Webmaster Lifestyle: Why I Love My Job
by CJ, Purve.com
One morning a few weeks ago, I was heading out to meet some friends and business associates for a breakfast meeting. I pulled on a pair of jeans and grabbed a T-shirt from the pile of clean washing on the floor beside my bed. I ran a brush through my hair, pulled it back in a clip, put on a pair of joggers, sprayed some deodorant and left the house.
It was the first week of spring here in Australia, and the weather was magical - perfect blue skies, about 80 degrees with a light breeze blowing, so I decided to walk so I could take my time and enjoy the day.
As I strolled past the shops and businesses on my street, I smiled to myself at the bustling masses of people, all rushing about in a desperate hurry to get to their next meeting. Businessmen pulled at their collars and reluctantly carried their suit jackets over their shoulders, sweating under the weight of their business attire. Business women uncomfortably clip-clopped along in high heels, some stopping to touch up their smudged make-up in tiny pocket mirrors, before moving on.
Occasionally someone would glance in my direction, their eyes flicking to my chest before studying my face - some with a slight smile in their eyes, others with an unimpressed look on their tightly-drawn faces. I looked down, wondering if I'd forgotten to wear a bra again, and realized I'd grabbed an old Busty Amateurs T-shirt when I got dressed that morning, with the industry famous I LOVE PORN slogan blazing across the front.
I threw my head back, stuck my chest out, and strutted proudly the rest of the way to breakfast - careful to avoid schools and playgrounds on the way. I arrived at the strip of cafes where I was meeting my friends, scanned the crowds and spotted a table that I knew had to be mine thanks to the range of T-shirts proudly on display ... 420Calendar.com, Go Fuck Yourself at Mike's Place, and a Bad Gurl Purve.com shirt.
We discussed business, drank freshly squeezed juice, ate bacon and eggs and made plans to do it all again next week - all the while watching the world fly by at a million miles an hour. In the hour and a half we sat in the cafe, nobody stopped to look up at the sky or take a deep breath of the clean, fresh air around us. Few people smiled, many looked annoyed, some extremely frustrated ... despite the fact that they live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, have food to eat, and reside in a generally safe place.
As I do at least once per day, I thought how lucky I am to have a job that not only supports my material desires and takes care of me well, but that also allows me the freedom to stop and look around every once in a while and appreciate the magical world around me.
While now I can stop and appreciate the beauty that is life, it's taken me a long time to learn to appreciate what I have ... and I still have days where I wonder why I bother! When one of those days rolls around, I try to imagine my life any other way - but I am unable to see myself as one of those businesswomen clip-clopping around in uncomfortable shoes, no matter how hard I try. Is it any wonder they look miserable?
When I graduated from high school, I knew exactly where I wanted to be in five years. I saw myself working in a big flashy advertising agency, with glamorous clients and spunky male advertising executives taking me to corporate lunches in their BMWs. I imagined I'd be working on advertising layouts for magazines, directing Television commercials, and managing radio campaigns while talking on the phone, buffing my nails and getting a neck massage at my desk.
There was no question in my mind as to how I was going to achieve this, and no doubts whether I was capable ... I knew that if that was what I wanted, all that remained was to .... JUST DO IT! I went to college, started to learn about bromide cameras, cutting out individual letters with scalpels, and very carefully sticking it all together to create a print plate - but just as I started to get the hang of it, along came the Internet!
I begged my parents to buy me a super fast 33k modem for my 19th birthday, and I've been an Internet addict ever since. My dream job of working in an advertising agency was quickly replaced by a desire to build my future in an untouched medium where absolutely anything is possible. Now, my friends who do work in flashy advertising agencies envy the flexibility and freedom my job brings, as they repeat the same boring tasks every single day.
In the past month, I've designed a few sites, taken photos, written gossip articles about celebs, color corrected pics of hunky men, edited audio for Internet radio, worked with affiliates to market a wide range of Web products, designed Web banners and print advertising material and discussed distribution channels for a myriad of related products. I can't think of any other industry where a 27 year old would have the opportunities and advantages that this industry brings.
So, the next time you get frustrated with your work, or catch yourself complaining about an element of your job, remind yourself of these six important points ... because the grass is rarely greener in the paddock next door!
1) Comfort:
We can work in our pajamas or tracksuit pants, and rarely need to dress in corporate attire. Jeans can become adult industry 'black tie' by simply adding a black jacket! The flip side of course is taking it too far, wearing the same clothes for more than a day will lose you friends quickly!
2) Variety:
We rarely work on the same thing for more than a few days. While sometimes we might be scripting content for days, there's always something fresh and new around the corner to keep us on our toes! Most adult webmasters understand, and regularly use a range of multimedia applications, creating a skill set mainstream developers envy.
3) Slow Cooking:
Working from home has its advantages in the kitchen too, like the delicious meals that can be created if you turn the cooker on in the morning and check it a few times throughout the day! Lamb Shanks, Soup, Stew, Spaghetti and Meatballs and Osso Bucco to name just a few! You can't beat flavors that have had eight hours to develop!
4) Flexibility:
Having the flexibility to stop work for a break at any time of the day or night doesn't happen in many jobs, and while flexibility usually means more hours overall, you can't place a value on parents being able to stop work at 3pm to collect kids from school or ditching work and heading to the beach for the day.
5) The People:
The colorful characters that make up the adult industry ensure business never gets boring, and you'll always have someone interesting to chat with at the 'water cooler.' Its almost guaranteed that anyone working in this industry can't possibly be boring, except perhaps the accountants...
6) The Future:
If you don't share my excitement for our chosen business yet, look towards the future and the opportunities available to you in the next five years. While the adult industry may be suffering, the skills we have learned during the pioneer days of the Internet are heavily in demand in the mainstream Internet world right now, and will continue in high demand well into the future. So if you don't like your job as much as I do, find a better one!
CJ started in the industry over six years ago in '98, launching Purve.com, the first adult subscription site for women. Since then, CJ has launched and managed the affiliate program SexHit, and has since used her affiliate management skills to crossover into promoting many products ... from Casino's to Paysites ... Bra's to Vitamins. Most recently CJ launched CelebrityBling.com and a network of celebrity paysites designed to bridge the gap between adult and mainstream.
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