From Blogging to Now Podcasting: 21 Years of Conversations That Keep Me Growing
I’ve always viewed blogging—or publishing in a real, authentic, and engaging way—as networking through the Internet. The copy, or content, was merely the currency of networking.
I don’t mean networking in the negative sense, like you’re out trying to sell something or working a room. I mean networking as joining a conversation where you listen, you add something, and in that process you grow in relationships with other people, or maybe meet someone new.
When I blog, I often reference what other people are writing about. By referencing them and offering my take, I get the opportunity to meet those people.
In many cases I’ve gone on to build good relationships with them, both online and face-to-face, and I’ve learned a lot in the process from the engagement and by following and getting to know those folks.
At the same time, my reputation has grown, because I’ve met more people than someone who doesn’t write on the Internet. Blogging for 21 years has given me the chance to meet a lot of fine people.
Over the last 10 or 15 years, multiple people have told me to start a podcast. I always thought that was too much for me. I doubted I’d be consistent, and frankly I never listened to podcasts, so I couldn’t see the reason.
That changed at Legalweek this year. Gina Passarella, Senior Vice President of Content at ALM and Law.com, interviewed actor Rob Lowe.
She asked him why with all the things he was doing in life and business, including having a family, he started a podcast. His answer struck me.
He said, “I wanted to sit down and have a conversation with people I find interesting, so I could ask my own questions instead of watching or listening to someone else and wishing they’d asked something different.”
That made a lot of sense to me. I liked meeting new people and when I did periodic video interviews at conferences, I just wanted to be curious in finding interesting people to talk to. So I started a podcast.
What’s happened since has been enlightening and fun. I’ve sat down with some real interesting people for 45 minutes to an hour, asking a couple ”scripted” questions but mostly just having a conversation.
I listen to what they say and respond. Sometimes my preface to a question is as long as their answer, and that’s okay, we’re having a real back-and-forth.
A few things have stood out, guests enjoy it a lot and share the episodes, which brings more people into the “conversation.” My network grows as listeners and their contacts reach out. People I then get the chance to engage via their commentary about the podcast.
I’ve been invited onto other podcasts, partly I guess because people see me as an “influencer,” but also because they find the conversations interesting.
It’s the same dynamic I found in blogging. Ask something, listen to the answer, engage, build relationships, and let others “see” the conversation.
I’m getting real inspiration as well. After 21 years of preaching the power of blogging to build a name and grow your business as a lawyer, I am finding many of the people I am hosting are bloggers who listened to my “preaching” and had a life changing experience from blogging.
Not so much boasting, but heck, I am driven to help others, one person at a time, and when I learn I did so, I feel pretty good.
It will be interesting to see where this goes. For now, I plan to keep at it because I’m meeting more people, and the people I meet are interesting, I learn from them and I come away inspired—maybe others will as well.
Podcasting is also growing my reputation as someone who cares about helping lawyers publish in ways that build relationships and a reputation via the Internet. And that’s good for business and the people on my team looking for us to grow.
So here I am, 21 years after starting to blog and resisting podcasting for more than a decade, doing a podcast and enjoying it every bit as much as blogging, if not more.