Successful Blog

Mini-Session 13: The Four Cs of Blogging

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Guest Speaker: David Armano

The Four Cs of Blogging

The 4cs of Blogging

Thank you, David!
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Visit Daivid’s blog, Logic+Emotion to experience the intersection of Marketing, Brand Engagement + Experience Design—where passive consumers become active participants.
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Group Discussion . . .

David regrets that a last minute meeting was called at his office, making it unlikely that he’ll be here for a QandA. We’ve still got the insights that he brought to the conference.

So I’ll start with a question. Which of the 4 Cs do you think most bloggers pay least attention to?

During the Virtual Conference today, you can take $100 off registration to SOBCon 07.

About that Road . . .

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The Roads Not Traveled

It started with William Tully’s post, New meme? (likely not), in which he considers the “5 Goals He Never Took Seriously.” William gently tapped Robert Hruzek on the shoulder, asking what his answer to the same question would be. Robert wrote a post called The Roads Not Traveled in which he describes goals that “didn’t make the cut.” At the end of his post, Robert passes the question to David Armano, Matthew Stibbe, and me. It appears those two are like the boys in the neighborhood where I grew up — they’re waiting for me to go first. So here I go.

A Road Through a Mountain Forest

As soon as I saw Robert’s post I was reminded of a silly psychological test that asks for four descriptions. (You might want to read that test, to find out about your road and my road, before you read on. Go ahead, I’ll wait here.)

I bring up that test and my road, because my road has been such good one. It has wound and turned and let me try to so many things. It has been a windy road indeed. I’ve been a teacher since I was 10, a wholesale shirt sales rep, a writer, editor, and publisher, and a corporate strategist.

Yeah, my road is a windy one. My friend, Peg says she’s never seen me walk in a straight line. So thinking up goals that I never followed is nigh on to impossible. I’ve been thinking for days about Robert’s challenge and here’s what I found.

Five Goals I Never, Ever Wanted to Pursue

It seems as if I tried most things that I thought I might want to be part of my life. But there were some side roads that I was happy to walk right by. Those roads might be just as worthy an answer, at least I hope so, because here they are.

  1. I never, ever wanted to be a doctor, nurse, dentist, or any other sort of healthcare professional. Even when I was short and still in grade school, I didn’t want to give people injections or have to make them hurt to help them get better.
  2. I never, ever wanted to be a skydiver, a moutain climber, bungee jumper, or a wingwalker. Falling from high places wasn’t my idea of a good time.
  3. I never, ever wanted to be a astronaut, live on a spaceship, or be an astronomer. I like to keep my relationship with the universe on a romantic and magical plane of wonder.
  4. I never, ever wanted to be a roadie, a groupie, or a raging fan. I’m not good a racing after, lugging stuff, or in general being part of groups that follow blindly. I get bored too easily.
  5. I never, ever wanted to be a clueless, dorky, invisible teenager, but I managed to be one anyway. Go figure.

Life has so much to offer and I’ve always found that each new step is one that perfectly followed the step that was before it. I never spent too much time thinking about where I had to get, I always knew I’d be getting somewhere outstanding, if I followed what I do well and what I love.

There was the day I realized that I was too old to be a major league baseball player . . . but that was so long ago I can’t remember how that felt.

They say turnabout is fair play. I’m not sure this is what they meant. What are the things on your list of never, ever wanted to do?

–ME “Lia” Strauss

Related
The Road: A Simple 4 Part Psycholocial Survey of Attitudes

David Armano IS a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is David there?

David Armano left New York for Chicago. My first question was what he found when he got here. He said he was surprised at how beautiful the city is and how it surprised him that we don’t live and breathe fashion the way they do in New York City. “Everything is more casual,” he said. These days David says he beginning to like that, especially now that he’s raising a family.

That was a perfect opening for me to give one Chicagoan’s view of New York, LA, Boston, and Chicago. It goes something like this: You’re easily forgotten after 15 minutes in LA. In Boston, after 15 years you’re that person from wherever you came from. In New York, it takes 15 times for them to really get to know you. But in Chicago after five minutes a Chicagoan will take you out for a beer. We both laughed.

David and I talked about how he started blogging. He mentioned that he tries to keep his blog completely separate from the work he does. He pointed out that it still spills over some — folks mention in HR, while they are interviewing that they have read David’s blog. He said it’s not so much that he doesn’t want his blog to represent his company, but that he doesn’t want it to raise his profile in the workplace. He likes his blog to be his creative space away from work.

David and I spent some time talking about the people who blog and the effect that blogging has on people. I asked David whether he thought blogging changed him appreciably. He said, “When I first started blogging, I was a corporate citizen . . . now a year later, people put me in another class.” I said I understood what he was saying, calling my blog a 1200 page resume, pointing out that obviously he had shown he was a thought leader. We talked about whether anyone experienced the same change in “status” that he had. We decided it took more than a blog to do that.

David talked about other changes he sees in his life. How a few years back he’d never have thought of himself as an author. He said he’d never have considered writing a book, but now, he thinks about that very thing. He said that he never has faced his blog wondering what he would write. It was exciting and fun to discuss how he can feel himself reconnecting with his creative spirit. THAT was a cool conversation to share with him!

I think about how when the conversation started, I told David how Chicagoans like it when people who move here call themselves “Chicagoans.” David said that he might try that. I sure hope he does.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

I’ve found out things about myself that I’ve rediscovered. I always valued the quick creativity and ideas I had in college. The fact that I’ve rediscovered that has a lot of meaning to me.–David Armano

Stop by David’s Blog, Logic + Emotion, and say hi!

Thanks, David, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar.