Sep 15th
I first came to know Jim Brochowski through his blog. We’ll actually, it was an @reply on Twitter that pointed me to his profile and he link to The Life of Jimmer. But it was on Jim’s blog where I came to know Jimmer and what makes him tick as a person. Jim’s writing created a context.
One of the first posts I read was Jim’s reaction to his brother-in-law’s niece, who passed away in her sleep at the age of 5 years old. As any parent probably would, I was moved. Jimmer’s story invoked an emotional response. I began to think “What if that happened to Kaden?” I immediately identified with Jim because he was like me – he was one of “us” (Read Trust Agents for more on the concept of “one of us”).
The Life of Jimmmer is a powerful communication tool. Jim’s level of emotional transparency was enough to interest me in meeting him face-to-face. Strategically thinking, his content created an opportunity for relationship conversion.
I’ve met with Jim a few times over the past few months. Most recently, he was kind enough to share his story with me. Take a look. In my opinion, Jim is a good model to follow for anyone thinking about blogging.
Jim “Jimmer” Brochowski on Blogging from Nate Riggs on Vimeo.
Things You can Learn by Watching Jimmer
- Try to write at least two times per week. Search engines (and people) love changing content
- Find a theme for a series of posts that you can carry on for longer periods of time. Jimmer does this with the people who teach him things.
- Wear your emotion on your sleeve. Be willing to put yourself out there. People will appreciate your trust in them and come back for more.
- Think about how what you write will effect others. Will your kids be comfortable with what you put out there?
- When you are writing on a topic or trend, make it personal to you. Dig a bit deeper into why YOU are passionate about it
- It’s OK to borrow ideas. Give credit to the source for those, but add your own perspective
- Edit. Sometimes shorter is better.
- Just write. Don’t wait until your content strategy or theme is perfect. Just write. The rest will work itself out.
Thank you, Jimmer. You go dude! Keep writing. And please, keep leading by example!
What did you learn about Blogging from Jimmer? Did anything surprise you?
Thank you for such an honest and straightforward post. The hardest thing for those of us that are blogging is the analysis paralysis–the thought of, “where to begin?” and “does it have to be perfect?” You show that just being authentic and true to yourself when writing is where it’s at.
Comment by Bridget Weizer Granger — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:55:48 +0000 @ 10:55 pm
One of the advantages of authenticity is that it makes it hard to run out of content. You just have to be brave enough to lay the cards on the table. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Communities love people that are real… Thank you!
Comment by nateriggs — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:25:15 +0000 @ 11:25 pm
Jimmer looks like an interesting fellow. Point #1 is something that I know is super-important and I struggle at it sometimes for many reasons. I think points #3 and #5 go hand-in-hand, as it’s important to inject a bit of yourself into your blog. Point #6 is something a lot of people struggle with…giving credit where credit is due. Lots of content thieves out there! If you’re going to copy content, at least give a link…
Comment by Jacob Stoops — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:03:57 +0000 @ 12:03 pm