As a freelancer (a freelance writer more so) people will tell you “you gotta be blogging sonny!” or “back in the 20’s we blogged on cave walls, on account of the depression” factuality of that last one aside, general consensus holds that a blog is a positive thing. But why do we blog? For as long as I care to remember, I’ve blogged. This raises the question: did I create the blog, or did the blog create me? Does that little light in the fridge actually stay on when I close the door? Why Goats? And why is a cat on my desk? I don’t own a cat.
Jokes aside (laugh dam it!) I blog for a number of reasons. From informing those who actually read my blogs about potential issues, news and freelancing in general, to show casing my skillset. But personal gain aside, there’s always the chance you might touch on a point or issue that the reader might not have considered resulting in a “ah HAH!” moment.
When I see the reader count on a businesszone article I posted going into the thousands, I’ll profess to a certain level of ego-gratification. But it’s not all about me (it’s just mostly about me) knowing my readers might be thinking about an issue I’ve raised or commented on gives a rather large sense of satisfaction, even more so if they take the time to formulate a response.
But to me personally, the hard sell of the already obvious advantages of a blog fall to the side lines of a sense of connection. While a blog can help showcase your skillset via functioning as a portfolio of your work, it can also provide a foundation for a more detailed conversation with any potential readers. Additionally, those who write things – about stuff (writers of a freelance nature) can and should learn from each post.
“They’re innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. . . . I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you’re dead” – Tom Stoppard, The Real Thing.
It can be your own slice of writing haven. Somewhere to simply dump words and ideas like so much hot pizza. Mmmm pizza, the point being: The humble blog can be many things, it’s the Swiss army knife of digital connectivity.
As such, what if I told you: You could live anywhere?
The potential future that nuclear fusion promises, is not something you might normally associate with “stuff a freelancer might find important” however, today I woke up in a world where the normal sales spin from the fusion section of “10 years promise!” seems a whole lot less spinny and more real? And to me, this is both truly wonderful and terrifying in equal measure.
I’ve written before about the coming of our robo-overlords, the jobicide they bring and how you should curse Bill Gates. But the logical counter argument to mass adoption of robotics and automation is one of power, that is to say: how do you power the robo-revolution in a world that seems to be winding down on our main energy provider – fossil fuels?
On paper, jobicide does seem a little on the Sci-Fi side of things. But then anything that can be summarised as “Dam Robots took all our jobs! “Most likely will. The idea that as many as 70% of the current work force could face potential unemployment within the next 5 or so years, just hasn’t seemed “real” to me, until now. Ignoring wonderful paradigm shifting ideas such as basic (or citizen) income or negative tax for now – the question becomes: What will these people do for work in the future? With the answer being why a lowly freelancer is taking stock in the happening of next gen energy production. Basically put, we’re seeing history on repeat. The only difference being the tech we attempt to smash up, could easily return the favour.
What if I told you…
“OK, settle down Morpheus” I descry you typing, but hear me out. We keep being told that “new forms of employment will emerge” and that it’s “almost a certainty we’ll see a resurgence of cottage industries” fun fact, fancy modern folk call cottage industries: working from home/freelance opportunities. So as history repeats it’s self in the form of even more industrialisation, more and more people will turn to freelancing in order to pay for the coffee will inevitably become addicted to.
To these future freelancers, I leave this passive aggressive message:
“Well gee, thanks for taking all the work there buddy … not like I wanted to eat this week either”
