Starting a blog for your business or creative work

Here's one of many videos on YouTube that will take you step by step through how to actually start a blog.  I'm going to write about why you should start a blog, not how to actually do it.  To learn any technical aspect of using a blog, social media or other modern technology, go to either YouTube or Google (or Bing if you're a Bingster) and search for a video or article to show you how to do it.  People all over the world make these videos for every type of tech, they usually do it for free, and it's available to anyone online.  This is how you learn new technology.  Self-education.  If this is a new idea to you, get used to it, this is an integral part of promotion or business these days.

Nobody knows how many blogs there are in the world, the highest number I've heard is over 440 million.  Blogs have been around since about 2000, and come in all kinds of varieties.  But basically it's a website the you add a new post two every so often.  

Why should you start a blog for you business or creative work?  A blog does a number of things.  First, it gives you a web presence, it's something that people can find when they search the internet for your business or creative work.  Second, a blog is a way to put out "content" to the world.  People now expect to find most anything they need or want to know with a quick search or by asking friends for links.  If you continually put out useful content (words, audio, and/or video) that's helpful, entertaining, or informative, you attract potential customers.  Blogs can also direct online traffic to your website or brick and mortar business.

Do blogs make money?  Some do, but not very many.  ProBlogger is a great place to learn how blogs make money, both directly and indirectly.  There's a big lesson about blogging in that last sentence.  I just gave all of you a link that will take you away from my blog.  Why would I do that?  Because if you find my blog helpful, you'll most likely come back to it.  So by sharing links that actually take you away from my blog, I'm adding value to my blog, and , hopefully, your life.  That helps me in the long term.  It's a kind of paying it forward in the online world.

Blogs can make money directly in some instances, and business owners, large and small, tend to think in terms of Return on Investment (ROI).  If a business person invests $100 in advertising and then has $200 more sales, it's easy to measure the ROI.  But the online world of blogs, vlogs (video blogs), social media, YouTube and other platforms don't work that way.  These operate an entirely different way than traditional advertising, and that drives traditional business people crazy.  If you're blogging for your own small business, big business, or building a small business like I am, I suggest you think of your blog as a gift to your customers and potential customers, not something that makes money directly.  What can you give your potential customers, for free, that would be of value to them?

If my blog is not going to make money, then what's the point?  The point is to provide free entertainment, tips, or helpful information to make a direct connection with people.  Some of those people will become customers.  Some of those people may refer you to other potential customers.  Some of those people will take your information, move on, and never buy anything from you.  That's the game these days.  Almost every kind of information is available for free today.  Like it or not, that's the way things are.  If you want to be a player in business in today's world, you need to freely give everything you can to your community.

What do I mean by "community"?
 As we transition into the Information Age, "community" doesn't just mean your neighborhood or city.  For a creative person or business today, your community is everyone, everywhere who is interested in what you do.  It's not just your customers, your community or "tribe" as Seth Godin calls it, is all the people out there, who know you exist wherever they may live, and interact with you in some way.  For example, I don't like the drink Red Bull, but I watch the action sports videos they produce all the time.  I'm part of the Red Bull community, though I never drink the stuff.  I actually wish they would make a product I could buy.

As a business or creative person, your job these days is to serve your community(ies), and make some money along the way.  There are two basic ways to find a tribe to serve.  Either you find one that already exists, and start adding your ideas and value to it, or you create your own community.  Or both.  In my case as I'm building my art and writing business, I'm doing both.  I was an active blogger in the Old School BMX bike community as a result of my blogging about the old days for the past decade.  So when I initially started trying to sell my drawings, the old BMX guys I was Facebook friends with were the tribe I tapped into.  Now I'm working on building a new community, starting with people in the local art scene here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and others I connect with online interested in art, business, and the combination of the two.

A blog is a great way to help build a community.
With a blog, I set up the initial blog, figure out the design, and then I create a post.  Posts start with a title, then usually include either an embedded video clip or photo, which makes a huge difference, and then text.  The point of a blog, as I said, is to serve your community, not pummel them with advertising, old TV commercials, or other crap.  CREATE GOOD CONTENT.

The best questions to ask before a blog post are: 1) What blog post would I like to check out?  2) Who are the people in my tribe? And 3) What can I give to these people that will be helpful, entertaining, and worth taking the time to check out?

Be yourself in your blog.
This is absolutely crucial, and really hard for many people.  Most people, especially sales people and managers, continuously put on a front or a facade they use to talk people into buying something or adapting their ideas.  As a blogger, you want to do the opposite.  A direct sales pitch is the death nail of a blog (or social media post).  Blog about what really matters to you, and, by extension, to the people who follow your blog.  Authenticity is a word you hear all the time in blogging and social media marketing.  If you come across as fake, you may be able to con people... for a while.  But YOU WILL be found out before long.  Remember, this is the Information Age we are heading into.  The information about you will be available to lots and lots of people.  If you're shady or screw people or pretend to be someone else, you'll get called out.  Then you lose trust. Trust is one of the most important things in the Information Age.  Once you lose a community's trust, it's real hard to get it back.

Here's an example.  This is the new blog I just started for Rachel, who owns Designs, Vines, and Wines here in Winston-Salem.  Rachel likes my drawings, thinks they'll be worth millions of $ some day (OK, hundreds of $) and hangs some in her studio space.  But, after years in the tech world, she hates sitting there working on a computer doing social media and marketing.  She'd rather be painting or helping other people create fun projects. 

So we're doing a trade where I'll do some blogging and social media to promote her business, and she'll hang my drawings to promote my work.  Here's the thing about authenticity.  Rachel and I come from different backgrounds, have different interests (outside art) and use different words, phrases, and speech patterns.  So if I pretend to be Rachel when I'm writing, her friends and community will know something just doesn't sound right.  So I write for her business, but I write, as myself, and put a "-Steve" at the end of each post to be honest with her readers.  I'll do a post on her blog introducing myself, and talking about our trade out.  Then there's no deception, her community knows, "Oh yeah, Steve blogs for Rachel, and does some art she has up."  When Rachel writes posts, she can add "-Rachel" at the end, and people will know it's her speaking in her own way.  It seems like a little thing, but we're all bombarded by media from all directions these days.  And if something feels fake to our way of thinking, we drop it and move on to something else.  In today's media saturated world, people crave something "real."  If you want your blog to stand out among the 440 million other blogs out there, you HAVE to be real.

There's a lot more to come on this subject in future posts here, so stay tuned.  And if you're in the Triad/Winston area, check out Rachel's blog and come down, check out her work, and do a project and sip some wine.  It's always a fun time in her studio.

The answers to the questions you'll ask when you're broke in two years: Gary Vee lets loose

If you're not interested in using the web and new tech to promote yourself or your business, then you'll probably think Gary Vaynerchuk is an arrogant prick who cusses too damn much.  That's understandable.  But he's not.  He's been a businessman since childhood, and he knows just how amazing today's technology is when it comes to letting everyone into the game of business.

When I came to North Carolina in November 2008, after a  year on the streets of Southern California, I started surfing the web for the first time in my life.  That was years after most everyone else started wandering around in the online world.  I was way behind the curve on the internet and new tech.  But I wanted to figure something out.  I wanted to learn what it took to be a writer in today's world.  I've been going to the Google State University and You Tube College and self-educating ever since.  I started blogging, and have since had three blogs that were #1 in their little niches, in the world (FREESTYLIN' Mag Tales, Freestyle BMX Tales, and Make Money Panhandling; all have been taken down since).  They didn't make money.  But I DID learn that these days you're a media company first, like Gary says in this talk, and then you're whatever you THINK you do for a living.

I live in a fucking tent right now.  But I'm doing what I love.  I'm creating drawings that real people want to put on their walls.  I worked two years to get to that point, after ten years of developing my unique style.  I'm writing about things that I really am interested in and care about.  I'm not worried about the raccoons I share the woods with getting in my tent.  I can deal with them.  They 're actually better neighbors than many 2-legged creatures I've met. I'm not worried about that because I spent many years searching for the reason that I, personally, am here on Earth.  I found the answers I was looking for that ring true on a really deep level to me.  That simple understanding let me get out of my own way, and get much, much more productive.

Some people like what I draw, I'm starting to make money consistently with that.  The writing and blogging will lead to other types of income in time.  I go to sleep happier in a beat up, old, musty tent in the woods than most of you do in a big, awesome (or not so awesome) bed in your nice warm house.  I'm doing what I think matters, and it's starting to pay off.  That's because I've been learning from people like Gary Vee (and Seth Godin, Mitch Joel, etc) for the last 9 1/2 years, and I've been trying different things, finding my voice, and learning what does and doesn't work for me.  What I've sent out into the world, both online and off, is starting to come back in a positive way.  I've been meeting talented and motivated people with similar interests, and many have helped me one way or another.  So even if it's a cold, rainy morning, and my tent zipper won't zip closed, and I start cussing like a taxi driver (or Gary Vee), I'm still stoked on what the day ahead of me will bring.  With that going for me, dealing with the day to day crap doesn't phase me that much. 

As a homeless entrepreneur at the moment, I know that something really bad could happen on any given night.  It's possible I won't live to see the next day.  But more than likely, I'll be able to work my way out of homelessness (again).  At that point, the sketchy tent living will become a funny anecdote to tell to people who think it's impossible to start their own business. 

For a while now, I've been saying we'll be heading to another recession before too awful long.  Like Gary, I did some research on the whole student loan crisis, and realized that it will collapse, probably in this next recession, and it will cause hard times for millions of people.  It could be another 2008 mess all over again, and we'll see well known colleges and universities struggle, and some will collapse.  It's another big part of the shake down as the old Industrial Age fades, and the Information Age continues to take shape.  I don't say this to be a doomsayer or bum everyone out.  I see it as a financial weather report.  There's a big storm coming in the economy, we get one every decade, and I believe putting some thought into it ahead of time will help me, and all of you, deal with it better.  Gary Vaynerchuk is the first successful business person I've heard talk about the student loan crisis turning into a Great Recession-type mess. 

But there's another side to financial hard times.  Lame businesses go under, and there are all kinds of opportunities for people who have good ideas and are willing to work hard.  I don't care who you are, it's worth the time to listen to Gary's speech above.  I know most of you won't watch it.  So if you're reading this, come back to this post and listen to it a year or so from now when things look really sketchy.  You'll be ready for what Gary's talking about then.