Heading to London tomorrow for a family vacation so postings will be light for the next week. Throwing my atoms on to an airplane and sitting for 8 hours has caused me to contemplate blogging, how the world is flattening, and how we’re all connected.
Let me tie these together and explain why you having your own blog is probably more important and critical to your future — and connecting with others around an exponentially flattening world — then a resume, email address, fax machine ("What are THOSE?" my son has asked) or a brochureware web site.
The simple act of having a blog — admittedly one that I invest a fair amount of energy, effort and passion into — has provided me with credibility in ways I’ve not been able to accurately measure but experience almost daily. I don’t even want to quantify it…instead I’m simply enjoying the acceleration I’m experiencing in connection with others and being in-the-game in so many different ways that my eclectic and multi-topic blog affords.
I would guess that 75% of the doors opened to me in the last six months came, in no small part, directly as a result of my having a blog in which I’ve invested. Clients have come on board because of it. People have made comments like, "Your writing is so clear and cogent" and "It’s obvious that you "get it" so we wanted to talk to you" and other statements that make it crystal clear that we wouldn’t have connected had it not been for my blog. Of course, it’s not just the act of having a blog and slapping stuff up on it, but instead investing enough in it so it says who you are, how you think, and gives a glimpse in to your personal value proposition.
By the way, what is your personal value proposition? Or…what do you intend it to be? It’s imperative that you focus on a category or an area that you know, love, are passionate about, or is in an area in which you are eagerly learning.
Here are some examples of how my blog has augmented, enhanced and accelerated my involvement in next generation internet work and why I get so adamant that certain people I know blog:
- Connected me to people in 14 countries. These folks are involved in multiple different aspects of "Web 2.0", next generation internet, and figuring out new ways to connect human consciousness and the relationships and dialogues have proven to be absolutely invaluable (and fun too!)
- Two clients told me specifically that the key to my being hired was my blog and what it contained (it was that straightforward). Three potential others came to me as a direct result of someone else pointing them at my blog and, in turn, them contacting me to discuss their needs and how I might help
- I’ve coached, mentored and encouraged people all over the US who are starting nextgen internet-based businesses, involved in figuring something out for their organization, or just trying to determine what role they should play in this whole space
- Most importantly, my musings and posts have connected me with other like-minded people. People who are a helluva lot smarter and more learned in some area than I am. But rather than have this be bothersome or cause me to feel inferior in some way, it’s been unbelievably energizing. Why? Because I believe there are no experts…just someone that knows more at some given point in time. We’re all connected and clustering with others with differing perspectives which can inform, extend, enhance or materially change what each of us is doing to move the world forward. The kicker? Every conversation and connection I’m involved in usually sees me ending up learning more from the other person then I give to them. How delightful is that?
- Lastly, in a bizarre sort of way it’s really helped me bring clarity to the dots I’m connecting. Before I ‘publish’ something on my blog, I make sure that I’m brief and as articulate as time allows…yet my arguments or positions are ones that I’ve thought-through and researched enough to be comfortable to then write the post.
Blogging isn’t a silver bullet. There’s no magic fairy dust that can be sprinkled over your computer to make your blog worthwhile for others to read. But why are you here? What’s your purpose? What are your strengths? Your passions? Seize something, build a blog around it and create a value proposition around it…and you. Blogging is but one way to make that value prop a reality (yep…there are lots of others. Vlogging, podcasting, web assets, social networks/hubs, etc. But blogging is so dang simple and can deliver incredibly high value that it’s sort of a no-brainer to deliver).
Right now, today, this moment, is all that we get. Not some future point. What are you doing right now to think, dream, and act upon your own personal value proposition and what you can uniquely deliver that the world really needs?
Steve’s Social Stuff