50 Shades of Marketing

Today's Marketing Cookie reminds me of a little story about the first time I truly knew that I was in love with my career.

We traveled back to New York to visit my in-laws for Thanksgiving one year. We had not been home for a few years and my father-in-law pulled me aside and asked, "Explain to me again what you are doing to support my daughter and granddaughter." It was a fair question. At that time, I was working to design my very first corporate (text-based) website—before the invention of visual web browsers like Netscape or Internet Explorer. Customers had to direct-dial their modem to get connected with our site and had to use keystrokes on their keyboard to navigate our content. Anyway, I explained it all to my father-in-law and could tell that it wasn't resonating with him, so I took my seat at the "little kids table."

A few years later, this new "Internet thing" really took off and soon there were commercials on TV for Gap.com, McDonalds.com, Coke.com, and Sears.com. Website domain names were everywhere. It was a modern-day gold rush! When we pulled into the driveway for Thanksgiving that year, my father-in-law greeted us at the front door and said with a big smile, "Son!" I was so proud of my career in that moment, and I got to sit at the "big table" from then on. 

If you love what you do, I believe that your love affair with your career will blossom into a few happy moments like that too.