5 Signs You Might Be a Biznik
It’s a hard world out there. A hard world full of hard things like math problems and push ups and wondering just why the heck is that you keep going to the movies when you know full well that that one guy (you know the one. The heavy one. The One with the french fry smile and disco spewing cell phone) is going to be there and that he’s going to laugh like this: HAR. HAR. HAR. And right into your ear.
But just because it’s a hard world doesn’t mean it should be hard to figure out if you’re a Biznik. That should be easy and obvious and, really, phenomenally cockle-warming.
So, for your edification (and for the warming of said cockles.) here are the top 5 signs that you just might be a Biznik.
1. Fluorescent lighting causes you to fall to the ground in a back-arching, mouth-frothing mess as your suddenly flashback to that time you and Gary, the smelly accounting guy from your old job, spent six hours trapped way too close together in your cubicle after a freak filing accident.
2. When friends, lovers and perhaps even enemies get all long faced and sad as they face the Sunday Night Dreads (wildly known as an affliction that only affects the standardly employed), you do a subtle softshoe of joy at your well-earned freedom, hoping none of those suckers notice.
3. You like pie (It’s a weird thing, but Bizniks tend to like pie. Bizniks also tend to like getting drunk at Liberty and, if my admittedly unscientific sample is any indication, like sitting really closely next to other Bizniks on big fluffy couches and/or lawn chairs.)
4. You believe that the world would be a better place if once (just once) you could wake up, look out the window and see the sky colored a gay and striking lime green.
and
5. You believe in self-employment, being progressive, collaborating with other business folks, making money, enjoying your work, staying up late into the night holding deep conversations and knocking the the traditional business world on its big, bloated tuckus.
OK, so that last one is the most important. But you get the idea.
Chris Haddad
Haddadink.com
July 11th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
Variations on #’s 1, 2 and 5, I can really relate to.
I spent most of my allegedly adult life (68-96) working for someone else. I’ve worked with idiots and incompetant, or neutralized, nice people because I had to (#1). (You young ‘uns out there should goggle “the Peter Principle).
Freedom is the key word in item #2. Freedom has its risks, but the psychological/emotional rewards of freedom are way more satisfying than the regular paycheck and eventual gold watch of the “JOB”. The masses of “JOB” holders out there can only see this in their dreams; they must value the illusion of security over personal fulfillment. I was in the same boat until a moral issue ran into a career advancement issue and I chose morality, heart and mind over $$$$ and a very good pension.
I believe that #5 is the most positive and liberating and creative item on your list. Think about it. This is your thing. You are doing something that you can really get your teeth into because you value it and enjoy it. It gives you incredible energy. It is of value to others and, if you do it well and with integrity, you might actually make a living at it. What better place to be, living your life your way and making enough to pay your bills and have a bit of fun along the way.
If there is anyone self-employed or contemplating self-employment out there in biznikland needing a cheerleader or a kick in the ass to do what it takes, call me. For the price of a beer or a phone call, I will listen to you and give you my perspective, for what is worth.
July 11th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
and for those of you who might actually want to use the phone rather than biznik e-mail, contact me by biznik e-mail and I’ll reply with my phone number.
OK, I admit it; I like pie too, especially fruit pie, just out of the oven, with vanilla ice cream. Four out of five ain’t bad, Chris.
July 11th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
Chris, this is so great! I just recently became a Biznik by joining Biznik, but after reading your post I’m sure I was an unofficial biznik long before that and before even Biznik was Biznik! Got that?! I was at a “desk job” with those fluorescent lights for 26 years! Phew! I’m glad that’s over!
The only thing I really don’t like is the getting drunk part because I have “issues” about that, but I sure do like all the independent minded, creative, “just a little tweeked” company here at Biznik. I look forward to meeting some of you at the upcoming events!
July 12th, 2006 at 6:11 am
>knocking the the traditional business world on its big, bloated tuckus.
Hhhmmm… ‘and therein lies the rub’ of the whole ‘do I?’ thing – ‘whether ’tis nobler to suffer or to take arms against’.
With much business stuff so needlessly and damagingly (to human spirt and environment) dreary and over-seriously self-centered, I often don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Clearly not suited to commerce, I should go find a ****** cave somewhere and live in it. Instead, I’ll likely continue to speak out and try to change things – that’s where the worthwhile fun is to be found.
July 12th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Man, that fourth one is a real stinker? Huh? What the heck was I thinking? I was at Starbucks. The monolithicness of the place must have gotten to me. I’ll do better next time.
July 12th, 2006 at 10:53 am
Chris,
To your list, I would add cat hair in your laptop’s keyboard and little cat nose prints on the screen from their trying to sniff the curser.
Concerning the “knocking the the traditional business world on its big, bloated tuckus”, some of us derive our revenues from those tuckuses. Or would the plural be “tucki”?
Jim
July 12th, 2006 at 11:11 am
Rubarb & Fig Pie, mmmmmmm, yum! I like the lime sky bit. And yes on the pet part but i would personally replace cat hair for dog hair and a bone shoved into your leg while you are trying to work. And I would add that some of us can have our offices in a cafe curled up on their couch sipping a morning latte tapping away on our laptop.
July 13th, 2006 at 10:01 am
And you believe that helping out at Field Day in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon without having to sneak out or lie or make up “face time” later is pretty darn important…
July 14th, 2006 at 8:00 am
A few more from my list:
You enjoy pulling weeds rather than your hair when hit with a creative block.
You think dog breath beats stale coffee breath in the office any day.
Acceptable office decorum includes slippers and pigtails.
Yeah, this is fun! Let’s write a book…
July 14th, 2006 at 11:57 am
[...] From the comments posted to Chris’ 5 Signs You Might Be a Biznik blog, and some of the recent discussions on Biz Talk, it sounds like a lot ofyou. [...]
July 16th, 2006 at 10:30 am
I Like Pie… But I also made a decision long ago that I couldn’t work in any building where the windows didn’t open, or where they played music I couldn’t control.
July 18th, 2006 at 8:32 am
Chris, thank you. I keep needing reminders about why I decided to jump ship and set my own course, especially when the bills arrive…! But, honestly, I get a little high every day when I spontaneously go for a walk in the middle of the afternoon or, as someone mentioned, dig around in the garden; I keep thinking, “Is this legal?!? I actually get to dictate my own schedule *and* make money??”
Leslie, I don’t really drink either, but one of the bartenders at the Liberty makes a yummy lemonade from scratch. There’s always wiggle room. We’re indies!!
July 19th, 2006 at 12:22 am
>Man, that fourth one is a real stinker? Huh? What the heck >was I thinking? I was at Starbucks. The monolithicness of the >place must have gotten to me. I’ll do better next time.
Thank heaven you weren’t at Toys In Babeland.