Nice to see you again. Follow me, @SydneyOwen. Thanks for being here!
Luck, ultimatums, and relocation. How it all went down…
Luck. I’ve been hearing an awful lot about it lately. I’m so lucky to have a job in this economy. I’m so lucky that I had it lined up before graduation. I’m so lucky that I moved to Chicago and I’m starting my career at one of the worlds leading PR agencies. Luck, luck, luck. Enough already.
As you probably already know, I went to a conference in November, met my mentor, and got the ball rolling on the “lining up options before I graduate” thing. I’ve always been extremely confident in this journey, except for one 24-hour period. For months I’ve been thinking about those 24 hours. And now I’m talking about it.
I was at some diner in Austin. Some place that’s open 24 hours, and apparently is so awesome, there’s two of them. I can’t remember the name of it for the life of me. Anyway, I was sitting across from some big-shot PR guy and my best friend. Big-shot PR guy decides he’s going to grill me with questions that I didn’t have the answer to. I had been traveling all day, didn’t sleep the night before because I was so excited to get to SXSW, I was off my game.
The questions he was asking caused me to think about what I love to do in a whole new light. I walked in there thinking that social media was the secret answer to PR’s problems. I thought it was the lay of the land, single-handedly the most important thing in the industry. It’s a tool in the tool box. Great that I knew how to use it, but it takes a lot more than one tool to build something amazing.
That night, I didn’t nail it. I was flustered. I went back to the hotel and analyzed everything I said, everything I was doing. I felt like I was playing catch up.
I solemnly swore to myself that it wouldn’t happen again. I literally broke down and cried in my hotel room in Austin because I didn’t know why I was there. If everything I said at the diner was worthless, then what had I been sacrificing so much for? I had been working six nights at the bar, doing two internships and going to school full time. For what? To stumble through this week like a lost puppy? I thought about what I was doing and had to readjust my approach. Next time, I’d have the answers.
My best friend didn’t register for SXSW, she just came for the parties. She knew full and well that I came out here to network and meet people that would hire me someday. After I went to the mall with her instead of opening keynote, she had a hissy fit about not feeling well and not wanting to go out, so I went to the opening party without her. I came home to her crying to her mom on the phone about what a horrible bitch I was.
Except it wasn’t that simple. It was more than the party. It was my life. I could continue to cater to her needs, go to random bars instead of panels or sponsored parties (where said people that would hire me would be) or I could do what I came there to do.
She gave me an ultimatum the next morning. I spend time with her, or she flies home. I paid right around $1700 between registration, stay at the host hotel and airfare. I was going to get my money’s worth.
So that was Saturday. Sunday I went to panels all day and I soaked it all up like a sponge. I wanted to have the answers for the next potential boss that I met.
And I did. I sailed through a breezy conversation over beers. It wasn’t intimidating. I knew what I was talking about. I expressed how eager I was to learn, but that at the same time, I had a point of view. “I don’t know” wasn’t in my vocabulary. That night would change my life, come to find out. That’s not luck. That’s me believing in myself, making sacrifices, and busting my ass coming full-circle. That’s what it’s all about. That’s me.
It was sometime between the hours of 10PM and 1AM on Sunday, March 17th, that I had my life-changing “ah-ha” moment. An epiphany, if you will. It was sometime in that time period that I fully committed to myself and to my life and to the start of my career. It was during that time that I let go of what was holding me down and didn’t turn back. Full steam ahead.
Sydney: Unfiltered.
This new blog is going to be a lot of what I was writing, because there is an audience here. I’ll continue to provide advice to students looking to take the same path. I’ll continue to give my cheery reflection on what life is like after college.
I’m not going to fly off the handle (boss, mom… you can breathe easy). I’m not going to start writing about things that are totally controversial. With the new focus of this blog, I can now write about damn near anything. I don’t need to worry about whether or not I can tie it to new media. I’ve changed since I started this blog, and now I’m sharing it with you.
Welcome to Sydney: Unfiltered. A raw take on my life as it is: unpredictable, frightening, and wildly exciting.
Hopefully you’ll stick around. 