- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 2
-
Sparkle (0)
We all know the familiar personal ad format: "Kind and caring female seeks marriage-minded man for long walks on the beach, hand holding and soft rock listening marathons. Must love dogs." I mock because I love but, seriously, I have several fine friends who found love and mates through personal ads. And the success of finding companionship through better advertising can get one to wondering whether or not there are are other life desires that can be found through placing a clever bit of copy.
In addition to wondering if there are other loves that can be found with a personal ad, where exactly would you place such an ad? As several bloggers have discovered, it is not just a date and potential partner that can be found by asking for what you want to show up but all sorts of other great things like homes, jobs and even hangers.
Also, not surprisingly, bloggers have found blogs to be an excellent space for placing these types of personal ads. Why a blog rather than a journal or some other private place for holding your deepest desires? Why broadcast to all the world to see your hopes and dreams and give random strangers the opportunity to make fun of, analyze, judge or try to crush you? Because the upside is that you are giving others a chance to support and assist you.
Sockmonkey at Melle.ca blogged her apartment personal ad and writes about the importance of sharing and the value of the personal ad form:
I promise you that this post won’t get all The Secret-y. However, I do believe there is much to be said for knowing, clearly, what you want, and asking for it (either specifically to someone or to the world in general)....
I’ve started doing some research, and have put out the word with my network online and offline that I’ve started looking for an apartment, however, I do like the personal ad idea, and it will help me fix What I Want in my head, and help me keep that image fixed so I don’t start to mentally settle on a place I might see that has too many concessions from What I Want so I end up not happy there.
How do you help people help you? By being as clear and specific about what you want as possible without being so picky that you reach for the impossible to find. Like the situation described in a comment to a post about a personal ad for a job:
That is an awesome employment ad. I wish all job postings were like that and not like the one I saw in 1995 that asked for 10 years experience in HTML even though the only person that fit that description was Tim-Berners Lee’s mom.
You also can set boundaries for comments so you get what you need and not what will destroy your spirit and seek to stop your search before it can succeed. Havi at The Fluent Self kicked off what she calls her "very personal ads" series (she's posting weekly now) with a search for a new home which she found. She later set some some intentions for comments:
And since I’m already asking …
I am going to also try asking today for what I would like to receive in the comments, and that way, if you feel like leaving one, you’ll be part of this experiment too. :)
Here’s what I want:* Stories of things you’ve asked for. Or are asking for. Or would like to ask for.
* Helpful thoughts and ideas you have about the two things that I have asked for here.
* Ways that you’re thinking about this concept and how it could be applied to interesting things … or questions you have about it and how to apply it.What I would rather not have:
* Theories about why it works.
* To be judged or psychoanalyzed.My commitment.
I am committed to giving time and thought to everything that people say, and I will interact with their ideas compassionately and honestly.
What I’m noticing.
How weird/hard it is to just say what I want.
I love this personal ad concept. It is sort of like affirmations on steroids. As I learned when I placed a dating personal ad many years ago, a clear and well written description of what you are looking for can yield an abundance of
