This week I was talking to one of my friends and telling her about signing up for the Blogmasters Club. I’ve spent a few months now trying to learn all I can about blogging and what people are doing online. It’s a fascinating journey and one I am enjoying a lot. I have followed David Risley’s posts for awhile now and am impressed with his passion about what he does and his down-to-earth nature. We can all spot those people who are out there talking about making money online who are just there to sell you some “get rich quick” scheme. Those folks do make us leery of anyone else out there who is doing legitimate business. My friend’s comment was “why would anyone who has found success like that be willing to share that with someone else?” I think it comes down to what motivates us and what we are passionate about. My friend is motivated by growing websites that make money. Nothing wrong with that. Likewise, nothing wrong with wanting to do that and find some way to make money at the same time. This conversation made me stop to think about how our world is changing.
Why indeed share “what works” with others? I think it’s about making a difference in today’s world. I think it’s about figuring out what you are passionate about and then working to do something with that. I think it’s about being what Seth Godin describes as a linchpin, even if it means stepping outside of our comfort zones. It is also about whether you are willing to give and not just be a taker. Four months ago, I was in a job that I believed would take me to retirement. Then the bottom fell out and I found myself in a position of figuring out what the next story in my life would be about. It is perhaps one of the best things that has happened to me in a long time because it is forcing me to take a stand and do something different.
Is anything really free?
I also saw this question this week. Not too long ago, I set up the MT Tools Online website to provide a community for medical transcriptionists that would give some continuing education opportunities. The quizzes are free to anyone who signs up for the mailing list. Why? Because I believe MTs need those opportunities. Will it always be free? I hope so, and it will as long as I can do it. Will it ever make any money? Maybe, if we provide other kinds of courses and if there is an interest. If not, I will do it simply because this is an area I am passionate about. It will be guided by what the community there decides will add value for them and how I can perhaps deliver that.
I think perhaps the most fun I am having now is with the Nicholls Leadership Institute site. I AM passionate about leadership and growing new leaders. I do think it is a topic that needs to be discussed more, even though I know a lot of people are already doing that.
One of the things I appreciate about David Risley is that he tells you loud and clear, it takes work. Anything worth doing in life takes work. Nothing good comes without it. In his blog posts, he shares a lot of things he has learned, simply to give to the community. Now, that’s not true of the Blogmasters Club, it does come with a fee. And so does almost any quality education we get these days. I imagine I wouldn’t be doing this one if it weren’t that this site has already given me a lot of great education at no cost but my time to read and apply it. So, I don’t begrudge people who are willing to give of their time so much and at some point say they have an added value, but that one comes with a fee. We all have to figure out what’s right for us to accomplish our goals and take care of our families. I love to write, and if I can do that in a way that some day means that is my full time life, then it will be worth it. Most important, if I can do it in a way that makes a difference for someone else, then I will have accomplished what I set out to do.
Doing the Blogmasters program is forcing me to have focus. To stop reading and reading and reading and not doing. To stop reading so much that I become overwhelmed with all of the new things and the possibilities and really create some goals for myself. And then, as Seth Godin says in “Linchpin”, to SHIP. I plan to periodically blog here on my personal blog about this new story in my life and what I am learning and doing. I hope you will join me.
Have you ever taken that leap of faith that takes you completely out of your comfort zone into something new and different?
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