We had a dinner at our house tonight with a couple we've not really "met" before. She's the teacher at my daughters music class and she brought along her family. Her husband and her have 3 awesome children and they all pretty much entertained themselves, along with my daughter in the "play room" all night. -Bonus for a "new friend" if they have kids that can entertain ours. Inevitably, the question of "what do you do" came up. I have no problem with this question as I'm someone that does a lot, in truth most people are. But what most people answer with is "I'm a tax accountant" or some such nonsense. When in reality, they're a tax accountant to pay the bills, but also are a master chess player or a champion sports fisherman or an oboe player, who knows. Anyways, tonight I answered, "I'm a business development manager for "X," but really I'm a musician and the co-founder of the most interesting digital place you've never visited." -That got his attention. Immediately, he went from being a manager at a solar company to being a former manager of digital musical content for BMI. Talked about the start-ups he's had etc. But if we stayed in our comfortable, "I'm a "X" conversation, we'd have never learned these things about one another. Almost everyone could answer that question in a really interesting way, instead of in a way that answers how they get paid. What you "do" and how you "get paid" aren't necessarily the same thing. But aspiration is nothing without movement.
-That there, that is a hell of a sentence.
Shhh... nobody likes to hear about the people that are actually doing what they love for their employment.
Yeah, thing is I have a "career" but I also have hobbies that are way more interesting than my career. I think people with careers, would rather talk about how they are amateur archers or coach a high school soccer team etc. more than they would their careers. It all boils down to passion. You can be passionate about your career and just more passionate about your hobbies. I have always enjoyed that bit by Rock though. He's a funny guy
This is why my business card simply says "Problem Solver" as a job description. People get an initial kick out of it being unusual, but then open up a conversation by asking, "So what does that mean?" Then I must explain the array of work I've done and the interests I have, and how there's a common thread of core skills within my versatility that make me a good fit for lots of different things.