People rarely see the many failed attempts. They observe your success and think it came easily or was handed to you. Whether it’s a blog or a passion project, everyone has to start somewhere.
It’s not my first time starting a blog, but unlike before, today I can approach it with some semblance of knowledge and insight into the industry kitchen. Especially since I’ve had a corporate job as a marketing copywriter for about five years, which has taught me the most valuable lesson of them all — it’s not that hard.
Why You Need a Personal Blog
A small private blog can start as a place to vent and share frustrations, and later grow into your personal brand and even business. For a long time, I’ve been observing others do just that and tried to imitate their efforts with varying results. I’ve always been on good terms with search engines. When I still worked a corporate job, our team SEO expert would always say that I have a natural ability to put the keywords in all the right places.
At the time, I couldn’t really appreciate my blog’s excellent ranking in SERP. I wanted to connect to other people. And here was where my first mistake was buried — I was writing in my native language, even though I knew even then that the local web is notorious for bringing out all the inner bile and envy people had for their own kind. I’m not saying “everyone was jealous of my success”. No. It’s a different kind of mindset. In this case, it was tall poppy syndrome. If you stand out with your thoughts or actions without explicit permission from the authority, you need to be brought down.
My Blog Made Me a Writer
While writing my beloved blog, I started dabbling in creative writing and came across a jarring thought on the local interwebs. “You’re only allowed to write and publish books if you are a language major”. I objected to the thought and shared what I learned from my interest in the publishing world and book marketing. Once, I even had a heated conversation with the local authorities “in the business” only for them to dismiss my suggestions, and ‘discover’ the trend on their own, five to ten years later.
I hated being the “I told you so” person. At some point, I gave up trying to connect with the local crowd and shut myself out. And then I was too busy climbing the corporate ladder and burning out in the process. A year after quitting the grind, I’m just now getting back into the right mindset. And here I am right before you, tiptoeing around the idea of starting another blog. A proper one this time — with a domain and hosting. And maybe even a newsletter to update you guys on all my other pursuits.
Let’s see where it gets us!
Leave a Reply