So you lost a contract cause a button popped out… erm… was this a modelling job? … mebbe just mebbe ..it WAS the pricing.

Thanks a bunch for this great article …i’m going to translate this into german

Cheers,
Mic

I’m now working as a contractor software developer and soon will be fully self-employed, but I was with my previous employer for four years.

Near the end, I decided to start a blog on Blogger, and one night I wound up writing a mostly positive post that ended with a comment which stated although I liked the two founders, I found them reactive and all about tactics instead of strategy and that being why I had one foot out the door.

Well, within a week, I had a closed-door meeting with one of the founders that started off with “I’ve read your blog, and we need to discuss your transition plan.”

After the meeting, I did a vanity search, and to my horror, the first hit was my blog. I immediately took it down, but it was too late.

Lesson learned. :-/

There’s a charming American phrase that goes

Don’t s**t where you eat

and it certainly applies here.

I can mostly agree with what you say. The internet is forever, so think twice about what you do on it. I do dismiss the notion that you should be “professional” at all times. Some of us have been on the internet for over a decade now. I know that if I google myself, some of the older items I come up with are some posts in the alt.music USENET group made back in 1993 when I was still in college. Nothing too embarrasing other than perhaps my taste in music at the time. I cannot have old USENET posts removed. They just don’t do that. It will be around for eternity, and I’m at peace with that.

If a client saw those old USENET posts arguing about the merits of this band or that musician, would they hold it against me? I have no idea. If they do, honestly, I feel it’s their issue, not mine. In the same vein, if you lost a client because of a blog mentioning a button popping off your trousers because you’d put on a few pounds, then that’s not a client you want to deal with in the first place, now is it?

This sort of advice has merit for people in all employment situations, not just freelancers. There are plenty of stories of employers googling their prospective employees after a good interview, only to find some personal information that they don’t like.

However, I like to think that the situation is a little better for programmers, designers, photographers and so forth. Creative freelancers are still allowed to have a bit of that ‘rock star image’ (providing they are actually good) which was so common with programmers during the dotcom era. I’ve worked at several companies recently where I was the odd one out in terms of dress, politics and personal life, and yet I was also often very well thought of by management.

In fact, my eccentricities serve a purpose. In an ongoing employment situation, I don’t want to work for intolerant management. If you google me, you’ll find plenty of kick ass ruby code, and enough other bits and pieces to shock your mama. However, I’m made a conscious decision to not always show my corporate face on the internet, and I agree with Collis, that no doubt this will sometimes cost me work.

But, don’t forget, freelancing is supposed to be fun! That’s why we do it. Changing your personal life to suit your work is far from fun. I’d give the same advice to a politician, although I doubt that they’d follow it.

My personal rules for posting to the net are:
a) never put into writing - or for that matter in an audio or video recording - anything you wouldn’t want your mother to see or have show up in a court of law.
b) don’t write a position unless it is *your* position. If you are playing devils advocate or writing satirically, make sure it is clear that is the case within the context of the discussion.

That being said, I can’t agree when it comes to hiding your personal life behind pseudonymns or anonymous posts. Nothing is entirely anonymous on the internet, and such tactics are libel to leave you with a false sense of security. Suddenly out of the blue it is discovered that mild mannered Freelancer Joe Smith is raving politico-environmentalist ‘Captain Treehugger’. And a long trail of ‘un-published’ or removed pages is apt to leave a lingering discomfort of ‘just what are they trying to hide’.

We are in a period of transition, where little by little more of us are having our lives land on the net. At the moment that means that the one who has the beer drinking weekend or the odd political rant end up as part of their net identity is the odd man out. But we all have social lives. We all have religious and political views. And if you’re not posting them there’s very good odds that someone else is (”… so me and Joe Smith were marching in the Green Peace rally today…”).

In a few years time it is going to be the one without a life on the net that will be looked on with suspicion. Joe Smith we know participates in environmental rallies on the weekend but is a professional through and through. Whereas John Doe is a complete cipher. There is nothing on or about this guy online aside from a resume and one or two generic business posts.

I think most businesses will opt for the known quirks and qualities when entering a professional relationship then to roll the dice on the hidden life.

I would look at it less of a dinner party and more of a courtship. Yes, you want to be the very best ‘you’ that you can be, but at the same time you want to BE YOURSELF. As in a personal relationship, if the business is unwilling to deal with you for who you are, it’s not a relationship you will be able to sustain nor enjoy for any period of time.

Hide behind a fake persona all day, but those of us with real talent and drive will continue to let ourselves show through to our clients while keeping our calendars full.

And make sure never to express your true opinions online.
And always make sure not to cause conflict online.
And never offend or express dissent online.
And be a good citizen.
And be a good citizen.
And be a good citizen.

This article’s accompanying image of the suit & tie guy covering his real face with a complacent perma-grin facade couldn’t embody more succinctly why I recently joined my partners in forming our own design agency: being able to be myself…not a conformed clone designed from “good business” guidelines.

The reason we all went indie (whether freelance or uber-freelance a.k.a. started our own companies) was because we chose to believe in the meritocractic promise of the Internet and Internet business.

Namely: be honest, be yourself and be the best you can be at what you do…and success will follow no matter what they think of your personality or personal dogma.

The Internet is not like a dinner party. The Internet is like the Internet. Run wild. Say your piece. Be yourself. And remember that its your job is to satisfy your client’s business requirements…not their politics, personalities or ideologies.

hi guys - come on, this is so unrealistic.

i disagree with this, while at the same time i feel suspicious toward it as being plain ol’, straight up - bait.

i’m not slagging you, but c’mon - are you saying there’s no market for designers who wear thier heart on thier sleeve, for designers with strong opinions - for designers who (god forbid) swear!? how about custom work, modern design, flamboyance?

what if you are looking to design for punk bands, or…modern artists, or stuff like that?

i think it’s ok to express yourself in an open manner, modern society has strived for free speech for years. of course it’s good to learn how to do it better in your own way - and if the way stated in this article suits you, fine - but the way described in this article is only one “way” - and it’s decidedly, baitingly, conservative.

if you do try to control your communication in some way, that’s fine. if you strive to communicater better by not swearing, or being very conservative, or being open and free, or being strongly opinionated and flamboyamt, then so be it. feel free to explore that avenue, and try to do your best at it. we all pooped our diapers, should we be embarrassed if someone brings it up? so what if you grind your teeth for a while on the internet, looking to become a better communicator. you don’t need to panic and become a right wing maniac, never to express yourself again. just analyze what you think you can improve about it, and keep going.

and what is with the trend to say “do not discuss politics”? well, um, are you saying we as a generation, or a culture should not discuss politics??? wow. so how do we learn about it? at the dinner table, can i discuss politics? what if i want to go into political science? what if i want to speak up for the environment? should i worry that i might miss out on some website redesign for rush limbaugh in the future - but seriously. i really worry about the spread of this cultural gag-order that says we should never discuss politics.

i do agree with the sentiment that, in one way or another, how we control our communication will definiely be important to how we go throughout life. but blog without opinion? because you are embarassed if someone brings it up? where’s your ‘joie de vivre’ (sp?)

ya know, if i was intrerviewed in that scenario (the button popping off scenario) then i think i would have tried to have a good laugh together with the prospective new client no? maybe that is seeing opportunity instead of criticism. if they tried to embarass you over that and you actually fell apart??? this doesn’t make sense, because on the other hand you are an experienced freelancer, giving out advice here on freelance switch - it doesn’t add up. pure bait.

nonetheless, i agree we will most likely tend to drift in the direction of the control of our communication, so feel free to learn about yourself, and practice getting better at how you want to express YOURSELF in YOU OWN WAY.

and oh yeah - it’s OK to make mistakes, have emotions, be human. anyone who wouldn’t hire me for having expressed real human traits at periods of my life is not worth doing work for, and probably wouldn’t be so pleasant anyway, so

all that being said, i think your guidelines are pretty good, but i think they should be loosely followed, ya know?

beware those who tell you not to discuss something. it’s called opression sometimes. we fight for freedom to make mistakes, and still care for and forgive those who are make mistakes. stop being communication snobs, you snobs.

ok, there, i took the bait….nice one guys, good article. i’m sure i will cringe at my own words often, and at other times strongly agree with myself. but for sure:

i did it….

myyyyyyyyyyyy

waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

thank god for rock and roll, techno, and free spirit.
oh, and twiglets.

[censored]

hi again,

hey, i believe you it’s a real article, i didn’t meant to suggest it was dishonest. it has *some* bait-like qualities though

i really appreciate this site, it’s great and i thank you guys for the great articles. much respect!

more and more i think that your guidelines are a good checklist to tape up on my monitor, and use them to do exactly as you suggest - consider twice, post once - be true to myself, but yes, moderate approaches are almost always better received by others.

i think my main point was that if you HAVE posted things you later regret, just go easy on yourself and try to make it a positive outcome by learning from that. learning is okay, and therefore it’s okay to look at your past and say , “yeah, i’ve come a long way”, instead of trying to hide it and feeling ashamed of times when you were not so skilled.

thanks for the follow-up article, i’ll check it out right now, see ya!