About Me 0068: manage personal finances

This guest post is by Kiesha of WeBlogBetter.

Have you ever wondered how some bloggers never seem to run out of post ideas? They always manage to escape the dreaded writer’s block unscathed; they’re always full of inspiration. Ideas overflow and pour onto the page as they type feverishly. They’ve tapped into a mystical stream of never-ending stories.

What if I told you that you could tap into the same power?

Everything you’ve already learned and experienced can be used to create infinite and original ideas for your blog. If you can turn on the analytical and creative juices in your brain, you’ll never run out of ideas.

Almost anything you’ve learned in school, on the job—even life’s lessons in general—can be turned into useful analogies or comparisons. Music, television shows, movies, or videos can also be used as fuel for unique and engaging blog posts.

There are almost no limits to this technique. In fact, the more unlikely and unusual the comparisons you make, the better.

Using my personal experience to blog better

Whenever something evokes an “Aha!” moment for me, I immediately think about how I can use that principle for blogging.

For example, late one night, I was watching The Karate Kid. At the point when young Dre finally realizes that all those days and weeks spent picking up his jacket had really been preparing and strengthening him, my mind immediately connected that experience to blogging.

When Mr. Han said, “Kung Fu lives in everything we do … Everything is Kung Fu”, I jumped up like a hot coal had landed in my lap. I grabbed a pen and wrote:

“Blogging lives in everything we do … Everything is blogging! Every experience is potential blogging material!”

My husband thought I was going mad as I frantically scribbled this on an already over-filled piece of paper. It was a major “Aha!” moment!

Yes, everything in my life — even those experiences that I thought were useless wastes of time — had been preparing me for blogging.

You might not be able to see the similarities between blogging and manicuring nails, but what I learned years ago as a nail technician helps me blog better today. I was known for my creative airbrush designs and 3D nail art. I had more customers than I had time. It sounds like I should be rich by now, right?

Here’s the problem: I loved the design/art part of the process, but I hated the chemical aspects of the job. I also hate feet, which wasn’t the best of news for customers who wanted their toes to match their fingers. I suffer from the exact opposite of a “foot fetish.” Would that be a foot phobia? What I learned is that no amount of money justifies doing (or smelling) things you hate.

How does that translate to blogging?

Nothing, not even money, should be the reason for blogging about something you’re not passionate about.

I can see many parallels between applying acrylic nails and blogging.

They both require preparation

When applying acrylic nails, the surface must be adequately prepared. Skimping on this step creates the prime condition for the growth of fungus or other harmful pathogens that, if left untreated, could create medical problems for the customer.

With blogging, if you don’t take adequate time to prepare with research and fact checking, you could potentially steer a reader in the wrong direction. They may not be physically harmed, but advice you offer on your blog could harm a person’s business or their blogging efforts—and maybe even adversely impact their finances.

They Both Require Good Design

If I tried to put a beautiful design on a malformed nail, it only made the malformation more apparent. On the other hand, a well-formed nail with an ugly or bland design would be a waste of sculpting efforts. In other words, the nail had to be both well formed and display a beautiful design.

The same is true for a blog. You can have the most beautiful blog design, but if your site lacks valuable content, no one’s going to want to return. You need both good design and great content.

So you see, yes there is much to learn about blogging from doing nails. There is much to learn about blogging from everything—from all of your experiences.

Over to you

Have you ever thought about how your own abundance of personal experiences relates to your own niche? And how you can use that to create a blog unlike any other?

Start by listing some of the most vivid experiences you’ve had, or lessons you’ve learned over the years.

Then instead of thinking about how different they are from blogging, think about how similar they are.

Use those points of intersection to highlight those similarities.

Then mesh those ideas together to create something new.

What you’ll get is something totally unpredictable and extremely insightful.

Which pieces of your personal experience and life lessons could you use to create an interesting analogy or comparison in a blog post? Which could you use to help you improve your blogging in general?

Kiesha blogs at WeBlogBetter, offering blogging tips and tricks. She’s a technical writer, writing instructor, and blog consultant for small business owners. Connect with her on Twitter @weblogbetter.

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Here's an interesting verse from Proverbs 13:20:

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

Let me put a personal finance spin on this:

He who associates with and listens to those who are doing well financially becomes wealthy. But someone who follows the advice of those who can't handle their money is destined for the poor house.

Ok, so I'm not a wordsmith (but you already knew that, didn't you?), but you get the idea. If you hang around people who follow the solid financial principles that can make you wealthy, then it's likely those principles will rub off on you and you'll do well too. But if you associate with people who continually make bad money mistakes, you'll probably do the same -- and thus kill your finances.

I'm not talking about having only friends who have it all together financially. But I am saying that it's wise to have friends, on average, who are doing fairly well or at least making good financial choices. And I'm not saying the friends have to be experts on everything. But I learn something from almost all of my friends -- how to save money from one, how to manage retirement from another, how to network for another, and so on.

If I spent most of my time with people who shopped for enjoyment, I'd probably want to do the same. If my friends spent every penny they had on "stuff" to fill up their houses, I'd probably follow suit. And if my friends all had boats and cottages, it probably wouldn't be long before I needed one (or both) too.
Let's face it, you're influenced by who you hang out with. So who do you want influencing you?

I once heard a speaker say that the person you'll be in five years will be determined by the people you know and the books you read. So choose your friends (and your books) wisely!!!

Friday, November 19, 2010

manage personal finances

Using my personal experience to blog better

They both require preparation

They Both Require Good Design

Over to you

Using my personal experience to blog better

They both require preparation

They Both Require Good Design

Over to you

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