The Freedom of 1,847 Blog Posts

After nine years of posting, thousands of hours of writing and over a million words in print, I’m joining Gapingvoid in a celebration
about what I’ve learned from the wonderful world of blogging:

Blogging teaches you
what freedom feels like. Hugh Macleod writes in his new book, “Own your own
media and own your own platform, and you own your own career. Own your own
career, and you own your own life.” And in my experience, the power to say whatever
you want, anytime, without being edited, without the fear of corporate
fingerprints – and to legally own everything you say – is about as free as it
gets. God bless blogging and the freedom it provides.

Blogging teaches you
to adopt an incrementalist mindset. It’s not about one key post that
changes everything, it’s about performing day after day, helping a few people a
little at a time, trusting that the accumulation of the work will bear fruit.
And because most blogs are abandoned a few months after creation, maintaining continuity
over the long haul separates you from the pack. The best way to beat the odds
is through massive output.

Blogging teaches you
to do justice to the things you notice. The day you start blogging, you
start walking around like you’re holding puzzle pieces. You’re hyper sensitive
to the world around you. And you approach every encounter as grist for the mill.
This delicate sense, this posture of incurable curiosity, allows even the
tiniest experiences to inspire you. And it keeps the queue filled with things
to blog about forever.

Blogging teaches you
to choose your currency wisely. Whether you value comments, page views,
conversions rates, reader interaction, online awards, ad sales, new business,
industry positioning, thought leadership or platform expansion, every blog is
successful according to its own metrics. And as long as you regularly revisit
what that currency is, nobody can judge how well your blog is doing but you.

Blogging teaches you
that every blog post is a product. Every
post its own piece of digital merchandise, with its own launch date, target
market, social trajectory, leveragability and profitability. Some blow up, some
just blow. Some make a killing, some just make a thud. But as long as you show
up every day and post, you’re still in the game. But if you never click the publish
button, you’re just winking in the dark.

Blogging taught me to
give a daily gift to the world. They’re not just posts, they’re
contributions to an ongoing body of work. They’re additions to my artistic
legacy. With every day that goes by, that reservoir grows bigger. And like a
forced savings account, when the time comes to make a withdrawal in the future,
there will be enough of a surplus to tap into and convert into something highly
profitable.

Special thanks to Hugh Macleod and Gapingvoid for restarting
the conversations about blogging and turning our obsession into a movement that
matters.

#Free­do­mIs­Blog­ging, indeed.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What have you declined this week?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “21 Things I Learned While Spying on Myself,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting

[email protected]

My job is to help companies make their mission more than a statement, using limited edition social artifacts.

Want to download your free workbook for The Brandtag Strategic Planning Crusade?

Meet Scott’s client from Nestle Purina at www.brandtag.org!