My Other Brush with Greatness-Patricia Mayo

Ladies and gentlemen I'm pleased to bring you the bright sparkling mind of Patricia Mayo. I came across her in one of those writers groups on...well it wasn't Google...but anyway.

She's not a Content Producer here on AC YET. But I'd bet as recently as today you've been on a webpage that was at least indirectly influenced by her.

This young lady revives my spirit and She'll likely do the same for you.

Now I just gotta figure out this formatting thing...until then; Patricia Mayo:

DP: Who are you. We all want to know about you. Please tell us who you are. (by that tell me a little about yourself including personal stats like age, place of birth, etc...)

Well, I'm Patricia Mayo (the original! I had my name well before Patty Mayonnaise debuted on Doug), and I've managed to survive a whole whopping 23 years. Some people are still surprised about how young I am, but given the huge number of super young entrepreneurs today, I don't see why.

I was born and raised in Florida, almost entirely in Broward County - the city most would be familiar with is Ft. Lauderdale. Don't get me wrong, I love Cubans - but you can cut off Florida at Lake Okeechobee, kick it south, and everyone would make it back home eventually (hah!).

Honestly I'm extremely thankful I was raised in such a diverse environment. Thanks to it, I speak Spanish fairly well, and bits and pieces of 7 other languages. That knowledge has really come in handy everywhere I've gone, since I can't resist meeting new people from faraway lands.

Since then I lived in New Hampshire for 6 years, then got it in my head I needed a cheaper cost of living so I could support myself while building up my business. So I lived in Connecticut for a little over a month, then North Carolina for two weeks, and I've been in South Carolina for the last 6 months.

Being frugal certainly has it's perks - otherwise, all that moving would have been much worse than it was!

DP: What business are you in and what initially drew you to that business?

Gosh that's more complicated than you realize. I would call myself an internet entrepreneur, plain and simple, nowadays. Basically, I and my team develop the Internet - that's it, in a nutshell. Sometimes we buy websites and build them up, sometimes we build them from scratch, and sometimes clients hire us to take care of a few things.

For me, it all started way way back in grade school. I remember the teacher instructed us to write a fictitious short story - back then, that was my specialty. I loved lying, but never have been all that great at it. My mother always knew she'd get the truth out of me eventually because I'd forget what I said and give up.

Anyways, I wrote a story called "Don't Panic" all about one family stuck in a closet, in the midst of a hurricane, with nothing but the radio for consolation and support. After reading aloud to the class my tale of thundering winds ripping apart their house between spurts of radio static, I practically got a standing ovation.

I didn't know it then, but later on in my "searching for myself" teen years, I realized writing must be one of my strong points. Up to that point I thought graphic design was my thing, but as it happened when I finally started getting lots of paying gigs, I suddenly realized I hated working that way.

Of course, throughout my life I have stumbled across a few of my other strengths, such as leadership, ambition, and perseverance for the right thing. Although, that could be entirely due to the fact my parents themselves were entrepreneurs.

My dad, who passed in 2003, at first ran a landscaping company, then contracted independently as a courier (and often took me along - hence my love for traveling). My mother was pretty much in charge of the screen printing company, but we all ran it together.

I designed our line of shirts, other screen printed products, marketing materials, and logos for my dad's businesses - things of that sort. That was how I got into graphic design at such a young age.

Of course, I had mentors. When my dad bought the business, it came with the previous owner for a short span of time. I got to learn graphic design and screen printing from him. Not too long before that one of my friends at the library got me started in HTML (this was also right at the transition from plain text to a graphical internet).

Maybe two or three years later I landed an internship in web design. Then I moved to New Hampshire and started doing it freelance. That lasted until Flash became all the rave. I tried getting a job with a design firm, but they all wanted Flash too. Granted, I could learn it if I wanted to, but even now I just don't see any real value to having Flash on a web site.

About a year before I gave up on graphic design, I started blogging personally. My topics and the communities I built drew in the attention of a startup, and I ended up blogging for them as a job. This was way before blogging for pay was called "problogging," and podcasting was still brand new.

When that company gave up on their dream, I had just begun to really love that kind of work. For the next few years I did some ghostwritten web content, then eventually landed another problogging gig at Creative Weblogging as the blogger for Audeamus.com.

By that point, I was addicted - and working entirely from home. Nowadays I edit for MasterNewMedia.org. I've learned a lot in the last few years, and working for Robin has really bolstered that knowledge.

The saying "you have to follow before you can lead" is unbelievably true. Thanks to all of the diverse work environments and high profile co-workers I've been so fortunate to have been exposed, I'm much more useful and skilled than I could have been if I just stayed with one employer in one field or managed to be successful with my first business idea.

DP: What is one of your best experiences in your career?

That is a pretty tough question for me, because it's all been so exciting - but the first thing that comes to mind was my first problogging gig. I'm honoring a nondisclosure agreement, so forgive me if I don't mention any names or specifics.

I would say I learned the most about business on the web and myself working for that company. They were all about re-shaping the mind of society to a less zombified and consumerist norm, through new media. Some of my required reading was Ayn Rand, Alvin Toffler, and Terrence McKenna.

Topics on the blog were things like Chaos Theory, the Omega Point, macro and micro economics, sociology, and really fun stuff like that. I loved it - but then again, I'm also a glutton for challenge.

They eventually gave up - trying to get an IPO and angel investor after the bubble proved too difficult. But in the process I got to learn all about it straight from our extremely experienced CEO, highly prolific founder, and all the great colleagues from all over the world. I was surrounded by great minds, like a tech guy for Prince, and a renowned radio host in Mexico - it was amazing fun.

DP: Can you share one of your favorite works from that project?

Absolutely! It's still archived at spreadingthought.blogspot.com, by the way.

We Never Learn

Augustus liked the little boys as much as the next Shogun, yet this wasn't seen as strange. Nudity all over their prominent buildings, heck, they even bathed together. Pornography and homosexuality - how naive of you to think it new.

Yet this is not a problem, the problem lies in 'taboo'. Fuck, shit, damn, you know it's not bad. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Don't say he's a fucking idiot unless you want him to fuck you, idiot. But if you whacked your big toe, go ahead, if it makes you feel any better.

We think it's bad, so we make it bad. We think masturbation a secret, gas un-natural, and sex up the rectum wrong. Tell ya what, 9 out of 10 men and women touch themselves, everyone's gotta fart sometime, and pre-historic men didn't know which hole made the baby - only that the other one is spewing blood.

Yeah it's disgusting, but disgusting isn't wrong. Fried cow's brains, a delicacy on a bun - and perfectly legal. Do you eat it? No? How about olives, spinach, or sauerkraut? Lots of people do, they must be evil.

Censorship feeds criminals, when you hide you beg to be found. If it's all right there in front of you, there's nothing left to find - no harms and no fouls. I'll stand outside naked, I have no qualms with that, I was born this way, after all. I crave sex, it feels good to fart, and if he wants it 'that way' - hey why not? Go look at a National Geographic, see all the perfectly moral societies that let their women just hang right out. We have made a problem out of what comes natural, what was free and real from the moment we came from our mother's cunt.

Absolutely nothing is offensive, you should learn that. When we grow up being taught about breasts and dicks just as easily as that was said, there will be a warmer home beneath those covers. Don't be so fucking insecure. Some men like men, some women like women, some people like anal sex, and some people like sauerkraut.

Deal with it.

DP: Do you have any regrets? What would you change? (Don't be modest.)

It's actually been more of a curse than a blessing to be so far ahead of myself, in terms of age vs. knowledge. Part of that curse is most people don't take you seriously, and you're stuck doing things you feel are beneath you. I've been lucky though - some people recognized my skills.

Take for instance, at 14 years old I was put in charge of a computer building / repair shop + cyber cafe. The owner disappeared for a couple weeks, and when he came back to find not only everything in perfect order, but the books straightened out, he asked in a disgruntled tone "who is responsible for this?!" Everyone pointed at me (just like they did when he disappeared), and I was put in charge.

However, the other part of the curse is my regret. Due to the fact most people couldn't look beyond my age to see what I could do, I always wished I was older. I never could let go of my dreams, so instead of waiting, I holed myself up for the most part, learned as much as I could, and missed an entire childhood.

I'm not sure if I would go back and change that, because I wouldn't be where I am now had I not given up my childhood. I do like where I am now, but I'm not sure it was worth the sacrifice.

DP: How's the money been? I don't want to get too specific but how long did it take you to reach the 'break-even point?'

Well, I quit my day job (which was business to business networking for the financial industry, at the time) a little over 2 years ago. I was renting a room at the time for $90 a week, so the peanuts I made ghostwriting web content managed to pay my bills - but I had to work my butt off day in and day out.

Then I landed the gig at Audeamus.com, and that $112.50 per month helped a bit - but again, I was working my butt off and hardly had time for anything else. Getting started in this gig is not easy, let me tell you!

However, once I managed to get some notoriety and a bit of experience under my belt, I managed to land editing at MasterNewMedia.org, and that brings in a bit more than your average teacher's salary.

I can live comfortably now, but I want to travel the world and lend a hand to the people who need it most. I've managed to get some freelance work recently just by happenstance, and my first few site investments went really well, so I'm working to expand on that with my like-minded team of 5 people and ComHacker.org as the launching pad.

We're bootstrapped and operate on revenue share, so funding really isn't an issue. Of course, it really makes everyone happy that money is distributed according to effort and impact, not time. Trading time for money is really dumb, they just aren't worth the same.

If anyone is interested in funding us though, that would be pretty awesome. I certainly know what we would do with the money, and hardly any of it would go to operations since we have such a super low overhead. Just a couple hundred dollars goes a long way toward increasing revenue.

DP: What awards, prizes, or recognition have you received?

Most recently, my guest post at ProBlogger.net was 1 of 13 picked out of over 100. I would definitely say that's a big win! Audeamus.com was picked as a top social entrepreneurship blog a couple times, and made it to the front page of The Issue (.com) once for my coverage on the ADA.

Although, I never was great at "winning" anything. Back in grade school, I cried my way to an honorable mention ribbon for field day! Clearly, athletics is not my thing haha.

I used to be really caught up on winning and being the best of the best (for instance, I was really proud of scoring in the top 5% in Math and top 10% in English in all of Florida for the standardized testing, and missing all of 2 questions on the ASVAB). My focus and thoughts on that kind of stuff have really changed over the years, but someone could still really win me over by giving me a prize - hint, hint haha.

Nevertheless, I have realized the biggest prize is getting to associate with so many awesome and bright people. Knowledge is my chocolate. When some big notable guru gives me the time of day AND shares some knowledge chocolate with me, I'm on cloud nine!

DP: Please tell us about your favorite pet as a child.

Throughout my childhood, we had a lot of pets. Two iguanas - one Bob, one Mary - a cockatoo and a cockateil - Jasmine and Peachy - a 50 gallon fish tank with kissing fish, cat fish, and a few others, one eventually 5 foot boa constrictor called Jake, and four cats - Tom, Storm, Precious, and Schweimer. Don't ask me how to spell Schweimer, but it's German for "swimmer."

I loved them all - it's so hard to choose! But you're probably wondering how a cat got called Swimmer.

Well, I used to spend my time as a kid playing in dirt, and especially loved hunting for lizards. A canal made the rear-most border of our back yard, so there were always plenty of them. I was a cruel, cruel child and used to put those lizards in our jacuzzi - don't worry, it wasn't on. At the time, I honestly thought they would be able to swim!

Why? Because I was a cruel and smart child, and noticed how the cats looked at our iguanas. I wanted to see what the cats would do. One day, the so-called "runt" kitten which was absolutely absurdly fat noticed a lizard in the jacuzzi, and went fishing... then went swimming when it clumsily slipped over the edge. As per usual when a cat meets water, sheer hilarity ensued thereafter!

Schweimer was fat, lovable, and sweet, but Jake - the boa constrictor - was by far my favorite. Eventually he had the entire Florida room as his "cage," basically a 10 foot by 20 foot screened porch. We were considering adding a once weekly rabbit to his diet when we, uhm, lost him.

How a five foot snake can just disappear from a locked room, without making a hole in the screen, is truly beyond me - but I miss him.

DP: What would you do with a million dollars?

That's easy! I would use 25% to fund the first few years of world travel helping the needy, and invest the other 75% to fund the same for the rest of my life.

You know what they say, give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. Time is far more valuable than money.

DP: In 100 words or more; where do you want to be when you're 50?

I want to be a mentor who specializes in giving knowledge chocolate to people like me where I am now. My goal in life is to "help those who want to be helped become who they want to be." Really, truly, that's been my motto for over a decade.

I've learned though, the large majority of people who 1. want to be something and 2. really know what they want beyond what the media tells them they want, are NOT in the U.S.A. It's been really hard trying to get through to people here, so first I want to travel and find the people who understand ambition, understand how they got that ambition, then someday come back to help consumerists, a.k.a. Americans, get that ambition and make their dreams happen too.

Admittedly, this mission is all based in my belief that humanity is only truly happy when creating (there are studies to this effect, I have no idea where now though). We built tools, homes, economy, and invented - any other animal doesn't do that. We've been gifted with a really capable brain and an exceptionally multi-functional body - and it's happiest when creating.

When I'm 50, it's not where I am that matters most - it's how far society has progressed that truly means the world to me. It would be great if I could be instrumental in global sociological embetterment too. Recognition would be cool too, but really that is just a means to an end. Being notable tends to mean you're listened to.

DP: What is your favorite quote about writing? (and who get's the credit?)

My all time favorite, and quite well known quote is "The pen is mightier than the sword" by Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton. (Although I think it's sad I had to look it up, it's perhaps forgivable due to his begging-to-be-forgotten huge name)

But this one has always stuck with me. "The aim, if reached or not, makes great the life: try to be Shakespeare, leave the rest to fate!" by the poet and playwright Robert Browning. I might even say, to a great extent, that quote is the foundation of my life philosophy.

Ayn Rand is my personal hero though, so I can't proffer quotations without shamelessly plugging "The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it" and this invaluable nugget:

"The common good of a collective -- a race, a class, a state -- was the claim and justification of every tyranny ever established over men. Every major horror of history was committed in the name of an altruistic motive. Has any act of selfishness ever equaled the carnage perpetrated by disciples of altruism? Does the fault lie in men's hypocrisy or in the nature of the principle? The most dreadful butchers were the most sincere. The believed in the perfect society reached through the guillotine and the firing squad. Nobody questioned their right to murder since they were murdering for an altruistic purpose. It was accepted that man must be sacrificed for other men. Actors change, but the course of the tragedy remains the same. A humanitarian who starts with the declarations of love for mankind and ends with a sea of blood. It goes on and will go on so long as men believe that an action is good if it is unselfish. That permits the altruist to act and forces his victims to bear it. The leaders of collectivist movements ask nothing of themselves. But observe the results."
And you can quote me on this one - He who never walks without a crutch shall forever walk with one.

DP: If you had any advice for newbies to get better exposure, what would you say?

Network, network, network, and learn. Oh, did I mention network?

It's because of my network I managed to write a guest post worthy of ProBlogger. It's because of my network I've managed to get 5 highly qualified people with a dream on my team, including my lead developer, a gentleman who also does SEO for the Washington Post.

It's because of my network I'm affiliated with a top SEO firm. It's because of my network I'm co-hosting WordPress Weekly with none other than The Wordpress Guy Jeffro 2pt0. It's because of my network I have top writers asking me to guest blog at ComHacker.org when it launches.

It's because of my network I can now launch a blog with several hundred daily visitors to start it off. It's because of my network I can do everything that I am doing now. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the people I know, the newsletters I read, and the communities I make a point to actively participate in.

Above all - when you network, don't ask for anything. Be useful, first and foremost. Entertaining if you can't be useful. Humor regularly makes it to the front page of Digg for good reason!

...I'm Patricia Mayo, and I approve this message. (hah!)