Remember those social media diagrams that say - what people think and what it actually is?
My exact thoughts when I wanted to start my blog and eventually got it off the ground. A lot of people called me Barbsie back then cos that was what I called it.
While I'd love to tell you it was pretty straightforward, it wasn't and isn't. But there were some questions I needed myself to answer first before I could call myself a blogger.
- Why did I want to write my thoughts on a random space on the internet? Was there something wrong with me
- What did I want to achieve? World fame or just freebies
- Was there a particular person I wanted to target with what I was writing? My friends perhaps
- Why was it my business to target that person? Maybe because I felt invested in their failure or success
- How were these people going to read these things I wrote? Typing the URL directly into their browser maybe.
- Is there a science to back up these things I wrote? Based on experience there is
- How much do I know about what I want to write? A little. But, you learn when you teach so I'll be learning right along with everyone else too.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
In the beginning, I was just a common Advertising executive with no experience.
Everyone wondered how I had skipped the trainee step to become an executive because back then being a trainee was the first step (it actually still is). But somehow, I had been hired above my peers and others who had come before me.
Didn't take me long to realise that things didn't work that way everywhere though and there was a price to pay for perceived favouritism.
Didn't also help that I wasn't very good with being social and preferred my own company.
Fast forward a couple of months into the first job, I applied for leave, took my leave allowance and went to makeup school.
Although that action was predicated on an entirely different mental standpoint, it was the beginning of my foray into being a Corporate Creative, blogging and eventually, how this 'hobby' of mine would spiral to become an invaluable tool for the sustenance of brands in the future.
Welcome to the little space in my head that never keeps quiet.
Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash