They’re
calling me a “slasher”. And I don’t like it. The word smacks of vampires and comic
book villains. Of which I am
neither.
But
then I am not much of one for labels in general. Labels denote black and white
or red and blue status. Labels alienate. Labels imply there is no gray matter
in the world. Labels are our culture’s attempt to fit into a box something that
defies the status quo. If you don’t look like, think like, dress like or this
case work like me we need to put a label on you. Preferably something that insinuates just how different you
are. Or maybe even squeezing in the labelers personal opinion about what they think
of your choice.
Marci
Alboher, author of the book One
Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success has coined this
term for the growing number of individuals (myself included) who draw their income
from more than one area of expertise. The slash apparently refers to the slash
mark used to separate these different jobs. In my case, that would be Writer,
Business Coach, Speaker and Author of The Secrets They Kept. Except that I do
not use slash marks to separate these parts of my business. I prefer commas. On
my business card, I have spaces. That’s the kind of girl I am. I pause. I don’t
slash.
Yet “slasher”
is the latest in a string of labels used for members of The Gig Economy, those
who have opted out of the traditional 9 to 5 job culture. These
independent workers, entrepreneurs, self-employed, sole proprietors,
freelancers, consultants and now “slashers” earn their living from more than
one source. They are not beholden
to one employer, but several. They can sleep until 10AM on a Monday morning and
work until midnight on Saturday and no one will fire them as long as they
complete their project. They don’t always know when their next check will come
in, but they know it will. They plan their own days. They are the boss of them. They are generally happy people
working at what they like and if they are really lucky, passionate about.
All these
labels assigned to classify someone who wasn’t riding an elevator to the same
office every day used to terrify me when I was still firmly entrenched in my
supposedly “secure” corporate job. They all sounded too rebel like and unsafe. But then that is
what labels are supposed to do. Scare. Keep people standing still and not
upsetting the apple cart. Especially when they sound as inviting as “slashers.”
Think
about all the unappealing labels attributed when people, especially women break
the status quo. A woman dating a younger man become a cougar. A woman marrying
a man much older than herself becomes a trophy wife. A woman owns her sexuality and is on her way to becoming a
slut. In the not too distant past a woman who never married was called a
spinster. A mother is only called a working mother if she is working outside
the home. A woman who asserts herself in the business place and perhaps makes
an unfavorable decision is a bitch. A woman who knows and asks for what she
wants very specifically is considered high-maintenance.
Do
something unconventional and we create a label that implies something is wrong.
I hear
the word “slasher” and I don’t think of a slash mark on my computer keyboard.
I picture a dominatrix-like figure clad in leather and wielding knives as she cuts and slices
her way to a paycheck. That’s not
how I see myself, not how I want to market myself to a new coaching client, not
how I want the readers of my blog or my novel to view me.
I am
guessing that Marci Alboher’s intention was not for “slasher” to conjure up an image of a trail of blood left in the slasher’s wake. But nevertheless it
has. At least for me. That’s the trouble with labels. We don’t always know what their impact
will be.
In
case you were wondering I won’t be introducing myself as a “slasher” anytime
soon. I don’t think it would be good for business. But I’m thinking it might make a great Halloween costume!
