If you know me, you know that my blogging, up to recently, has been sporadic at best. Like many others I struggled not only with finding my voice but, also with figuring out the point of it all. What did I have to say that was worth reading? Who would want to read it? With many other people out there much smarter than me already blogging about the things I would blog about why should I bother? What purpose would it serve? Me? Others?
Recently I made the commitment to have another go at blogging partly spurred on by a book I'm reading on economics, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson. Anderson, editor in chief of Wired, talks about the economics of a world in which virtually anything is available and how within this ubiquitous availability there seems to be a market for everything. What Anderson found in his research is that the distribution curve virtually never drops to zero no matter how much content is out there. And it keeps being added. Someone, somewhere, out there is interested.
Now writing a blog for a single reader does seem pointless. But what if this reader was interested enough in what I had to say to want to hire me to do some work? And what if they were in a position to do so? Now, with virtually no overhead and only an investment of time, I have a consulting opportunity. It gets interesting. And what if another person becomes interested and this leads to another opportunity, say a publication or speaking engagement? It begins to add up. Think about it. If maintaining a blog only leads to one connection a year what does that look like over the course of your career? Pretty good, huh?
Recently I made the commitment to have another go at blogging partly spurred on by a book I'm reading on economics, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson. Anderson, editor in chief of Wired, talks about the economics of a world in which virtually anything is available and how within this ubiquitous availability there seems to be a market for everything. What Anderson found in his research is that the distribution curve virtually never drops to zero no matter how much content is out there. And it keeps being added. Someone, somewhere, out there is interested.
Now writing a blog for a single reader does seem pointless. But what if this reader was interested enough in what I had to say to want to hire me to do some work? And what if they were in a position to do so? Now, with virtually no overhead and only an investment of time, I have a consulting opportunity. It gets interesting. And what if another person becomes interested and this leads to another opportunity, say a publication or speaking engagement? It begins to add up. Think about it. If maintaining a blog only leads to one connection a year what does that look like over the course of your career? Pretty good, huh?
I read ... every time you write I read. Does count if we've already hired you ;-)