Did you know that you’re an investor? If you publish anything or have a blog at all that you’re an investor in people, their missions, visions, hopes, and dreams.
Have you ever thought about it that way? Have you ever thought of yourself as an investor? I have and I do, constantly.
The first time I realized this was early in my blogging history when someone had enough courage to comment on my blog and told me that I had encouraged them to try something they had always wanted to try but they didn’t have the right perspective to make the commitment to move forward.
All that changed with a simple blog post. What’s funny is that the purpose or intent of that particular blog post had almost nothing to do with what she had taken away from it! A loose bit of correlation and a whole lot of trust were the key ingredients.
I was shocked but I accepted it graciously, thanked her for the comment, and proceeded to ruminate about this dynamic for the rest of the day. Had I stumbled onto something incredibly unique? Had I done something outstandingly brilliant?
Nope. Not really. All I had really done was hit the “Publish” button on a blog post that I didn’t feel had much brilliance in it at all. And yet I had changed someone’s life and made a very positive (and perhaps life-long) investment.
You do this as well, every single day that you publish content on your digital properties and blogs. You make small deposits and investments in other’s futures – some days it’s significant deposits and sometimes it’s small, but it’s still a deposit nonetheless.
The challenge is understanding that you may never see the actual fruit of your investment, meaning, that that might be the only interaction you ever get with that one person and they may never return after that. Hopefully not, but that’s a reality.
Which means that your investments aren’t for yourself necessarily but for others – it’s selfless and the oftentimes thankless. We all know this from experience as we examine our daily pageviews and visits and see 1,000 of them and 0 comments.
Yes, zero. I have days like that too. A lot of them, actually.
But that doesn’t disappoint me like it used to – I understand it as a fact of life and that most of the small deposits and things that we do for others will never be explicitly reciprocated. Does that mean that I should stop or that my ROI is bad? Obviously not! I would have quit a long time ago if that was the case!
So be encouraged, understand and see yourself as a positive and life-giving investor in others – all you have to do is commit to publishing, every single day (or at least consistently!), and know that it’s making an impact (or will make one) and that that’s a very, very, good thing.
And I love it. It’s a joy for me.
So what are you waiting for? People need your investment!
Thanks John!
Thanks for your investment John.
Great post, John.
This has helped me to realize that people can be changed by what I say, even though I never hear from them. You have encouraged me to get to posting even though I do not see comments.
There is something powerful about a word.
God’s word is powerful. He spoke the world into existence.
God has created words to be powerful.
We can use our words to build up or to destroy. The old saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”, is a lie. Words can do more damage than we realize.
I have read of a lot of famous people whose lives were changed by a few words.
What a great day we live in to be Bloggers!
I am a BLOGGER!!! ROARRRRRRRRRRRR!!! … cough, cough
Love this, John.
I was just thinking the other day about the lack of comments on my blog.
I’m committed to continue investing.
The feedback will come…
Amen!
So very true. And it’s so much fun to invest in others. I invest in all of my clients. And using twitter and FB you can further that investment. You never know what each encounter might turn into as far as a cool product or service, a change in careers, an improved life… I definitely received some of those things from others investing in me.
Thanks for the encouragement. I know some days I feel like I’m not doing much good. But it’s an investment sown. Who knows when, or by whom, it will be reaped.
Thank you John, I am a silent one but appreciate all of your wisdom. It is very timely as I seek to share my experiences with vision loss and desire to be a source of hope for young people diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa.
John, ohhh I love the insight and encouragement you bring on this. I have to admit that as a blogger and a podcaster sometimes you do wonder if you are making a real difference in the lives of others. Having 0 comments or little interaction with people coming to your sight can be very disappointing.
I admit there are many of us who can get frustrated when we put so much time and effort into everything and it seems like it falls on deaf ears. But it all comes down to our attitude. Even if our numbers seem low there are still people seeing what we are doing.
I have truly come to appreciate the journey of blogging and podcasting as you really do begin to decide that even if I only make a difference for a few people it was worth it. It becomes more about the mission instead of anything like financial reward or becoming more known (although those are nice benefits) the true reason is to share your message with the World.
“my Word will not return to me empty”- Isaiah (I Believe)
Thanks for sharing your message (Your Ministry) and not giving up!
Fantastic post, John!
Great perspective. Never thought of blogging as an investment in the lives of readers before. On the one hand that could make a blogger feel intimidated or inspired. All you gotta do is publish.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to ship.
Great post John, investing in people is always a good thing.
Thank you for investing in us, even when the ROI is not as good as is should be.
This is why I love business coaching, especially upstarts. I can’t yet financially invest in these entities but I can invest in other ways!
Thanks for the post!
Jason Ansley
http://www.ansleyRDgroup.com
http://www.NPOdev.org
http://www.randyRCplanes.com
John, Enjoyed your post. I totally agree with your investment mindedness….I always ask myself, how can I add value to the lives of my readers. Even though I don’t receive tons of comments, there have been several lives changes (that I know of) and that makes it all worth it. Plus I’ve learned a lot about health
Thanks John! Your investment has impacted me!!