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Kathryn Mayer • Writing Out Loud

I write stuff down. writer • humorist • activist

Small Town Girl Meets World Wide Web

September 15, 2010 by Kate Mayer 4 Comments

I’m listening to the audible version of Trust Agents, and I get it. Instead of being behind the 8 ball on this whole technology front, it’s actually the life I’ve been living all along. Only now it’s virtual, and I need only learn the mechanics behind it.

It’s a small town, where, within your own network, everybody “knows” everybody – if they are personable and want to be known.

It’s where you do nice things because that’s what friends do: help each other out. Except instead of bringing over tomatoes from the garden, you may throw in a link to a buddy’s site, a job lead, or a cool tip, story, journal review, funny clip. It’s the give and take of information, tips, advice, references. It’s talking at the bus stop, catching up over the fence – except that fence just got a whole lot bigger. Chris Brogan and Julien Smith spell it out in their book: when you’re a ‘recipient of a favor, it’s in our nature to want to pay it back.’

This web-world is not so different after all. In fact, staying home to take care of the kids may have perfectly aligned me to reenter the workforce better prepared for the new business model than I had ever anticipated.  Perhaps, according to Trust Agents’ Brogan and Smith, I may fit in quite nicely. Because in the world of the social credibility, you do the nice thing, the right thing, without any expectation of something in return. And low and behold, before you know it, people will be doing the same for you.


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Comments

  1. Jack Goldenberg says

    September 17, 2010 at 2:05 am

    The success of your blog proves Woody Allen’s adage, ” 80% of success is showing up. You showed up while everyone else gave up and now, in your group, you’ve got the only blog left standing. Congratulations.

    I read an interesting self-help book called “Millionaire Moms” by Joyce Bone. Despite its lame title, it is an excellent book that helps moms find something they’re passionate about and figure out a way to turn it into a successful business.

    Just so you know, I’m not associated with the book in any way. I read it to get some insight for a project I’m consulting on that has moms as a target audience. Anyway keep up the blog. You’re good at it.

    Reply
  2. Kathy (Return-to-Work Mom) says

    September 17, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    Thanks Jack! I’m going to keep pluggin’ away, and this blog is my personal guinea pig. After doing my fair share of carpool and teenage mayhem for umpteen years, I’ve happily discovered I still got it — the writing part, at least. I just have to figure out the brave new world of social media, internet, leverage, techno, logistical brew-ha-ha. No easy feat, but it is a small town, learn by doing world, and no doubt I can fit right in. Thx again!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Crying in the Lord and Taylor Dressing Room - Kathryn Mayer says:
    January 30, 2015 at 3:12 am

    […] best friend Betsy, have the talent and chutzpah to bring LTYM to NYC, yet still make a small town girl like me feel right at […]

    Reply
  2. dreading neighborhood party says:
    November 2, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    […] I must do something about that. Later. […]

    Reply

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About Kathryn Mayer

Kathryn Mayer

An irreverent storyteller with a foul mouth and big heart, Kathryn Mayer (aka Kathy and/or Kate) is a writer, humorist, and activist writing out loud with humor and grace about little life moments with big ripples, including the space between parenting and aging parents, social issues, angsty reflections of midlife, and, sigh, gun humpers. Still. Sometimes a big deal, sometimes not Mayer is a national award-winning columnist, according to the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and her essays have been recognized as Voice of the Year … Read More Here...

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