What I *CAN* do…
December9
I read a LOT of blogs…
Because, I do. A LOT of them. I think I’m subscribed to about 300 right now.
The highest percentage of blogs that I read would likely fall under the category of life coaching/creative living blogs.
Some of them give me great ideas that I can transfer to other areas of my life. Some give me ideas to start creating things myself, to journal or draw or doodle or write. And some give me HOPE that things aren’t so bad.
But there are sometimes when I read these things and I wonder if the whole purpose of the “Life Coach” industry isn’t to create MORE life coaches, rather than to really improve the lives of ordinary people?
Everyone seems to be selling SOMETHING
Some have their collected wisdom on ebook format to get out there, some have downloads of music, some are offering e-courses, some have physical products to buy, some will allow you to contact them, some have membership sites… but it seems that so many people have something of value to offer the rest of the world.
I’m afraid that I don’t.
Sorry.
I’m finding, more and more, that I am here for a different reason.
I’m not here to sell, I’m here to connect.
But connecting to people without having something to offer them seems SO fraking hard lately. What I have to offer is so DIFFERENT from others that its practically invisible to the wider audience that I want to connect WITH (mainly other positive, creative, wildly aware of the world types that I find through the life coaching/creative and communicative blogs I frequent).
And it occurs to me that maybe, just maybe, I don’t NEED to sell something to have something WORTHY enough to offer others. Maybe I can grow into my own and earn respect through the things that I have to offer people who might take a chance and read my blogs.
If I am a professional ANYTHING it would be a professional INSTIGATOR
I’m available to be open to new people, new suggestions and new ways of doing things. I am the consummate Instigator — What I excel at, more than anything else, is the ability to get other people fired up about something new, to encourage people to check out new things and open others up to new products AND suppliers.
This hasn’t translated very well to the world of blogging, I’m sad to say.
While in real life I have dragged my friends through various projects and interests… enthusiastically building them up to start something that I thought was fan-freaking-tastic, then abandoning them to carry on that while I found the next wonderful idea to pass on to them.
I am a fantastic person to find niches for people, to help people find new things that will enrich their lives, and to promote ideas and projects that broaden the horizons of those around me. I love exploring new things, adopting new ideas, and meeting new people… I like being a sounding board for improving ideas, for getting groups together…
I’m good at finding FIT for other people…
Just not so much for finding a FIT for me in the places I have been wandering.
It’s no secret that I’m the kind of person who adopts early and yearns to learn more before they can jump that far. Everyone who knows me knows how frustrated I get when I really get interested in something, but I can’t progress as fast as I want because the information isn’t there or I don’t have access to things that I need to get to the place I want, or I don’t have the people I need to help me to get the pieces that I need to put together a project.
I am the kind of person who can passionately BELIEVE in something, but I’m not yet the person who can afford to shell out a tonne of money (especially in non-Canadian funds) to get into the gated communities of the online world, or to take every e-course. I can scrimp and save to do these things and I can get there SLOWLY, but because I can’t jump, because I don’t have the support behind me that some others have, I have yet to find a way to get the point across to the biggified people, the people I look up to, that I am down here, that my voice CAN carry, that my ideas DO matter… that I CAN help too..
I am wildly creative and flamboyantly enthusiastic reader… the kind of person that anyone should be glad to have on their team, supporting their ideas.
How can I leverage infectious enthusiasm for new ideas into something REMARKABLE!?
Because, it is the REMARKABLE people who get noticed by people. And after you are noticed, that’s when people want to know about you and what you think. That’s when you can find the people who will “get” you… that’s when I can help those who I believe in… That is the moment I am looking for, that moment of CONNECTION, when I have found the people who get what I am talking about, who are supportive of what I am doing, and who can see me as more than “just another nonsense blog” and see me as someone of value to the wider community.
I’m still finding my way in the world… but that doesn’t mean that my voice isn’t one of value. I’m reaching out, I’m stretching… I’m looking for connections and support and community even though I’m not able get into the gated communities (yet).
I will find someone willing to mentor with me, willing to take a chance that I have something of value in me beyond what I have in my bank account.
I may not have something to “sell”, I may not have recognized expertise, but I know that I am good at reviewing and connecting and supporting those I believe in.
I believe in the power of the stories that we have to tell, that no matter if we are willing to go into business for ourselves (and right now I am not) or we are out here just to tell the stories of our lives and connect to like minded people, we all have VALUE.
So why am I thinking about this now?
Partly it was brought upon me by the feeling of frustration I have right now.
Partly it was brought upon me by the feeling of frustration I have right now.
I’m a single mom, and because i am single I have no other adult in my house to support me. And because I am a parent, I am not only responsible for myself. I find myself in a situation where, if I fail I don’t only take myself down, I risk losing my children (if I can’t support them I lose them). And so, unlike a lot of people who have been able to make the leap to being online entrepreneurs.
I’m jealous.
I would love to have the kind of idea that could be shared with others in that way, and be enough to not have to work full time away from my kids… but that’s not my reality yet.
I would love to have the resources to even know enough people to ASK for emotional support for the ideas I have.
I am frustrated because I WANT to reach out to these people… but I feel so small and unremarkable and insignificant without my own business or BIG IDEA behind me (yes, I know that’s silly too)
I want to HELP the few people out there who HAVE been kind enough to talk to someone like me, someone starting out who is in a tougher place, who is reaching out. I want to be able to be someone who can become the kind of person I am looking up to and be able to reach out to people who might be in a harder position than myself and give them a hand up too. And I can’t figure out how to get there from here.
I got an email yesterday from Pace and Kyeli regarding interviews and guest posts that they are scheduling right now to promote their upcoming 52 Weeks of Awesome.
And I really REALLY wished that I could have said, “Hell yeah, I want to interview you, I would LOVE you to do a guest post on my blog, promote away”.
But I couldn’t.
I’m not big enough and I didn’t want to waste their time on a no-name blog with no readers.
For a moment I was embarrassed of all that I have achieved here, because it doesn’t seem like ENOUGH when I can’t help anyone else. And for a few minutes I worried that I wasn’t gonna get “there”… wherever there was.
And I realized, right now I am only able to be a FOLLOWER… and that that has to be good enough. I’m not ready to sell things… I don’t even know what I’d SELL…
But I know I make a damn good and LOYAL believer. I make a wonderful follower… and if I can I will promote the HELL outta the things I believe in…
Community WILL come… because I want it
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THE GIGGLE Mail around Group
Pam, I think you just described a catalyst!! Sounds like you are a catalyst with a capital “C” – a *Can*-do Catalyst.
And I think your reach extends farther than you know (regardless of your numbers here now) – what you write will, if you keep it here, be able to be seen for a long time. And if I were you (which I’m not, so feel free to ignore this advice – grin) I’d let Pace and Kyeli decide if you’re big enough to interview them.
Be YOU – keep reaching out – keep BEING remarkable – does not having a large following yet – or not selling mean you’re not remarkable? no way!.
Pam, I just want to tell you how GLAD I am to have found your blog. And I remember feeling SO many of the same things when I was first starting my journey.
I took my first personal development seminar 19 years ago and began searching intensely for my purpose and I felt many of the same frustrations you’re describing. I wanted to be THERE already, I wanted to be doing what I saw the class facilitators doing, And I was jealous.
Your post has made me look back and really see the fullness of this journey and what it can produce in us over time and I absolutely know that your journey is going to bear incredible fruit in you and in the world too.
It took 7 years of learning and growing after that first seminar, including working for a seminar company and many more classes, to having my first client. And then it was another 5 years before I put up a website, with borrowed software hosted on my friend’s server for free.
And it took another 5-6 years, and hundreds of conversations and client sessions, to really clarify the essence of the work I want to do and to find my “voice” in it.
And after I had had the same conversation about 100 times and saw that I was explaining the same thing over and over again, I realized I had to put it in an e-book, and that’s how my first free product came to be.
It wasn’t about selling, I just wanted everyone to know this thing that I had figured out and I wasn’t going to be able to be there to explain it 1000 times (and I really hoped that I could even get 1000 people to want to know about this.)
And I still feel pretty small, and that those “biggified” people won’t really notice me. And yet my conviction that I have something real to share keeps growing.
And when I look back, that’s the most important thing that’s been happening all along throughout the whole journey. Your post has made me realize that I had to come to know my own “remarkable-ness” before anything else could happen. And the more I saw and believed in it, the more I easily I could share and connect.
And your ability to connect will probably just grow and grow and grow in the same way. And wherever you’re at right now, it IS ENOUGH. And I can’t leave without telling you that I’m absolutely wowed by the beauty and design of this site.
So please keep posting and I’d be honoured to support you in your journey in whatever small way I can.
Blessings,
Susan
Oh, and I would love to subscribe to your blog in my feed reader, but I don’t see any button to do that. It only takes a few minutes to burn a feed for subscriptions, and if you’d like some help with it, just let me know.
Cheers,
Susan
I have to agree with comment above. If Pace and Kyeli hadn’t thought you were big enough, they wouldn’t have contacted you about interviewing them.
Just where do you think they started out? Not with as many people as follow them as they do now.
Every blog with a huge following started with one reader. So why not take the chance and interview them and put it out there. Who knows what might happen.
You might get that elephant you wanted.
I am in agreement. Come on now, reach out. What do you think people who DO build followings do? They network, they reach out, they take risks. Apply. The worst thing that can happen is that you won’t get chosen. You DEFINITELY won’t get chosen if you don’t ask.
That said, I think overall you sound like you’re in a place to bring yourself some good things, lady.