Warning: Long, introspective post coming...
Sometimes people ask me what my job is. Or what's my position with my company. That's increasingly a complex question, but I think the best answer is: "I do whatever needs to be done."
In the last two months, we lost our IT guy and the programmer who had developed one of our key systems. Rather than rehiring those positions, I just sort of took over those duties. So I'm maintaining our email and network and the program that runs one of our services. I'm also still responsible for maintenance on the program I wrote a couple years back that forms the core of our other major service. And the server system it runs on, with the cascading proxies and so forth.
This has been a bad idea, of course, and so I'm working on rehiring both of those positions. I have learned a great deal, though, about those specific areas of our company. I decided to split our internal server into three pieces -- we were running Exchange, our file sharing, and our domain controller all on one box. I outsourced the email to a company that will guarantee uptime and backups, removed the domain controller, and set up a new file sharing computer that's dedicated just to that. So when we get some real IT help back in the company, that person should have a much simpler job.
I'm also the person everybody comes to when they have any other problems. If a client is having a problem, if one of our services isn't working for somebody, if a client asks a tricky question -- I get a visit.
Why did this client just lose all their rankings? Why is this PPC campaign suddenly performing so poorly? How can we write content and optimize a site running this particular, custom CMS? How can we integrate SiteCatalyst into this shopping cart system? What data should this client be tracking to measure the success of this weird type of campaign? How can this client improve their conversion rate?
:o) That's a fun part of my job, actually, because I get to apply the principles I've learned to a lot of different situations and see how they work. It requires a lot of reading and learning and thinking, but then allows a lot of real-world experimenting and testing the things I've learned. Constant refinement. Lots of experience with a wide range of technical and human issues related to marketing and the Internet.
I developed basically (well, literally) all of the services we offer now, so of course I'm the one who understands them best. I built them the way I thought they should run.
And in the meanwhile, I'm also supposed to be researching and developing new products. That piece of my job tends to take a back seat to the more urgent needs. (Franklin Covey is spinning in his grave.) Especially for the last little while, I've been doing a whole lot more maintaining than forging onward. But the industry keeps moving and I've got more than a handful of interesting ideas for us to look at.
So, why the introspection today?
I read about a guy who's getting sued by Microsoft for some very large-scale blackhat SEO, spamming, domain squatting and stuff. He went to BYU and I actually met him once at a conference where I was presenting (ironically, about 'The Right Way to do SEO'). He asked me a couple questions which, in retrospect, fit entirely with what he's been accused of now. I don't usually get upset at people for asking questions, but at the time, he struck me as surprisingly arrogant. (Yes, yes. I know. I'm arrogant, too. But it doesn't surprise me.)
As news broke about this civil suit from Microsoft, this guy posted the following on his blog:
"I'll admit, I've done my share of blackhat stuff online. I continue to do my share of it. As long as it works, I'll continue to do it.
Why?
It works!
Period.
I don't care if you hate me for it.
I got an email today from someone asking how I reconcile splogging with morals.
I don't.
I don't think the two have anything to do with each other.
Why do people feel the need to relate an online marketing tactic with ethics or morals. "
This really resonated with me. The guy graduated from BYU and he's a mormon. He's got a family. He does Internet marketing. In at least those (fairly significant) areas, he's just like me.
We've had lots of people suggest that we do some of those things that this guy is getting sued for. We could easily have done them. I've even worked out ways that we could put our own interesting spin on them. But I've spent most of my career here trying to make sure we do everything right, with the belief that if we do our best and do it right, profit will come.
And profit has come. We're doing very well. I've also been able to teach at BYU, I've learned a lot and developed some great systems (software and otherwise), and I've got a new magazine column in the works. I'm going to be done with my Master's degree classes in December.
Basically, the point is, I'm at a point where I can reevaluate and look at new options. Do I want to move somewhere crazy? Do I want a new job? What kind of job would I enjoy? What could I possibly enjoy more than this? (And yet, I have the distinct impression that there must be something I'd enjoy more than this, because I'm really, really tired of... something about this. I don't know what, though.)
Introspection aside, I'm happy. Life is good. Life is very good.
And I'm going to go to work now. :o)