Out of the Pan

In the time recovering from my surgery, I have studied intensively the options that the internet has created to market and distribute content. As a tired contractor with resources squandered and a writer/musician with exciting projects underway, it is particularly fascinating.

The phrase describing a web reaching around the world is clearly accurate and there are those, regardless of quality, who have wrestled a reputation by mastering the ego to optimize their exposure and create success out of literally thin air. SEO, blogs, google and widgets are just a few of the keywords bantered about by entrepreneurs and gobbled by neophytes.

This world of web-based content disseminated into the ether has an open door from homes as humble as mine even more than from giant corporations who move too slowly being entrenched in old diets and over-weight with drones. A creative eye can see a lot farther from the same level and an adventurer dares to explore without even pausing to ask, "Why not?" Individuals with businesses that might have trouble attracting clients across the street can now have thousands from countries they never see.

The inspiring result of this education is that with barely a plan B, I am leaping forward to embrace the adventure with the same heart, hope and determination as I approached my healing. Unconventional wisdom dictates I have to try and there is no better time than now.

Having tried my best to follow the traditional route, it is thrilling to imagine what is possible when following a dream to do what I want to do first and foremost waking up to start my day. After so many years listening to reason and education, and reluctantly setting my pen aside to take a hammer to homes who would suffer my services for a fee, I want to know what happens when translated to a keyboard, these scribbles wander onto an electronic page.

Consistently, my research shows that content being equal, it hinges on a blog. Started three and a half years ago as an experiment to discipline myself and tame an errant curiosity, this blog closed the door on chat rooms and opened a flow of more productive thoughts both personal and generalized that seemed worth sharing.

The experts (fellow bloggers I "met" early who have since developed impressive businesses) focus on facebook as the next vital ingredient for a platform, an account I had already opened just a step behind my kids to know what their new neighborhood looked like. Twitter, LinkedIn and a few others were natural additions and suddenly I learn I am doing all the right things to move myself forward in this world.

Many other blogs I have noticed, however, reach a far wider audience by writing more generalized content in formats of lists, bullets and optimized keywords that often delivers a great message, but lacks the passion to stir my heart, some blatantly focused more on helping you make money than abundance of soul. They titillate with phrases that draw one in to purchase the DVD or book that reveals the ultimate secrets, the goal being an expanded email list as much as life lessons.

As part of my research, I have also learned that my writing seems too personal to some of you readers to presume I would welcome a retweet or "like" to your friends and their friends beyond. There is no denying that with "Zen & the Art of the Midlife Crisis" I have harbored pretentions of creating books and other lucrative contributions to the public that could support my life.

For a message to really get inside me, I need to feel it, to know the pain and comprehend the triumph. Hand in hand with a tragic flaw to self-sabotage, it seems I have a boundless optimism that might serve as encouragement for others to face another day. Not driven by ego, nor greed, I am willing to play the fool, sharing my own dark secrets in hopes these revelations might help others to grow more comfortable with theirs.

At the risk of search engine optimization, therefore, I write with a passion about what I know best, myself, trusting that I am not so different as each of you, and that in the telling of my story so honestly, you find pieces of yourselves.

I need your help. We all need each other. It would be my greatest honor, if you find these words inspiring, for you to pass my tales on, recommend this site, and all together, upward we shall go.

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