Apparently, I was so busy last month, I forgot to celebrate my three year blog anniversary! I started blogging in April 2007, and it’s literally the best thing that ever happened to me. Besides choosing a career in the nonprofit sector. And moving to Washington, DC. And getting a Master’s degree in nonprofit management. But I digress. In the past three years, I’ve written 657 posts about nonprofits, leadership, and social change from the perspective of a young professional of color. Over 800 of you are subscribed to get my blog every day and there’s about 10,000 pageviews on this site every month. 7,700 of you follow me on Twitter to hear what I have to say. And for that, I am incredibly grateful. My hope is that what we’ve been doing together is creating a new kind of conversation about leadership – that we can all be inspired to lead differently, authentically and boldly to achieve social change. In the spirit of celebration, I wanted to reflect on some of the lessons I’ve learned during the three years I’ve been writing on this blog.
- People will listen if you speak up. Just a month after I started blogging, the Chronicle of Philanthropy linked to one of my blog posts and presto! I had an audience.
- People will really listen if you have an opinion. In October 2007, I wrote a guest post about the lack of racial diversity in the nonprofit sector for the Stanford Social Innovation Review called Philanthropy Doesn’t Care About Black People. It was SSIR’s most-read post of 2007 and, I believe, their most-commented post to date.
- Blogging is a great way to elicit speaking opportunities to spread your message. Since 2007, I’ve been invited for over 40 speaking engagements – all from people who read this blog. Thank you all for having me.
- Blogging is one of THE best ways to build your personal brand. A recent Google search of my name turned up this description of me: “a leading thinker & innovator for the field.” How awesome and humbling to see that people think so highly of my work.
- Blogging can be a tool to explore different career paths. I never envisioned myself as a consultant, but due to all the opportunities I’ve had to work with awesome clients through my blog, I ended up branching out into full-time consulting in January 2010. Like it? I love it!
- Blogging can connect you with people who can help move your work forward. Last month, I put out a call on my blog for a virtual assistant to help me move my consulting practice to the next level. I received a shocking 30 applications for the position and I’ve since hired Chelsea Hick, one of my loyal blog readers and a recent grad from the University of Florida with a B.A. in English and Nonprofit Leadership. You can email Chelsea at: info (at) rosettathurman (dot) com to schedule a coffee with me if you’re ever in the DC area!
- If you write consistently, other people will ask you to write for them, too. My writing now appears in three other places on the web besides my main blog: The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Leading Edge Blog, the Stanford Social Innovation Review – Opinion Blog and Jobs for Change (an initiative of Change.org).
- There are lots of other ways to “blog” besides writing, if that’s not your bag. Since 2008, I’ve been featuring the voices of nonprofit leaders on All Nonprofits Considered, my internet radio show hosted on BlogTalkRadio. In June, my radio show continues weekly at a new day, same time: Mondays from 12pm-1pm. (Fun fact: my most popular radio show ever was How to Get a Job in Philanthropy with 902 listens.)
- It sounds pie in the sky, but it is totally possible to blog your way to a book deal. I’ve been approached by a major nonprofit book publisher to possibly write a career advice book for the now generation of leaders. Who knows at this point if it will work out, but just the fact that they came to me proves that the possibility is out there for nonprofit bloggers.
- Last, but certainly not least, blogging can connect you to all the people you want to meet! Because this blog, I’ve met some amazing nonprofit leaders like Beth Kanter, Allison Jones, Trista Harris, Heather Carpenter and hundreds more of you virtually on Twitter, Facebook and email. It would have taken me decades to meet all of you the old-fashioned way!
