Blogger Stories

Blogger Stories: Lois Kelly

What does a marketer who is disillusioned about the profession of marketing do? For Lois Kelly it was to begin a blog focused on her frustrations. Along the way something very interesting happened. She discovered the new people talking-to-people side of marketing that awakened her enthusiasm about business communications. Then she went one step further and wrote a book, Beyond Buzz, to share her passion with her fellow marketers

Blogger Story Teller: Lois Kelly, The Foghound Bloghound

“But I have nothing to talk about,” I told my friend and mentor Kevin Clancy a few years ago when he invited me to be a keynote speaker at the American Marketing Association’s annual strategic marketing shindig. 

“You have nothing to talk about? Why not?”

“I’m so tired of the marketing hype and hoopla. If people would just listen more, get a point of view and talk like they mean it, a lot of marketing problems would go away. No big magic here,” I said.

Not willing to be turned down, Kevin convinced me to speak. Around the same time I started blogging about my frustrations in marketing and applied to graduate school at Brown University to be a teacher. A much worthier profession, I thought, than all this marketing nonsense.

But then with my blogging something kind of magical happened. Every time I blogged, I got more re-interested in marketing – particularly around communications.  In turn, with the blog posts and comments I started to meet interesting new people via the Blogosphere. People who were really smart, generous and had fresh ideas about marketing. Not the usual “hypesters.“

Blogger Stories: Des Walsh

As a mentor coach Des Walsh was no stranger to connecting with people and helping people connect with others. However, when Des stepped into the world of blogs he found that his own network of colleagues and friends took on a global focus with more opportunities than he could ever imagine.

Blogger Story Teller: Des Walsh, Thinking Home Business

I’m a business coach and blogging evangelist. I live in Australia, in a beach culture + tourist + hi-tech industry location known as the Gold Coast. In a former life as a senior public sector executive, I was responsible for national and state-level programs in education policy, cultural development and major event planning. For the past eighteen years I’ve been a consultant and mentor coach.

I discovered blogging, courtesy of project management expert Hal Macomber - at a coaching conference in San Mateo, California. Hal’s topic was, as I recall ‘become an e-celebrity with a blog’ or close enough to that. Which sounded good to me, particularly as I was very keen to promote my coaching capabilities internationally. Anyway, I futzed around for several months, trying in my non-techie way to figure out what blogging tools to use, what to write etc. You name the blogging platform, I probably used it or tried to.

Blogger Stories: Meryl K. Evans

Meryl Evans writes blogs that share her personal stories and a blog that supports and promotes her business. For Meryl blogs go further. Social media allows her to reveal her worlds without constraints by side-stepping prejudices and participating fully in conversations. Readers hear Meryl exactly as she intends .. and she in turn can listen without the distruption of lack of hearing.

Blogger Story Teller: Meryl K. Evans, Meryl's Notes Blog; Bionic Ear

It all started before any of us heard of "Internet." A family friend installed a modem into the Apple ][+ (no lower case -- imagine being yelled at full-time). I connected to a couple of Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and what got me was I could communicate with other people without any help. A parent helping a teen on the phone just wasn't cool. But email was.

Fast forward through a decade and a half of geek history. June 1, 2000. Blog entry #1 of Meryl's Notes Blog. It was a dumb entry that's still up for all to see. I never take down an entry because once it's up -- it's impossible to erase from the Internet.

Atlas Blogging: Going from a 99-lb Bloggling to Strong Blog

The blog had no direction. I did what everyone else did... wrote about personal observations. No gossip. Straight-laced as can be -- thank goodness. This was before Dooced came to mean getting fired for blogging and I hadn't written anything that would embarrass me should I run for office or if a prospective client runs an Internet search on me.

About the time I started blogging, I also started freelancing on the side. The blog morphed from dorky "Rooting for my favorite team" and "Wow, that was some Survivor finale"-like entries to "Dealing with lousy customer service" and "The challenges of being a reporter when you can't use the phone like most everyone else." Plus, I added a features section for longer entries that aren't old news within a week.

A little background: I've been writing in a journal since 1989. With a *pen* not a keyboard. I've filled up almost nine journals. The books document getting married, moving, having three kids, and the little and big things that happen in life.

Blogger Stories: Bob Walsh

Bob Walsh is a journalist-turned-programmer-turned blogger. His blog that caught the attention of Apress and started Bob on a new career .. and turned him into an author of a popular technology book.

Blogger Story Teller: Bob Walsh, ToDoOrElse; MyMicroISV

Back in October 2004 I started blogging as way to keep in touch with my beta testers of a commercial app I was writing to break free of being a corporate contract programmer.

At first, my posts were about my product, but a funny thing started to happen: I could not help but post about the underlying Big Problem that inspired me to slave away trying to write this application: getting things things done in a world that day by day seem to spin faster and faster, with ever more to do.

I started getting comments and trackbacks as I wrote more about ways of Getting Things Done, and then caught a lucky break: my posts convinced the editors at Apress in March 2005 to take a chance on doing a different kind of book for them, basically a business book for programmers who wanted to start their own self-funded startups, but were struggling with all the non-code business/branding/web site stuff.

Blogger Stories: Debbie Weil

Debbie Weil has always been ahead of the curve. But when she started her first blog, to learn how this new medium as a business tool, little did she know what was in store .. a book, international friendships and helping others.

Blogger Story Teller: Debbie Weil, BlogWriteForCEOS, The Corporate Blogging Book

I started my first blog, www.debbieweil.com, exactly three years ago in June 2003, for a very practical reason: It was clear to me that blogs were going to become a business tool. And I needed to know how to use this new tool. I figured blogging myself was the quickest way to get up to speed -- and then get ahead of the learning curve of most
business folks. How could I advise clients or write knowledgeable articles if I wasn't doing it myself?

Not a sexy reason to start blogging, I know. But I can dig a little deeper: why do I blog? It's simple. I have an urge to write. I was a journalist for several decades. Now I'm a marketing consultant. But I'm really a recovering journalist. I still have the urge to "report," to clarify, to offer perspective. And the elegance and simplicity of blogging software gives me a way to write short entries quickly and easily.

Blogger Stories: Shel Israel

Shel Israel was one of the first to reply to my email request for a blogger story. Shel is the co author of the book Naked Conversations how blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers. He blogs at Naked Conversations. He and co author Robert Scoble included my story in their book and it seems appropriate that Shel should kick-off Blogger Stories.

Without a doubt Shel's story will entertain as well as inspire you. He's a funny guy and that humor, that doesn't often shine through in his blog writing, comes out in his story. By the way, if Shel and Robert had not hooked up to write Naked Conversations Shel Israel might have given The Manolo a run for the money on the red carpet walk of shoes.

Blogger Story Teller: Shel Israel, Naked Conversations

When people ask me how Robert Scoble and I came together to collaborate on Naked Conversations my short answer is that I was desperate. They’re sure I’m joking, but I’m not.

I had been a journalist and loved everything about it, except the vow of poverty it required. I figured I’d just do PR for a few years until I could buy a new car and live in an apartment that had a spare bedroom.