Waste No Part Of The Animal
Crystal posted this on May 8, 2008
Image credit: equality
Many moons ago, when I thought horror novels were fun, a fiendish book left me with mental images I’d rather forget, and a line that I’d rather not: “We waste no part of the animal.”
Bringing that up in a business context may seem a little off, but “waste no part” is right in line with this week’s reflections about what I’ve brought forward from design school, and last week’s post on my leaving grad school to walk a different road. It may mean something to you, too.
It’s relevant because I’m not an architect, and I’m never going to be. But I can–and do—take scraps from my old Life as an architecture student and put them to good use in my new(er) Lives of blogging and databases and corporate reporting and design.
My ex-stepfather (I’ve since fired him) used to grump that his money and my time were wasted on my degree if I wasn’t going to be an architect. But from this week’s posts, and more besides, it’s come clear I’m wasting little of that particular animal.
…
As I start my journey on this new road, I’m checking my pack and pockets for all the positive remnants from my previous Lives: my prize for best sewing in Home Ec in the 7th grade, wanting to be a librarian in the 8th, drafting and shop classes in high school, the first story I ever wrote, my first online chat, all the website and database projects, what I hated about the jobs I loved and what I loved about the jobs I hated. And praise for my reading voice and my analytical skills and the elegance of a design, and how I bring understanding to people, and that I’m a better tutor than teacher.
Sure. I could make a business out of my most highest earning, my best certified, and my most tenured skills. But if I felt passionate about any of those things, I’d still be doing them. More than that, recommitting myself to any combination of those would mean wasting the other things that I know.
And so I’m wondering
How much better will it be then, to collect and examine what some would consider the table scraps of my Life? How much better will it be to ignore my resume and other labor logs (for now) to rediscover what I enjoyed, what I originally planned to do, and of course, what I dreamed most of doing?
Doesn’t it make sense really, to sift through my skills and interests as a prereq to imagineering the thing(s) I Can And Will do next? How much better is it to pick off the bones of my Life with care…to be sure I’m not wasting any part?
…
A year’s wage worth of student loans is a five-digit testimony to my quest for more knowledge, more exposure, and more skills because I’ve never felt qualified enough to be a professional anything, though everyone else tells me otherwise. Everyone.
What a silly rabbit I’ve been.
How much better will it be for me to abandon having more and focus instead on making the most of what I have?
…
How much better would it be for you then, if you did the same?
Et tu?
Are you sure you’ve got all the gigs, billable hours, and referrals you’re gonna get out of your current clients? You already know that extending an old client relationship is cheaper and faster and easier than developing a new one. Waste no part.
Are you sure you’ve repurposed your existing content in every way? Have you distilled it to a multi-part email course? Expanded it into a weekend workshop? Has it been re-presented as a video? Audiobook? EBook? Has it been translated into English, French, Spanish, German, Hindi, Chinese, Thai, and Tagalog? Don’t develop new content until everything’s been done with what you have. Waste no part.
Are you sure you’re sick of your job/career? Have you tried integrating your personal interests into it? Could you improve your relationship with your peers, your colleagues, your boss? Have you tried teaching on the side? Have you tried teaching inside? Do you really hate it, or are you just bored with it? Don’t abandon your career until you’ve given everything you can, and until you’ve taken everything you can use. Waste no part.
Waste not, want not
Tagged with: pep talk
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18 Responses to “Waste No Part Of The Animal”
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Good reminders Crystal. I’ve helped my clients and my girlfriend offer new services to their existing customers, but I haven’t done that myself yet. I better get on it.
Integrating the personal interests with my career helped a lot. I got a renewed burst of energy a few years ago when I started combining my love of cagefighting with designing web sites for professional fighters. It lead to other bigger web design opportunities.
Hey Sterling! It’s funny how our own stuff doesn’t get done because we’re happily helping other folks along…well, maybe not funny
And a hundred thanks for validating one of the things I offered up for other folks. It’s one thing to offer up an idea, but a far better, cooler, and hipper thing to hear that the idea works…and works really well, at that.
I’ll have to keep the integration idea in mind for myself…hmmm..
Thanks for checking in!
Crystal,
Well said. Repurposing makes so much sense, because folks come at you from all different angles, and want different ways to digest your content. that’s why I blog in the first place, but I could be doing more…. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Thanks for the kick!
Regards,
Kelly
Recent blog post from Kelly: Inspiration Points: No Regrets!
Crystal,
I like this very much, and it is so true. I took a page from the book of Amy Derby, a while back, and contacted someone where I work - my industry, much like the one she left, is very conservative - no bloggers or blogs.
So, with some luck I’ll be setting up blogs for my industry, and writing for them.
Why not use what I’ve learned there, to do something I love?
Recent blog post from Brett Legree: eight random facts about me. no kleenex required.
CAN and WILL baby!!!
Oh yeah……
( Hearing the Rocky theme in my head as I go running out of the room with my head on fire!!!)
Recent blog post from Wendi Kelly: Listening With Ears Wide Open
@Wendi—I was so hoping you’d catch that!
Burn on, mamasita en fuego!
Crystal,
Brava.
“Everything but the squeak” is the phrase I was using on the phone with my secret weapon not too many months ago… It’s going to be an interesting ride isn’t it?
All best,
Jan
Recent blog post from Janice Cartier: Long Shots
Hi Crystal,
There are so many things I have acquired through my education that I’m recycling to my present career. I’ve always tried to combine two careers because I suppose I was always afraid of not being “practical” while combining my writing and photography. Now I do both as a freelance writer/photographer. My degrees are in teaching and wildlife biology, and it’s true, no knowledge is lost knowledge. Use everything you know. Great post and looking forward to more. E
Recent blog post from Ellen Wilson: Splatted with a Meme Tomato
Hi Kelly! My pleasure
And as you were saying about “different ways to digest your content”, folks learn in a variety of ways, so it’s good to have audio, and pictures/graphics/diagrams along with text.
Which was all well and good when I was studying multimedia education/learning…but I’m still wondering what that means in a blogging context: a downloadable MP3 for every post? Scanned diagrams of concepts? Or have more pictures? So very time consuming, but maybe worth it for pillar articles/series. Dunno…
Thanks for kicking me back
Hiya Brett—See?! Now that’s cool stuff. You and Sterling tying your interests into your work is inspiring. For all the bloggers we hang with everyday, there are a gabillion folks who have no idea what a blog is or does BUT they will benefit mightily from your advice and skills and experience and love.
Sidenote: Funny that J Hipkin tagged me with information on the older market…50+, which is a match to an idea of yours from last week…
Hiya Janice–Many thanks…And I believe it will be interesting indeed. I’m glad you’re here.
if you guys notice… we went to school to learn stuff that at the end in our corporate jobs are not even used at all.
or even just for our everyday works.
we learn what we need to do on job when we’re doing hands on.
then we realized… we wasted a lot of time.
Recent blog post from golfsport: 1
Crystal,
I thought that was pretty interesting too.
(Maybe Sterling & I can do a joint venture, we can have the cagefighters tour the nuclear plants…)
One of my business ideas has been developing in that direction, actually. Interesting how you can meld different concepts that way.
-Brett
Recent blog post from Brett Legree: canada 2, greece 0. a story about running.
@Brett—As usual, when I hear one of your ideas, I can’t wait to see what happens next
@golfsport—Hi and welcome! We’re noticing that with some effort, we’re able to select useful items from our education to apply to our current jobs, whatever the current job happens to be. There’s plenty of hands-on learning, too, but we’re recycling whatever knowledge we can. It’s not the same for you? One thing for sure, without my completed degree I wouldn’t have had many job opportunities. If your education doesn’t play into your work, maybe you can do like Brett and Sterling and integrate hobbies and other interests?
Howdy Ellen and welcome!
What a fab combination of talents: writing/photography. That popped up in a novel recently as helpful for magazine writers, since they could provide their own art in the package (and get paid for both roles). And how the editors like having all the work managed at once. If it’s really like that, then it’s very practical. And profitable. And sensible, and a host of other -ables
You encourage me to find a unique combination of my not-so-unique skills. Thanks for that…
ps Enjoyed the heck out of your recent posts this morning…especially Ugly Duckling Blogger! A perfect boost.
I really like this thought process. It’s not something I consciously do, but will definitely try to apply it to more areas in my life now.
I guess the only “waste no part” type of thing I do is that when I give a quote to a client I try to give them 3 different choices. The middle choice being what I think they will want. One with a few more features than the middle and one with a few less than the middle. It gives them a sense of empowerment and choice and sometimes they take the full-featured option instead of the medium.
But I guess if they choose the lower option I’m wasting more animal.
Recent blog post from Jeremy Davis: Knowledge-Based Pricing: Kicking it Old Carpenter Style
Hi Jeremy! Cool setup for the client choices…empowerment for them, a smart simple system for you.
But you haven’t wasted a thing when they choose the lesser-featured options if you save those concepts/code/design bits that client didn’t use for someone else later…
If nothing else, what you learned while creating those other two options will surely play into another project. Just like what you wrote in your Knowledge-Based Pricing post about how little time a similar project will take you the second time around.
That was a good and timely post, by the way. I love your summary…it’s almost a mantra—
“Make your pay rate reflect more on your knowledge and skill, not necessarily your time.”
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