Tag / blog

by Nathan Coumbe

Blog in community (and grow your blog fast)

One of the most helpful things I’ve learned as a blogger came to me from David Meerman Scott. There are two parts, and the first is this:

Before you start your own blog, follow other blogs and bloggers and engage with the ones that matter to you.

I’ve been an avid blog consumer for years, reading from great thinkers and companies like Seth Godin, Michael Hyatt, HubSpot, and Mr. Scott himself of course. They’ve shaped my own thinking and helped me figure out my path forward as a marketer.

This first step lets you figure out how you can contribute to the discussions and the questions being asked on the internet. This is a great starting point for creating your own content.

But the second part of what David taught me was the most profound: engage with their content, leave comments, start discussions. And when you do that, include a link to your own blog.

We often forget the “engagement” step. Don’t just consume—engage! And almost no one links back to themselves for follow-up.

Bloggers like to support other bloggers. They like to talk, discuss, disagree in a civil manner, and try to make the world a better place. By engaging with their content and leaving behind a link as a calling card, you’re encouraging this type of civil discourse.

Now, if you don’t yet have your own blog, you can do the same thing by linking to your LinkedIn profile. Or better yet (since people won’t be able to see your whole profile or its content without connecting), create a free, public about.me page to leave behind.

Think of it as your digital business card, a way for people to learn who you are and follow up with you if they’re so inclined.

Try it the next time you comment on someone’s blog or social media post. I guarantee people will want to hear what you have to say. And they might follow up as well.

(If you want to learn more about David Meerman Scott’s blogging strategies, check out his book The New Rules of Marketing & PR (7th Edition) wherever books are sold.)

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by Nathan Coumbe

You probably don’t need more schooling. You DO need to take action.

You are stressed, frustrated, angry, bored, or perhaps feeling underutilized. Your job isn’t satisfying, you’re treated poorly, or maybe you’ve lost your job during this crisis.

A common solution to these problems seems to be more education: another degree in a different field, a higher-level degree like a master’s or doctorate, or some other very expensive piece of paper. But is more education going to get you that dream job? Probably not.

Going back to school might actually be a way to hide: you don’t know what you want to do so you hide from making a decision by doing the socially acceptable move of going back to school. You are looking only at job postings online that ask for master’s degrees and Ph.Ds (when in reality you don’t need either in truth–they are simply trying to weed out applicants so the don’t have to look at as many resumes).

Action, not education, is the key to better work

What you really need to do is take action! Start doing work that you actually care about whether or not you get paid for it.

Do you want to move into marketing? Raise $50,000 for your favorite charity, the local zoo, or a museum you love. Run social media for some small businesses and restaurants in your area. This is how you create a portfolio of work that proves you can do the work that someone who is looking for a marketer needs.

Do you want to start counseling people on how to better communicate with their spouses, coworkers or bosses? Read books, attend seminars, create free guides and send them out to friends and connections online. Start creating videos with tips. No one truly needs to have a Ph.D. in Psychology to help people with their personal problems.

Do you want to become a teacher? Start teaching! Read literature, history, business books, magazines, whatever material you can on whatever subject you want to teach. Be a lifelong student. Start tutoring. Private schools don’t require teaching licenses, but they do want to know that you know your subject and know how to teach.

Do you want to be a freelance writer? Start writing! Create a blog, write articles on LinkedIn, pick up a book on copywriting and start making fake promo materials for real companies you care about or fake companies you made up.

A portfolio of work is better than an expensive piece of paper

You need a portfolio, not an expensive degree, to find work you really care about. You need a body of work, examples of what you have done and can do in the future.

You need projects behind your name, not letters. Companies care less and less about degrees with each passing day–just look at Apple, Google, Amazon, or Tesla. They want to know if you can do the work and take initiative on your own. A portfolio of work and projects will show them both. You might need to learn how to code, but you can do that for $40 a month rather than $50,000 for a degree that will be outdated in 2 years.

Schooling rarely gives you what you need to thrive in a career. Actual work, practice, and personal development is the key.

Get an education that pays

If you want some ideas about how to develop yourself without spending a fortune on a soon-to-be useless degree, check out this post I created recently. Another great resource is this article here by my mentor Dan Miller.

While you’re at it, surround yourself with people who are trying to level up and find work that is meaningful, purposeful, and profitable. Check out the 48 Days Eagles group, and surround yourself with likeminded people. Click this link here and get 3 months for the price of 1!

Create a body of work you’re proud of, and you will never want for jobs or income.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Why write?

Why would anyone start a blog in 2020 (or in my case, 2019)?

Nobody wants to read anymore; no one has the attention span to read anything more than headlines, bullet points, and headers.

If we want information, a lesson, or an explanation of an idea, we just go to YouTube. If we want entertainment, we go to Tik Tok for quick, random snippets or Twitter for messages. No more than 140 characters, thank you very much!

So why write?

For me, it’s to stretch a muscle. It isn’t to get someone to buy something; it isn’t to persuade the entire world to change how it operates. Writing helps me organize my thoughts. It allows me to practice putting messages and ideas into the world in a coherent form; it allows me to argue points and prove or disprove my ideas with my own gathered evidence.

“Writing is organized thinking on behalf of persuasion.”

–Seth Godin, “Even if it’s not graduation week for you…”

Perhaps I’m trying to persuade myself.

So this blog I write, or try to write, everyday – what’s it for? It’s for me to learn, practice, stretch, organize, and try and make sense of the world.

If it helps you, too, I am thrilled.

You should write something.

Maybe writing isn’t for you, but it is a uniquely human endowment, and I advise you try it. However, be clear on why you are writing. Don’t write to get people to read; don’t write to get a following; don’t write to get money. Write for yourself, at least at first.

Write to examine your thoughts. Write to examine what you are learning and check your understanding. Write to get the massed jumble of ideas out of your head and into a physical form – you’d be amazed how much anxiety that relieves. Write to try and persuade one person that your idea might help them get better.

It doesn’t have to be good; it just needs to be done. And the more you do it, the better it will get.

Write something.

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by Nathan Coumbe

“But why is no one listening to me?”

You are having an argument with your spouse, and she doesn’t understand your point of view, no matter how much you push it.

Your children won’t do anything that you ask them to do. They won’t engage or communicate with you; they shut down every time you try to talk to them.

You are writing blogs and posts, but no one is reading or responding to them.

You’ve created a product that will change lives, but no one is buying it.

Naturally, you ask the question:

“Why is no one listening to me?”

You feel you are doing everything right. You have the right ideas or the right argument; you know more than your children; this product is truly amazing and has revolutionized the way you see and do things. And yet, no one is listening. No one is engaging. No one is buying.

Why?

Because you aren’t listening to them.

The only way to get others to listen to you, to engage with you, to buy from you, is to listen to them and understand their points of view, their wants, and their needs.

If you bludgeon people over the head with your arguments and ideas, they won’t accept them; they don’t have the same ideas, the same noise inside their heads. They are telling themselves different stories. The key to being listened to, to making an impact, is to understand those other stories.

You don’t have to agree with them, but you do have to listen to and understand them. When people feel understand, when they feel heard, when they know that you see them and their side of things, they feel more open to hearing what you have to say.

“Seek first to understand, then be understood.”

–Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

No one is listening to you because you aren’t listening to them.

Your spouse won’t listen to your side of the argument because all you are thinking of is your side of the argument.

Your children won’t listen to your advice and guidance – even though you probably do know more and understand more than they do – because they don’t feel like you understand them, how they feel, or the narrative in their heads.

No one is buying your stuff because as awesome as it is, they don’t get how it will benefit them or how it will make them feel once they use it. Why? Because you didn’t take the time to understand what they want or how they want to feel.

Understand

To influence someone, you must open yourself to the possibility of being influenced by the other person. This means creating a feeling of understanding in the other person. This is not meant to be manipulative: you must genuinely want to understand the other person. Also, people can tell if you are simply trying to manipulate them rather than understand them.

Listen to what your spouse wants; listen to how your children feel; listen to the needs and frustrations of your customers.

Understanding must always come first; otherwise you’ll fail.

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