Prompt: Being Moved – tell us about a time this year that you were moved by the generosity of another.

You Move Me

When I was rolled off my social media contract job two jobs ago, and by “rolled off” I mean “the budget was slashed, the website shut down, and I was out of a job again,” I was sorely unprepared. I’d gained a large, engaged following on Twitter and other platforms, we’d given the website a couple facelifts, and we had great plans for the next year (this one). Alas!

Fortunately, I’d made awesome friends during my first contract job in that company, so I was able to secure an interim IT contract job–my third there–that got me through Christmas and into the next year. It was good to work with those great people I’ve worked with before; in some ways they were like family, and we all had a great time even during those teeth-gnashing times that are normal for IT work.

Yet though I was grateful to have that job, I found I was really jonesing to get back into social media again. I was addicted, you see, to helping people.

Then a friend sent me a listing for my current job: A job in social media helping people on a level I hadn’t been able to before, in a company I’d never heard of but checked out everywhere as being really cool.

I wanted it–and I was petrified.

Getting the axe from my first company and then going into contracting had taken a bit of a toll on my confidence. Thoughts whirled in my head: I didn’t know how long this third contract would last. It could end at any time. It could be extended into spring, or summer. I could hang on and wait for a social media opportunity to open up again (of which there were rumors). Or I could uproot myself once again, this time on my own, and try for this job that I really wanted.

It really came down to this: Did I dare to take a risk?

I dared. But I don’t think I’d have made it without my friends. The support of Mr. HouseofBeck was of course essential and superb. He knew this would be a good job for me. But neither of us knew too much about winning the job we wanted, and even less about negotiating, so if I was going all out to get this job, I needed to do it right the first time.

And for that, I turned to the people I’d been talking with all this time from that second contract job, people who were indescribably supportive and rooting for me to get back into social media with them: My online career friends.

My friends listened to my qualms, offered their priceless advice and kept my spirits high even when I was suffering under the silence that comes when an offer is stated and a counter-offer is respectfully stated back (over email, no less).  “Wait,” they said. “Just wait, it’ll all work out.”

And they were right.

Diahann at @WomensAlly, Noël at @myFootpath and Joey at @PushJobs, you were instrumental in guiding me through both the talking times and the silent times. You make a living at what you do, yet you were unstintingly generous with your time and expert advice. This is not something I will ever forget. I hope this post helps show you how much you mean to me.

Thank you.

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