Video inspired by this narrative written by Barbara Zarrella and reprinted here with permission.

Power
Just saying the word emits force. The emphasis on the first syllable, the way your mouth has to round out to form the word, the way the air pushes the word out into sound.

Power is everywhere. Consider the commercial airliner. Remember the thrust that pushes you into your seat on take-off. Think of how many people are riding with you. This huge craft can be lifted into the air by a single person! That’s power.

Power
Coveted since the beginning of time. Two generals standing in a battlefield posturing. One points to one of his men and requests that he fight and defend though it may mean certain death. That soldier runs brave and mighty to fulfill that task. The other general retreats. That’s power.

Power
Nature at her best. See the dark clouds, smell the cool dampness in the breeze. Take mental inventory of loved ones. Are they home? Safe? Check around the estate. Pick up, put away, tie down, close up. The soft dance of raindrops begin followed by battering hail, then the sound of a train. All of a sudden it is quiet and sunny as if nothing happened. The splinters and broken glass prove the devastation. That’s power.

Power
The miracle of new life. The anticipation of a new human being forming in the womb. Old life is changing forever. So many goals, so many plans, so many decisions, so many surprises. How could such a tiny creature hold our entire soul in its grasp? Nothing can match the power of a child standing with open arms looking at you. A tiny voice says “up”. That’s power.

If you are thinking of starting a publicly viewable blog, you have a few important decisions to make. I will sum them up here an add my opinion along the way.

Self-hosted vs Free

Self-hosted requires some money to start. There is a less expensive way and a more expensive way. WordPress.org with one of their recommended hosts will cost around $85/year. A less expensive way is to use Blogger.com and buy a domain name through them for $10/year and it will still be hosted for free.

You’ll need to decide on a domain name too. You can use your name or something clever or catchy. I like to see people use their own name for personal blogging so it becomes a hub and electronic portfolio for their online presence. Choose that route if you intend to maintain a professional presence online with your new blog.

One reason to consider a different name is if you are wanting to build a community around a certain topic. Then you need a keyword in your site name. The free Google Keyword Tool is helpful in that case. For brainstorming self-hosted site names check out NameBoy.com and InstantDomainSearch.com.

Free blogging is available too and takes about 5 minutes to get started. The biggies are Blogger.com or WordPress.com. Both are very good options. I suggest you check both sites, see blogs build with each, and see which appeals to you most. I do think of WordPress.com has having better potential to grow with you but that may be just my personal bias. I have used both platforms though.

Comments or Not?

A blog doesn’t have to have comments turned on. Many people love having comments though because the feedback or interaction is important to them.

I usually do not take comments on my blogs mainly because I have no interest in moderating them, but also I like to encourage people to set up their own blog. There are a few reasons I think it is good for people to have their own blog.

1. It helps you develop your online presence and personal brand.
2. It encourages learning about online technology.
3. You don’t need permission to say what you would like to say (many blog owners moderate the comments that come in deciding who gets through and who doesn’t).
4. It helps you practice creating –which doesn’t only have to be done through writing…for example, you can have a blog of photos, you can have vlog (video blog), or you could have a audio blog (aka podcast).

The Rest of the Story

Even after you decide on the these initial choices there are still other decisions to make like deciding on the look of your blog and how to organize information. As you post to your blog, you’ll start developing your personal style which will happen as the process rolls along. Then you will need to decide on a posting schedule and topics to write about. There is a learning curve whatever route you choose but consider starting a blog to be the beginning of an adventure!

I began posting just once a month a few years ago on this blog and I can definitely recommend it as a low stress way to begin. If you want to start even smaller though, you can do microblogging with Twitter, Tumblr, or Posterous which are all easy and free.

I’m surprised how much forethought blogging actually takes. You have to decide a topic and a voice, which platform to use, what design and plugins to use, whether to have comments or not, and how often to post, to name a few. Plus there is a big learning curve to face. Then you have to find a balance between creating posts and checking stats and such…all potentially very time consuming (and addictive).

Blogging is certainly not for everyone. It is getting pretty popular though. Truthfully, I’m not sure if I am glad to be doing it yet or not. I’m sticking with it because I think it will pay off soon as I get faster at developing content and better at juggling it with my other projects. For me, the only downside has been the time commitment and the pressure to post. I’m not going too crazy about deadlines but I am striving to be consistent. The pluses for me have been that I enjoy learning about the technology and I now have a relevant reason to get my thoughts and ideas down on paper on a regular basis which really helps with my infopreneurial endeavors.

Yesterday, I saw a very good article about the benefits of building a content focused website rather than blogging. It was very convincing. From an infopreneurial standpoint it definitely makes more sense to think in terms of a content driven site rather than a blog mainly due to potentially improved page ranking to more easily connect to the intended target audience. Another reason is the higher level of control the infopreneur can have over their writing/production schedule with a content driven website. The big downside the infopreneurial blogger has to overcome is that the relationship building aspect of blogging is quite strained right from the start when you are so obviously trying to sell something. I mean it has to be done carefully because how many people would subscribe to a constant commercial? Here are a couple of infopreneurial website examples for you. The first is a content driven site, Love-of-Roses.com. This site is less than a year old from what I understand and has an awesome traffic ranking already. Next, here is one in the form of a blog, Seth Godin’s Blog. Seth has figured out the fine line that an infopreneurial blogger must manage to build traffic and sell his products and expertise.

Now, career blogging is a whole different story. I believe it to be a cutting edge career advancement technique. Your blog can become a showcase for your unique knowledge and skills. With small regular posts you can quickly build an impressive portfolio demonstrating more about your personality and quality of work while building your reputation at the same time. Plus, a blog can be an outstanding networking tool. This is just the kind of thing the blogosphere was meant for…sharing information, having a discussion, building relationships. Here is a fine example of a career blog to check out if you like the idea of blogging to advance your career – Publishing Careers by Lori Cates Hand. I love the way she has built the blog around the central theme of an informational interview for those interested in the industry. This instantly sets her up as an expert. It also leads to numerous ideas for topics to write about as she discusses her own career journey and daily activities. She also interviews others in the industry which greatly furthers her professional networking activities and exposure. Brilliant!

Looking over my last post brings me to a good question though. There are some great info products out there with giant price tags from people who are well recognized as leaders in their niche. How do you decide which one purchase if any? In my mind, there are two ways to look at it.

One is to think about concepts that you need to know more about but do not enjoy and do not absorb well. I’m thinking delegate the gathering of that info to someone else! That way you hopefully get the best info quickly that you can easily reference over and over. After all, in the end you may just need to know more about those topics in order to find the right partner to cover that base for you.

The other way to look at it is to buy the occasional info product in an area that you too intend to become an expert on. Some area you know and love to learn more about. You have to be careful with this one though. You don’t want to buy the product of someone who is presenting the basics that you are already well beyond. Find the real masters teaching advanced info (and maybe offering some one-on-one or small group mentoring too) to increase the growth and absorption of your knowledge for fast learning and quicker advancement of your ideas.

This weekend, I was offered the opportunity to attend a webinar for free. The invitation was sent out very last minute but it was an event scheduled from 9am-5pm for Saturday and Sunday with several speakers scheduled on topics like building a successful membership site, SEO, and how to teach webinars.

The event was free for a very good reason. The developers were in the middle of putting together a new product that they were anticipating selling for $1900.00. By having the free webinar it did several things for them.

First, it forced them to get their stuff together by a certain deadline. As most of us know, often without a deadline things just keep getting put on the back burner. So this fixes that problem by making the development of the new product a priority since many people will be signed in and waiting for it.

Secondly, they get the chance to really refine their material with feedback from actual participants. This, of course, will only make a better product in the end. These presenters spent a good deal of time on the last day asking for brutal feedback that they will use to great effect, I’m sure.

Also, they made about 140 people feel pretty special by being in on their presentation for free while at the same time referring attendees other products they are selling now. Pretty slick move really. They created a win-win situation for themselves and others. Thankfully, the mention of the other products they were selling was not obtrusive or rude.

But as I come back to my office on Monday morning I am feeling a little dumbfounded. I am so perplexed about the boldness of asking for a price of nineteen hundred dollars for an info product. Last year, I paid $1000.00 for two info products on vastly different and specific topics. One was worth it, the other not quite. But $1900 for a CD with audio and video on it from a two day webinar? Surely I am missing something and there will be more to the product than that. I suppose we shall see after they launch it.

All that being said, there are times when a product is worth that big price tag, but it needs to be one heck of a product or experience! Or a solid guarantee that you will make more money after learning from them than what you spent in the first place.

I read some books over my little hiatus that complement the careerillionaire idea nicely, “Now, Discover Your Strengths” and “Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance.”

The central idea presented is to focus on what you are naturally good at for the best chance of outstanding improvement and to “enjoy consistent, near perfect performance.” Also explained is that many people work to improve their weakness spending time, effort, and focus with little to show for it; meanwhile their strengths are virtually ignored. The suggestion made is to identify and focus on using your strengths while working around your weaknesses by enlisting the strengths of others or otherwise ignoring your weaknesses as much as possible.

I have a feeling that careerillionaires tend to develop their strengths either naturally or as a strategy they learn along the way. They must eventually realize that not everyone can be good at everything and then consciously decide what they enjoy and excel at the most. From there careerillionaires probably work to make those natural talents even stronger. They must realize too that doing tasks that take extra effort from them and that lead to lackluster results are just not worth their time. They must become adept at partnering with others and finding solutions so they don’t have to spend a lot of effort doing things that don’t energize them. I’m convinced that in following their bliss careerillionaires are led to streams of work and income that serve to enhance their own personal development and quality of life.