines many of the do’s and don’ts of giving holiday gifts to clients. I second the article’s suggestion to avoid sending your gifts at the height of the holiday season when key contacts might be on vacation until long after your carefully selected fruit basket has gone moldy. Since I’m always late getting my holiday cards and gifts out, I just send ‘em during the new year. Even better, I’ve been known to hand-deliver them to my local clients. Doing so gives me a chance to check in, and people seem to welcome the distraction (and then call me the next week or month with a project they need done).
The NYT also advised thinking outside the gift box and getting something more unique than the tried-and-true (not to mention gross) fruitcake, something that ties in with your business model if you can. For example, I’ve been known to send newspaper and magazine editors books, journals, and stationery. However, I’ve also been known to make my own gift baskets filled with toys or bath products, which have little to do with writing but seem to be a big hit.
Curiously, while client gifting in December is here to stay, the Christian Science Monitor reports that cash holiday bonuses for employees seem to be going the way of the dodo. Well, at least those luckless employees can swill on all that wine, cheese, and chocolate their vendors and freelancers send them by the truckload every holiday season. I usually just get some rumpled, coffee-stained cards in the mail.* My dog can’t even eat those.
*In all fairness, I did get invited to several client holiday parties this year, which made me feel ultra-loved. Thank you, warm and fuzzy clients.
December 13th, 2006
…says a December 8 USA Today article called “Gen Y makes a mark and their imprint is entrepreneurship.”
Check out this intro:
They’ve got the smarts and the confidence to get a job, but increasing numbers of the millennial generation — those in their mid-20s and younger — are deciding corporate America just doesn’t fit their needs.
So armed with a hefty dose of optimism, moxie and self-esteem, they are becoming entrepreneurs.
“People are realizing they don’t have to go to work in suits and ties and don’t have to talk about budgets every day,” says Ben Kaufman, 20, founder of a company that makes iPod accessories. “They can have a job they like. They can create a job for themselves.”
And behold this fascinating chart taken from an August 2006 study by the Pew Research Center, which finds that self-employed peeps are more satisfied with their jobs, excerpt of course when it comes to health and retirement benefits. (Personally, I find the job security category most interesting.)
I was also happy to see that the article doesn’t shy away from some of the harsh realities of working for oneself. For instance, Ellen Kossek, a Michigan State University professor who has spent 18 years researching workplace flexibility, offers these thoughts on twentysomethings striking out on their own in the workforce:
…”what they find out is that it’s not a way to get a work-life balance. When you have your own business, you’re working long hours, because if you don’t work, money doesn’t come in.”
I was surprised, though, to find that the entrepreneurs USA Today profiled were predominantly white guys. But better to have the article than not have it at all. And too bad trend pieces like this weren’t around 15 years ago when I was trying to explain to my parents why I quit my job to become a freelancer.
December 11th, 2006
RIP, pantyhose. BusinessWeek says your sales are sagging, thanks to increasingly casual work environments and the fact that twentysomethings know a fashion dinosaur when they see one.
Try this excerpt on for size:
“The casualization of the workplace, it is not as strict as before,” said Romaine Sargent, vice president and general manager of marketing for hosiery at Hanesbrands. “Women have more options and some are choosing to wear sheer hosiery less.”
According to the company, women ages 25 to 54 wear pantyhose an average of 1.8 times a week, down from 3.5 times a week a decade ago….
As someone who included the line “To me, the devil doesn’t wear Prada — the devil wears pantyhose” in the first 200 words of her book, this news tickles me to no end.
December 11th, 2006
My dad is here from New York and I have to meet him downtown shortly. So this’ll just be a quickie.
I found this short but sweet article in NAFE Magazine, put out by the National Association for Female Executives, on how exactly to pay yourself when you’re a newbie entrepreneur with a growing business. Thought you’d want to see.
Here’s a teaser:
So you’ve started your own business and now the money’s rolling — or maybe just trickling — in. Now it’s time to start drawing a salary. But how much? Should you draw out what you need to cover your living expenses? What your growing company can afford? Or how about the pay you sacrificed to go solo?
Ideally, all three — and much more — will factor into your salary decision. While you may be willing to take a hefty drop in pay to get your business rolling, paying yourself far under market does both you and your business a disservice. “It’s not sustainable,” explains Peter Hupalo, author of Thinking Like an Entrepreneur. “You may be able to get by, but for how long? And it won’t look good to potential investors or buyers down the road.”
Helpful budgeting tips follow. If you’re working solo, or thinking of taking the plunge, check it out.
[Full disclosure: I have an article in this ish too, on how to ask for a raise, though you can't get to it online.]
December 8th, 2006
Buses haven’t been fun since the days of Ken Kesey and Further. But then along comes King County’s Poetry on Buses Program in Washington state to make everything groovy again.
I don’t know about you, but being crushed between two strangers during rush hour is infinitely more tolerable when I have a smorgasbord of clever haikus to stare at (as opposed to a stranger’s armpit, or ads for penile implants). Like-minded aficionados of Seattle’s bus poetry can now enjoy the program’s greatest hits in a new book, Poetry on Wheels: an Anthology of King County’s Poetry on Buses Program.
This weekend, publisher Floating Bridge Press, with support from 4Culture and Washington Center for the Book, will host a reading to celebrate this collection of bus poems. The deets:
When: 2 p.m., Sunday, December 10
Where: Seattle’s Central Library, 1000 Fourth Avenue, Microsoft Auditorium, Level 1
Who: Local poets Martha Silano, Dana Elkun, Paul Hunter, Joan Swift, Kelli Russell Agodon, and others will read selected poems.
Come one, come all: This event is free and open to the public. Yay.
December 7th, 2006
So I read the “Smashing the Clock” cover story in BusinessWeek this a.m., you know, the one I was raving about the other day. And it was everything I hoped it would be.
I’ll break it down for you: This was Best Buy, the company featured in the article, before its worker-friendly policies:
Workers arriving after 8 a.m. on sub-zero mornings stashed their parkas in their cars to foil detection as late arrivals. Early escapees crept down back stairwells. Cube-side, the living was equally uneasy. One manager required his MBAs to sign out for lunch, including listing their restaurant locations and ETAs. Another insisted his team track its work — every 15 minutes. As at many companies, the last one to turn out the lights won.
And this is Best Buy now, having implemented a program they call ROWE, or results-only work environment (i.e., we don’t care whether you show your face, as long as you get your work done):
…workers pulling into the company’s amenity-packed headquarters at 2 p.m. aren’t considered late. Nor are those pulling out at 2 p.m. seen as leaving early. There are no schedules. No mandatory meetings. No impression-management hustles. Work is no longer a place where you go, but something you do. It’s O.K. to take conference calls while you hunt, collaborate from your lakeside cabin, or log on after dinner so you can spend the afternoon with your kid.
There’s an interesting conversation about flex time, face time, and meeting overload going on at Electrolicious today. Ariel tells the scary tale of an ex-employer that rewarded hours in the chair over results. To that, I will add my own (secondhand) anecdote:
One woman I interviewed for the book had a coworker suddenly die, not on the job, but still, devastating, right? She worked at one of these “work till you drop” organizations that rewards face-time hours rather than productivity. Evidently the deceased coworker had neglected to tell anyone at the company — not even his boss — that he was terminally ill. And evidently, since he worked remotely (at least there was that perk), no one knew.
Instead of enjoying his last days as a man of leisure, the poor guy toiled right until the day he died. When management caught wind of the tragic news, they sent out a companywide email praising their dearly departed team member for his company loyalty and impeccable work ethic (not even terminal illness could deter him!). Not exactly inspiring words for his coworkers, who besides dealing with the personal loss, found themselves scrambling to piece together their deceased coworker’s projects on deadline and wondering what kind of fucked up company they were working for.
And that, children, concludes today’s work/life balance story hour.
December 7th, 2006
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