Kris Smith Thinks I Done Him Wrong

Kris Smith of the Croncast thinks I did poorly by him. He also left that same text as a comment on the show notes.

Kris seems to think that was a personal attack on him. If he thinks that, I did a poor job in communication. That is 100% on me and I apologize for that. That is absolutely not the case. I was relating my perspective on Kris’ presentation and how he earns his living. He loves what he does, and I’m happy that he’s happy. I would be unhappy in the same position because much of my life revolves around avoiding the exact same people he deals with in his consulting gig. That’s nothing that specific to what Kris does. The world is full of people who make their living doing jobs I’d be miserable trying to do. I also have found through trial and error that very large companies make me unhappy. That’s why my jobs at Merck Pharmaceuticals and Intel and my consulting gig at UPS lasted 2.5 years, 1 year and 3 months respectively before I quit each of them.

So, I am not in any way indicting Kris for how he makes a living. He’s a good guy and if someone is getting those podcast consulting dollars I’d rather it be him than some douchebag. He seems a trifle on the defensive in his response, and I’m sorry I put him that way. He’s not an evil prick, he is not “destroying podcasting” or any of the things he says (tongue in cheek) in his response. He’s a guy making his way down a path I’d rather not be on. His day job producing podcasts is a thing he loves and for all I know every other person in podcasting would love it to. To me, it seems like an even worse way to go that doing the day jobs I typically have had because I don’t want to earn my daily bread from the same well that my creative side life comes from. That’s my personal bent and all I was relating. I tend to go more on the Wayne Coyne day job philosophy, although my job requires more of me than his did.

I guess Wayne’s larger point is that we all can make ourselves be happy if that is our goal and that it isn’t that hard to do. I’ve done it for myself, Kris has done it for himself. All is right in our respective worlds and that is the way it should be.

PS – I forgot to include a link to Kris’ presentation in my show notes. Sloppiness on my part. I’d urge everyone to listen to it. Even if like me you think it is a frying pan to the fire transition, it’s worth a listen and is well done.

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dave

Dave Slusher is a blogger, podcaster, computer programmer, author, science fiction fan and father. Member of the Podcast Hall of Fame class of 2022.

4 thoughts on “Kris Smith Thinks I Done Him Wrong”

  1. Dave – thank you for the reply.

    Yes, I did take it personally. It was not very pleasant to hear my name associated with the negativity of drone job, when it was something that I have worked so hard to attain.

    Similar to Mr. Coyne I figured out my move eight years ago while making pizzas at a gas station with a baby on the way, “I want a job working with computers.” Not at all that brilliant, but it put my in my seat today.

    In the context of my presentation and what I shared with people, I felt that your listeners might not find their way to that presentation. Thank you for the link over to it.

    And, in the even larger context of understanding the conversation. I should have taken the opportunity not to cut in line, so to speak, and research what was being said before and after my presentation was used as an example. With all fairness, you have been ruminating on the “creativity” and finances thing for a few weeks and my ethereal role in it was minimal.

    Thanks for the candor and keep the shows coming.

  2. Kris, I didn’t mean to say that you were a drone. Like when I’m at PME I hear people saying how they “wished they could podcast full-time.” I agree that your model is probably the only way for most people to achieve that. I just am pointing out that I think that is an odd goal in and of itself. If you like it, go for it.

    As for the missing link, that was just my oversight. Sorry about that. Usually when I do my QC relisten to the show, I have the show notes open in my editor and I write as I listen and add the links in then. In this case, for time reasons I relistened in my car and tried to write the notes from memory. That’s always a mistake in my case.

    It seems like we are cool here. I still like you!

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