{"id":924,"date":"2018-08-06T10:27:38","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T14:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/?p=924"},"modified":"2018-08-06T10:27:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T14:27:38","slug":"what-do-you-do-how-to-answer-this-question-like-an-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/what-do-you-do-how-to-answer-this-question-like-an-artist\/924","title":{"rendered":"“What do you do?” How to answer this question like an artist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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So. What do you do?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For years, I’ve read articles that tell me to\u00a0never ask people what they do<\/a>\u00a0as an icebreaker. And yet, people I don’t know\u00a0keep asking me what I do.<\/a><\/p>\n

How about you?\u00a0Do people ask you what you do a lot?<\/a><\/p>\n

I suspect that no matter how many articles pile up on this topic — people won’t change. They’ll keep at it. They’ll keep asking what I do.<\/p>\n

That’s cool. But a few years ago, I decided to change my answer.<\/p>\n

In the past, I might have said I was a writer. Or a teacher. Or a business communication consultant. Or a speech coach.<\/p>\n

Freelancers tend to cobble together an umbrella career of a wide range of skills. We perform many tasks in the realm of crafting and delivering messages.<\/p>\n

I’ve been toying with the idea of saying “I’m a slasher. I write SLASH teach SLASH coach SLASH speak…you get the picture.<\/p>\n

It’s very Hollywood. No one’s an actor. They’re an actor SLASH writer SLASH producer.<\/p>\n

Think Orson Welles. Or Oprah. Or Donald Glover. They not only slay, they’re slashers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But saying “I’m a slasher” can be confusing for people who ask what I do. If I tell them I’m a writer, most think in terms of “book” — not “speeches” or “scripts” or “copy”.<\/p>\n

If I say, “teacher” – they ask what grade. If I say “speaker” – they ask if I live in a van, down by the river.<\/p>\n