I’m so excited about the progress of my humble little site and though in many people’s eyes my few achievements might seem minuscule, I’m over the moon at the results I have achieved in a very short space of time that I had to share it with you.
First things first lets go to the numbers. Using the wp-stats plugin has been so much fun for me being able to see where all my visitors are coming from and what they’re up to when they visit my site. I went from a personal blog with not much direction and little idea of what I was trying to achieve to 1000 visitors in one month.
Celebrating Small Achievements
You might be laughing your socks off right now and saying 1000 visitors is nothing, but to me it is the very beginning of a journey which I’ve enjoyed starting and one which I look forward to traveling with much more meaning and purpose. Like I said in a recent post about the South African new media scene is hotting up the opportunities available to network, collaborate, interact, learn, innovate, be heard and generally convey what what and who you are are so many as compared to just a few years or even months ago.
Action, Learn, Tweak, Repeat
I’ve been learning loads about entrepreneurship, about building relationships, and marketing and selling services and about getting your word out. having recently attended a seminar called the “The Real Entrepreneur” hosted by Brian Walsh, I was reminded of the power of actions over mere thought. An extremely valuable lesson to all those trying to achieve anything in life or business is taking action. We spend so much time trying to perfect our offering, our websites, our products our approaches and our theories expecting at some stage to have every single detail as it should be without a flaw or fault that we never seem to reach the point where we actually put it out there.
This is a lesson I have tried to teach others recently and one I have been taught over and over. My comment on a post on the web addicts site about ideas takes the concept further. If you want to achieve something you need to take action. I started doing something realising that I was too stuck on dreaming about what I wanted to achieve and where I should be going. I realize now that even though my site is not perfect, my writing is not what I think it should be, I’m missing quite a few crucial points, doing something and putting myself out there has brought me closer to where I want to be, it has helped me form valuable connections and relationships and has given me insight into what steps I need to take going forward.
Human Relationships Are Crucial
One example is the series of interviews I have started on my site. It’s not an original idea by a longshot and though I’m no expert at interviewing and getting the most out of people I have learn so much by just asking a few questions and have made some great new connections. This small step as opened my mind up to many new ideas which I plan to get going on this site very soon, though i don’t want to let you in on my new strategy for my site just yet.
Conversation is crucial when it comes to development, learning, marketing, innovation, invention. We are still humans and though the means we use to reach each other have changed somewhat, many underlying principles remain. If you want to speak to someone you have to learn something about them and speak to them in a way they can understand you. You have to speak to them about what interests them and you most definitely need to add value to their lives through your interaction with them. This is an important principle when trying to build a community and earn the respect and admiration of your community.
This is what I love about commenting as it has turned online publishing into a real meaningful conversation and not just the pushing of information in one direction. The commenters cloud created by webaddicts
We Need each other to Succeed
A recent rivalry between 2 prominent bloggers I have come to know has highlighted a few very important lessons. They started out working together and supporting each other, but rivalry has driven a wedge between them and in a bid to out do the other both have suffered a loss and have had to take proactive action to fix the problem. I mailed both these bloggers telling them that I was one of their visitors, I was becoming concerned about the bad blood being boiled and gave some advice. Each responded in their own way and I watched from a distance how their respective communities responded to the saga.
Just as I wrote this article they are both taking more positive steps to reconnect with their audiences in a more meaningful manner and to rectify some things which could have gotten them side-tracked. Criticism comes in many forms, but the best kind is sincere advice spoken out of the public limelight.Words are powerful and can have far reaching effects in the positive or negative direction, so though we are human and we speak with our own voices, we should choose our words very carefully, and assess each moment thoroughly before we say things which could have negative effects.
Reputation is a major Asset
I have learnt quite a few lessons from this and have resolved to try to keep rivalry at a distance even though criticising certain competitors and showing them up in their faults might give me a short terms edge over them. I’ve learnt that if you add real value and keep doing so people will forgive your mistakes, but if you put yourself above others and arrogance steps in once a certain amount of success is achieved, it takes alot to fix a damaged reputation.
I know I am not the best out there, I will always be outdone by someone in some way, but I am an individual with special qualities unique to me and this is one of my most important assets.
I have real value to Add
The last lesson I’d like to share in this little reflection is that I have something valuable to add. Knowing where your value lies and how to convey that value is a very important skill each of us needs to nurture. Whether it is our business, our personal relationships or whatever level we have something valuable to offer others and giving value is never left without its reward, be it long term or immediate rewards. Sometimes just a smile, a good word, simple advice given at the right moment and open up a world of opportunities because of the relationships giving builds.
My journey has just begun and the lessons are being learnt one by one, join me, interact with me and lets help each other achieve something together.
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