Nov 18 2008
How Do You Explain What You “Do”?
For me, nothing is worse than trying to explain what I do. I dread that question, even if I can see it coming from a mile away.
“Angel, what do you do?”
“Well, Random Person, I write for a living but I do a lot of Virtual Assistant-style work and that pays the bills.”
insert the blank stare… “What do you do?”
“I’ve done email-based interviews with business owners, write blog posts, write articles, some random as-needed tasks like comment moderation for a blog…” (insert my mom who mentions I did something related to calendars recently)
“Oh Calendars! That is cool!”
“I gathered dates, I didn’t build a calendar…”
“Oh… I don’t understand that stuff.”
As lovely as that conversation was, it taught me that you can not explain a damn thing to someone who doesn’t think outside the box. Maybe it’s just the community I live in, but the words blog and working from home fly right over the heads of people.
Not all conversations about my work, or the people I explain it to, go that badly. That was based on a real conversation I have had about it, though. I had forgotten until last night when someone else asked me about what I do.
The moment I was asked to explain, I had flashbacks to that moment when the word computer made everything I said turn into a foreign language. Granted she did take my explanation better than most, there was still that glint of “not quite sure” in her eye.
A little more thought had me wondering how many times I reacted that way to someone else when they tried to explain their own business or even job. Did my eyes glaze over in misunderstanding? Did I do unto others what they’d done unto me? I hope not!
While I continued to put too much thought into this idea, I started to wonder how others work their way through this situation. Do they avoid trying to explain what they do? Do they try to explain and end up face to face with a glazed over “I don’t get it” expression?
Going back to the title of this post, how do you explain what you “do”?
Photo Credit: chefranden
- How Do You Explain What You “Do”?
- How Do You Fund Your RV Living?
- How do you combat spam?
- How Do You Deal With Little Sleep?
- Mental Health Humor: How Do You Find Me? Well, I’ll Tell you! Here are the Key Words for today! - Bipolar Cartoons, bipolar disorder, bipolar disoreder, Borderline Personality Disorder, cow, deer cartoons, defense mechanisms cartoons, fuuny cartoon
4 Responses to “How Do You Explain What You “Do”?”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Not A Member? Register for Free!
LOL people didn’t understand when I was a “business analyst” but they did understand I worked in a shiny office tower in the city and made good money. Now I stay at home, often in my pjs and describe myself as an internet marketer and freelance web content writer they just think I’m bum! Luckily I don’t really care what people think!
I was talking about this with a friend a while back, and I came to the conclusion that the world sees me as an unemployed bum with money.
However, I think staying in our PJs is definitely a perk and worth the misconception!
Great post lol,I find out what they say they do .An example ,they say “im a garbage man”.My reply is, I help garbage men create additional income from home.Now,only 26% of folks are going to continue the conversation.That is FUN marketing.