Portability and Flexibility
More often than we think but not necessarily often enough, we learn things about ourselves and the industry, aspects that ultimately lead us to a greater appreciation of what we in online advertising get to do. About a month ago, we wrote about one such topic – upward mobility. The realization that came to us countered the long held belief that our industry is basically flat, that the companies who comprise it may offer great places to work but not opportunities for advancement. What we realized is that while it is true in the classic sense, it’s less true when looking at our industry as a whole instead of just the type of companies who comprise it. The path upwards may not be as concrete as the fabled mail room clerk to executive or fry-cook to manager, but it’s equally if not more abundant and more diverse – be it affiliate to network owner, media buyer to advertiser, etc. What we get by working in our industry is a flexible toolkit for making money on the most liquid exchange possible.
On a recent trip, admittedly not a business vacation, we couldn’t help but think of yet another benefit to working in our space. Of all places, the inspiration came while visiting a spa in a foreign country. The person at the spa was not from that country. That happens all the time. What was different here was not just the relatively homogeneous population of other workers, it was what we learned when speaking to them. In the US, it’s pretty common to ask people from where they come, what brought them here. Whether it’s common in other countries, we can’t say; but, it doesn’t stop me from asking. What surprised me were the answers, almost all dealing with when they arrived and how long they planned on staying. Thinking I’d hear of mix of arrival / departure information, what I heard were generally people who came less than a year ago and planned on staying less than a year. They didn’t come to the country to settle. They came to work for a bit and leave.
Having been trained to think of work in the paradigm of a profession, the idea of just going to a place to work and then leave didn’t really occur to me, unless of course a company sends you. These people didn’t go to a country because a company sent them. They went and sought work that could keep them. We saw it again later at a restaurant where the person had a remarkably non-native accent. Again, finding people from all walks of life isn’t unusual in the United States, but finding them in certain jobs is. When asked, the waitress mentioned wanting to visit and wanting to stay.
Massage therapy and being wait staff are but two such jobs whose skills are portable. Applying them to a new environment in a relatively similar cultural environment doesn’t pose a big challenge. The hardest part is finding the work, something that happens more easily with tourist / seasonal locations. What is interesting, though, are the rather limited number of occupations that could, if they so choose, go to a different country and find work. Most professionals can’t. A doctor or lawyer can’t just open up shop in a new place. It needs to be something a little more interchangeable into a business like a masseuse, a waitress, hotel reception staff, etc. That’s what makes what we do so unique.
Not everyone has the luxury of working wherever they would like. If you work at a company now, chances are you can’t just say that you’d like to go do your job from somewhere else. You might be able to, but it’s disruptive to the others, which is among the main reasons why you wouldn’t be allowed. On the other hand, were you to run a small network or offer company, be a designer, consultant, affiliate social media expert, or Mixergy, among many others, you could if you so wanted pick up and move to a different location / run your business form a different location. That, however, is really just location flexibility. It’s not true portability.
Flexibility alone makes those with internet advertising and marketing skills enviable, but the portability is often overlooked. If you know how to do search or social, these are platforms that are universal. The language might differ, but the platforms themselves don’t. And, while there are users in all countries, the power users are you. It makes you incredibly valuable, and it means there is a wide audience that could learn so much from you. Like any other job portability, taking the leap means taking risk – heading to a place where a job might not exist already. But, if you want to do it, chances are you are more valuable than you think.
