Last updated on March 27th, 2021 at 02:33 am
Every time I write; every time I come up with new ideas and spend hours putting them together into the most coherent and compelling stories that I can muster, one core thought runs through my head:
“I want to be a better blogger.”
We are our brand. We are the sum of the things we’ve done in life, what we’ve learned from them, and how other people see us because of these things.
But if our brands are so precious and define how people see us, isn’t it our duty to make sure we do all that we can to make them stunning?
The Importance of the Personal Brand
When I was young, my parents wanted me to be a professional—a doctor, a lawyer, or even an actuary—but there was an underlying lesson they were always teaching me:
Be the best there is at what you do.
Being the best means constant learning. It means improving your craft with every new thing you learn and never truly being satisfied with what you offer to the world. Just as the world never stops progressing, neither should you.
It’s ignorant to think that you’ll always be the best—it takes all types to make the world work, and eventually, someone will come along who’s faster, stronger, smarter, or just plain better than you are.
But you never stop trying. Never.
If you’re passionate about something—if you’ve got the drive to keep wanting to put the very best that you can out in the world—whatever that is at any given time—then it’s a feeling that’ll never leave you alone. It’s an itch that you’ll never truly scratch, but it’s that very itch that keeps you going.
And it’s because of that itch that I want to take advantage of opportunities like Bloggers in Sin City and Brandgasm 101.
What IS “A Better Blogger?”
But what is “a better blogger”?
Does it mean increasing my Alexa ranking? Does it mean getting more shares and retweets on Facebook and Twitter? Or having my audience show me love through a flood of comments when I post something new?
It means different things to different people.
Me? I want my blog to mean something. I want to know when I shuffle off of the mortal coil at some point in the future that my blog somehow made the world a better place.
So that’s why I grind. That’s why I hustle away, trying to make this blog better and better when I can work on it. Much like making sure the clothes on my back are as fly as I can get ’em, who’s gonna remember a blog that fails to make an impact on them?
You can buy all the tools in the world to become a better designer, but they won’t do you any good if you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s why I joined Brandgasm 101 — to go back to basics, unlearn bad habits and build something I’ll be proud of. Something that’ll stand the test of time.
Let’s see what the future has in store!
9 replies on “Becoming a Better Blogger”
I really want to go to that bloggers in sin city thing. Sounds like a lot of fun! I know my blogging skills could use some improvement for sure!
Well, I was told that it’s the best $600 I could have ever invested — have to wait until May to find out for SURE, but I sure am looking forward to it 😀
Registration closes at 8:55 PM today, so if you really want to go, time’s ticking!
You should go on the site and look at the bios to see the huge diversity among the group of 67 people going so far 🙂
Oh, you are registered?
Paid, registered and everything, yup. Working on finding not-so-expensive airfare at this point.
Oh awesome… I am seriously debating this right now.
I got you covered for cheap airfare: http://www.cheapdude.com/saving-money/cheap-travel-tips/
Thanks for the assist on that, man — looking forward to seeing how low I can go!
(Double entendre: I expect there to be poolside limbo in Vegas!)
Good luck choosing, man — this is seriously going to be one of the highlights of 2013 for me 🙂 I can feel it!
I’m intrigued by Brandgasm and it’s the first I’ve heard of it! I hope you’ll do a write up on your BISC trip too! I’m always torn because I want to go and meet up with all of the amazing bloggers but I have no interest in visiting Vegas.
Thanks for stopping by, Sarah 🙂
Brandgasm 101 only came up recently and is an initiative presented as a joint effort from some of the women behind BiSC itself. They’ve proven very capable with the sites they’ve built through Shatterboxx, and I’d love to see what I could learn from them 🙂 I’ll be interested to see what the pricing structure is, though.
Vegas is an interesting city — I got back from a trip there about 10 days ago; I’m working on a three-part series about it that I hope to have out in the near future. This year marks the last BiSC by the current organizers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the regular attendees try to take up the mantle and make some madness happen in future years. I’ll DEFINITELY be blogging on it, though — I love Toronto, but it’s a mighty big world out there 🙂
Hope to see more of you!
WELL LOOKIE HERE! The dots are all connecting now — who knew you commented on the blog a year ago 😀
I linked the BiSC write-up for you so you can see all the crazy that went down 🙂 Look forward to eventually getting in touch!