I wanted to write a post about the fine line drawn between personality and professionalism for a couple of different reasons:
1. To explain to those casting a critical eye why “Internet Ninja” is listed as one of my potential job titles, and
2. To express the importance of humanity in business practice.
I have, as many, engaged in the business world for the majority of my working years. It may not have been in a corporate setting, but every establishment, every restaurant, every job comes down to selling something—be it vacuum cleaners or a marketing campaign. That being said, face to face transaction is becoming more and more scarce within the global internet community, and technology has allowed us the convenience of ignoring and overlooking personality. Many of us just strive to look good on paper—with a list of qualifications, certificates, degrees, and numbers of years spent at such-and-such a company.
Whereas I am no different in this—I too hope to have a resume that looks good and drives my professional movement toward where I want to be in life—I feel it is important, if not wholly necessary to retain some amount of my humanity in all of this. I have a certain style about me, that can be entirely academic and professional in nature, but it will always be me, and that is something I refuse to give up. The fact of the matter is that work takes up the majority of our time.
Think about it. Of the assumed 24 hours in a given day, approximately eight of them will be spent at work. Three of those hours will likely be spent worrying about what will happen or what did happen at some point in your work day, or how much better you wish that time spent was. I have worked many different kinds of jobs, some in which allowed me to sit back in my pajamas, behind the scenes from home, others that required me to put on a certain façade, assume the appearance of always being chipper, cheery, and quite frankly, I was miserable.
Not to say I’m not cheery or chipper. I like to think I’m an incredibly upbeat individual. But I’m also sarcastic, goofy, and sometimes downright strange. I’m certainly not your average bear. I can’t stand the thought of losing my personality in my work, therefore I don’t. The great thing about freelance writing is that although your work must reflect a variety of topics, industries, and tones of voice, you get to pick what work you take on. I have certainly written with great variety, and still manage to maintain my personality—and within it, my humanity.
Our personalities and differences are what make us human; distinguish us from the robots that will soon take over (if any of these crazy movies are ever to come true). Technology becomes increasingly more unbelievable each and ever day, but it will never measure up to the innovative and powerful nature of human creativity. There are certainly those out there that are looking for writers that can just pump out content like a machine (they’re usually the ones hiring from third-world countries, offering $0.05 per 300 words or something obscene like that). But I personally don’t want to work with clients like that.
I believe it is important to work with those that will suit your personality type—your working relationship will be stronger for it, and you will have the confidence to write on just about anything within reason, and still not get burnt out. You have to be yourself in this business, or you just won’t cut it. Selling yourself as a machine will only make you feel like one, and none of us are cut out for that.
Understand that you have a choice in this. Sure, you should always strive to improve your writing, marketing, or whatever other skills you have. But be sure to make sure that you are always a part of it. I may be an Internet Ninja. I personally love it. It means I have the freedom of approaching the social and professional world as Tara, the crazy college girl that loves to play with words. As a result, I attract open-minded and creative people.
As I always preach, words do matter, and every one you type says something about you. Do you want your resume to say, “I sucked in a bunch of catchy sounding words and spit them up so I look impressive?” or do you want to be reflective of who you really are? Be proud of who you are, and don’t let it get lost in professionalism. It’s a thin line, sure, but your humanity is a huge sacrifice to make.
Keep up the good work, kids. Til next time,
Your friendly neighborhood Internet Ninja
(P.S. Yes, that is me in the photo, and you can check out other wonderful photography from this artist at NoelSmart.com)
