Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
I meet plenty of people who'd like to do their own business, start a new career with what they geek over, and so forth. They'd really like to do this, they're quite positive.
They don't suceed or have trouble.
I know I've gone on about this before, but I wanted to add one more thing to the mix of "why fans and geeks don't have careers that make them happier" – and that's that sometimes your fandom itself can be the barrier.
So last week we discussed how fandom teaches you good business sense, one of those useful "general skills" you'll need in your life. This week we'll explore another thing fandom teaches you.
Customer Service.
As I noted previously, many fandom activities are run like businesses – conventions, websites, etc. They may not make money, of course – they may not be intended to – but they are like businesses in almost all regards. Thus they are very educational to work on because you learn good business sense.
This is part of a new series where I'm going to examine specific "general skills" that people learn in fandom and their hobbies. I talk specific skills quite a bit, but fandom also teaches you general or "metaskills" that can help your career quite a bit.
First up – your fannish and hobby activities teach you good business sense.