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Yesterday being Mothers Day, I naturally called Mom. We went through all the normal conversation, how is everybody, everything is fine, all’s well in the Hauckes clan.
Then the conversation turned to what I am doing for work. I told Mom a while ago, when I was home because Pop was in the hospital, that I worked on computers and left it at that due to the situation with Pop. So this time I decided to go into a little more detail in explaining what I do for a living.
Mom is in her 80′s, so trying to explain about Blogs, Websites and writing as a business venture is extremely difficult.
I tried the Magazine Article Analogy. “I write articles that are published on the internet.” I explained. “How do you make money from that?” was her reply.
I told her that there are companies that pay to advertise if someone clicks on an ad I have on my pages. Further, I made the comparison to ads in newspapers and magazines, trying to explain how advertisers pay for space to promote their products.
She started to get more confused the more I explained. So, I changed the subject back to family matters. She still doesn’t understand how I can make money on the internet.
I run into this quite a bit with friends who are not savvy to the ways of the internet as well. Usually, I end up just telling them that I write for a living and leave it at that. I found that trying to explain too much just confuses them.
How do you explain what you do on the internet to your friends and family?
4 Comments
I have a standing joke, “I tell my mother-in-law I write spy novels.” It started when I first told someone I was in publishing. It hasn’t gotten any easier with time. I know exactly what you are talking about.
Hey Liz,
I think the only ones who understand are people who actually Blog or do some other type of work on the internet.
Maybe, someday it will be mainstream enough that we won’t have to explain it.
One can only hope…
Joe
I think all people in publishing understand. As a print publisher I went through the same thing. People thought I printed the books.
I hear what you’re saying. I think that if people aren’t really involved in something they don’t care enough to want to understand.
Joe