Bloggy Question 35: Rockin’ Blogger

January 28, 2007 by Liz

Road Trip

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . .

A long time friend, a rock promoter, is town with the coolest band. You’re jealous and jazzed at the same time. It’s the kickoff to the concert tour for their latest CD.

Folks have been waiting for three years. The concert has been sold out at the stadium for months now, and there you are with box seats and full back stage access. This is better than anything you and your friend pulled off in college.

You took a week off work just for the occasion.

You’re in with band. It’s like you’re with old friends during set up and sound checks. You’re no music slouch yourself. The sound guy lets you listen in on the headset.

As rehearsal moves on, you pull out your laptop and start blogging your usual blog posts for the week.

On a break, the band comes over to see what you’re doing. The lead singer says he tried blogging, but couldn’t blog and write music too. He asks you a string of questions about your blog and blogging in general.

Then the day before the band leaves town, your fine friend says, “They want you to come with. They want you to blog the entire road tour all 12 months of it — $10K/month, all expenses paid, fine hotels, great food, big cities, Europe, UK, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, Japan.

It means being out of your job, your apartment, and on the road for your life in a matter of days.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

I Want to Make a Difference, Too

December 27, 2006 by Liz

How This Post Came To Be

A young man named Jesse asked to be a contributor, I read his post and I thought about it. It’s one young, newlywed blogger with cystic fibrosis talking about his life. The post he sent wasn’t the usual contributor post. It was more like a Sunday night Bloggy Question, except it wasn’t hypothetical.

We talked on the telephone about why he wrote it. Jesse said he hoped he might get feedback. He assured me that he was open to honest, even negative responses. He wants to know what people really think. I told him that he might not get any feedback at all. Jesse said he was ready for that too.

If he was brave enough to put himself forward like that, I am brave enough to support that. –Liz

I Want to Make a Difference, Too

Guest Writer: Jesse Petersen

I am at a point in my journey in life where things are finally settling down. Life is what the average American would call “good.” To me, though it is great. What is it that lead me to pen this article for this audience? It’s time to get to the meat and potatoes of my heart today:

I want to make a difference.

A major contributor to my state of mind is a general feeling of easy distraction/unhappiness. Mind you, I am a newlywed. I am VERY happy. Things have never, ever been this good. My health is increasing for the first time in my life, instead of the other way; I am secure; I have the support of my best friend when I come home every night; and things at work are going really good.

So why, the heck am I unhappy?! It is not even unhappiness. It is a distracted unfulfilled potential. I am not in the position I want because I have not jumped through the hoops yet. I don’t know, but my boss is trying to get me there.

I want to make a difference.

That sentence is a paragraph in and of itself, and deserving of a second appearance. It speaks volumes about a central yearning of the heart. Is it selfish to want to make a difference? I am not saying that I want to become rich, or famous, or busy. I am just a 28 year old guy with cystic fibrosis, a wife, a very nice apartment in a very nice development, with a wonderful family and a supportive chuch family who wants to make a difference.

Is it hopeless to think that I possess something that other people would want?

The world is full of success stories. Many of those stories belong to Liz’s readers, and I would venture a guess that quite a few people are reading this because they want to hear what successful people did to attain the status of “successful.”

What is my idea or what knowledge do I have or need to get in order to make a difference? Is there a roadmap to finding your influence, or does it smack you in the face one day? Is it just a Holy Grail, never to be found? When I find it, will it make a difference in me?

Jesse Petersen writes at Gitr’s WoW Blog

Thank you, Jesse, for saying that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 34: Time Is Money, but Content Is Free for the Paraphrasing!

December 17, 2006 by Liz

Creative Problem Solving

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . .

Your friend has recently broken through the barrier and gotten her first client. You’re delighted for her. She’s just delighted. Things seems to be going smoothly with everything. Her client likes her work. Her blog is getting traffic. You like to see people succeed.

You were feeling happy for her too. Until yesterday.

Yesterday you were listening to a podcast she used to talk about regularly. In the middle of it you started thinking, “Gee, this sound familiar. I must have listened to this before.” But you know you haven’t, because you haven’t listened to a podcast in over two months and this one is 3 weeks old.

You start to remember something. A bad feeling comes with it. Still it bothers you enough that you have to check it. You pull up your friend’s blog to find the same content is there in print. It’s paraphrased sure enough, but there’s no denying that the ideas are in the same order.

You think back to how you friend used to talk about that podcast all of the time and now doesn’t. You think about how she used to complain about having no time between meeting client deadlines and keeping up with her blog to get new clients. You think that the two might be related.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 33: You’ve Changed, Man — DON’T Look at Yourself

December 10, 2006 by Liz

Where’s the Guy We Loved?

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . .

You and a friend started blogging 8 months go. You’re in different businesses, but you have similar goals — to establish yourselves, to see what you’ve got, and to watch where it takes you.

The ride has been fun and almost a tale from a famous book — The Tortoise and the Hare. He’s been the hare. He collect links hand over fist during the first 6 months — almost 100 in the first month. You were the tortoise. You collected a respectable link count at a slower, more natural pace.

At your six month blog-anniversary, your friend began to lose links at the same rate he had collected them. At first he tried to act as if it didn’t matter, but he started posting more and more in month seven. In month eight, he began a campaign of self-promtion. He’s been outright asking for links at the end of every post.

His writing has changed. Some people have mentioned that fact to you.

You are still gaining links at a natural pace. He’s beginning to mention that to you.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 32: Blogger Alert! Where Is She? What Should You Do?

December 3, 2006 by Liz

She Was Just Here . . .

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . .

You’ve been friends with a blogger for almost a year. You’ve shared a comment or email daily for so long you can’t remember. You met once, when she was in your city. It was a fabulous dinner. You’ve got the pictures. You’ve talked on Skype several times and on your cell phones too.

A few weeks ago, she started a new job and moved to a new city.

Her emails have been erratic. Most have been jubilant, filled with hope for the transition, telling how much she likes her new job, the new city, the people at the new company. Those emails were filled with plans for buying furniture and meeting people. One even mentioned a guy she’s been dating. He sounded a little possessive, but cool.

Then three weeks ago, you got a long email that told a different, darker story. Your friend said that nothing is turning out as she thought it would. She called herself a miserable failure at business, at love, and at life. She mentioned that she’s missed three days of work again this week.

Now, you haven’t heard from your friend since that email. Nothing new has been posted at her blog. She doesn’t answer her cell phone. No one online seems to know where she is.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 31: Do You Send Away the Idea of a Lifetime?

November 26, 2006 by Liz

What Do You Say to the Guy Who Can’t Pay?

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . . posed ito me in another way by Drew McLellan the other day.

You’re making a living at your own business, but you’re not rolling dough. In walks a propsective client. You hit it off from his first smiling and intelligent conversation. What a powerful team you would make! He has the vision and a great idea. You have the experience and skills that fit right next to his.

The client’s idea is intriguing. It’s an idea that you find exciting and immediately inviting. It’s one in million and you’d die to work on it. Already you’re starting to think about the direction that you would take the planning and the action. The problem is that the client can’t afford to pay you.

Even worse than that, the project really calls for someone just like you. Everything about you wants to help him get going.

The thing is that the client’s idea is so rare and unsual that you don’t anyone who to send him to — the people that he can afford wouldn’t know how to do the idea justice. Those who would see the value would be just as expensive as you or even too expensive and too busy.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss