Past Lives

Not too long ago, I was reminded about past lives.

Once upon a time on the internet, I was a gluten-free food blogger. If you poke around on this blog enough, I’m sure some of the posts I’ve imported from blogs past will still reflect that.  I worked for examiner (here’s my favorite post there) and I wrote whatever the heck I wanted to for Suite 101, including stuff about food.  I got free samples in the mail, cookbooks, I was living the bloggy dream.  (Much of my Klout score is due to this time in my life. )

For my current employer, I can even be persuaded to write the occasional blog post, because I know a whole lot about the topic. (I’ve even corrected stuff on the site!)

If you delve deeply enough into the Suite 101 mess, I was also their Mind-Body-Fitness / Yoga blogger for a few years.  I took a bunch of photos like this one of me in various poses because I needed to capture someone doing something very specific.

Compensation-wise, those content farm schemes don’t pay much for writers.  I quit contributing when I ran out of free time, and when the PANDA update killed Suite101 (the reason they have so many broken links is because of a redesign / reworking that is still underway.)

Considering, though, that Suite 101 was my crash course in SEO and my trial and error playground for internet marketing, I learned more there than I could have paid for in a school.

I owe these silly past lives and all of their lessons learned a debt of gratitude. Without them, I would not be where I am today. Certainly not career-wise (I got my first SEO gig with only S101 as experience).  Perhaps not personally, either.

Namaste, past-present-future-parallel-universe selves.