How Writing Can Change Your Life

(And a Roundabout Way to Get Started)

My career history is like a checkerboard. I started on one square, which allowed me to jump to the connecting one, and then another, until before I knew it, I was clear across the board. The thing that connected every move? Writing. It’s the one thing that’s made the greatest impact on my life and career.

I began writing for the purpose of content marketing. I needed a way to optimize my website for keywords, to connect with followers of my business, and to meet new prospects who might be looking for the services I offered. Somehow, I came around to the idea of writing a blog and newsletter, and so I began writing.

At first, not much happened. It seemed like I was writing in a vacuum and to no one but myself. Then I stumbled on a network that served my profession. (This was back in 2006, when it was still a little confusing as to what one actually did on social networks.) The network offered the ability to create a blog within their platform, so I started writing there, in addition to my own website (again, setting a schedule, sticking with it, and mostly just writing for myself).

I was new to the whole writing thing, so I had no idea what I was doing. I was also new to content marketing, so my posts were all over the place. Still, I managed to build a following and even win a writing contest run by the network, which gave me a little nudge in followers, but a gigantic push in my confidence as a writer — so I kept at it.

During this time, somehow it wasn’t registering that people all around the world might be reading my words.

At some point, a person commented on one of my articles. We began a conversation that eventually led us to set up a time to talk by phone.

That relationship became one of the most influential of my career, and it all started with a blog post.

We went on to become accountability partners for writing and for our businesses, a partnership that continued for many years.

That same person (who met me at random through my writing), a little later on, let me know that a well-known web publication was hiring a writer and suggested I throw my hat in the ring. I did — I got the gig, and so I was now a paid columnist at a fairly established website. That was the first time I’d ever considered the possibility of being a “real” writer (whatever that means), and it was the first time I’d ever considered writing as a viable option for my career.

That opportunity led to a lot of amazing things — interviewing tons of interesting people (including Richard Branson, if you can believe it — I still can’t) and solidly establishing myself in my own mind as a writer.

While that might have been the most life-changing part of things, it was the connections that were the most meaningful.

Since starting way back in the early days of social media and networking, I’ve made one little connection at a time, and some of those relationships have impacted my life forever.

I’ve seen it happen again and again with my own writing. One little, seemingly insignificant jumble of words, just you trying to straighten things out in your own mind for yourself, you hit publish, and someone takes the time to comment. A friendship is established, which could last a lifetime and make all the difference. And it all started with writing.

Hindsight makes things look easy and obvious and pretty. On the front end, however, it doesn’t seem so simple, and that’s where it requires faith. You have to believe in yourself and your commitment and know that things will work out, if you stick with them.

That’s it. Just keep at it (that’s the most important thing). Don’t give up, even if you feel like no one’s listening. You never know when someone will.

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