Are you a slash?

Also hot of the presses this week: The New York Times launched a new column by Marci Alboher, attorney and author of One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success, on “slash” careers (aka portfolio careers, or what I like to call patchwork paychecks). I, for one, was thrilled to pieces to see this topic given full-on column space in the NYT.

Variety isn’t only the spice of one’s worklife. It’s the key to greater flexibility and autonomy. And you don’t need to be a rocket-scientist-slash-brain-surgeon to realize that the more sources of income you have, the more secure your (patchwork) paycheck is. If one well dries up, you still have the other(s). This is the way many creative types and freshly self-employed folks work, often without consciously deciding to embark on a hybrid career path. Having a dual income track is just what we need to do to survive.

Some fun “slashes” I’ve interviewed in the past couple of years (and featured in The Anti 9-to-5 Guide):

• A stand-up comic/literary agent
• An engineer/ghost tour guide
• A realtor/home stager
• A graphic novelist/art school admin
• A B&B owner/sustainability activist
• A dominatrix/adult web content writer

What about you? Are you a slash who’s pulling in a patchwork paycheck? Here — I’ll go first. My name is Michelle. I live in Seattle, where I work from home as a freelance journalist, author, copywriter, copyeditor, and instructor on the freelance life. OK, now you. Go.

13 comments May 4th, 2007

My Q&A with BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek is running a Q&A with me on their Small Business web channel. Yeah, you read that right. Freaking BusinessWeek. It’s called “Goodbye, Cubicle. Hello, Startup!”

Want to know what I bought too much of my first couple years working solo? What I think are the top mistakes the newly self-employed make? What invaluable advice my mom gave me when I struck out on my own? It’s all here.

OK, I’m off to hone my ability to speak in 100-word sound bytes should the New York Times call (she says, only partly joking).

Add comment May 4th, 2007

How does your employer rate?

There was a verrrrrrry interesting article in my hometown paper, the Seattle Times, on Sunday: “Who says 9 to 5 is normal?” It’s about local employers who recognize that giving their employees flexible work options is a smart move. (Happier employees = better worker retention = lower turnover = lower costs. Duh.)

I also appreciate the article’s implication that trusting your telecommuting and flextime employees to not act like fifth graders or JDs boosts morale. If one of your staff violates that trust (say, by cleaning their garage instead of delivering the McWhatever report on time), you don’t kill the flex program, you give that individual the boot.

If this hits home in a good way, won’t you post the name of your employer, their location, and the details of your excellent flex package in the comments below? If we continue to praise those companies who make worklife more bearable, maybe other employers — ever-eager for positive PR and shiny new recruits — will want to make “the list.” In fact, if I get enough comments, I may see about doing something else with this list on the web.

4 comments May 3rd, 2007

British Columbia recap

Evidently you can come home from Vancouver, BC, so replenished and relaxed that you forget to blog. Now that I’m plugged in again, I’d like to report on the trip. Two things made this jaunt oh so much easier than my Cally trip: I had my badass new laptop and zippy Internet access at my hotel, and I stayed downtown, where I could walk to every meeting, event, and media spot. So much better than driving all over creation.

I love a city where you can get your ocean, mountain, and sushi fix at almost every dang turn. While there, I took in the swans at Stanley Park, the conveyer belt sushi at Tsunami, and the shimmering English Bay. Some other highlights:

• Chowing down with fellow Seal Press authors Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears of Boss Lady. (Their book is due out in 2008.)
• Watching the Vancouver Canucks (yeah, people — hockey) win in double-overtime in a sports bar with reader and blogger Laura. (Hi, Laura’s mom.)
• Soaking up the one day of sun with life coach Candice Bowles, on the swings in Stanley Park.
• Meeting the fabulous, hilarious owners of Sophia Books (they carry this highly entertaining book, which I had to buy), where I had my first Canadian reading, and where fellow Seal Press author Ariel Meadow Stallings has a reading-slash-offbeat-bridal-fashion-show this Friday night (May 4).
• Speaking to a crowd of 75 or more hopeful cubicle expats at the Vancouver Public Library, thanks to co-sponsor Banyen Books.

Then there was the media blitz. I did these four live shows in 48 hours. Web clip for the CBC spot.

• CityTV, “Breakfast Television” (first time I’ve had my “makeup done” by a station)
• 940AM Radio, “Montreal Today” (we talked about Rosie, the Donald, and Hil)
• CBC Radio, “B.C. Almanac” (complete with call-ins!)
• CFUN 1410AM Radio, “The Nik & Val Show” (we dished about self-employed screw-ups)

Happy to be home, but not for long. DC, Baltimore, and NY beckon.

2 comments May 3rd, 2007