The Passage of Time

I sat down three days ago with a book and a blank computer screen and now I have a completed website for my brand-new business. In the great family tradition, I didn't know how to build a website on Monday, and now on Friday I do.

In the meantime however, it was summer on Monday and now it's autumn. I have literally had to force myself away from my desk because I've been so focused on this website. Two of the eight pages are pretty complex and one of them I had to redo from scratch three times to get it right. But, right it is.

Now, not to toot my own horn too loudly, but two months ago I was an out-of-work HR professional with a problematic resume. Now I'm a budding entrepreneur in an industry that I knew almost nothing about when I was laid off. Sure, some of the pictures I've taken are less than perfect, and there are definitely photographers who are technically more skilled than I am. They know the mechanics of their equipment and the physics of light, and I don't. But I've lined my pictures next to theirs, and I honestly think mine are at least as good and in some cases better.

So, as I see it I have demonstrated three skills that cannot be taught or bought: 1) resourcefulness, 2) risk management, and 3) positive outlook. Yay me!

Then, why can't I seem to get hired?

I've had two serious sets of interviews for two different HR positions. The first one had four rounds of interviews and it was clear in the fourth, before I'd even been asked a question, that the decision had been made. For the second job there was one in-person interview after I completed an exhaustive essay. Again, by the time I came into the interview it was clear a decision had been made.

Honestly, not that I really mind. I mean it would be nice to have a predictable income and health insurance, but in the two months I've been pedaling my resume, I can count on one hand the number of jobs that have interested me. Fifteen years ago I was all about human resources, and now I could not care less. Still, I want to be the one doing the rejecting.

I haven't made my first penny as a photographer yet, and there are some obstacles yet to deal with, but I'm really much more excited about that. It's not the photography so much as it is the building of something out of nothing, and in this case that is the truth. Oh, I had the computer, but that was it. I bought the domain name tonight, and I'll be getting a call on Monday to walk me through the uploading process. Once the site is up and running, I can order my letterhead and the marketing postcards. Voila! I'm in business.

But right now, I'm beat. I have to get away from this computer.