Absolutely, Sue. It’s impossible to maintain something like a blog when it feels like something you ‘should’ do rather than something that feels like yours and is bringing its own kind of intrinsic value to you. I hope you manage to find a happy place with it all.

I’ve struggled a lot with the whole platform thing. The way I’ve been thinking of it in recent years has been a lot like your friend – I loathe self-promotion and marketing and so was looking at it in a very limited and negative light. But it’s much more than that, as you say. Your platform can be yours. The only struggle now i have with it is that health issues limit my energy pretty severely and building a platform, in my case a blog, takes a lot of time. Which is why being happy with the structure of yours needs to be the case, or else it’ll just be an energy drain and will come across a a chore for those who happen upon it, then, too. Thanks for this, Andy.

Totally agree Michael!

Thanks, Karen, glad to help!

Hi Dana. I’m glad you’ve been asking these questions! I guess my main bit of advice would be don’t rush and don’t try to take on too much all at once. It’s great that you have your blog and that you’ve already built a loyal following. The next step would probably be deciding who you want to serve through your blog, get specific on what you write about. If that means shifting your current focus you can either do that with your current one or start a new one. I’d be inclined to stick with the current one though. Once you’re clear on the purpose of your blog you can start using social media in a more specific way – to connect with other people who have similar interests and messages to you. Rather than just being on Facebook because you feel like you have to, you can think of it as a place/opportunity to connect with other like-minded people and begin to extend your community in different ways. Hope that helps.

Agreed, Mike!

Yes! You have a great attitude, Celeste! In many ways it comes down to a ‘do for others what you would love them to do for you’. Promoting, sharing, and engaging with what other people are up to is not only the way to build relationships and connections; but it is the way to build your own reputation for integrity and value. And whatsmore as you say, it is a lot more comfortable talking about other people than it is talking about oneself. It’s also the best way to get someone’s attention – talk positively about them to other people. If someone does that for me I’m always curious to find out who they are and what they do.