I received an e-mail from a fellow pinoy blogger a few weeks ago asking me If I could help him in building a new personal blog. He said that he was very interested in blogging and kept on nagging me to help him.
I was already familiar with these kinds of requests from aspiring bloggers and I didn’t mind giving out a hand as long as I have the time. But this one was different.
He wanted me to build a blog from the ground up, design it, make some articles for it, and accumulate a number of readers until he steps in to take over. Haha! Yes, he wanted me to make a succesful blog for him. And he was willing to pay me handsomely for my work. Let’s say, Five figures?
So what did I do?
I declined.
O, ilayo mo na sa akin yan. Baka magbago pa isip ko.
Sure it was tempting. But I have a principle about blogging that no money can buy.
For me, blogs are something to be worked hard for. It is not just something that you pick up, play, and then leave behind. There is more to blogging than that.
Remember the feeling when you have finished building your blog, you were excited and proud about your work and can’t wait to change that “Hello World†post in Wordpress? Remember having your first comment and thanking that person with lots of thanks and smileys? How about the time when a famous blogger visited your blog and you made a post about how he looked around your blog and left a message on your tagboard?
Perhaps these are the reasons why I declined the guy’s offer. If he would have made me build his blog, he would have missed up on a lot of instances that makes blogging fun. Sure it is a lot of work, but this is what creates the bond between you and your blog. This is the reason why it is called a “Personal†Blog.
After some thinking, I told him the reason why I declined his offer and he took it with no offense. After a few days, he started out his new blog and has loved every second that he has spent with it. He thanked me for my advice and we had been friends ever since.
Don’t think of your blog as a mere tool for expression. It is something beyond that. It is up to you to know what your blog means to you (I don’t like to sound mushy on these kinds of things, hehe).
So, who’s the guy? I’ll tell you for six figures. Hehe.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Karlo,
I think you hit the nail on the head with this post. You are right about that first comment! Hehe, thank you I appreciate your tip and comment. A blog really has to come from self experiences, and there’s something about completing a blog that makes you feel proud. Glad to hear of the outcome in the end. After all money can’t buy experience and memories. Peace.