10 Lessons I Learned from 3 Years of Blogging + Win $100 for Your Future Topic Ideas!

May 21, 2010 | Social Media, Uncategorized

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!

The Contest

After three years of blogging, radio show’ing and now vlogging by just going off of my own spurts of inspiration, I really want to hear from you on what topics you’d like me to cover going forward. What do you want me to write about on my blog? What specific guests would you want to hear from on my radio show? What would you want to learn more about in a video post or in my new online workshops?

My goal is to continue to spark great conversations about nonprofits, leadership and social change for the now generation of leaders. And just to give you a little incentive to share your good ideas with me in the comments, I’m offering $100 in cold, hard cash by Paypal or Amazon giftcard to one lucky winner. Here’s how the contest will work:

You have to be subscribed to my blog to enter the contest: this contest is for loyal readers only! Subscribe now via RSS or subscribe via e-mail. (Note: if you win, you will be required to provide proof of your blog subscription via email confirmation or a link to your feed reader. Gotta be fair to my longtime readers!)
Post your idea(s) in the comments section of this blog post by 5pm EST on Monday, May 24.
I will choose a random commenter using random.org, a service that offers true random numbers to anyone on the Internet.
The name of the winner will be posted on Tuesday, May 25. If they don’t claim their $100 prize within 24 hours, I will choose a second winner, and so on if need be.

Thanks in advance for your help! Look forward to reading your comments and ideas.

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Tags: Blogging

Jenelle D'Alessandro

Just found your blog via following you on Twitter and am super impressed by you already, Rosetta. Will def. schedule a coffee with you next time in DC!
Cara Breeden

I would like to see interviews with nonprofit leaders, especially those who have full-time jobs OUTSIDE of their nonprofit work.
Jill Westfall

I'd love to see more about how awesome non-profit leaders keep balance in their lives and how the rest of their life outside of their work fits/expands upon/embodies their nonprofit values. Do we really walk the talk about helping others and bettering the world around us?
Adrianne Russell

I would like to see a series highlighting women who are running nonprofit organizations and their advice for following in their footsteps!
Hue Nguyen

Congrats on the 3 year anniversary of your blog!

I'm interested in seeing a discussion around the current culture of internships, and the resources available to folks who cannot afford to work for low/no pay. Internships are a great way for folks to experience a certain industry or type of work, but I feel as though younger folks are being taken advantage of because they are in desperate need of additional work experience to land a job in this tough economy. I have seen many internship descriptions that include a lot of paper pushing and low/no pay while requiring long hours. This puts folks from not so privilege backgrounds at a disadvantage because they cannot afford to pay for the high cost of living while working for free. I know that there are a few programs out there that do help young people find internships, provide them with a reasonable stipend, and help with housing costs, but are these few programs enough? What needs to change to make sure that the young people who intern in and eventually commit to work in the nonprofit sector are as diverse as the people they are serving?
Andrew Kramer

Wow, 1/4 chance of winning? Really?

Here's what I'd like to see:
- Specific instances where people have used social media/blogs/whatever for the benefit of their cause(s) and then prospered themselves.
- More focus on nonprofit professionals outside of the major nonprofit centers (DC, NYC, LA, etc.) and how their careers are working out (and/or maybe differences between careers)
- I have been missing some of your aggregating of what other bloggers/writers/thinkers are doing and upcoming events/projects/proposals. Your blog used to be a really wonderful source of information like that (it still is) and I'd love to see more of it.
- Sometimes I get the idea that you're selling us more and more. Other blogs have gone that route and they cease to be interesting or relevant and I don't follow them anymore.

Thanks for what you do!
Rosetta Thurman

Andrew – thanks for your comment! I think a lot about how to toe the line between being a blogger who wants to sell ideas vs. being a consultant who needs to sell services. Glad I have readers like you who keep it real with me about how I can be most useful to you.
Taylor Overstreet

Enjoy reading your blog! Love your how-to tips on blogging, but I'd love to hear more about what not to do! (similar to your facebook/twitter post on what not to do.)
Laura Carter

I'd love to see stories about ordinary people who do extraordinary things for others. It's interesting and inspirational. Things seem so negative right now, positive thinking and doing is the way to go.
Heather Carpenter

Wow Rosetta, Thanks for the shout out!! You are truly an inspiration to ALL emerging leaders!! I am starting a campaign to get people to nominate you for the NGEN Leadership Award. You are truly deserving of that award. http://www.independentsector.org/ngen_leadership_award

I'm also super excited about your possible book deal -- I really hope you write a book about personal branding and nonprofit careers :) I am super glad that we're colleagues in this amazing work!!
Rosetta Thurman

Aww, Heather, that is so sweet of you. Really. Thank you for thinking of me! And you know I'll definitely be looking to do an interview with you for the book :) I want to keep sharing examples of people like you who've gone the extra mile for their careers and really benefited from being proactive.
April Carter

I would like to see a blog series following the work and successes of the newly developed White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation (Director, Sonal Shah). And how young nonprofit professionals will be instrumental in this social innovation push for new ideas and methods.