In which she sings loudly, with gusto, and completely out of tune, the finale.
I let you know about the professional and financial growth that blogging has manifested in my life. This is by far the most unexpected, rewarding, and hardest to reconcile aspect the blogging challenges have had for me. This may in fact be one of the most challenging posts I have written, but here it is.
Personal Growth.
I’m on the path to discovering my voice. This may be the most challenging aspect for me, but I’m getting there. I have never felt quite like I “fit in” anywhere. I was never quite geeky enough for my geek friends. I adore Joss Whedon, Wonder Woman, and The Avengers, but I have never read Harry Potter, don’t read graphic novels, and Star Trek references are lost on me. Or smart enough for my smart friends. I struggled to stay caught up in AP classes, and don’t have a ginormous vocabulary. I still look words up on occasion. I’m not even as funny as my funny friends. Personally, I think I’m funny as heck, but my sense of humor is not universal. What I am finding though is that I may have a decent mixture of part geek, part smart, and part funny. It’s still being developed.
I have gained confidence. Enough confidence that I submitted a few blog posts to the MassageSchool.org blogging contest. Two out of my three submissions were selected and I was even offered monetary compensation which felt weird so I asked the money be donated the MTF. That’s pretty awesome. You can read them here and here if you would like. I lost the contest, the winning post was about flatulence and it was great.
I conquered some fears. I looked blogging in the face and I didn’t let it paralyze me with fear. The thought that I wasn’t smart enough, funny enough, witty enough, just plain enough crossed my mind numerous times. I know I am my own worst critic. Learning to not compare myself to everyone else was a bit tough. Some days I still catch myself doing it. There are just so many other great bloggers to respect and admire.
I also felt blogging was like hanging my ass out the window and well, who wants to see that? Getting over that was major and also very freeing. I dance around the line of thinking I have something to say and wanting to stay completely private. There is a lot of comfort in not being known.
Having blogs shared by colleagues and mentors has also given me validation and a sense of accomplishment. This was probably the most profound realization. I thought my belief was: I don’t care what other people think. What I realized is that I care what some people think and that I’m not so evolved that I am above positive reinforcement.
Blogging is just awesome.
(I have also discovered my blatant overuse of the words “so” and “awesome”.)
When people ask what can I do to improve my website? I always tell them to start a blog. I passionately proclaim blogging has been hands down the best thing I have ever done for my business. And it’s almost free. The results were *almost* instant. Or at least as instant as the internet can be. I’ve heard some nay-sayers out there that say blogging can’t replace a content rich site. I disagree. Clients love the clean appearance of my website and they seem to be finding the information they want without any problems. I’ve heard others say they think blogging is just stupid and they dismiss it completely without understanding it. That’s fine as well, but understand that you may not have the best website money can buy for very long.
Don’t know how to start or what to write? Join the Business Blogging School, check out some of the blogging information that Allissa has put together. There are awesome free resources available. The only excuse to not do it is in your mind.
#23 in the 31 in August blogging challenge.
I let you know about the professional and financial growth that blogging has manifested in my life. This is by far the most unexpected, rewarding, and hardest to reconcile aspect the blogging challenges have had for me. This may in fact be one of the most challenging posts I have written, but here it is.
Personal Growth.
I’m on the path to discovering my voice. This may be the most challenging aspect for me, but I’m getting there. I have never felt quite like I “fit in” anywhere. I was never quite geeky enough for my geek friends. I adore Joss Whedon, Wonder Woman, and The Avengers, but I have never read Harry Potter, don’t read graphic novels, and Star Trek references are lost on me. Or smart enough for my smart friends. I struggled to stay caught up in AP classes, and don’t have a ginormous vocabulary. I still look words up on occasion. I’m not even as funny as my funny friends. Personally, I think I’m funny as heck, but my sense of humor is not universal. What I am finding though is that I may have a decent mixture of part geek, part smart, and part funny. It’s still being developed.
I have gained confidence. Enough confidence that I submitted a few blog posts to the MassageSchool.org blogging contest. Two out of my three submissions were selected and I was even offered monetary compensation which felt weird so I asked the money be donated the MTF. That’s pretty awesome. You can read them here and here if you would like. I lost the contest, the winning post was about flatulence and it was great.
I conquered some fears. I looked blogging in the face and I didn’t let it paralyze me with fear. The thought that I wasn’t smart enough, funny enough, witty enough, just plain enough crossed my mind numerous times. I know I am my own worst critic. Learning to not compare myself to everyone else was a bit tough. Some days I still catch myself doing it. There are just so many other great bloggers to respect and admire.
I also felt blogging was like hanging my ass out the window and well, who wants to see that? Getting over that was major and also very freeing. I dance around the line of thinking I have something to say and wanting to stay completely private. There is a lot of comfort in not being known.
Having blogs shared by colleagues and mentors has also given me validation and a sense of accomplishment. This was probably the most profound realization. I thought my belief was: I don’t care what other people think. What I realized is that I care what some people think and that I’m not so evolved that I am above positive reinforcement.
Blogging is just awesome.
(I have also discovered my blatant overuse of the words “so” and “awesome”.)
When people ask what can I do to improve my website? I always tell them to start a blog. I passionately proclaim blogging has been hands down the best thing I have ever done for my business. And it’s almost free. The results were *almost* instant. Or at least as instant as the internet can be. I’ve heard some nay-sayers out there that say blogging can’t replace a content rich site. I disagree. Clients love the clean appearance of my website and they seem to be finding the information they want without any problems. I’ve heard others say they think blogging is just stupid and they dismiss it completely without understanding it. That’s fine as well, but understand that you may not have the best website money can buy for very long.
Don’t know how to start or what to write? Join the Business Blogging School, check out some of the blogging information that Allissa has put together. There are awesome free resources available. The only excuse to not do it is in your mind.
#23 in the 31 in August blogging challenge.
RSS Feed