The title is a quote from season one of Game of Thrones. Tyrion Lannister is speaking to Jon Snow, and the full quote is as follows:
“…never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.”
I grew up with the opposite idea in my head, fearing that being who I was could, and probably would, get me hurt.
I loved writing
As a child, I wanted to blend in, to fit in. I never trusted that people would like me or accept me for who I was. Keeping a low profile seemed the easier way to go. I found an outlet in writing however. I wrote and wrote and wrote, reams of fictional stories, where my personality could roam free. Outside my family, most people did not know about my love of writing. Because I did not share my stories, they were a safe place to express myself, to spin my fictional realities and fictional personalities. I truly loved writing.
Blogging took the joy straight out of writing
When I started blogging, as an adult, I found myself in an entirely different situation. Number one, I was no longer writing fiction, I was now writing to sell something. I had a commercial goal, and with that I was right back to the blending in behavior. Anyone might read what I had to say, so the safe and free place of childhood writing was gone. The childhood desire to fit in and be a people-pleaser was not gone, however. That combination made for poor, if not terrible writing. My posts were dry, factual and boring.
I found myself at a loss for how to find my voice
I wrote blander than bland blog posts, while promoting the different health products I was selling. For a long time I did indeed stay away completely from blogging, in spite of all the advice to do it. Why? Because I had such a hard time with the concept of creating unique content. I surfed the net looking at what others were doing and all I ended up doing was creating similar content, but without personality, without any unique personal angle. It was just different enough to not be plagiarizing, but not different enough to set me apart. I focused only on the product I was selling. You could say I just hid behind the product. Any one of the gazillions of people out there promoting that same product, through the same company I was working with, could have written pretty much the same things I wrote. Nobody reading those posts would spot my personality shining through – it was generic, bland, lacking individuality. It was safe to the point of sterility.
I succeeded in spite of all that
… and that is the amazing thing, and it truly shows the power of blogging. Even with all that sub-par writing, I actually managed to build a substantial email list of people to market to, and I managed to achieve a ranking on page one of Google for the most important keyword for my company. Why? I believe it was because most everybody else I was competing with just relied on the replicated website the company provided, the same site every distributor in the company had access to. Simply by having a blog on the side, as uninteresting as it was, I managed to set myself apart from the crowd, creating a web presence that was not just one of many replicas. If that doesn’t show the effectiveness of blogging, I don’t know what does. Even a boring blogger like me can be successful!
Imagine the possibilities
if I had unleashed myself, broken free of the fear and just written fearlessly. What if I had decided that Tyrion is right?
“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”
That old blog is long gone, but I do wonder what results I could have achieved back then if my former self had been following the advice I am giving you today.
The point is that you have nothing to lose by starting your blog now, but you have a whole lot to lose by not doing it.
Whether you own your own business, or you are with a direct selling company that gives you one of those replicating websites I had, blogging can give you a distinct edge in the marketplace.
If you are in network marketing, chances are the vast majority of distributors in your company do not have a blog, and that by starting one, you will stand out from the crowd.
If on the other hand you run your own company, it is quite likely that only a few of your competitors have a blog, or the equivalent of a blog, on their website. But if your competition is blogging, all the more reason for you to get in the game to stay competitive. Adding a blog helps set you apart, and allows your website visitors to connect with you over the long term, in a way a static website won’t.
Write in your own voice
Take Tyrion’s advice as you embark on your blogging journey. It is the only way you will stay truly unique. Just about anything can be copied, but the thing that makes you YOU cannot ever be copied. There lies your strength if you learn how to draw on it. This does not mean you need to reveal all your inner secrets or intimate details about your life. I myself am far too private a person to do that. But as you write, let it be your voice that speaks, your personality that flavors the language you use. There may be a whole army of people out there that offer the same type of service or product you offer. There is however one thing unique about you, and that is YOU.
We all take inspiration from others, we all learn from others, and there is nothing wrong with that of course. The trick is to take what you learn and make it your own, by seeing it from that unique and specific angle that only you possess. Speaking in your own voice, as you blog, is what will gain you a loyal following. Be yourself, people will not always agree with you or resonate with you, you can be sure of that, but they will feel like they know you through your words. Your readers will sense that there is a genuine person behind the writing, not just someone who poses anonymously on the internet, copying contents from elsewhere and just rewriting it slightly to make it their own.
Slip into that armor called your “YOUNESS”, and let the writing begin.
I saw this wonderful quote on Vybe Source:
and that is your power”
Harness that power and go create something amazing.
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P.S.
I constantly need to remind myself that I can’t please everyone, so I might just as well express myself.
Enjoy this music by JR JR!