Yesterday I suggested that blogging was a smart way to give your inner novelist some air.
Great idea! was your first reaction I am sure!!
or not.
When I first heard about the concept of blogging, I could not imagine the concept of airing all my exploits and adventures (I have so many!) for the all the world to see! Like who would care?
What exactly is your definition of blogging?
Here is one I have borrowed from businessdictionary.com: “A website, similar to an online journal, that includes chronological entries made by individuals. The word blog was derived from the combination of the word web and log. Blogs typically focus on a specific subject (Economy, entertainment news, etc.) and provide users with forums (or a comment area) to talk about each posting. Many people use blogs as they would a personal journal or diary.“
The first half of that definition I quite understood. The second half never occurred to me. Until a person (who is now a mentor) spelled it all out in small words!
Once I had the full concept in my head, the logic of it all hit me like a locomotive!! In a past life, I had a home-based business and contracted to community recreation centres and major companies in my city. A fair number of people knew my face and my niche, and anywhere I went I would be stopped and asked for an opinion, or information. I was perceived as an expert in my field and people wanted to hear what I had to say.
It had been too many years since that career, so I now had the puzzlement of trying to figure out what was in my life that I could blog about… that people would want to hear. I was such an average woman that I certainly could not imagine finding any areas of “expertise” in my mundane world.
So I had a chat with a coach. He was part of the business-building group I had joined, and a good thing too, because he was good at his job but I certainly would not have paid for his services. (That is a reflection of my parsimonious disposition, not his skills)
In chatting with me, he kept going back to my 20+ year career in ElderCare and my decision to give up my entire life in one city and move to a smaller town to become caregiver for my dementing mother. Like a dog with a bone, he had me visit several different websites we found on Google and the more I visited, the more I saw what I perceived as inconsistencies in them. I talked myself into an area of expertise!
I’ll cut a long story short now. I followed that route and set up my ElderCare blog. I was enjoying it and the material came easily. But the more I wrote the more I realized where my passion was. I wasn’t sure whether I would have, at the time, all the knowledge I needed… but the parts I didn’t have were learnable… and seeing as how this passion was taking over my on-line direction, learning would be no problem at all!
So I morphed over to this blog, talking with women like me, who are single with distinct concerns over how they are going to afford any sort of retirement, let alone the one they have been saving for for the past 25 years. I’m living in the same shoes, but now I am a few steps ahead and I am prepared to lead.
Do you feel you are lacking a direction, a passion, a knowledge base, about which to become an expert on?
Tune in tomorrow as I discuss some of the exercises you can do to sleuth out your future expertise. Maybe you are not an expert today, but if you are passionate, like I am, you will be able to learn the parts you need to create your on-line presence.
See you tomorrow!
Great post Agness, love your creativity!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Dear Agnes
It is so good to have a Mentor to encourage you and guide you in the right direction that you are meant to go in.
Would like to hear about your ideas are tomorrow.
thankyou
Kind regards
Lisa 🙂
Hi Agnes,
Do you have two blogs, then… one for your business and the other for Elder Care? I will check out the link in your article later today.
Elder Care seems like a timely business to be involved in, because of the amount of baby boomers whose parents are aging right now. It must have been quite a challenge to quit your productive career to attend to your mother’s needs. I’m glad she had you there!
Hi Agnes,
Great post, nice to see someone writing about their passion. I can take inspiration from you.
Luke.
Great article. It took me a long time to figure out what I would blog about because I post everything onto my Facebook Page. I finally just started my blog yesterday and I am loving it, so far 🙂
Everyone keeps saying to find a niche. What’s your niche? You need a niche. It’s overwhelming when you’re first starting out. I have ideas all over the place of what I love, what I want to teach, and what ideas I want to spread. I feel that as I keep moving along this path, I will be able to figure out a niche. I look forward to your post tomorrow. Maybe it will give me some insight. 🙂
Great post.I think a blog is whatever you want to make of it. Whether that’s business, real life, stories – whatever. 🙂
Agnes,
It appears that you are on to something here. You should have a great following, as many are in the single, as well as approaching retirement communities.
Elder care is also at the top of many people’s list of concerns as well. So you have found several niches of your own.
My niche is someone who loves healthy living. Thanks for writing.
Another great post Agnes. I used to find it difficult to think about something to post, but since starting this challenge I got focused and outline my topics for the month, so now I only have to look at the subject each day to know what I am going to write about, it has become much easier. However, I now seem to spend more time looking for the right picture to accompany my post that actually writing it!!!!!
Hey Agnes
This could be interesting.. you could blog about blogging… That’s what I done on a previous post… You could blog about a recent event on the news.. or even if you really wanted to about a tv character and backlink it to that program right?