April 9, 2007

10 Ways Every Blogger Is an Entrepreneur

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 2:11 pm

Why I Wish My Son Grew Up Blogging

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I’ve been a publisher, worked with publishers. I’ve met publishers from all over the world — book publishers, software publishers, web publishers. Bloggers are web publishers. We do what web publishers do.

If you give that some thought something begins to become clear.

Blogs are micro businesses. Every blog, monetized or not, is an entrepreneurial publishing business.

10 Ways Every Blogger Is an Entrepreneur

Running a blog is an undergraduate course in business if you pay attention to what you are doing. From how they are built to how they are run, you can learn about entrepreneurial businesses from your blog.

  1. Great entrepreneurs often study the business they’re about to enter before they start their company. Great bloggers often learn about blogging that way too.
  2. Great entrepreneurs have a vision for what they are building. They gather data and historical statistics to keep improving based on customer behavior. Great bloggers do too.
  3. Great entrepreneurs know that their business needs to be an expression of their authentic self in action — their passion at work. Great bloggers blog their passion with transparency.
  4. Great entrepreneurs build a company that is a quality reflection of their vision down to the last detail. Great bloggers design their blogs to reflect their passion with the same care.
  5. Great entrepreneurs have great communication skills. Great bloggers do too.
  6. Great entrepreneurs know that a strong business stands on authentic relationships. Great bloggers are great at those.
  7. Great entrepreneurs realize that their business is only about choosing for their customers in what they say, what they do, how they smile, and every detail of what they offer and what they choose. Great bloggers configure their blogs to meet their customers, not the other way around.
  8. Great entrepreneurs celebrate their competition, because they know that game is won in serving the customers they love better than anyone else can. Great bloggers realize the same thing.
  9. Great entrepreneurs know that the best marketing is paying attention to the folks who already know who you are and want to help you be the best you can be — listening to your evangelists. Great bloggers are great listeners. It’s inspiring to watch them.
  10. Great entrepreneurs know that a great enterprise really belongs to the customers who helped to build it. Great bloggers might know that even better than great entrepreneurs.

What a difference it would have made if this small town girl had know half this before I started my first job in business. What a difference it would make if most businesses knew it now.

I gave my son a blog for his birthday last year.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

I’ll be talking about this very thing when I discuss our relationship to our blogs and our community at SOBCon 07. Register now! Friday is the last day the convenient rooms at the Sofitel Chicago Ohare are blocked at the supersaver rate.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.


Filed under Business Life, SOB Business, Successful Blog |



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13 Comments to “10 Ways Every Blogger Is an Entrepreneur”

  1. April 9th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
    Jesse Petersen said

    And we have our own brands. :)

  2. April 9th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Jesse,
    We have our brands. We are our businesses. :)

  3. April 9th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
    Dave said

    Liz, Something else about great entrepreneurs and bloggers is that they are always selling. Except it rarely seems like the used car sales pitch we hate because it’s a call to join in a great cause. Also known as passion :-) I see it here on your site all the time.

  4. April 9th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
    Valeria Maltoni said

    Which means there is a focus, and a vision for where the business (and blog) is going. And because we’re talking entrepreneurs, and bloggers, there is flexibility to adjust the course and adapt to the changes in environment — while they learn from it.

  5. April 9th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
    Joseph Bernard said

    Hi Liz, I am new at blogging and am learning all about your ten ways. Fortunately, I have working for me, a passion for helping people become awake, aware, on purpose, and in pursuit of their highest expression. My business sense is growing every day. I love writing my blog and knowing that every day more people come to read and explore my ideas. I feel very blessed and fortunate to be so clear about my mission to make a difference by spreading peace and consciousness.
    Thanks you for doing your blog. I can feel the aliveness and passion in your writing. Please check me out at http://www.explorelifeblog.com

  6. April 9th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
    Armen said

    Thanks for the compliment! :)

  7. April 9th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Dave!

    Bloggers and entrpreneurs are evangelists fully expressed and chasing a vision they know how to make happen and inviting us along for the ride. :) How could not want to go?

  8. April 9th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Valeria!
    That’s it exactly! Isn’t amazing how bloggers and entrepreneures have so much in common? The flexibility you point out is one more thing that the great ones share. :)

  9. April 9th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Ah Arment!
    You heard me. Thank you for listening! :)

  10. April 10th, 2007 at 1:08 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Joseph,
    Welcome and thanks! You sound like you’ve got a great sense of what blogging is about. Glad to have your in the blogosphere! Thanks for the kind words. I hope you’ll be joining us around here often!

  11. April 10th, 2007 at 4:27 am
    Robin Bal said

    Great post Liz. I am a daily visitor here, really I find it difficult to find words strong enough to convey my appreciation for your blog.

    By the way I am working with our friend Jonathan from SWR to get few things fixed on my blog, the header in particular as you had advised.

    Take care and Cheers.

  12. April 10th, 2007 at 7:04 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Robin!
    Great to see you!
    Thank you so much. It all of you who come to visit that make this blog all that it is. ;)

    How cool that Jonathan is passing on the little bit I knew to show him. Isn’t he the most fun?

    Happy day!

  13. April 11th, 2007 at 8:24 am
    links for 2007-04-11 « 玻璃鏡 said

    [...] 10 Ways Every Blogger Is an Entrepreneur (tags: Blog Entrepreneurship) [...]

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