Why I'm starting another blog
My life has been an interesting series of transitions, always changing and moving in new directions. Social media seems to mimic our lives, and my life in the virtual world has transformed right alongside my not-so-virtual life (the two are increasingly interwoven… I’m not sure I could separate one from the other anymore).
When I started WorkLoveLife in February 2008, I had no idea it would take me where I am today. What nobody tells you when you start a blog is that you will become a junkie. First, you’ll start devouring other people’s blogs in your genre. Then you start commenting on their blogs, and then you figure out that when you do that you get more readers. Oh that’s neat, you think. I wonder what else I can do to get more readers…
It spiraled out from there. As I grew WorkLoveLife, I began to run across concepts that I was already working with in my day job in marketing. And I was intrigued. Here I had been MySpacing, Facebooking (um, anyone else remember being on Friendster? I was there), Flickring, tagging and tweeting, and mixed up in all this craziness was marketing.
I wrote a few posts that really had nothing to do with Work, Love or Life, but had everything to do brand image, marketing, and social media tools. And they were some of my favorite posts to write. And scrolling through my feeds every day, I would star dozens of articles daily that I wanted to blog about… but they just didn’t seem to fit what I was doing with WorkLoveLife.
One night, not long after my day job had a serious sputter, I sat on the phone with Penelope Trunk, trying to figure out my next move when she spits out the most preposterous idea. “You should be doing social media, Holly,” she says matter-of-factly, as if she’s been reading my tea leaves. “You do it all already. Just start a blog and round out your resume with some bullets by offering to do some social media campaigns for local businesses and friends.”
I considered this and found it hard to swallow that I could offer my thoughts to others on this subject. Then I started looking around my community and saw a major hole. Nobody, and I mean nobody, had any clue when it came to social media. I met with the community in San Antonio, and god love ‘em, they encouraged me. “Holly is social media in Corpus Christi,” Luis Sandoval told someone as he introduced me. And the truth of it hit me. If nobody filled the hole, the snake oil salesmen would show up soon, and I couldn’t have that happen – not to my community, not to social media.
That was about a month ago. Voila, blog. Hello, social media marketing portfolio. And you know, I even ended up falling for the guy who was running the political action group I offered to do a Facebook promotion for.
I love social media.
My new blog is HollyHoffman.com. It’s in it’s infancy, so keep checking back for updates – first up, RSS so you don’t need to keep checking up. And WorkLoveLife isn’t going anywhere. Just doubling up the blogging efforts!
I am scared of starting so many blogs I forget I am going to stop having a life, and therefore – run out of content. But – I am looking forward to checking out HollyHoffman.com.
Good luck!
Cool! I’ll be stopping by…social media is my specialty in my “other” life.
Holly, what an inspiration you are! I’ve recently been toying with the same idea, but I wasn’t sure there if much of a market existed for it. Your post has me rethinking that assumption!
Currently, I’m running a social media campaign (free of charge) for my cousin’s start-up home party business. I was thinking of offering my services free of charge to a local not-for-profit organization to help build out my portfolio. Do you think this is an effective way to get some exposure?
Any other suggestions on how I can further develop this business venture?
Hi Holly,
I just stumbled across your blog from Brazen Careerist, reading your post about wanting to go back to grad school. I can totally identify! I’m considering law school because I like “school mode.”
Anyway, it’s so great that you figured out a career in new media is for you! Congrats. It’s funny – I’m from North Carolina, and it seems like there’s a social media hole around here, too. I’ve been thinking recently about taking a path similar to yours (doing social media), so I’m excited to see how it works out for you – best of luck.
Kelly Giles
http://tarheelsintransit.wordpress.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kagiles
http://twitter.com/kellygiles
I remember Friendster and it’s actually has a strong niche. Slate.com did a great article on where they are now about the site.
http://www.slate.com/id/2212833/
Holly, I stumbled upon your blog and think it’s great you are venturing off into a career path with unlimited possibilities. We live in a world today, of great technological advancement, which allows us amazing opportunities to seize.
I started my corporation while working fulltime. Today, it has grown to be one of Inc.’s 500 fastest growing. You can seize the same opportunity with hard work and dedication.
Please, feel free to listen to some inspirational podcasts I have done. Though my field is marketing, wisdom from Martin Lindstrom, Ian Leopold, and Steve Burnett, cross industry lines.
http://www.brandfasttrackers.com
I hope they serve as an inspiration to you.
Good luck in future!
Hey, congratulations! That’s awesome. The universe presented this opportunity to you, and you had the wherewithall to see it, reach for it, and do it. That says a lot. I wish you all the best!
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