There are lots of reasons to blog, and many bloggers start with visions of making lots of money blogging. In fact, when I ran into a very nice group of women at Panera last week who were familiar with the Brainzooming blog, one of the first questions they asked was whether I was making a living off the blog. My quick answer was, "No."
But then again, making money was never the direct motivation for starting a blog. Instead, what sustains me in blog writing is the desire to share the many blessings I've been given (learnings, lessons, experiences, wisdom from mentors, etc.) more broadly.
The "pay" is learning someone benefitted from a blog post because it helped them get unstuck creatively, develop a new strategic approach, or consider an innovative way of approaching an opportunity or challenge.
Last week, it seemed as if I got paid for blogging nearly every day. A few examples:
- On Tuesday I talked with a former co-worker who was laid off several years ago. He told me a blog post about identifying your life passions and creating your own "personal category" was really important to him then. The post helped him explore, evaluate, and make an industry change after considering career opportunities linked to his personal interests which he hadn't previously explored!
- Mid-week, Chuck Dymer, one of my strategic mentors, emailed to say how much he liked the juxtaposition of literal/lateral thinking in Wednesday's blog about the financial impact of creative thinking. He plans to incorporate the concept (credited to me, he wrote) into his lateral thinking workshops.
- In response to a retweet for a recent post on 25 blogging ideas people could do right away, @julianajoie tweeted her blog would be "awesomer" because of the resources on Brainzooming.
- It's especially rewarding when a post seems to appear exactly the day someone needs it. Last Thursday, another former co-worker sent this Facebook message about the day's post on dealing with challenging situations: "Are you a fly on my wall? ...jus' wondering...seemed as if you were speaking to me with your post today...excellent post, excellent timing...and, in case you are a fly on my wall, I'm stickin' my tongue out at you right now! Thanks for the advice...I'll let you know if I get excommunicated any time soon!"
Not sure what in the post would get her excommunicated, but let me tell you - based on these four messages alone, last week was a very high paying one for my blogging efforts! – Mike Brown
The Brainzooming Group helps make smart organizations more successful by rapidly expanding their strategic options and creating innovative plans they can efficiently implement. Email us at brainzooming@gmail.com or call 816-509-5320 to learn how we can develop an integrated social media and blogging strategy for your brand.
