When my mom died late
last year, I needed some time to slow down and regroup. One of the first things to fall off my “to do”
list was blogging. Blogging kind of
reminds me of a gig I had in college as a DJ for the campus radio station. It was enjoyable, but sitting behind the
microphone and staring out my third floor window of the student union building,
I’d often ask myself, “I wonder if anyone is listening?”
I had the 12 noon to
2 p.m. time slot on Fridays on KZUU at Washington State University. I don’t know
what the actual listening area for the station was, but given that KZUU wasn’t
exactly a powerhouse in the broadcasting world, I suspect that it didn’t reach much
past the Pullman city limits. And
Pullman was a small town! Even if it had a wider reach, there was
pretty much nothing out there but wheat fields and the rolling hills of the
Palouse countryside.
I know that at least
one person was listening - a friend of mine named Annette would call the station
periodically to make song requests and ask me how I thought I did on the last clinical
pathology exam. But for all I knew
Annette represented the sum total of my listening audience. In the absence of much in the way of feedback,
I persevered because I got to play songs I liked and unwind by doing something
different and creative at the end of each week.
That’s how blogging
has been for me – I enjoy the creative process but I have absolutely no idea if
I’m making a difference for anyone else by doing it. And therein is my dilemma. Knowing that I’m making a difference for
others is pretty important.
So, despite the
conventional wisdom that blogging is good for creating awareness about your
business, it is with some hesitation that I’m re-entering the blogosphere. Frankly, I’m not convinced that blogging is
really worth the effort from a business building standpoint. I’m open to being convinced otherwise but I’d
be even more excited about it if I knew others were benefiting from my writings
in some way.
So … is anyone out
there?! How can I make a difference for
you with this blog? What would you like
to see that would encourage you to reach your own potential or to help others
reach theirs? What would help you grow
and develop into a more effective person or leader?
I invite your
feedback. Song requests would even be
welcome but I don’t want to talk about clinical pathology!
