People Together Make Things :: Responsibility & Reason in the Pro Blogging Arena
I used to draw a real distinction between residential and commercial construction. Residential construction was something that I could do. It’s components we’re readily available at local stores and lumberyards and they were assembled using tools that I could obtain. Commercial construction was something that someone else did. They sourced their material from a wider marketplace and used far more specialized tools and procedures to put it all together. Commercial construction was more akin to manufacturing in my mind.
In essence, this distinction is true, but what I have come to realize is that construction is construction. It is all about putting things together to make something and all forms of construction are accomplished by people. There are people behind every aspect of construction from the gathering of raw materials to the final assembly.
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What the heck is pro blogging?
The Home Depot, The Genie Company and a few other corporations have me asking myself this question of late. As many of you know, Building Moxie has been on a few trips over the last 18 months or so. Trips, that in my “Little World” amount to “Jet Setting”.
Please allow me to define these two terms as I see them:
Little World: Staying home with nose to the grindstone, performing the nuts and bolts duties of building a locally-based small business.
Jet Setting: Flying all over hell and creation doing business. There are implications in the phrase for me that some of what I will do while away on these excursions will be relative to my little world, and some experiences will be lost on me.
So, what is a Pro Blogger? On the one hand they could simply be a person who works in the profession that they blog about. This is how I saw myself prior to being invited to various outings hosted by the manufacturers of the products I use and install. On the other hand, a pro blogger can be someone who is recognized and legitimized by their association with and access to the inner workings of corporations and manufacturers. This is how I reluctantly see myself now. The reluctance, I believe is a residue of the type of thinking that had me separating residential and commercial construction. In my mind, there is a little voice that asks “Who are you to hob nob with this level of professional?” The answer to this is quite simple really.
I am a person and people, together, make things.
Responsibility and Reason
The pro blogging world has a number of aspects that, if we let them, could become confusing. There are all-expense paid trips and gift certificates and products awarded for posting on this or that company. But these perks are not really central to the story I want to tell. The story I want to tell has more to do with the people, folks as I like to call them, behind the scenes of the products we use and the companies we support. Every excursion I have been on has introduced me to amazing individuals, individuals who make up the heart of these companies. It is their commitment and their endurance that allow businesses to survive and thrive. It is their moral compass that interests me, as I find myself with the responsibility of reporting on these companies, and on the products they represent.
I am very pleased to be able to introduce you, the reader, to some of these folks along the way. It is a very exciting prospect for me to able humanize companies, because businesses, after all, are run by people just like you and me.
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Hi Barry,
Thanks for posting this. You validated a number of similar thoughts I’d held myself for a while, so I’m glad to have read this. I like your term “jet setting” and always viewed that sort of activity with a bit of trepidation, like “is this really going to be worth the time and cost?”
There were times in my past when I got pulled into a number of “jet setting” sort of situations, where I’d felt it’d be better for me just to stay put and do heads-down work instead. But I later realized it was largely time well invested; it just had a longer and more subtle payback time.
Anyway, I always enjoy, and learn much from, reading your perspectives on things, so thanks again for sharing this with us, Barry.
~ John
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Hi John,
Thank you, I think you said it perfectly. Part of the costs is in the distraction from the day to day but that is also part of the payback. One thing I am learning is to add time before and after a trip for preperation and decompression. I guess it all gets back to managing expectations, and like anything else, you do not know what to expect until you have acquired some experience.
Thanks for adding your perspective!
-b
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Wow, I totally understand, creating BP is very parallel Although I have to yet to do any “jet setting”, I have had the extreme pleasure of meeting some great people and develop strong friendships. Enjoy the ride my friend!