To Know Know Know You

Part 2 of the Series Dot Mom Blogs™

There have been times (more than I care to count right now) when I have been in the audience at some professional conference and just felt the urge to channel Peggy Wood (the Mother Abbess from the Sound of Music), and break out in to the chorus of Climb Every Mountain.  Motivational speakers shout from their lofty podiums “Follow your passion!” “If you think it, you will achieve it.” Honesty, I swear to you on my children’s heads, if I hear someone else tout that crap one more time, I’m going to jump off the highest mountain!

Which I guess brings me to the whole reasoning for this particular post in this particular series. I certainly can relate to those that I’ve worked with who say that they wish that they had realized sooner that being passionate about something doesn’t automatically mean having the talent or aptitude to be successful at it. And, even having all three ingredients- passion, talent, and aptitude - still doesn’t guarantee success.  The surest way of finding your bliss, your life’s work, or simply something you won’t mind spending 8-10 hours doing each and every day, is to get to know yourself. And know yourself really, really well.

From my perspective, there’s nothing easy about taking a long hard look at who you are. After several years of coaching folks on all rungs of the life ladder, I’m finding time and time again, that the ones who have never taken this “inventory” of themselves are the one’s who wind up miserable in what they do and more often than not are unsuccessful in their ventures, including blogging. So stand back, evaluate yourself. Who are you, really. What are your likes, your dislikes? What makes your engine crank? What really fires you up? What things are close to your heart? What part of you are you willing to share?

So, here are my tips for getting to know yourself as a blogger.

1. What’s your perspective ? Your personal take on what ever you’re writing about matters.
2. Focus, Focus Focus- This would be my number 1-10 if I had a top ten list.  Your readers are seeking you out for one reason.  What’s your Brand? What’s your identity ? (Go back and read my article on BRAND YOU) What makes your blog different ? What makes you the “expert” on the topic ?
3. Find your niche-what can you focus on that no one else is focusing attention on ? What new take do you have on an old focus ? Finding a niche is hot!
4. Keep it simple stupid (KISS)- you’re journaling, not writing a college thesis. Most of my articles come in at between a 7th and 9th grade level of reading. At first that really disturbed me. Then I realized, I’m writing to an audience, not for text-book publication. Write for your audience, don’t write for the popular rockstar bloggers.
5. Get personal. Build intimacy with your readers. You’re building a relationship. You want them to come back time and again. Speak from your heart, your soul, the bottom of your toes. If content is King, then interaction is queen.  Drop the fluff and get to the heart of the matter. This means from time to time you might have to strip your soul bear. But its worth it.

Next- The Technical Stuff

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