Why? Why not?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since David Armano talked about it at SOBCon last year. His basic point was that “blogging is a commodity. Anyone can do it. We are human beings with passions and interests that come out in our blogs—not the other way around. Stop calling yourself a blogger. You are a… (designer, businessperson, marketer, artist, baker, mother, grandfather, etc). Calling ourselves bloggers takes away from what makes us unique.”

I have to say that I agree. I think the term blogger is overused and often misunderstood. When I talk with businesses about blogging, they often, even after all this time, think of journaling. They haven’t fully appreciated the breadth of what the term blogger can mean.

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Boy do Liz and I have an interesting conversation going on about relationships.

My last question to her, if you recall, was how has your blog changed the way you think about relationships? She titled her response: I Knew Everything about Relationships Until an Audience Came. You’ve gotta take a read. Here’s an excerpt:

I don’t think about relationships anymore. I see the people I have relationships with and the incredible differences they make. I see the changes we make in each other.

Of course, she passed a great question right back to me when she asked:

Do you see a difference between your online relationships and those offline — beyond the obvious physical differences?

Without a doubt!

One of the most interesting differences, for me, has been how easy it’s been to get to know absolute strangers. Just from blogging I now have a number of people I’d call friends. People like Chris, Wendy, Char, Lorelle, Ed, Ben, Mike and Mike, David and David, Gayla, Phil, Kammie, Easton and Tony, to name a few. Most I’ve met in person. And all I stay in touch with by phone or email on some sort of regular basis (sorry I’ve been out of touch a bit lately, David).

What’s really neat is that they each live in different places. And I didn’t know any of them before I was blogging. Same with Liz…one day, some months back, I got an email message saying, “I’m calling you at 2pm today.” Then she did, we talked and we’ve not stopped since.

I’m pretty certain that without my blog I’d not know any of these folks. Yet we each have things in common that bring us together. Each one of them (and many of you) have enriched my life in different ways. I feel fortunate to call them all friends.

And that’s where the internet, and the blogosphere specifically, continues to amaze me. Through my blog, I’ve met such good, caring, interesting and quality people. We may live thousands of miles apart, but we’re neighbors in the blogosphere.

So what brings us together in the first place? In each relationship it’s a little different. Yet a common denominator is that we have similar interests. Those interests bring us together. It gives us a ground to share what we know and what we love with each other. Combine that with wanting to meet interesting people and you have a formula for building relationships that extend beyond the blogosphere.

Now that’s not to say that the people I’ve met blogging have replaced friends I’ve already had. Not at all. Rather, it’s just expanded my circle of friends. And that circle keeps getting larger.

And you know, you’re a part of that circle as well. Yeah, I do mean you. Without you, I’m not sure I’d still be blogging. I’m blogging to start conversations and build relationships. So without you, without your interest, your readership, your comments, your sticking around to get to know me, none of this would be possible. Okay, maybe it’s be possible, but it sure wouldn’t be worthwhile. So thank you.

So please, drop me a line some time and introduce yourself. And we’ve already met, don’t be a stranger. I love hearing from you.

And there you have the difference, as I see it, between online and offline relationships. How could I invite a bunch of people I don’t know to start a relationship without my blog? And then give you the time to respond whenever and however you like…if at all?

Of course you should know by now that my goal is to turn my online relationships into offline relationships. And that happens organically. So I have to ask you, how have your online relationships differed from your offline ones? Let’s talk about it in the comment box.

You know Liz and I keep going back-and-forth in this one2one conversation. Remember, you can join in the conversation on either of our blogs as well. So when I ask Liz this question, I’m also asking you:

What’s the oddest beginning to a relationship that you’ve developed through your blog?

You can look for Liz’s response on Thursday. But we don’t have to wait til then to talk about it…

We all know the expression, “the glass is half…”

But how would you finish it? What do you see when you look inside the glass?

Some see abundance which overflowth. While others see the glass as having room for more. And so began the Starbucker Meme, with Terry and his half-full, clear shot glass.

The Starbucker Meme brought out some creative answers like my dear friend Carolyn Manning who keeps two glasses - one full to the brim and the other symbolically empty. Tim Johnson, on the other hand goes back and forth between overflowing and 50% full.

The answer I was waiting most for was Liz Strauss and her hand-painted French champagne flute filled to the lip with sparkly French champagne. No surprise for me, and deeply fitting. Or Chris Cree who said his cup is bottomless - of course he said with coffee, but I know he meant a bit more.

My other two favorites were from Mike Sansone and Adam Kayce. Both, like me, took the idea of ‘what’s in the glass’ to a different level. Mike sees things from a different perspective through his glass bottom boat. While Adam sees his life overflowing through his looking glass.

So I know what you’re thinking…”what does Dawud see when he looks through his glass?” So let me get right into the Starbucker Meme:

1. How full is your glass?
   It’s ever expanding and only limited by my trust, belief and willingness to change.
2. What kind of glass is it?
   Blown glass
3. What’s in the glass?
   All the possibilities you can dream of.
4. Reasons for #1, #2, and #3
   Read on…

I’ve always loved blown glass. Not only is it stunningly beautiful. It also illustrates the great potential each of us have inside. Think about it. You take this hunk of glass and put it on a stick. Pretty uninspiring, huh?

Then, you place the hunk of glass into a raging fire to heat it up and burn off impurities. Once it’s purified enough, you remove it from the fire and begin forming it into miraculous, endless shapes. Look at the image to right…

Aren’t we just like that?

And Kammie, there’s the answer to your question about high vibe practices. I spend each day trying to stretch myself, my heart and my consciousness just a little bit. Stretching a taking the time to look at where I could be living who I am and what I believe a little bit more. Those are my high vibe practices.

So I’m wondering what you see when you look inside your glass? I’m going to tag David, David, Gayla, Edward, Chris, Mark, Dave, Katie, Rory, Randa, Mike, Kammie, one more Dave and Lisa. AND, I’d love to hear your thoughts below.

Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard has come in unassuming moments in casual conversation. Moments when I was relaxed and just open to something new.

I can recall many moments like that with my grandfather. My grandfather loved birds. He used to sit for hours watching finches fly in and out of the five story bird house he built. The bird house was on the end of a pole about 30 feet above the ground. We’d lay back in lawn chairs and just watch the birds.

Every fall I’d help my grandfather take down the bird house for cleaning, repair and storage. It was huge and so high up that he’d developed a rather elaborate pulley system to bring it down.

One such day, when I was 8, we were lowering the bird house. I was holding one of the main pulley ropes. Under the weight of the bird hourse, my hands became strained and began to hurt. I told my grandfather, “My hands hurt, I can’t hold it.”

His response, “Don’t focus on your hands hurting. What you focus is on expands. So if you think about the pain in your hands, it’ll get bigger. Instead, focus on getting the bird house down.”

You know he was right, of course. I stopped focusing on how much my hands hurt and the pain got less. I held the rope until the bird house was safely down.

I’ve never forgotten that phrase: what you focus on expands. Through the next three decades I found it very useful. But not only useful, I’ve found it to be truth. Every time I focus on things that are negative or painful, that thing increases. And when I focus on beauty or love that’s what increases.

Char, I wasn’t quite yet a teen. Okay, I was far from it. Yet this advice didn’t only make an impression on me at the time, it continues to do so even today. And it continues to be true.

David Armano had a similar moment recently with his dad. While asking him “what’s the secret?” His dad replied, “You gotta dig. You see, you have to leave a very loose ground in the roots and it has to be deeper.” Amazing piece of wisdom…if you’re listening. Check out the video. It’s great hearing David’s dad in his own voice.

Where have you experienced an unexpected wisdom?

There I was sitting at SOBCon07 over the weekend enjoying the speakers and the conversations they started. Soaking in all kinds of great ideas for taking my blog the conversation (and my business) to the next level.

Then, out of nowhere he said it…what’s been on my mind since I began writing publicly. The meaning in the question I asked weeks back.

“Stop calling yourself a blogger,” proclaimed David Armano.

“Blogging is a commodity. Anyone can do it. We are human beings with passions and interests that come out in our blogs—not the other way around. Stop calling yourself a blogger. You are a… (designer, businessperson, marketer, artist, baker, mother, grandfather, etc). Calling ourselves bloggers takes away from what makes us unique.”

The reactions in the room were interesting. Everything from gasps to confusion to euphoria. Okay, so maybe euphoria is a bit overstated. But that’s close to how I felt. Finally, someone was saying it - stop limiting yourself as just being a blogger.

David wasn’t advocating that we stop identifying ourselves as bloggers with our blogging circles. What he was suggesting is that we stop referring to ourselves as bloggers to the outside world.

And I agree.

It seems that these words - blog, blogging, blogger, blogosphere, etc - stand in the way of people participating in a new, interactive internet. I hear it from clients all the time, “…isn’t blogging just a journal?,” “I don’t want to have to write so much,” or my ever favorite, “my son/daughter has a blog they talk to their friends with…it’s sort of silly.”

The truth is, this medium is incredibly powerful at reaching an audience. Yet if we only speak in our jargon, we’re effectively alienating a huge population of people who aren’t blogging. Many of those are potential clients and customers.

David said in a post on Monday:

…my theory is that focusing on the passion more so than the medium (blogging) will lead to a better personal brand.

…Being a blogger doesn’t make us unique. Our individual talents, passions and personality does. This is the stuff brands are built from—and blogs, despite all of the baggage that comes along with the word is an extension of our brands, whether it be personal or business.

Again, I couldn’t agree with him more. That’s part of why his presentation was so refreshing for me. He, in part, said what I’ve been chewing on for months.

So if we’re not going to call ourselves bloggers, what do we call ourselves? Do we need to call ourselves anything? Let’s start a conversation…