DOWN ON THE FARM AND BACK AGAIN

by Ted Janusz

Beep-beep-beep
$ $ ff

;,.was the sound of my alarm, awakening t

,

I needed to get up. I had forgotten to shut it offafter an early apme well before
As I silenced the alarm and tried to get back to sleep,

pointment the previous day.

I thought about past jobs. Back then at the same time of da1,-slssp-deprived-I would get ready for u.ork.
I'd then accompany thousands of other commuters in our "rush" (now there is a definite misnomer!) to get
downtown. Several minutes after pulling into the parking garage, I would join my colleagrres at our assigned work
spaces in a gleaming oflice tower.
On my desk set an
a

hulking piece of machinery kno\4/n

as

"IBM-compatible" PC. None of us would ever dream of attempting to move it from its hallowed spot. Sure, there were "portable" personal computers, but actually moving one involved the heft of a suitcase without the benefit ofwheels. At the end ofour day, we retreated to the underground garage, retrieved our vehicles, and headed home. A welcome blessing was that the evenings could truly be
our own. Sure, u,e might get an emergency call from the
boss or need to check voicemail, but those rarities u,ould

fit into

a 9-to-5 routine for the remainder of the week. For many organizations, employees no longer commute to a physical oflice. Managers have realized that it can be a lot more efficient for the organization ancl for the employee to work from home using the technical tools that are available. In fact some companies employ services such as Elance.com or oDesk.com to use help located anyr,vhere in the world.

TED JANUSZ is a

professional speaker on the topic of

interruptions from a clear divide between work and personal time. Today, as someone who speaks and writes on the topic of social media marketing, my work day is much
be the only

How Social Networking Could Change

Your Life
As you dgl.gl6p expertise in a certain area, such as

parkyour skills need to be ing facility management, why do

"Social Media for

Baby Boomers," author, and marketing consultant. He is the author of the Sociral Media Marketing
Guide for Parking Professionals, which is a free publication

for IPI members and

can be downloaded from www.parking. org. He can be reached at ted@.]
1a i-i

different. In mornings at home, I have a 10 second commute from my bedroom to my office (oka-v, 15 seconds when I encounter another family member on the war. Without any non-productive commuting time, I can immediately begin my workday by firing up my computer. I have various forms of this device-on my desk, in my briefcase, and on m1, phone. Using email, Skype, and other social networking toois, I interact witl-r my clients and colleagues. For my ciients, there is no concept oftaking Friday
off. The new global workplace Last week, I had of
a a

monopolized by a single emplo).er? If you no lonp;er need to reside in their physicai office space and can instead use the tools of social netvyorking, why coulcln't multiple companies reap the benefit ofyour expert knowledge as you move into more of a consultant role? Not only could you benefit from simultaneous exposure to a variety of organizations, but the organizations could benefit from the real-time, cross-pollination of ideas as we1i. At the turn of the 20th cenfury, most Americans were
a dramatic and profound mippation toward the cities. Will r.r,e see a shift of rvork from the center city to people working anyplace and at any time during our careers? What effect will this have on our downtown office buildings and on our parking facilities?

employed in agriculture; the next 100 years saw

will

be a results-on1y one.

client who requested that I update

the business-to-business social media marketing portion

uspi*seltatirns"c om
or 614.440.7487.

conference. The only requirement u/as, "We need it by Monday." The client really didn't care if that deadline

I F

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]NTERNATIONAL PARKING INSTITUTE

IUIY

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