I happen to be a fairly active blogger, have another site including this one, and from time to time I have even been asked to contribute to others. Writing comes easily to me but, I don’t consider myself to be a very good writer. While I have thoughts and opinions, I am a very long way from being any sort of pundit. My thinking is not what I would call tremendously original and it generally runs along a fairly shallow trajectory.
A few months ago I was approached by a gentleman, Neal Schaffer, who I have huge amount of respect for. Neal is a very well known writer, consultant, and yes … even a pundit. To my amazement, Neal asked me if I would be interested in being a monthly contributor to his Windmill Networking site. I was flabbergasted. Flabbergasted but extremely flattered! While I may not be a deep thinker, I’m far from stupid and I jumped at the chance!
I’ve written three articles now and, for whatever reason, people actually seem to like them. Honestly, I’ve written tons of articles in the past that I have liked far better but, they have generated little to no traffic. On the other hand, the articles that I write for Neal gather comments, tweets, retweets, plus ones, you name it. My connection requests particularly on LinkedIn have increased substantially as have my mentions on Twitter. All this gets me to thinking. Why? I’ve come up with several scenarios.
- Neal’s site gets something like 50,000 unique visitors monthly which is about 49,999 more than my sites … combined (smile)
- The site has more SEO on one page than I have accumulated on all my pages
- Neal is very very awesome about actively promoting his contributors. Thanks, Neal!
- Maybe what I have to say does have value but, I really don’t think it has that kind of value?
Certainly, these would all be factors that would contribute to my seemingly increased popularity, however, I think that the real reason is something all together different ….
It’s not what you say but rather where you say it. We are judged by the company that we keep.
I have been fortunate enough to move, figuratively, from the hills of Idaho to the hills of “Beverly”. Just call me Jed Clampett.
My association with Neal and his site has given me that certain degree of credibility that I did not have before but, is it deserving? I am honestly not sure whether it is or not. Once again, I think that much of it has to do with where my articles are being found. Some might think that I’m “grubbing for compliments” via my self-deprecation but, that is far from the truth. I self-deprecate because I am Canadian and that is something that we are born with. LOL! I am flat out terrible at self-promotion and cringe whenever people associate my name with adjectives like guru, expert, or ninja. That is not me.
Ultimately, this post is about
gratitude. To Neal, once again, a huge Thank You! There are an awful lot of other folks who have helped me greatly along the way these past three years. People like
Jen Harris who took me under her wing and got me started.
Chris Lott who is always happy to share his tips and tricks.
Jon Ferrara who has given me an opportunity to represent
Nimble Social CRM along with all of the other great folks at Nimble including:
Gilles Marchand,
Todd Martin,
Bret Michaelsen,
Garick Chan,
Charlene Leung, and
Brenda Christensen.
Kelly Craft who reaches out to me regularly, has taken the time and effort to introduce me to many neat folks, and who likes to get me involved in a number of new things.
Alan Berkson who is equally as giving. My buddy in France,
Frederic Gilbert who was the first to ask me to a guest contributor.
Jamie Lynn Morgan who is one of my main sounding-boards.
Scott Prock and
Joe Mikitish who are my invaluable local web design and tech resources! Scott took my vision for the new format of this site and transformed it right down to every obsessive detail that I could conjure up. Thanks, Scott!! This has become quite the community and most of us know each other and is a testament to the power of social business and
relationships that come if you only choose to
engage with others!
I’m meeting new great people every day who are not listed here and they are too numerous to mention. To ALL of you, my family, my friends at
NetWorks! Boise Valley, and to God … thanks so much for taking pity on poor little me! I’m very pleased to be judged by the company I keep!
Who are some of the people who have been most influential in your career? This might be a good time to give them a shout out by leaving a comment here!
Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional.
We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills.
Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!
