Social Media: where I began, where I am

In 2007, I quit my job.

I quit my career.  I quit the thing for which I had prepared with one undergraduate degree and two graduate degrees to do.  The thing I had been doing for the better part of ten years, in one form or another.  I. just. quit.

I quit because of the internet.  Because I finally found my voice.  Because, it turns out, I actually had one, and I didn't know it until I started blogging.

As a kid, I wrote and wrote.  Notes, stories, letters, quick poems on the back of my check register.  I dreamed of being a writer, but I never felt like a novelist.  I felt creative, but not like a poet.  I wasn't sure where my brand of observation and voice belonged.  So I guessed it was in the classroom, and there I went, to teach teenagers to write good sentences and trust their own voices.

Until the internet came along, and I was instantly obsessed with emailing everyone I knew.  And then Myspace, and then blogging, and FacebookTwitterFoursquarePinterestGoogle+TumblerReddit - the list goes on.

I ate it all up with a spoon.  When other people were ditching accounts, I was adding them.  When people argued that we'd all live like hermits with our laptops and televisions, I argued it had opened the world to me - I was more social than ever.  And it was all in a really positive way.

So, somewhere in 2007, I gave up the ghost, as it were, and went to work for myself.  I could not support myself by tweeting; this much I knew.  But I could do something for myself and I knew the internet was my friend.  I looked at my skills: writing, talking to people, networking, smiling, and cooking.  Cooking, I thought, is something that makes people money.  I figured if I combined my cooking with The Internet, I'd be onto something. And so it was born: The Flying Fork.  I started cooking for people who didn't have time to cook for themselves, and advertising strictly on the internet.  I didn't spend a dime, aside from a domain name and a small hosting package.  And it worked.  I supported myself for most of that year, but soon realized that while I had plenty of work, I didn't make enough money.  I didn't charge enough for my goods, and I didn't want to raise my prices.  I needed a new angle.

And so I took my cooking strictly to the internet.  I started writing The Flying Fork for Lawrence.com - an entertainment offshoot of our local paper, in 2008.  I built the brand through Facebook and Twitter, eventually starting my own fanpage.

Since then, I have gone back to work in a brick and mortar building (I had a baby to insure and support) but I grew my writing and social media persona along the way.  I now write for Baby Talk on Wellcommons.net, I maintain my fanpage and my personal Facebook page regularly with constantly increasing stats.  I have been asked to do many freelance projects, some print some online, and I've started connecting with more and more "popular" bloggers to do joint work.  Also, I have  used The Flying Fork's relative popularity to land several in-store cooking promotions.  I work with Weaver's Department Store to cross-promote their housewares line and my Flying Fork brand.

The net grows wider and wider, and I feel quite ready to make this a career.  I am confident that I have not only the personality for it, but all the necessary skills to keep clients comfortable and happy in their social media spaces.