My Grade 12 music teacher, Mr. G., believed that everyone has the ability to sing, they just need to find their voice.

And you know what? The same can be said about blogging, podcasting, tweeting, and, well, just about anything to do with communicating online. When we are first starting out around here, we feel silly, shy, and self conscious. We write or record a bunch of things we never post. We are fearful that people are going to make fun of us, disagree with our opinions, and that we’ll never get any better at it. Sometimes we just give up completely, when what we really need to do is just find our voice.

Breathe.
Mr. G. used to tell us that the reason most people can’t sing is because they don’t know how to breathe. I thought that was an odd statement – isn’t breathing a reflex? But it turns out that singing is all about breathing. Mr. G. would demonstrate this by bringing an unsuspecting soul up to the front of the class, then ask them to sing a note that he played on the piano. What often came out was a throaty squeak. Mr. G. would tell them to keep singing the note, then calmly walk over and push on the person’s diaphragm (located right under the ribcage). Suddenly, the squeak became a beautiful, loud, strong note.

He’s right. We don’t know how to breathe. We drag ourselves out of bed in the morning and jump right into our busy schedules. Suddenly it’s noon and we’re working through lunch. By 5 or 6pm we’ve whizzed through it all, and are feeling guilty because we never got time to exercise or write or record our podcast. Days, weeks, months go by and we have achieved nothing – we’re still 20 pounds overweight, and we still aren’t having all those meaningful conversations we thought we could thanks to the Web.

But the simple act of focusing on breathing – in, and out – gives us that moment, where we can stop, and be clear. Make space in your life to breathe. It only takes 10 minutes to write a short post – web videos can take even less time (I can record, edit and post a 2 minute video using my iPhone 4 in 5 minutes, I’ve timed it). Breathing will help take your voice from weak and quiet to strong and loud.

Practice.
Want to know why some bloggers and podcasters seem to be so popular? They practice. They do it really, really often. Some of my favourite bloggers post every single day – sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. I have a podcasting friend who, at one time, was producing 9 podcasts (and has a family, and a full time job).

Of course it takes practice. It took me 4 days to write the first 1,000 words on my blog. Now I can crank out 1,000 words in about 20 minutes. Writing one blog post every 6 weeks is not going to make you any better at it, just like going for a 5 mile run every 6 weeks isn’t going to make you shed those extra pounds.

Practice. Practice. Then practice some more. Write garbage. Record crap. Scrap it and try again. Don’t be perfectly happy with it, and post it anyway. Eventually, you’ll get your feet under you. Eventually, you’ll find your voice. Trust the wise words of Mr. G. Everyone has a voice.

It’s Your Voice.
Now, when Mr. G. wisely said that everyone has the ability to sing, he didn’t exactly mean that everyone is going to open their mouth and be Celine Dion.

Everyone’s voice is unique. That’s what makes it their voice. And one’s voice is always subject to interpretation. It’s why some people think Bob Dylan can’t sing, but why others thing he has a brilliant and interesting sound.

You’re never going to appeal to everyone, so stop trying to. The fact that you may come up against criticism is no reason to not keep breathing, and practicing, and using your voice. Plenty of people don’t care for Bob Dylan’s music. Heck, I don’t like Celine Dion! But that doesn’t stop either of them from using their voices. And fear of criticism should never stop you from using yours either.

Embrace your uniqueness, and continue to use your voice. Make your voice loud, and strong. Sing from your heart, not your throat. Write and speak from the same place.

Those who want to hear you will.

[Photo credit: majicdolphin on Flickr]

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This morning, Mark Blevis wrote a free-form blog post, because he was encouraged by Chris Brogan to do so. My smart friends have motivated me to finally come out and do what I’ve needed to do for a while. It might be a clunker, it might be imperfect, but I need to say it, so I can keep going. Thanks, fellas!

A few months back, I announced on here that I was shifting the focus of my blog to talking about education and technology. I thought it was great that, after 3 years of blogging, I’d finally be able to say I had a “focus”.  After all, that’s what I’d been hearing more and more of from the blogging gurus – you should have a focus on your blog, certain topics that you exclusively talk about. The conversation needs to revolve around something, so you can build a community of interest.

That’ll teach me to listen to gurus.

Once I started in on my new spin, a couple of things started to happen. I started to struggle to find topics, so I wasn’t posting that often. Not that there isn’t a whole lot going on in the world of education and tech right now, because there is. I just haven’t yet found my voice in it. My conversations on the topic are taking place elsewhere right now. Across meeting room tables,  in my classroom, and so on. That’s where I am with it, and I’m totally fine being there.

But the biggest thing that happened is my community went away. Oh sure, a few stuck around (thank you!) but I realized that even though people were still reading, they weren’t commenting much anymore. I miss the conversation we were having.

So that’s why I’m coming back.

My personal blog started out being a dumping ground for all the stuff that swirls around in my head. It was an experiment. I have learned a lot, like that I love to write more than just about anything. I’ve gotten much better at it along the way, too. This space is my playground, where thoughts and ideas can come to sit, and where you can drop by, grab a coffee, and we can get to know each other.

At some point, I started to get self conscious about it. I started to over-analyze what I was doing here and I decided to try and improve upon it.

Well, it didn’t work for me. I miss you too much. The swirl in my head has started up again, and I don’t feel like I have any place to get it out. That sounds pretty silly, considering that this is MY space. I can do whatever I want with it.

And that’s really the point of this blogging thing, isn’t it? To create a space where one can talk about the ideas, and concerns, and stories inside one’s head; where we can share those ideas, and concerns, and stories with one another.

As of today, I’m stepping back in. I’m still going to write about education sometimes, because it’s a big part of who I am, and as I learn, I want to share that with you. But you’ll see me getting back to my old self a bit more too, writing about spirit, and productivity and social media, and video, and whatever I happen to be all riled up about at the moment.

I hope you’ll open the door again, and join me as I continue my grand experiment. Thanks for being here.

[photo credit: Runs with Scissors on Flickr]

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On an average day, I probably skim through about 200 web sites. Most of these I subscribe to in my Google Reader, so that I can quickly scan the headlines and in some cases, the first bits of content for items of interest. Of those 200 items, I probably scan the body content of about 75. Of those 75, I probably read between 15 and 25. Of those, I probably am compelled to comment on 2-10 items.

We all want to figure out the secret sauce for getting more traffic to our content. The problem with only counting page views is, just because someone lands on a page of our site, doesn’t mean they are reading everything. They could be just like me – skimming for something interesting. If they don’t find it, they move on. That’s why I believe the more important things to track are comments, re-posts/shares, inbound links, and bounce rate. Those are not guarantees that people are reading, but they are a lot more reliable gauges than page views alone.

So how do we encourage people to actually READ and LEARN from what we are offering? How do we compel our readers to ACT upon what we’ve shown them – whether it’s to change a behaviour, or buy a product we are selling? I’ve broken it down to one simple concept.

Tell a great story.

Once upon a time I wanted you to buy my stuff. One of the biggest mistakes that people make online is they move to the sales pitch too fast. I like how Chris describes it – “I’m reaching out to shake your hand and you’re trying to put your tongue in my mouth.” If your blog post is entirely made up of you talking about how important you are and why everyone loves you and how much people pay you to do things, I’m moving on. I might even unsubscribe. If, the very first time I hit your web site, I see your squeeze page asking me to give you my email address or buy your $50 e-Book or $500 workshop, I’m outta there. For Pete’s sake, I don’t even know you yet!

Look. We all want to build our businesses. We all want to get to the end goal, being profitable, as quickly as possible. Many people are desperate – they’ve given up everything to start their companies, and now the cash flow isn’t there. The problem is, real sales takes time. People have to get to know you, trust you. They want to make sure they are getting something of value in return if they are going to give you some of their hard earned cash. It’s only fair that we respect that and be patient with our prospects.

And you’re right – it totally sucks having to be patient.

But rather than sitting around doing nothing, wondering why your hard-sell pitches aren’t working, why not focus on building up the reasons why people should want to be involved with you? Why not work on telling a better story about yourself?

My mind is a blank slate. Have you ever tried to write your own bio? It’s hard, eh? Difficult as it is, I think that anyone who wants to create content online MUST start by putting together their bio. Writing about yourself is a really great way to start to understand what you’re all about. And understanding what you’re all about is key to telling a great story. It’s a good idea to have someone else to help you with the bio. Ask them to interview you, or simply send them a draft that they can give you feedback on. Often, we are too modest when writing about ourselves, so our bios sound just like everyone else’s. But just going through the process of writing a bio can help you to understand a bit more about yourself, and getting someone else’s take can make you realize what you do and what you know that is of real value.

Once you understand more about who you are and what you have to offer, you can start to build stories around that.

Let’s say your background is in the telecommunications industry. You worked for 10 years with various major telcos, and this has given you a great understanding of how big companies work. You were a team leader there, so you have lots of insight into team building, empowerment, and creating successful collaborations. You were also there during the boom years AND the bust years of high tech, so you know all about how cutbacks can affect morale, and you’re an expert on survivor guilt.

How many story ideas are there in that last paragraph? Count them.

Write your bio. Then write a list of stories you can tell that relate to your experience. Start publishing those stories. And remember, if writing isn’t your bag, you don’t have to write. Grab a web cam, record your thoughts on video and put them up on YouTube. Get a portable audio recorder, create an audio podcast. Sure, you might feel weird at first, but with practice, you’ll get more comfortable, I promise.

Every piece of content that exists in the world is a story. In order to create great content, you have to be able to find the story in everything you do. Then, you have to sit your butt in the chair and express it.

Build stories and share. Build stories, and share.

I bet that before you know it, opportunities will be pouring in from people who want to hear more of your story. Sounds like a much more enjoyable way to make a living, don’t you think?

By the way – there are 8 story ideas in that paragraph. Did you find them all?

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I haven’t been blogging here as much as I usually do.

It’s a combination of factors. Work has me writing more right now than I’ve ever written. I’m also blogging over at Thoughtwrestling, and doing more stuff over at Jester Creative’s blog too. I’m writing content for clients, proposals, scripts – you name it. Many days I’m cranking out at least 5000 words. By the time I get back over here, I guess I’m just all written out.

I feel bad about it.

There are thousands of blogs about blogging. They tell you to “be consistent”, and blog every day, or at least a few times a week. You’ve got to “keep your audience interested” by continuously pumping out compelling content. I believe all of those things to be true anytime you want to give something legs, build an audience, a community. I coach my clients on this and I do it pretty well with them.

But like the cobbler with holes in his shoes, I don’t always stay on top of things in my own house.

But it’s not like I’m doing nothing. 5000 words a day? That seems like something to me. At least my brain and my fingers think so. But I can’t help but feel guilty sometimes that I’m letting things slide over here.

When I started this blog back in 2007, I really did it for myself. I probably had about three readers, including me, my husband, and my Mom. But suddenly, other people started to take interest. They were leaving comments, and that was super cool. They were posting links on their blogs, and Twitter, and that was flattering. My subscriber count started to go up, and I realized that, even in my own small way, I had an audience that seemed to give at least a small crap about what I was typing out every day. I’m grateful for that, and I think the feedback I’ve gotten, positive and constructive, has helped me grow immensely.

So, I guess it stands to reason that if I’m posting less often, or if my content isn’t as strong, that I’ll feel like I’m letting people down. Now don’t get me wrong, my ego is still in check. I know you have a lot going on in your life, and you’re not going to be too adversely affected if SuzeMuse doesn’t pump out a blog post every day. I totally get that.

I am starting to think that I’m the one being let down. If I’m not contributing here, then I’m not opening the door to the conversations that can happen when I unleash what’s rolling around in my brain.

Perhaps it’s that I miss YOU when I’m not here.

[photo by Frederic Poirot on Flickr]

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I’m not blogging much.

It’s not because I don’t want to, it’s because I’ve discovered that my brain, though very capable at multitasking most things in my life, is only good at so many things at once.

For the next 6 weeks or so, I’m going to be working on a part time contract that’s going to be taking up a few extra hours in my week. Combine this with my regular job of co-running a busy production company, and my other part time job as a college professor, and I’ve realized that something’s gotta give.

You may see me around here a bit less for the next few weeks. I haven’t forgotten about you! It’s just that all the spare parts of my brain are being eaten up by my extra projects, and the part of my brain that is the writing I do on this blog is getting crammed in the corner a bit.

At first I was a bit stressed about it. I mean, after all, I LOVE writing here. It opens up my mind to new concepts, helps me clarify things in my head, and of course, lets me have great conversations with you. Then I realized, if I’m not going to be giving it 100%, and writing stuff I truly care about…if I’m only going to be writing because I think I HAVE to…then it’s not going to be worthwhile for me or for you.

So, forgive me if I’m not around as much. I’ll still be hanging around on Twitter, and of course I’m always available via email or Skype, or IM. Just drop a line and say hi. Things will pick up here again shortly. I’ll probably blog my brains out in a couple of weeks at Podcamp Toronto. And I’m sure my muse will be by for its 3am visit at some point too.

Keep creating, sharing, and being brilliant, and I’ll see you soon!

(BTW – I wrote this post partly because the last time I didn’t blog for a week, my Mom called me in a panic because she thought something had happened to me. So, Mom – I’m okay! Just busy. Love you!)

xoxoxo
Suze

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