Happy and Blue 2

As with most things in life there are leaders and there are followers. Leaders are leaders because they run at the front of the group. Followers are called followers because they run behind the leader.

So it was with the buffalo herd. The leaders decided the direction. The rest of the herd followed behind never questioning the leaders choices.

Being at the front of the herd is a good place to be at times. When you are a buffalo anyways. You get the best food. Before it is trampled by hundreds of others that follow.

You get the best view. Not butts for you to stare at. You see the horizon.

You get the first drink of water, the first view of danger, the best place to sleep.

But, being part of the herd is good to. You get led around to places to eat and drink and sleep and you really don’t have to do much. If there is a threat you just have to be able to run faster than one other buffalo to survive.

And the best part is you don’t have to make decisions about anything. You just have to follow.

On this particular day there was danger.

The leaders began running and one by one the other buffalo joined in.

They ran across the open field and then down a hill and along a path into some trees.

It was in the trees that one of the buffalo decided he had run enough.
As soon as they turned a corner he hopped off the trail and stood quietly in the trees.

The danger ran past him. As it turned out it wasn’t really anything dangerous. Just some really loud rabbits that had startled the buffalo and then when they saw the buffalo running had thought there must be a fox in the area so they ran too.

The lone buffalo chuckled and ran to tell the herd what was happening.

But when he caught up to the herd no one would believe him.
The leaders wouldn’t make such a mistake they thought.
And if the leaders kept running there must be a reason.

Eventually he worked his way to the front of the herd and up to the leaders.
And he shared what he had seen with them.

So, the leaders stopped running. And the herd stopped running.

And when the buffalo went to return to the herd the leaders told him to stay with them.

Sometimes by stepping away from the herd we become a leader.

So your question is:
What are you doing to separate yourself from the herd? ( I guess if you’re human you could be separating yourself from the crowd if you want. Crowd is a more human term.)

Focus on getting people to guest post. With a big enough build up it doesn’t even matter if they are qualified or not. You look current and helpful and don’t have to work on it.

A good example of this may be:

Jim is a powerful brick builder and loud speaker. He is known for his innate ability to tear down the barriers between people. Please welcome Jim as talks about 10 barriers he has smashed for his clients. Learn from Jim how you can apply his principles to smash through your walls and into success..

With todays tendency to skim posts almost anyone can be a great guest post..

I just read a post on Ari Herzog’s site about comments. Ari is somewhat annoyed that people either respond to what he has written on Twitter or they email him with a comment. He wants them to comment on the actual post..

Part of this amuses the heck out of me because in another post Ari wrote asking if anyone would like him to critique their blog he indicates that he gets 30,000 readers a month.

Ari has 30,000 people reading his posts each month and by my completely unscientific calculations he gets about 8-10 comments on each post he writes.

He also responds to his comments. Which is important to note because conventional wisdom from the blog gurus is that you have to respond to your comments to build a community. Very few of the people spouting this wisdom actually do respond to comments but we know that if they say it’s true it must be. Just not for them I suppose.

So, by my rough calculations, only 1% of his readers actually take a moment and comment on his site. And that includes people who say “nice post” instead of leaving a thoughtful comment which also adds to the discussion and knowledge of the community. Which is another thing that the blog gurus say a comment must do even though a well thought out comment that adds to the discussion seldom ,if ever, receives a follow up comment from said blog gurus.

Anyways, why does this amuse me.

Because my posts get about 2-3 comments each.

And according to Google Analytics I only receive about 300 page views each month.

So, about 10% of the people who stop on my site actually comment..

I’d like to say something like “In your face Herzog” but the blog gurus also say we should treat other writers with respect. Since they don’t comment back I guess we should just take their word on this as well.

So instead of gloating I’ll just offer my assistance to Ari. If he would like to contact me I would be more than willing to share my expertise.

Not because I’m such a nice guy.
But, because the blog gurus say I have to. Even though they seldom seem to follow that advice either..

So, what do you think of comments or the lack thereof?
If someone comments back using another form of social media are you happy with that or do you wish they had left a comment on the actual post?
And if someone sends you an email regarding your post are you just as happy or do you wish they had commented so everyone could see it?

Editors note: I really like Ari’s site. He is funny, and brilliant and is a must read for anyone interested in improving their social media skills. And for people like me who like to laugh as they learn..

Something about me that very few people know is that I’m really smart.

According to this site, which is so smart it doesn’t even have a real name, I’m in the higher average of smartness.

Anyways, due to my smartness I guess, I recently asked myself to take part in a prestigious speaking thing.

Of course I quickly accepted my offer because smart people know that marketing is everything and I read lots of what smart people say.

So, after the usual back and forth contact, using a couple of email accounts I have, I agreed to my terms and set off to my first unpaid speaking engagement.

It took a while to find the other chair in my room where the conference was to take place.
I’m doing some home renovations at the moment and I’ve moved everything around in my room.

After some brief banter with myself (when you are smart usually the only person you can hold an intelligent conversation with is yourself) I found that I was being asked to speak on Blog Promotion.

I don’t really know anything about Blog Promotion but being smart I knew I could just fake it and get away with it. It’s a gift that smart people and spammers have.

And I read stuff by other smart people like Mitch and Sire and Rose and Skye and Anthony.
And I can name drop with the best. Like Seth and David.

I read stuff that Ari Herzog writes. And Mr. Herzog, if I may be so bold to call him that, appears to know lots of stuff about stuff as well. Another probable genius.

Of course I read everything that Jordan Cooper writes as well. And Jordan reads lots of even smarter people, which saves me lots of time, and makes me even smarter.
Plus he is the inspiration for many of my posts, including this one, because he does video on his site all the time and like all smart people I want to do video.

Anyways, the speaking engagement was a smashing success.
So much so that I received several standing ovations from myself.

And, I was even asked by myself to come back and speak to myself again in the future.
Which, being smart, I promptly accepted.

At this point I was going to share a video of my speaking engagement but unfortunately me is not as smart as I am and me forgot to turn on the high end Flip video camera during the presentation I made.

So, I’ll just have to leave you with the review I wrote following the event:

Glen Speaks On Blog Promotion
On January 22, 2010 Glen gave a speech to a sold out audience on the benefits of blog promotion.
The speech achieved unparalleled parallels in magnificence and the crowd was on their feet at the end not just once but several times.

Don’t miss Glen’s next presentation, tentatively slated in for February where he will share his brilliant insights on a different topic.

Tickets are limited so get yours early..

I have written over 300 stories that are for the most part family friendly. It’s enough for a book. Several short books actually.

The point is that we all write book loads of information every year. Several short books worth.

Writing Styles
My writing is simple. Most of the people I currently read would call it crap but because I had a bigger audience in the past I know there is a group interested in reading it.
I just create a character and a situation and let them lead me wherever they want to.

Technical articles seem hard to me. You have to research. And there are new information and new studies done all the time.

My stories are timeless. I only have to watch for jargon.
Actually, I recently looked at a few books that I read as a child and I still understand and enjoy them. Timeless..

Technical articles date quickly. So new ones have to be written just to replace old information.

If I were to market my stories there is a limited audience. And there are a mass of stories for children out there.

Technical writers also tend to have a limited market. If you write about making money you are competing with lots of other people who have written about it. Or if you write about how to use Twitter you are competing with lots of other people who are writing about how to use Twitter.

Why You Should Write an Ebook
There is a mass of everything out there.
If you don’t believe me just go to a grocery store and count the number of different kinds of boxes of cereal.

Or count the variations in automobile or bicycle models, clothing, food, housing, et.al.

The point I’m trying to make is there is room for everyone. There is room for you.

What Should I Do With My Ebook
If I were to package and market my stories to the right audience I could probably sell them. I may not ever get rich but who really knows.

The thing is that becoming rich wouldn’t really matter to me. Money is fleeting.
Being read by someone is forever.
Even longer if you are Shakespeare or Galileo..
Which you probably aren’t but who knows….maybe you just don’t know it yet…

If you have thought about doing an ebook then do it. If you don’t want to create an ebook do it anyways.
I don’t really think you have anything to lose.

I plan to do one of some of my stories in a few months. I’ll probably just give it away.

But, if you create one and charge for it there isn’t anything wrong with that either.

And if only a few people want what you produce does it really matter. Does Ford care if you buy a Focus or a Expedition. They make a sale either way.

You will have done it. It will sit on your site. Available for anyone who comes later.

And it will make writing the next one easier.

So the question for you is:

What is holding you back from creating your own ebook or book..
What do you feel you would have to lose in doing so.