Are You A Professional Blogger?

I was reading a blog post by Seth Godin this morning and he asks the question: What would a professional do? I can see the campaign now behind WWPD. All kidding aside Seth raises some good points in the blog post. In our everyday lives we are up against professionals. I consider myself a jack of all trades master of none, and I grasp his point with clarity. How do we as business owners compete with that? He suggests a list of how we can look at it:

When you compete with professionals, you have a problem, because generally speaking, they’re better at what they do than you are.

I think there are four valid ways the think your way out of this situation:

1. Hire a professional.

2. Be as good as a professional.

3. Realize that professional-quality work is not required or available and merely come close.

4. Do work that a professional wouldn’t dare do, and use this as an advantage.

I like the first option as someone that helps businesses by outsourcing talent like professional bloggers. He is correct in stating that this option requires time and money and these may not be the best options given your situation. I would argue that it is the best investment however, and your time and energy can be used in other areas for a small investment of money. The second option is a good if you can afford a little time and effort. The third option is for those that just want to get into the blogosphere and participate. This is still a good option for your business. There are benefits of being in the game that you will have over your competition. I really like that he put in the fourth option as this is what makes you stand out in the crowd. So what if you are not a professional blogger. You still have an edge because its your business and you can be flexible and passionate. Do something fun with it, and know that you are the one that is to blame if it goes wrong. This is a powerful way of blogging. Seth is right, you are the Captain of your own ship, and there is no way a professional blogger can compete with that way of doing business.