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Dear NBC: Please don't make me look like a dork
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So, um, remember how I was taped for The Today Show? The segment aired yesterday.
It was kind of a surreal day.
We’d kind of been making all of these jokes about how you go do a shoot for six hours so that they can make a segment that’s ten seconds long, and then, well, they went and made a segment that included about ten seconds of footage from what we’d done. The fact that this surprised me is testament only to what a rookie I am when it comes to this stuff.
There was quite a lot of blog and Twitter chatter about how the segment was handled—more specifically, what a poor fit Kathie Lee Gifford seemed to be for this particular story—and I wrote about it last night over at BlogHer, just to address some of what was being said and also to give a little background on what we experienced behind the scenes. (Bottom line: We three “round table” bloggers were treated exceptionally well during our time with NBC, even if the resultant story didn’t reflect much of what we discussed.) That’s all about the segment, itself, and I have opinions (surprise!) on how it was handled, but that’s not actually what I want to talk about here, today.
Nope. Today I want to talk about what happens when your mug gets plastered on national television, even if it’s only for a few nanoseconds.
My site traffic on my personal blog spiked yesterday. The address was on television, plus lots of folks are blogging about the show, so that was to be expected, I suppose. A nice little side benefit.
I popped up my traffic report several times yesterday to admire my climbing numbers and think to myself “Oooh! People do actually watch daytime television! Who knew?”
The other thing that happened is that, um, my inbox exploded.
Oh, I had the standard “Yay! We saw you!” emails from friends and family. And comments on the blog, too, which was nice. But I also had a flurry of email from people who wanted to, shall we say, express their opinion, and wanted to know what I’d thought about the piece. And then the weirdest thing happened.
I started getting email from people asking me to tell them my “secret.”
If you watch the Today Show segment, you’ll see there’s a clip in there of me announcing that I make more money as a writer than I ever did as an engineer. The quote was presented devoid of any context and I’m not thrilled about that, but the effect was apparently that an army of would-be writers concluded that I am just rolling in dough. Dough that I apparently fell into in some sort of simple way that I could now explain to them. Step by step. Please.
I consider myself a pretty open and helpful person. And this blog is all about sharing whatever insight I’ve gathered as a freelancer; I’m not one to huddle protectively over my methods and announce that there’s nothing to see here, move along. I like helping other folks figure out how to make a go of freelancing. It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it.
But the sudden influx of “I wanna be a writer, too, tell me how to make money” emails bothered me.
It bothered me that I felt that the piece misrepresented—or, more accurately, didn’t represent at all—the real work that goes into being a successful freelancer.
It bothered me that people would watch the segment, take down my URL, go to my site, find my contact information, and then assume that I would like to tell them how they can also make the buckets of money I am supposedly bringing home.
It bothered me that I had been too naive to realize that this is what would happen.
The good news is that my fifteen minutes of fame didn’t even last that long, right? And by next week I’ll be a distant memory (thank God) and I will have lived and learned from this experience. But the discomfort I felt on multiple levels with all of this really makes me wonder if whatever benefit I’ll end up getting here was worth the subsequent aggravation.
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 7:45 am and is filed under Now I'm free(lancing), My boss is an idiot. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Tags: advice, freelancing, marketing, publicity, the Today Show
May 8th, 2008 at 8:29 am
I never would have anticipated that kind of response! Ack!! I think you can get away with ignoring the emails from complete strangers, yes?
At any rate, you looked great and I thought the whole piece was fun and informative. *Scurrying off to BlogHer to read more*
Way to go, Mir!
May 8th, 2008 at 10:32 am
What made me sad was that they decided to have one of those EBS tests right in the middle of your segment, so I missed half of what you guys were saying. Not that it was nearly long enough in the first place, but still. Couldn’t they have picked a better time to do that? Like at any point when Kathy Lee was talking about anything else?
May 8th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
The dough I’m rolling in is playdough. Or donuts. Sometimes both at the same time. Which is messy.
I’ve had people ask me about writing as a career, and every time all I can think is, “if it were that easy, everyone would already be doing it!” I’m not sure if the problem is out-of-context interviews that make it seem simple, or the fact that in general many people want what seems easy to actually be easy, and if it’s not then they assume they just haven’t figured out the secret.
Pssst: The secret is to work your butt off. Easy, isn’t it?
Mir, I think that in the end the benefit will outweigh the aggravation! Plus, you looked great, and poised, and just awesome.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Awww, you’re looking awfully pretty today, Lylah!
Susan Wagner’s excellent suggestion for answering these folks (gleaned from her own time spent battling similar emails after her TV appearance) is something along the lines of “Dear Whomever, The secret is to work all the time, really hard, and never sleep. Love, Mir.” Would that work, do you think?
May 8th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I was interviewed for an ABC piece, and actually DID tell America how much I make every month, in a dollar amount (fortunately the piece only aired on the internet, so my neighbors did NOT see me announce my monthly income). I decided to answer the question about income the way I did specifically because I wanted to make a point about the viability of freelancing — particularly blogging– as a career.
But I also got those emails, the tell-us-how-you-do-it messages, and it really threw me, because how I do it is that I WORK REALLY REALLY HARD. I felt like people missed the point, which is that blogging can be an actual career, but it requires discipline and hard work and commitment. You know, just like any OTHER career.
I think what saddened me the most was the way Today positioned mommybloggers — the piece made us sound like we lounge around eating bonbons all day and rolling in our piles of dough. I can see how that kind of portrayal would make viewers think that blogging is the fast track to wealth and fame.
You were great, Mir — poised and funny and incredibly articulate. Nice work.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
HI Mir
I’ve been a reader for about a year on the other and here. i thought it was unprofessional how they cut you saying that without any context as to what you actually do. i knew as soon as i heard it, you’d get emails.
hang in there! it to shall pass.
tell them the secret it: Hard Work! and Common Sense. so few seem to have either now days.
May 8th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Your “secret?” Hard work, ability, and more hard work. I’m so glad you put it to her straight by saying, “I won’t tell you exactly how much I make.” Even on national TV, some things are nobody’s business.
May 8th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I know it’s true that many of your inquirers don’t understand how much hard work you put into your freelancing career. However, I think for some people it’s a valid question. Many of us are willing to work hard at a writing/freelance career, but don’t know how to work at it and be successful.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Katie: I welcome intelligent questions from people genuinely looking for mentoring — this entire site is testament to that, I think. I have NO problem with someone starting out saying, “Hey, do you mind if I pick your brain a little?” What I’m talking about here is a BARRAGE of email from people who say “I saw you on TV and I want to make money too.” Seriously. I’m not exaggerating (in fact, to protect folks’ anonymity, I’m being quite bland and kind about it, because I have received some real doozies).
There’s a difference between seeking guidance on your career path and dumping your (irrelevant) life story in the lap of someone you saw on TV for 10 seconds and saying “well, I need some money, so I hope you’ll tell me what to do.” That’s not asking for career guidance, that’s… well, nevermind, let’s just say that’s something else entirely.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Mir, if it’s any consolation, it’s no mystery to your true fans know how you make “all that money” because we read the 20 different blogs you write for. I myself have often wondered how the heck you keep up with all that writing given you have that other minor job of being a mom.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I think when you have any kind of success it will attract this kind of attention. I get it too but I try to accept that there are people out there who are desperate for a better life/career/existence and not eveyone can articulate that well (although I’m thinking that if they can’t articulate well then a career in writing probably isn’t a good option).
I work hard but I know I’d rather be in my situation than theirs and I’m grateful for what I have so I figure it won’t kill me to give them something.
The way round this for me was to have a standard one page piece that briefly describes what I do and how I did it - I just cut and paste this from other articles and posts I’d written (or you could provide a link to a post or article that has this information) and send it to enquirers with a brief standard autoresponse email (same for everyone) saying ‘here’s my info, I recommend you access a good business coach to help you if you’re stuck’.
Or yes, you could just ignore them
May 8th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I watched the segment and was immediately thrown by the ex-Regis co-host. Definitely not the best person to be speaking to Heather that’s for sure. I REALLY enjoyed the nice gal (whose name I can’t recall) who interviewed you, Kristen, and the other gal whose name I can’t recall.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Mir…all your suggestions as to how to respond are funny! As well as the other’s who have commented. I agree with Caitlin that people are desperate to make more money than they are without much effort…probably because they are so tired doing it the old-fashioned way (actually working) and so they see segments like this that make it seem like an infomercial: “For just 10 equal installments of $39.95 you too, can be rolling in the dough like I am!”
I have just started blogging in the last two months and have found it quite hard to be wife, mom, business owner, teacher (I home school my preteens), and mommy blogger. I find it therapeutic even though I’m exhausted after finishing a post at 1am. I can only imagine what it’s like for you.
I’m an independent consultant for a network marketing company and my ENVP regularly reminds me that the idea is to work smarter not harder, that it’s simple (not easy) to follow the system but it requires work. There is no system to success with mommy blogging (none that I yet know of).
Kudos to you and all the mommy bloggers who are making a career of it!!
May 9th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Also…I watched the segment yesterday…I love DVR!! You looked great!
I read your post about all they asked you and am disappointed they didn’t show more of it. Wish they would do an hour special. They seemed to focus (surprise, surprise) on the controversy surrounding mommy blogging.
Bummer!
May 9th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Oh, I didn’t think you weren’t willing to be helpful! I suppose I was just thinking about my own curiosity on the “hows”, but that’s why I read here! I’m sure you’ve gotten some GREAT emails. Congrats on the success!
May 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
But wait a sec, Mir. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot here. Why not write a book or a tape-set (for 10 easy installments of $39.95, lol)? You’ve got the know-how. You’ve got the writing ability.
May we expect a book from you in the future?
May 12th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Ha! Carolyn! My husband said basically the same thing. He said “Time to slap a PayPal button up on the site, you can let those folks know they can order your How-To Kit!” Heheheh.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I saw the segment and I believe you actually said, “I am not going to tell you how much I make but I will say that it’s 10% more than I ever made as a software engineer.” (or something like that) 10% more than a job you had several years ago? Hmmm…yes, I definitely got that you must be just raking in the dough! lol Guess it goes to show that even out of context, if that’s what someone got from that comment, they aren’t very smart to begin with.
That said, it was cool to “see” you after reading you for a couple years now. I was disappointed it wasn’t longer and that Kathy Lee was such a twit.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Mir - It was good to put a face, voice, etc. to someone whose writing I read so much of! You were very impressive!
As for those emails, you know how many folks are out there looking for a shortcut….. I like your husband’s idea!
May 14th, 2008 at 12:49 am
[…] now.) and the offending video: Mir’s post at BlogHer (she links to a lot of other reactions) Work It, Mom! Alpha Mom Today Show segment Posted in Uncategorized RSS 2.0 | Trackback | […]
May 15th, 2008 at 11:18 am
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