I first began blogging when I was diagnosed with a chronic illness that turned my life upside down, well, if you consider Y360 (the old Yahoo “blogs”) blogging. I wrote about my fear, my anger and shared my positive outlook on my good days too. I visited other blogs and commented, but it was just for the sake of recognizing their feelings, their kindness, their prayers for me, without expecting anything in return.
Then I entered the “real” blogging arena, the place where I bought a domain name, got a self-hosted wordpress blog and learned about paid posts, SEO and product reviews. Dollar signs were my mantra.
I met Murray Newlands @murraynewlands about 8 months ago online when he asked if I wanted to be interviewed for his blog. A few weeks after my interview was posted, I got an email from him letting me know about a contest he was running with the winner getting a ticket to Affiliate Summit East 09. I ignored the email, thinking I’d never win and didn’t want to be humiliated. Murray didn’t give up though. He emailed me again and said that I should give it a try, what was the worst that could happen?
Long story short, I won the tickets and went to my first conference. I was scared and very shy, but Murray took me under his wings and taught me about connecting. He introduced me to people who I had something in common with, with people that I could help, with famous people like Chris Brogran @chrisbrogan who I could learn from, etc. He explained that connecting with others is one of the best ways to grow your blog. Don’t put money before people.
Ever since then, I’ve been reaching out more to bloggers online. I’m connecting on Twitter, commenting on new blogs, connecting bloggers who can be assets to one another. I do a lot of my connecting behind the scenes. I don’t want anything in return. At IzeaFest, my goal was to meet new people and make them feel at ease. I didn’t push my business card at them. Instead I listened and talked less. I asked questions and learned more.
More offers and opportunities have been coming my way recently though. Is it karma or is it due to my reaching out to others? It doesn’t matter, because this lesson I’ve learned is that important to me that I’ll continue it even if nothing comes my way.
Just the other day, I saw Chris Brogan at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration where he was speaking. I had the opportunity to sit with him at breakfast. I said hello and he remembered me. I was in shock, but it was true. We had a fun conversation and when he had to leave unexpectedly, he tweeted to say sorry. Chris: real and genuine.
I watched him during the day. He didn’t just sit there, high and mighty. He talked with people, laughed with them, took photos with them and listened to them…the most important key to connecting. I saw him sitting with some of the Disney Cast Members chatting up a storm during a break. He even asked a question of another speaker, Maxine Clark, Founder of Build A Bear, with awe in his voice.
He talked about the importance of connecting and that little voice inside my head (the one I don’t listen to often enough) told me that I was on the right path.
This is a post for the contest Win A Free SOBCon Weekend #SOBCon2010. You can enter too. “Write a blog post about a person (or people) online who has (or have) made a difference in your life. Celebrate how they have made your life easier, better, smarter, more productive, more meaningful.”
I’m a wife and mom of two daughters. My daughters are 12 years apart so that keeps me quite busy and a little crazy at times. My life is a jumble of mixed up mishaps, but it’s always centered around my family.
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