Passion Blogging and Finding Your Tribe
Guest Post by Delfin Joaquin Paris III
What are you passionate about? What would you spend more time on, if the all the bills were paid and you focused on that which provided you the most joy and satisfaction? I’m going to show you how, by spending a little time on your interests, you can find and connect with others just like you using social media.
Years ago I used to work for a beer manufacturer. I spent nearly two years on the road, 100% of the time, touring across the US. I visited almost every state, and got to participate in some high-profile sports and entertainment events. This was around 2000-2001, and I didn’t know anything about publishing content online. But since I was meeting celebrities and getting into goofy situations, I wanted to write about it. So I would send “road report” emails to my friends. Mostly funny stories of crazy things that happened to me while traveling.
After my contract ended, I got a “real job” in Chicago, and wore a suit and tie to work for years. I had forgotten how much fun it was to send out funny emails, and to get positive responses from those who enjoyed reading about my adventures. I had told myself that I needed to focus on my career, so I stopped sending out those email stories, and did normal business stuff.
For years friends had suggested that I should organize all my “funny stories” into a collection and publish it as a book. I have some experience in the publishing world, and know how difficult it can be to get a book published, much less marketed effectively, distributed in stores, and sold. I also have two businesses of my own that keep me busy. So, if I didn’t want to put the effort in to write a book, what could I do to share my passion? Blog.
Earlier this year I launched a blog that is a continuation of my old “road report” emails I used to distribute. Altogether, it cost me $20. That was the expense of registering a domain and paying for hosting. Even though I had never built a website before, I learned how, and got it up and running within a week. Then, I started focusing on content. Now again, my passion is writing funny stories. So, that’s what I did. I began publishing regular posts. I had a bunch of content, but guess what? Not a lot of readers.
So, as my friend Laura Roeder would say, “Start doing some social networking!”
I took to Facebook. I have about 400 friends there, many of which I’ve known since my school days. I basically sent out a few posts on Facebook and Twitter and announced that I had a new humor blog, and I would love their feedback. And of course, since they’re in my social network, they ended up checking out my website.
Well, a few months later, I now have hundreds of regular visitors who show up every time I post a story, and over a thousand people on my list. Because I focus on my passion – comedy – I have attracted new people who enjoy my niche. And how did I build my readership? By focusing on my strong-suit, which happens to be writing funny stories – my passion! And doing minimal, yet impactful, social media.
With just one hour a week spent on doing something I love, my list continues to grow. It’s easy, because I’m writing about my passion! Just think – if you spent one hour a week writing about your passion, who you would you attract?
Delfin Joaquin Paris III is an entrepreneur who specializes in online marketing and lead-generation. If you’d like to visit his passion project, head over to his blog of funny stories for a good laugh.
