Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Another month goes by

I keep commenting on the long time between posts. So what do I do about it? Create more blogs. (Somewhere the definition of insanity fits in here...)

I started out with the blog for my college football site, something that has been even more horribly neglected than this blog. I feel kind of guilty, that site was kind of the beginning of my whole web persona, and I'm still quite proud of the site even though I haven't had (or devoted) the time to keep it up like I used to. I won't try to describe it if you haven't seen it, it's www.heavyweightfootballchamps.com. But it's been fun coming up with the concept and still getting a reasonable amount of visitors, even as neglected as it is. But hey, football season's around the corner, maybe it's time to get cracking.

And so as I neglected that site, I created another blog (this one) to neglect. But at least it's not as neglected as that one, so it's all good eh? This one kind of comes and goes, depending on my motivation and keeping up with diet and exercise and all that. But then again, it's been over a month since my last post. Sorry?

And so instead of getting better about keeping up this blog or the other one, what do I do? Create two more. Sheesh, what's up with that?

These two are for my business. Of course I really should think seriously about the wisdom of that because yeah, you can neglect a hobby website, or neglect a personal blog, but in the end what's the worst that can happen? Lose the 2 or 3 readers that still come to either one? Which is not to suggest that losing the readership of anyone of you who may happen to browse upon this thing is anything I would want... (and I'll stop now before I dig myself into a big hole).

But when it comes to business, it is something that will require some dilligence. There are some good marketing reasons for blogging for your business, but neglect can be something rather (or nearly) fatal. And I know that full well. And yet, I don't learn.

One, Simply Communicating is related to my business website. So that's the one where I at least try to act like an expert on communications and throw out some tips, ideas, and give a little bit of information about what's up with Barnabas Communications.

The other is the end result of a marketing idea I had. When I started Barnabas Communications we were in the depths of this recession (still are, last I checked). But something I really liked that I heard someone say, and later heard from Dave Ramsey as well... way back when the whole economy was falling apart I remember a manufacturer rep saying we refuse to participate in this recession. That statement resonated with me like you wouldn't believe. For me it's so easy to get into the excuse game, and when things aren't going so well (especially if you're working in sales) it's so easy to blame it on the economy. Back in April when I stepped out over the edge (and I'm still not sure whether I'm floating or falling fast) and started the business, that was a key thing to me. It's a silly, maybe stupid time, to start a business, but.. here i am anyway.

So then I thought, this is a theme I want to really push forward. There is a certain point where recession is a state of mind. Yes, there are huge outside forces (and massive government stupidity to boot) but in the end it all comes down to the confidence of the consumer. And to me it just made sense to say, to heck with the doom and gloom, this is going to happen, and it's going to go well! So to a certain extent, I really mean it.

On top of that, I thought one of the best things I could do for businesses in a tight economy is to give away some advice. In the end I think it helps establish myself as someone they can depend on, so why not. And I thought at first calling it something along the lines of a recession buster, but that didn't really resonate well, so I scrapped that. But the whole thing about refusing to participate in the recession kept coming back to me, and in the end it became something along the lines of hey, we don't want to participate, and we have some ideas that can help you not participate... and thus Unparticipate was born. And now there's not just the business website, but the Unparticipate website. Now it's mostly about offering this guide we put together. But with it, I started thinking that what would be cool is to make it interactive, get ideas from other industries and such. So... the best way (I thought) is to put up a blog. Put out ideas here and there. Ask for ideas. Publish the best ideas I get. And so.... the Unparticipate Blog.

And oh, yeah. I became a twit. Or whatever the term is. You know, a tweeter that tweets. A twitterer. (Those who know me best say, stick to the original, it fits). I don't know if anyone is out there in twitter world that would ever really benefit from the ideas and tweets, but, it's one more way to get the word out there about Barnabas. So, hey, who knows eh?

So now with 4 blogs to my name, a twitter account, and of course the facebook (works great for keeping up with old friends, even if it does mean seeing old embarassing pictures from college days)... I gotta wonder when I ever get time to actually do any real work.

1 comment:

  1. Good blog, Ron. I've got to say that although I haven't see you since about 1984 or so, I'm proud of you for making a decision to lose the weight and get in shape. I'm sure your bride would love to keep you around for a long time! Keep up the good work! ~Tom

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