Non-Office Politics

Working for oneself is hard. I'm not talking about the long hours, or the sometimes total lack of motivation, or even the inevitable periodic lonliness.

I'm talking about office politics. Yep - even lonely self-employed workers have them. It seems they are everywhere. In my business, the dreaded office politics come from the online world. Forums, guilds, online selling, etc. I have peers all over the world instead of in a local office building.

But since I am my own boss, I am almost completely without guidance as to what makes a good peer in the lampworking world. Am I in competition with other lampworkers, or are we all on the same team? Is it not cool to gossip, or is it the norm? Am I expected to show and tell everything I know about this industry, or is it okay to keep secrets? Am I doing myself a favor or a disservice by talking about this stuff in public?

Who knows? All I know is that I need an outlet - so this blog is being born. I need to discuss the dreaded copying issue, the image stealing, the giving of information for free, the effect the ISGB and other groups, the issue of wholesaling, participation in shows, the forum rivalry and many many more things that sit at the back of my mind and make it difficult for me to be creative.

I'm sure that if my peers even see this blog, they might find it boring, or even negative. But hopefully it will allow me to get some of this stuff off my chest without clogging the forums. It even might provoke some interesting discussion if people feel like commenting. If people want to talk about this stuff here, I welcome comments and debate. Hopefully I will also see my way towards posting some positive stuff, too. After all, I eventually want to let all this stuff go and get to the positivity of making beads. That's what I am on the earth to do!