Hannah Montana, Nauseating Blogs, and Other Freelance Musings

As a joke, my husband’s coworkers recently created a CD of songs he absolutely abhors. It features such timeless artists as ABBA, N’Sync, Britney Spears, Spice Girls, and Hannah Montana. When he received it, he popped it into the car’s CD player, laughed once or twice, and promptly shoved it into the deep recesses of the pit that is our vehicle.

While we were driving the other day, I came across this little gem. Of course, I had not yet heard the delights in store, so after seeing his look of disgust, I put it in and cranked up the volume. My daughter heard the music and pretty much fell in love. (Even my husband can’t deny that there’s something about that cheesy pop sound that appeals to kids.)

However, none of the music delights her quite as much as the songs by everyone’s favorite teen performer, Hannah Montana. She now demands her music by name and sings along in a disturbingly accurate manner. My daughter has never seen the show, and, if I have my way, she never will. Yet she’s hooked.

Now for a change of topics.

Lorna and I recently stumbled across a writer’s blog and website that made our jaws drop and looks of bewilderment settle permanently on our brows. They were, to say the least, unprofessional. The writer uses cheesy sentimentality, gushing (and often grammatically inaccurate) text, and a nauseatingly bubbly approach to writing. We could not, for the life of us, fathom who was hiring this writer. Yet, there the links were, to blogs and articles all over the web.

What do these two scenarios have in common? There is no accounting for taste.

There are many things in this world that I don’t understand – Hannah Montana and overbearing writing among them. However, these types of things pop up all over the place. More to the point, people pay good money for these things to pop up all over the place.

Although I may deplore the existence of such enigmas, they do represent good news for freelancers.

• When you get passed over for a job you are obviously qualified for, there is a good likelihood that the person’s tastes simply run a different course (i.e., there’s nothing wrong with you; there’s something wrong with them).

• Personality counts. What you lack in technical skill can be made up for with creativity and appeal (i.e, grammatical errors might be overlooked if your clients really like you).

• Marketing to your audience is equivalent to success (i.e., even if what you’re selling is pretty much awful, you can make quite a bit of money if you appeal to the right type of consumer).

• There is a niche out there just waiting for you to tap into (i.e., if Miley Cyrus can reach such ridiculous heights of sccess, there is hope for the rest of us).