Patti Fousek

What do you like most about working for yourself? A True Answer.

Today I spent about an hour speaking to a group of high school students about my life. 

I spoke about growing up in East Boston in a single parent household; gettting my first job at age 16; high school; college; how I almost failed college in my first semester; and how I eventually became the owner of my own company.

One student, Peter, asked a lot of questions… thankfully they all did. But one of Peter’s questions made me really think.

He asked: “what do you like most about working for yourself?”

My answer: “I like having my dogs with me in my office.”

The truth is, working for yourself is freaking hard. Not only do you have to get your own clients, but you have to do all the work for your clients, and the accounting, and the bill collecting, and the accounts payable, and all the marketing, and, and, and… It never ends. 

While I LOVE owning my own business, I do get overwhelmed by my ever growing to-do list. So much so, that I became a procrastinator.

I don’t procrastinate on the important things, like servicng my clients. But my email inbox has gotten way out of control and I have piles of paper work and notes on my desk waiting to either be filed or entered into my database. 

Some days it’s amazing that I manage to get through the day without going insane.

What keeps me going? My dogs. 

No matter how stressed out I get, they never judge me, they give me hugs and kisses when I need them, and they make me take a break when I need it the most.

if you are a small business owner, ask yourself what you like most about working for yourself? Say the first thing that comes to mind. The answer may surprise you.

How I Became an SEO …

You may be surprised to learn that I wasn’t always interested in SEO. I know… shocker! It wasn’t even until 2001 that I knew what SEO was.

Considering SEO is how I make my living, I’m glad I fell into this sort of work. Has SEO helped shape my life? Well, from a professional aspect, yes. Personally, I don’t walk around talking about title tags or rel=”canonical” stuff. I hate to bore my family and friends with talk about work, unlike my husband (love you honey).

Oh, so how did I become an SEO?

On a sunny and beautiful September morning in 2001, I drove to my new job as a print production coordinator at WGBH (the local PBS station in Boston). I remember I was very happy as I drove in. I had been laid off for 5 months previous to this job, so just having a job made me happy. But I also felt very comfortable and respected at this job and loved what I was doing, which made going to work even more enjoyable.

When I got there, my co-worker, and now close friend, Allison had said ‘did you hear about what just happened at The World Trade Center?’ Yes, the day was 9/11.

So, what does 9/11 have to do with me becoming an SEO? Well, my job at the time consisted of managing the production of printed press kit materials for the national promotions department. I managed projects for great shows like Masterpiece Theatre, American Experience, Arthur, Zoom, and so on. These shows had generous funding for their print materials. And let me tell you, some of these press kits were very elaborate.

On 9/12/01, and many days afterwards, lots of funding for these major shows were drastically cut. Why? Because the world as we knew it changed and the nation was uncertain of its future.

Soon thereafter, my job too quickly changed. Sometime in October, I think, the department director told me about the funding cuts and this is how the rest of the discussion went (sort of):

Director: We need an online pressroom.

Me: Ok. Is it being developed?

Director: We’ve been talking about it. Can you lead this project?

Me: Of course. Who do I talk to?

She gave me the names of the web developers and sent me on my way.

I immediately started Googling things like ‘online pressrooms’, ‘online press releases’, and so forth. Needless to say, there really weren’t a lot of results.

Somehow in my frantic searching I came across a few websites that talked about Search Engine Optimization. I read up on as much as I possibly could, met various times with the developers, and launched an online pressroom in 2002.

Little did I know I would take what I learned during that project and make it my career of choice.

The moral of this story is…. no body knows what they want to be when they grow up. Sometimes it takes a crisis for our path to be realized. 

Tough Like a Mudder

I must be either crazy or enjoy self punishment, or both. But yes, one goal I have for 2012 is to complete a Tough Mudder event.

Don’t know what the Tough Mudder is? Well… it’s 10-12 miles of hills, mud, water, ropes, walls, electric shocks, and fire. Yes… I said fire.

The event tests your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie.

Why am I doing this?

Like I said previously, I must be crazy. Seriously… the owner of Physique Fitness in Dover, NH - where I workout - announced one day that she wanted to create a team to participate in the Tough Mudder in Vermont. Considering Sara, the owner, has gotten me into the best shape I’ve been in a long time, I said ‘count me in’!

Why else?

I turned 40 in March of this year. Call it a mid-life crisis, but I felt like I had to do something else to challenge myself. Since turning 40, I’ve tried Trapeze (which I still would be doing if the only place near me that has lessons was closer than an hour-and-a-half away); ran my first 5K; and participated in lots of Dock Dogs events with my dog Aspen. I feel like Tough Mudder is what I need to challenge myself physically and mentally. Also, the training alone will get me, and keep me in top physical shape.

Now what?

I train and train hard. I’ve started trail running and running up hill. I’ve also connected with others on Google+ that have completed Tough Mudder’s before.

I will track my training for the Tough Mudder on this blog. Hopefully I will inspire someone to take the bull by the horns and do challenge themselves.

So there you have it. My 2012 goal is to be Tough like a Mudder!