Kaila Colbin
Female Blogger
VortexDNA


If I weren’t already a blogger, I certainly wouldn’t be enticed to become one after reading Charles’ piece Mamma don’t let your babies grow up to be bloggers. In it, he paints a picture of a life in which he doesn’t sleep, deals with emails on a 24-hour basis, has a numb arm from excessive mouse usage… I’m not going to go on.

Before we even begin, you guys need to know that this is an unfair debate. Charles is a full-time blogger; I’m not. I also make very conscious lifestyle choices, and I have no controlled method of experimentation to know whether or not it’s possible to be a ‘successful blogger’ without sacrificing those choices.


Charles Knight
Male Blogger
AltSearchEngines

What I can do is tell you my experience of blogging, and why I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  I blog for VortexDNA, which means that I’m representing the company when I write. When I first started, I did a lot of tiptoeing: I made sure that pretty much every post tied back into the VortexDNA technology in some way, and I was careful to remain very neutral in my language and topic choices.

Fortunately, the guys at VortexDNA have enough vision to know that I needed to be a bit less cautious—a bit more free—if I wanted to create a compelling blog. With their guidance and support, I felt confident to explore topics that I found intriguing or moving, even if they didn’t have any direct connection to the company’s activity.

Right now, I meet with them every two weeks or so (with travel lately it’s been more like once a month), and we discuss broad objectives and general messages. Other than that, they give me free rein to be myself and write what I wish.

We’re able to get away with this arrangement because we’ve established that we’re fundamentally on the same page: we care deeply about enabling people to reach their potential and contributing to the world in a positive way. This knowledge allows them to feel confident I’m not going to say anything that goes against their deepest values.

Because it’s a company blog, I do abide by some self-imposed rules: I stay away from politics, sex, and religion, and if I’m revealing any company information I run it by them to make sure it’s okay. Other than that, I find that I’m tremendously gratified by the freedom I have to express myself and comment on topics that I feel strongly about. It’s the difference between being a reporter and an op-ed columnist. A reporter has to tell the story regardless of personal beliefs. Op-ed columnists, on the other hand, get to be as genuine as they want, because that’s what people tune in for.

I can understand the temptation to let a blog take over your life, and I’ve certainly succumbed to the odd midnight email-check. But one of the things I love about blogging is the flexibility it gives me to create whatever lifestyle I want. I don’t have the 24-hour-a-day pressure that Charles does because our blogs serve two different purposes. If a new search engine surfaces somewhere, he has to be the first to know about it, but nobody comes to my blog for breaking news.

I check my email as soon as I wake up, but I shower and dress before I start my day for real. Otherwise I find that I have trouble getting my head into it. Luckily, my cramped desk area doesn’t give me room for food, so I stop to eat lunch in a civilized manner.

Sorry Charles, but I always make time for my partner. I stop to say hello and goodbye properly. He and I have dinner together almost every night. We spend time together on the weekends. And I can say without a moment’s hesitation that if I ever had to choose between my blog and my relationship, he would win. Fortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever have to make that choice.

Blogging also allows me to connect with my family more. Those of you who read my blog will know that I was in New York a couple of weeks ago. What you don’t know is that I went there to help my mother with a business issue she was having. I decided to make the trip on Sunday and got on the plane on Monday at 7AM. I had a day of downtime on the way there and on the way back, but otherwise I was able to throw my laptop in a bag and continue business as usual. Show me another job that gives you that kind of freedom.

I live in beautiful New Zealand and spend my weekends gardening, rock climbing, kayaking and mountain biking—poor me!

Charles and I both love blogging, but it’s obvious that we have different approaches to it. I suspect that there may be a blogger or two reading this—what’s your experience? We’d love to hear from you about your blogging lifestyle; let us know in the comments!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 1st, 2007 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Guest Authors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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