I am not sure what made me think of this right now but it might have something to do with the work I get to start doing tomorrow. When I graduated from Northeastern State University with a degree in Mass Communications I was expecting to work as a public relations specialist somewhere writing press releases and dealing with crisis management or promotion maybe.

Almost 8 years ago I took a job I found in the newspaper as the communications manager for a national professional association. I was confident I could do anything that was asked of me not matter what the task and up to this point I have come very close to succeeding. Sure there have been certain things come up that I have had no idea how to do and for that I have found another source but I have learned to wear so many hats that as I stop to think about it…it really is crazy.

Before starting this job I had built one very simple and amateur website, I had designed one magazine, I had some several promotional designs, I had organized a lot of special events and worked on the planning of several large conferences. I had written for a newspaper, done some public speaking, and just gotten a degree which I affectionately refer to as a “BA in BS” so I a wide spread knowledge base.

Little did I know that in 8 years I would design and publish 30+ magazines, design & maintain very large websites, plan remote conferences around the country, do audio/visual set ups, write marketing plans, develop marketing strategies, learn association management skills, sell advertising and corporate sponsorships, work on IT problems, set up small networks, develop advertising campaigns, design promotions for grammy winners, develop logos for start up corporations, and teach educational sessions on technology and marketing, set up and execute photoshoots as both the director and photographer, do press kits for aging actors, do concert posters for young start up musicians, and develop websites for companies in New Jersey that I am not even sure how they found me (I am sure some other things got lost in the mix there).

While I like not getting bogged down in doing one thing for my whole life I am starting to get so spread out I am not sure what I am doing from one day to the next. I am sure it is just the weather this week and the fact that it is supposed to snow this weekend that made me feel this way or it could have been the sales push I did this morning before I had to do website edits, then talk with a printer about our magazine just before my meeting to learn how to interact our current website with a new server-side integration, and then the sending out of a promotional push through our social networking sites.

Having to change focus that many times in 8 hours can definitely start to confuse you a little!

J