As I was thinking about a topic for this week’s non-business post, I realized that the first one I wrote was at the PSA TEC conference last year. Well, I’m sitting in the same hotel at PSA TEC a year later as I type this. Wow, has it been a year? I remember my marketing consultant encouraging me: “Chris, your readers need to get to know you. The better they know you, the more they’ll appreciate your business content. Just write one personal post a week – that’s all.” I didn’t like it, but I understood it. So, after about a month of procrastinating, I wrote my first post: I’m glad I never met Teddy Roosevelt or Aristotle (and I hope I never meet Derek Jeter or Johnny Depp). Unlike my business posts that we share on Twitter, LinkedIn, and the Vector Firm Facebook page, I also shared on my personal Facebook account. It was a little scary – I felt like George Costanza when his worlds were colliding. Actually, it wasn’t too bad. I received some nice feedback and I was off … I started sharing my personal observations and opinions every Thursday.
In the last 52 weeks, I’ve shared stories about kids harassing me on planes, lessons I learned as a kid growing up in Merritt Island, FL, random stories that stuck with me over the years, and a few about my mom. My most popular post was about eating at the bar when you have to dine alone. That was a shocker. I almost deleted that one because I thought: “Who cares where you sit on the road?” Apparently, a lot of people.
What have I gained? Well, I assume my subscribers and random readers know a lot more about me – which was the goal. However, I’ve received a whole lot more. First of all, I’ve had a ton of fun. Having an outlet to share my thoughts and applaud others who have made a difference in my life has been awesome. On a personal level, I’ve connected with people I haven’t seen since high school, or even since elementary school. Yeah, we’re Facebook friends, but we never really corresponded directly. Today, we do. From a business perspective, my relationships seem to be rooted much more deeply. I’ll run into people at conferences who act as though we’ve been talking every week. In truth, most of the time I haven’t seen them for a year or so. Then I realize – they subscribe to my blog and read my personal posts. They feel as though we have been corresponding – it’s pretty cool.
In conclusion, thank you for reading these posts every Thursday that have nothing to do with selling electronic security technology or services – just a bunch of random stories and observations that have brought me a whole lot of pleasure. Thanks again!
