Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I came across a game called Second Life. Within weeks, I landed a job as a casino host, and then as a dealer in a poker house. I was making more than at a brick and mortar job so I quit that one and stayed with Second Life. After a couple of weeks, I went from dealer to manager. Now you may laugh, but I made just as much there in that "game" as a manager as I made here at Mocksa!
And I did love it. It was fun, it was fast and it was adrenaline rush. That's when I knew that I had found what I loved to do.
Things do change fast in online management, no matter what the platform or interface is. A few months later, after taking the poker house to the top, I was released. See, they thought they knew everything I did, just what my job functions were, and so then I was expendable. That was the first time I cried over a project.
And I did. I cried. Lots, and hard. You have to understand though that for years I had struggled to find what I was good at. What I could do well and had finally found it. The bigger heartbreak though was in the things that were said about me after I left. It was hurtful. It was mean. And it came from everyone from the top down. to the bottom. That was my very first experience in the betrayal that happens.
And I was fast the scapegoat too! Right before I was let go, I was required to do certain functions. These things I didn't want to do but didn't have a choice. After all, when the boss says to do something, you do it. For weeks afterwards, I was their scapegoat. That was okay though because less than a week after I left, one of my old players came to me. He had just bought land and put up a poker house.
It didn't take long to go back to the top again. It was just a matter of weeks. In the same amount of time, the first place bombed horribly. And all those from the first place that were so busy wagging their tongues and spreading the hate? Well, would you be surprised to know they were soon knocking on my door yet again? And those same tongues were wagging majorly about the previous establishment!
This was six years ago. The moniker is Graciella Princess. Poker house number 1 was Myth Poker House and Casino. Poker house number 2 was The Poker Palace. (I don't want anyone jumping to conclusions or making false parallels here.)
I learned a lot from this experience.
1. Don't show them everything or you become expendable.
2. No matter how good things are when you go, almost everyone will talk a bunch of mess.
3. When management leaves, they become the favorite scapegoat!
4. When asked to do all the things nobody wants to be the 'bad guy' for, you know something's up.
But most importantly, the biggest lesson of all is:
I will succeed no matter where I go or what it is that I do. I will take every venture to the top. I'll either be doing it for someone else, or be doing it for my own company.
That is why my husband and I are not worried. That is what gives me the flexibility that allows me to say "eh, you know what? No." This is why, when someone says "Do this or else" I am able to say "umm... no." This is why, when the tongues start wagging, I can just sit back and watch the show. I already know how it ends.
This is what I want for each of you, my friends, my co-workers, my future team mates. I want for all of you to find that one thing that you are tremendously fantastic at. I want each of you to dominate your industry. Find your pond and become the big fish. Then move on to a lake, and do it all over again.
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