On May 1, 2001, I was one of 39 employees who lost their jobs when our employer, a dot-com company, regrettably had to cease operations. I began keeping an online journal the very next day. I called it "Suddenly Solo." At first, I looked at "Suddenly Solo" as a good way to get the word out that I was, well, suddenly solo and looking for a new job. I emailed my friends and colleagues, asking them if I could add them to my list of subscribers. Then, only if they had "opted in," they received each entry of my journal, on the day that it was written, by email. In an attempt to expand my network, I also introduced a "viral" component to this project, asking subscribers to forward it along to their own list of contacts with their endorsement. Finally, I began hosting "Suddenly Solo" here on my Web site, sending a simple alert to subscribers whenever something new was written, asking them to visit my site in order to read the latest entry. From here, they could click through to read the whole story at http://www.bob123.diary-x.com, where it is now archived. For 58 long and lonely days, "Suddenly Solo" was the vehicle by which I expressed myself to an audience of readers who seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. Yes, I used my journal to draw out job leads. But it evolved into much more than just a networking tool. It became a labor of love, an account of my emotional state, a test of my fortitude. Fortunately, on June 28, 2001, I was able to post my last entry, which I called the swan song for a journal that had been the saving grace for me during such an interminable time of my life. I had been offered a new job. I was suddenly solo suddenly no more. Bob Cargill July 1, 2001
July 1, 2001 The last entry has been written, posted and archived. "Suddenly Solo" is suddenly no more. Copyright (c) 2001 by Bob Cargill
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