Seth Godin on Blogging

I consider Seth Godin to be my marketing maharishi.  He's brilliant in how he views and applies things, and while I don't consider him to be right 100% of the time, he is right way more than he's wrong, and there are times that he's so right that he's drastically changed how I think, create, behave, and manage.

The guy rocks.

He publishes a daily blog, and just celebrated his 5,000th daily post (for those of you counting, here at YDP we're merely on 1,200).  Along with taking an obligatory look back at some of the content he created during the period, he also stated the following about blogging:

My biggest surprise? That more people aren't doing this. Not just every college professor (particularly those in the humanities and business), but everyone hoping to shape opinions or spread ideas. Entrepreneurs. Senior VPs. People who work in non-profits. Frustrated poets and unknown musicians... Don't do it because it's your job, do it because you can. The selfishness of the industrial age (scarcity being the thing we built demand upon, and the short-term exchange of value being the measurement) has led many people to question the value of giving away content, daily, for a decade or more. And yet... I've never once met a successful blogger who questioned the personal value of what she did.

And that really captures why I write YDP.  I do so to hone my skills for my job by playing SEO games, yes, but I also do so to let my muse out, to voice my opinion, to share my life and my point of view, to mold ideas, to entertain, and, to Seth's point, "because I can."

Thanks, Seth.  You continue to teach me something of great value each and every week.