Last week I posted a blog about marketing and selling yourself on Steem. As part of that blog post, I stressed the importance of telling your story: who am I; why did I join Steem; what am I going to be sharing every week; what is my story? So this week I’d thought I’d personally answer some of those questions.
I initially joined Steem in September, 2016, because I thought it was such a unique business model, and my son Tim (@timcliff) has devoted himself to it. As an author of eleven books, I thought it would be easy to write a blog every week. But what I didn’t plan for was: what should I actually write about that will be of interest to the Steem community?
First, I penned a blog simply introducing myself and got what I thought was a very good reaction. If I recall, I made about $35 on that first posting. Inspired by this positive feedback, I blogged a second piece about my recent visit to China. Not so inspiring, I found out. Only one person responded to the article, and it made a total of $0.10.
I got very discouraged, as many of us do when we don't get immediate feedback. So that discouragement, combined with many challenging personal factors (I was battling breast cancer for the second time; I moved from Minnesota to Florida; I got married; I became a grandmother of two grandkids) kept me away from Steem.
So I’ve spent the two years following Tim’s progress, as well as my son-in-law, Christopher Hiedeman (@artist1989), trying to decide: What should I write about that people will want to read? I’ve come to the conclusion that I should blog about what I know: how to help others market and sell their services, which in the scope of Steem, is your blogs.
I don’t come by this knowledge simply by chance. I have spent a life-long career marketing companies, products, services, causes and even myself. I put long hard hours into penning several best-selling books about this topic, including YOU, Inc. The Art of Selling Yourself and Let’s Close a Deal: Turn Contacts into Paying Customers for Your Company, Product, Service or Cause.
So who should read my blog posts? Anyone who sells for a living knows instinctively that you’re not just selling a product, service or blog. What you’re really selling is you. Working from that basis but essential premise, I will be providing a treasure trove of selling and marketing insights that even the most veteran Steem bloggers should benefit from.
WHAT? Not a “salesperson” you say?
Our entire lives revolve around selling, regardless of our job descriptions. The question is not, “Am I a salesperson?” The question is: “How can I be more effective?”
So… who should read my blog?
Anyone who wants to smile more, laugh more, live more;
Anyone who wants a jolt of inspiration and a dose of courage;
Anyone who feels a little bit stuck, somewhere.
Anyone who loves to discover something new, or to see something familiar reaffirmed, in a way so innovative the idea itself seems new;
Anyone who wants not just to succeed, but to thrive--and anyone who knows someone else for whom they wish that, too—a daughter just graduating, for example, or a son shifting his career's gears.
So, who should read my blog? You.