Working in a competitive field, I have come to terms with only one thing – you take a break, you lose; you don’t push yourself out of your comfort zone, you lose; you don’t keep up with what’s trending in your industry, you lose. Basically, the chances of losing are way too much than winning.
One wrong step and everything you have worked so hard for, is lost! That’s where blogging for self comes in.
I have been a startup marketer for a few years and while people might not think of it as enough time to be an authority in the domain, I had my fair share of ups and downs that I learnt the toughest of lessons from. With absolutely no regret in my heart, startups have actually taught me to step up my game, learns tricks of all trades and never say no to learning. Although I did end up cursing when I had to spend hours over and above what I was being paid for.
While the experience did make teach me a lot about my industry and even got me a little fame amongst the top notch every now and then, here’s one thing I learnt a little late – working solely for yourself, on yourself.
I am a content marketer who writes at least 10 blogs and almost 2 ebooks every week (case studies, white papers, research papers, marketing strategies etc..the list is ongoing). But if you ask me to showcase my work to you, there’s one counter question you could be sure of:
“What type of work would you like to see?”
My question’s pretty genuine. I have my work spread across different websites and industries, so I really need to know which of it you want to see! After all, it needs to be relevant to the conversation right?
For those people who don’t really answer this question for me, I redirect them to my LinkedIn profile. Well, that’s one place I have added most of my work and keep updating it from time to time.
That’s when I thought, I don’t really have a portfolio. If I have to position myself as an expert in something, I couldn’t be taking this shabby approach of curating links and sending them across to prospects or websites that want to know a little more about me and what I do for a living in the industry!
Yes, that’s the reason I started my blog. And you should too, before someone speeds up and takes over all that you have been working on for endless hours, days, months, even years.
Here’s why I think you should start blogging for yourself, just like me.
1. You will certainly improve your writing
The best thing about writing for yourself is that you would want to do it better than the others. You would want to communicate even the simplest of things in the best consumable manner for your target audience. This will make you set aside that extra hour to re-read, proofread, re-write or edit the content piece before promoting it. After all, who wants to make a bad impression on first time readers and who doesn’t want a loyal engaged following?
2. You will only increase your knowledge
Writing better also leads to you thinking more. You tend to think about every little aspect of your content piece, how you can make it shine out from what’s available on the internet, how you can make it more insightful and how what you have learnt can be shared through it. And if you haven’t heard before, sharing only increases your knowledge! It also helps you build great relations with others in the industry and start conversations that could aid to your professional growth.
3. You will want to be more insightful
We all know how many hours it really takes to write down a content piece for a client. But hey, when you write for yourself, you go the extra mile to find that one industry statistic that will make your content more up-to-date for the audience. Yes, you develop an eye for interesting and more insightful information on the internet. And you also find the best of ways to share that information with your readers before anyone else does.
4. You establish a routine
If you have ever worked remotely, you’ll understand the plight of not having set routines. You practically end up starting the day too late, too early or ending it a little too late for anyone’s good. When you start to blog for yourself, you have an image to keep up with and it will force you to set a routine for yourself. Be it setting an alarm, reminder or using various project tools, you’ll make it a point to not disappoint your readers..ever.
5. You’ll connect with like-minded people
The best thing about blogging is that it gives you a platform to interact with like-minded people. There are no awkward hellos because you already have something to talk about or start conversation from. The networking opportunities increase as you keep blogging in your industry. When you blog for others, there are people who come around asking you for tips or with questions they think you will have answers for. Right?
6. You will make extra money
There are so many people out there that I know of or have read about who earn from anything to the tune of $1000 per month to $20,000 per month – just by blogging about what they are good in, that is. Of course, you won’t just start getting paid for writing. There are different ways to do that and I’ll be sharing those with you in my following posts – as I too, learn on the go. Let’s just say, who doesn’t like earning money from what they love doing?
7. You will finally have a personal journal
I am a stationery addict and if you come home, you’ll notice that most of the notebooks or journals I have bought are empty after the first few pages. One, I think I can’t write with pen and paper any more thanks to digital. Two, I just don’t find the time to keep things aside and log my day. Having a blog gives you a digital space to journal your day-to-day activities. A small milestone, a solid wreck at work or just a small compliment you recently got, you can put it all down in practically a few minutes!
8. You establish yourself as an authority
Remember what I said about not being bogged down by your competitors? Yes, if you take everything I listed above into consideration, you will be able to position yourself as an expert in what you do. Whether it is blogging, marketing, cooking, DIYs or just about anything that you love and know people are looking for, make yourself the go-to for any question that they might want answers to!
To be honest, there are endless reasons why you should have a blog for yourself. By ending this post here, I may not be doing justice to the industry but I surely promise to follow it up with posts that will make you want to blog – every.single.day.
I am here to share everything I have learnt working with startups in the marketing domain, a bit about branding as I help people establish their’s and offer you quick checklists or guides to get you started on your path to making the ultimate rockstar in you shine through!
Do you have a blog that you’d like me to see or would want to start a quick conversation on? Link me to it in the comment section below and let’s become the digital pen friends we’re meant to be. 🙂
