Going back to the grind…
Although this past year has been nothing short of on-the-edge-of-your-seat exciting, I have decided that it’s time to get back to work. I have accepted a position as interactive marketing specialist at one of the better agencies round these parts. My official start day is Jan 3rd so I am going to spend the time until then, wrapping up client work and watching a lot of television.
2011 was quite a year for search marketers, lots of drama and algorithmic changes. Google likes to keep us on our toes. 2011 was also the year that being an SEO was cool. With PPC in its final death rattle, working with organic results has once again proven to be a mans game. In the past 2 months, my inbox has seen quite a few lucrative job offers from both agencies and companies looking to bring search in-house. Yesterday I received the biggest offer I have seen in the midwest, a starting salary of $110,000 with a cushy corner office. Honestly I wish they would have contacted me a week earlier because the job sounds like a cake walk, but I’ve already sold my soul to another and I try not to go back on my word.
My decision to go back to work for someone else almost saw me whisked out of Wisconsin and re-planted in New Jersey, my decision to not go still nags at me – did I miss a great opportunity? The thought of living and working 15 minutes outside of Manhattan is really appealing, even though the conspiracy nut in me says that moving closer to NYC in 2012 is a horrible idea. The job was a gimmmee with no shortage of work and improvements on the site. The appeal was that they wanted someone who was creative overall to work on not only SEO but also usability and other channels of traffic. *sigh* the more I write about it, the more I wonder if I made the right choice by staying here.
2011 was also the year of lousy clients. Lessons learned on that front – PUT IT ALL IN WRITING! I had a friend/bro deal go horribly south because the client handed me such a pile of shit that I had to spend all the money on building them a new site. Trying to improve traffic and conversions on their current site was pointless. This of course was not part of the scope and my bad for not getting that in writing. Huge waste of time for me, and they ended up with a site they can use for years.
2011 was also the year of lousy contractors. I – being the softy that I am – hired a developer who I KNEW was going to screw me by way of his neurosis. I understand that when you flip over a rock in the online world you are bound to step in some aspergers, but this guy really threw a wrench in my plans and caused me major headache. Then he flat out stole $1000 from me from a clients deposit, which cost me the job and put me in the hole. I am going to have to pay that back, and $1000 is a pesky amount. It’s too little to warrant a kiss from a louieville slugger, but big enough that it hurts me to have to pay it back. I still havent figured out how to resolve this one, but this kid is the master at shooting himself in the foot. He shot me in both feet, several times.
2012 is going to be a better year. I find that putting in time at a 8-5 agency is really good for my mental health. I don’t mind burning the occasional midnight oil, but being able to shut down at 5 and not think about it until the next day is really good for my brain. My time at Zeon was the easiest life has been in quite some time. I left there because I couldn’t fake it anymore. My hope is that my new home doesn’t require the same facade, because I can only put on a show for about 11 months before I have to let out steam and tell people ‘the way it is’.
Maybe 2012 will be the year that I finally clean this damn site up and remove all the old posts that blew up with the auto poster. I’ve only had that on my plate for 10 months and as you can see, it never happened.
