When people ask me to outline the benefits of blogging for them I am sometimes torn as to what to highlight first. Do I talk about how blogging has led to business relationships with Nintendo, Frigidaire, Mattel and CBS. Would they prefer to hear about how I have taken this platform and used it to generate steady work as a freelance writer. Or maybe I could speak about how I became a social media consultant that you can hire to help build your business build a blog that people want to read.
I suppose that I should admit that there is an agenda behind this post. I hate the way that my current resume reads. I think that it is simply awful and that I have done a piss poor job of marketing myself. It irks me because I have more to offer and far better skills than is shown there. It bothers me because I am a writer and I have some skill with words. I am a marketer who knows something about business and how to build a presentation that doesn’t put people to sleep. But that resume doesn’t do a damn thing to illustrate that.
What I really should do is market it as a cure for insomnia. Not only would that be more productive use of the damn resume it might actually generate some income that way. I can’t help but believe that the folks behind Ambien would pay me  big dollars not to put it out there. Hmm…might be interesting to see what happens. “Read my resume and you’ll softly snore the night away.”
For me the benefits of blogging are tied up in the personal rewards that it has brought. Seven years ago I didn’t refer to myself as a writer. I might have told you that I was in sales/marketing or said something about business development. Or maybe I would have said that I was in advertising- all of those things were true but none of them made me smile the way that writing with these words does.
Writing fills places and parts inside me that nothing else does. Words are my clay and I love working with them to build and create things that I cannot do in any other way. When I think of the benefits of blogging I remember June 24, 2006. It was the night that my grandfather died.
I remember being told that the ambulance had left for the hospital and wondering if I could get there in time. I didn’t know whether he was dead or alive in the truck, just that I needed to get there. I grabbed my keys, jumped behind the wheel and made my CRV look like I was in the Indy 500. But I knew when I got there that he was already gone. And I knew that I needed time alone with him.
It didn’t matter to me that he was already gone. I didn’t care that his body had finally failed his spirit, I just needed a few more minutes with my grandfather. I sat there next to him and shared the silence the way that we always had. I thanked him for all that he had given me and told him that I would make sure that the kids didn’t forget him And then when the tears finally came I stood in silence and remembered.
I know these things in such detail because I blogged about it. And my community supported me in ways that I didn’t know I needed or wanted. It wasn’t just the comments or the emails but the knowledge that there were people I had never met in person helping me to stand.
There are other stories about the benefits of blogging. There is far more that I could tell and should be told. I cannot overstate the positive impact of blogging upon my personal and professional life. The benefits of blogging are plentiful and I am grateful to have experienced so many of them.
@davinabrewer:disqus One of the things that I try to get from blogging is help on the areas in which I am weak. Interacting with the community makes it much easier to do so.
Many of the opportunities that I have gotten from blogging have fallen into my lap. The reason that they have come about is because of my interaction with others who knew of opportunities and thought of me.
That is one of the reasons that I try to give back- I have gotten and it is only right for me to try and share.
But if nothing else the friendships have been golden.
@davinabrewer:disqus One of the things that I try to get from blogging is help on the areas in which I am weak. Interacting with the community makes it much easier to do so.
Many of the opportunities that I have gotten from blogging have fallen into my lap. The reason that they have come about is because of my interaction with others who knew of opportunities and thought of me.
That is one of the reasons that I try to give back- I have gotten and it is only right for me to try and share.
But if nothing else the friendships have been golden.
First you had me jealous with the consulting, as that’s been the failed part of my evil plan. Second, you had me nodding and YESing and laughing at the resume part.. mine (along w/ my website) is terribly anemic and corporate blah and just bad. Then you hit me with the personal touch… well played Jack.Â
I am very big on the benefits of blogging, how it’s built my network and found me some friends in the industry, folks who could relate to my day you know? I have become a much better writer and communicator across the board, found other outlets and discovered how much I enjoy reading, writing and commenting with others. It’s the personal posts like this, for many reasons, that I wave the ‘introvert’ flag and say it’s just not my nature. So hat tip, FWIW.
First you had me jealous with the consulting, as that’s been the failed part of my evil plan. Second, you had me nodding and YESing and laughing at the resume part.. mine (along w/ my website) is terribly anemic and corporate blah and just bad. Then you hit me with the personal touch… well played Jack.Â
I am very big on the benefits of blogging, how it’s built my network and found me some friends in the industry, folks who could relate to my day you know? I have become a much better writer and communicator across the board, found other outlets and discovered how much I enjoy reading, writing and commenting with others. It’s the personal posts like this, for many reasons, that I wave the ‘introvert’ flag and say it’s just not my nature. So hat tip, FWIW.
Are you still having resume struggles? Get it together! You’ve got more talent than most people know what to do with. What seems to be the problem?
Good to be back and reading again. 🙂
@google-ce6b1f8ea80af2ee7554d4638a53329c:disqus What seems to be the problem is long and complicated…really.
Are you still having resume struggles? Get it together! You’ve got more talent than most people know what to do with. What seems to be the problem?
Good to be back and reading again. 🙂
@google-ce6b1f8ea80af2ee7554d4638a53329c:disqus What seems to be the problem is long and complicated…really.
I’m very interested in being a “writer” as well. By writer I mean publishing something besides on my blog, which is awesome, but I’d like to stick a toe into newspaper, magazines, eventually a book or something like that. I read your “About” page, describing your 39 unpublished credits but it also hints that you have also some published successes along with this post saying that you have steady work as a freelancer. I too have many masterpieces, as yet unwritten, but I’d like to change that. Any ideas as to a good way to get something in? Do magazines entertain unsolicited articles or article ideas?
@PerfectingParenthood:disqus There are lots of different ways to be published. Some of it depends on what your goals/objectives are. Unsolicited manuscripts are sometimes hard to get picked up as publishers are hesitant to open the gates for fear of being flooded.
But blogging can put you in touch with writers and publishers. It is not a bad way to make connections.
fd
@PerfectingParenthood:disqus There are lots of different ways to be published. Some of it depends on what your goals/objectives are. Unsolicited manuscripts are sometimes hard to get picked up as publishers are hesitant to open the gates for fear of being flooded.
But blogging can put you in touch with writers and publishers. It is not a bad way to make connections.
That’s awesome!! It’s obvious you’re passionate about writing/blogging and I think everyone should not only be as lucky as you to have found their passion but to be able to live their passion.Â
I never thought of myself as a writer and now I find that it’s quickly become something I too am passionate about. I may have a lot to learn (I’ll follow your lead big guy) but along the way I too am appreciative and humbled by all the benefits that have been realized as a result of blogging.Â
Kudos to you and thank you for sharing a little bit of your life with us.
@c3e78ba6aaff247afb79ba7cf6cac36b:disqus It has been one hell of a ride and I love not knowing where it is going to take me.
That’s awesome!! It’s obvious you’re passionate about writing/blogging and I think everyone should not only be as lucky as you to have found their passion but to be able to live their passion.Â
I never thought of myself as a writer and now I find that it’s quickly become something I too am passionate about. I may have a lot to learn (I’ll follow your lead big guy) but along the way I too am appreciative and humbled by all the benefits that have been realized as a result of blogging.Â
Kudos to you and thank you for sharing a little bit of your life with us.
@c3e78ba6aaff247afb79ba7cf6cac36b:disqus It has been one hell of a ride and I love not knowing where it is going to take me.