An Unintended Consequence (That’s Good,)

A little over a year ago, I started blogging in earnest. I did it based on relentless urgings from the two guys who have become my Dreamland partners. I really didn’t want to do it, but they harassed me until I finally gave in. They told me it would be good for my marketing efforts. They told me it would help with my SEO. They told me it would enhance my visibility and credibility. They told me it would lead to closing more business.

They were right about all those things, but missed a powerful point!

The number one biggest value of consistent, several-times-a-week blogging is that it teaches you to think better. Here’s how it played out and continues to play out in my case…

When faced with the first challenge of every new blogger (What do I blog about?) I took Schnick’s advice and blog about an issue – any issue large or small, easy or challenging, short term or long term – that happens to emerge that day. It forces me to think through and identify the gist of the issue. Otherwise, I find myself droning on and on and on without ever making a point.

It also forces me think through multiple ways to address the issue. The solution needs to be at least half-way intelligent. Otherwise I’ll demonstrate to the world just how lame my advice and insight can be. I find myself thinking through a few more alternatives. Even if the knee-jerk response turns out to be the best, that bit of extra thought always adds more meat to the bone.

There’s more! The added thinking about common issues that the blogging causes, makes me quicker on my feet in sales call situations. A quick, cogent response is always effective. Because I’ve been forced to consider many more different scenarios, there are many more of those quick, cogent responses hanging out in my brain.

So an old dog like me learned a new trick – blogging. As always, the unintended consequences followed. Better thinking, better writing, more leads, more compelling sales calls, more business. Tell me again why you haven’t started your blog yet.