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Career Introduction: The Good, The Bad and The Valuable
There’s no such thing as a worthless job experience
by Kent Lewis

This month, Anvil will celebrate it’s fifth anniversary. It’s been an interesting journey, as outlined briefly in Do Over, my introduction to the third incarnation of the ezine/newsletter. Well folks, it’s time for another set change on the ever-evolving stage of online publishing. Interests and experience have led us down a new path, away from business and marketing on to lifestyle. If you’re a professional in the Internet marketing arena and are looking for nuggets to help expedite your career, you may be better served by quality publications like ClickZ, ChannelSeven, MarketingSherpa or SAM Magazine. If you’re looking for an resource that makes you think, stay tuned to Anvil.

It’s not such a radical departure, when you think about it. Rather than try to bill ourselves as Internet marketing gurus, we’re going to offer our perspective on a new topic each month in the hopes that solid writing on interesting topics will captivate readers.

When I say "we," I’m referring to a newly formed editorial board as well as readers and other contributors. When I say "solid writing" I’m referring to the fact that I now have dedicated editors with actual Masters in English rather than the current Masters in Spellcheck I have obtained from Microsoft Office University. And when I say interesting topics, I’m talking about themes like "careers." In future issues of Anvil, we will tackle a wide range of topics, from heavy (recession, death) to obtuse (windows, neighbors). In this issue however, we’re going to discuss "careers." Each perspective will be unique, starting with my own, so I hope.

At the impressionable young age of 15, I took my first job as a bag boy at Albertson’s. I wasn’t exactly excited about it, but my parents wanted me to learn the value of a dollar. If the experience were akin to an educational institution, it would have been Harvard. I had to deal with angry customers, errant shopping carts, clean-ups on aisle seven and swollen feet. One Sunday morning, a particularly maladjusted checker physically assaulted me for "double-bagging" when I should have "single bagged." Humiliated and scared, I ran to the back of the store and cried.

While it was one of the most traumatic experiences of my professional career, I still managed to take from it a valuable concept: Joe Management. Whenever I’m in a jam at work, I think about Joe, the checker that yelled at me while he shoved me out of the check stand in front of puzzled customers, and I postulate what he might do in my situation. Then I do the exact opposite. It works every time. Thank you Joe, for helping me get where I am today.

Of course there are key events in everyone’s career. While the story above may seem tragic or laughable, it’s one of the few that I take with me to each new job. Each job opens up a new world and adds a unique patch to the career quilt. I’ve shared more humorous anecdotes in past issues of Anvil, ranging from my first travel experience at a job that sucked to a few tips and tricks on how to get jobs that don’t suck. I’ve lived through being fired, starting up my own company and most recently being unemployed. Through it all, I’ve realized that every job, every experience has value, whether it be good, bad or ugly.

Did I mention that we just launched a new online store where you can purchase cool Anvil products?