The new job?
So, I’m pursuing a new job now. Well, I’m not actually pursuing it, I’ve officially got it, which wasn’t too big a deal seeing as I hired myself.
I’ve deleted my daily job listings bookmarks, unsubscribed from all my job e-mail subscriptions, and am wrapping up all my existing contract work. There is still a huge question as to whether I can make any money doing this, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
It hasn’t been announced over on Oasis yet, but I’m about to pursue Oasis as a full-time job. The plan is to give Oasis about 4-5 hours of attention per day, with the rest going to the novel. As part of this huge revamp, the biggest thing in its history since going from static to dynamic, Oasis will finally feature advertising.
It’s a mixed bag. I have liked having a site that has run for more than a decade, helped thousands of people, and never cost me all that much to maintain. But the more I reply to adds for community managers, ignore posts for paid bloggers, and read more and more stuff about the power of social networks, etc., etc., it seems like the big thing a lot of people want is something I already have and, with the right tweaking, could be a fun way to pay the bills while working on my fiction.
The upside of it being online, of course, is that I can immediately see how the ads are doing, so it isn’t a big mystery every month. That said, i am taking pains to maintain some of the charm and uniqueness of the site, despite the fact that it would serve advertisers better if I didn’t. I am pretty well-suited to know what is unique and interesting about Oasis, and when there is an issue of serving that interest as opposed to advertising and my own financial interests, the site will always win. I’m a cheap date. If this thing pays my rent and sends me away on two vacations a year, I’m pretty happy.
Not going into too much detail, as most of the news will be on Oasis when it happens.
As I expect run-off from there to show up here, jeffwalsh.com will also be getting a facelift in the next week or so.
