If you haven’t heard, I’m going to SOBCon08. SOBCon08 is a three day blogger conference for bloggers about blogging by professional bloggers. N’uff said.
So often folks talk about what they’ve learned at a conference or picked up in conversations while they were there. Some people will talk about the social networking that happened on site or afterwards. Finally, some will relate stories of the fun, including wild parties they had. But few bloggers will blog about what they learned on the path to get there. I’m here to tell you that I’m learning plenty already and I’ve not even made my hotel reservations.
Get your friends involved
It’d be easy to sit on the sidelines and moan about how hard it is to be a better blogger, or pay the way to the convention. It’s most tempting to do that moaning to friends. But what I’ve learned is it’s a far better tactic to bring them along side as partners. Heck, I’ve got hundreds of contacts on my social networks, why not get some help.
I’ve sought them out and they’ve responded. Daily reminders both in person, on the blog, and through the network have allowed them them to directly respond with helping me get the lead in the contest but also get my blogging fingers working. They’ve encouraged me with great feedback about the blog posts themselves, and the contest.
What’s amazing is that several of these people I’ve yet to even talk to live, yet they’ve reached out to help me push along. Cheers to you guys and gals.
Supporters will show up to help
So I started off with this wild idea to improve my blogging by attending this conference. Then I realized how crazy it seemed. What makes me think I have something to contribute? Am I really blogger material? Woah.
Of course I blogged and talked about it; sent it out to the either I did. To my surprise, not only did my existing buddies come on board, but folks not even on my attention list did too. The folks over at SOBCon08, Liz and Terry, have both stepped into my life and begun providing encouragement. They’ve taken time to visit my blog and leave comments, and send me personal messages. Liz even took time out of her hectic schedule for a one on one pep talk. WOW!
To sum that up, if you ask for help and speak boldly, others will join your cause.
Blog better now
Signing up for the conference made me step back and evaluate where my blogging is at today. Talk about a sanity check. Not only was I hardly posting a few times each week, but most of the posts were one paragraph or less. There was no multimedia except on rare occasions, and not enough link love. You get the picture right?
Of the few things I’m mentioning here, this lesson hit me the hardest. I realized that what’s to gain from a conference if I wasn’t going to put my best foot forward. This has led me to some changes you might have noticed.
Longer posts, more conversational posts, cartoons (courtesy of Toonlet), commentary on other blogs are just a few of the changes and directions I’ve taken. More work to come.
The results? I’m having some 100 hit days on this current blog. The toons are a big hit. Comments are happening.
In Summary
Those those three lessons might not seem like much, but trust me they are. They’ve resulted not only in the practical things, such as leading the contest, and a better blog, but in a less tangible way. My confidence has been boosted too. I’ve come to realize that success isn’t some far off concept, only available to other lucky folks. It’s about what you do and about moving forward boldly and bringing your friends along.
It’s not about the belief that I’ll be successful, only time will tell that. It’s about losing the worry over the end results and focusing on the process. Focusing on the doing and not getting lost in frustrating second guessing.
As a fellow blogger put it, I’m going forward and let a higher power tell me no if they want. But barring that, I’m making a run for the little ring.
Your fellow blogger,
Todd
The Broad Brush 