It’s The Stories That Make People Remember!

It’s funny. I’ve never minded sharing about myself… on MY terms. Meaning that if I met someone that I liked and trusted, I wasn’t so private a person that I didn’t want them to know things about my life.

Nowadays, there are so many people blogging online, I see the question come up regularly on how much should people share, cause after all, who really cares about your personal life right?

I involved myself in a blogging challenge last week where people are changing the way they blog. They’re working on finding their balance between being personal and revealing so much that they might embarrass people in their lives. Honestly, I’ve had those same questions, especially because it’s online and in print.

I’ve become much more protective over the past 10 years or so because I’ve been in the position of being threatened and feeling unsafe in my own home (and that was by people who we at one time called “friends”). My son has worked security for the past several years while waiting for the police departments to reopen hiring, so he gets notices from the courts every time someone he had arrested or  someone he testified against gets cut loose from the system.

So I understand people being leery about how much they share.

But then I got thinking (I do that every so often just so I don’t forget how)… 🙂

And it dawned on me that as I was out and about reading people’s blogs, the ones I could remember later and relate back to my family were the ones that told a personal story!

Make an Impact

Think about it. If I walked up to you today and said “Hey, I saw this homeless guy with his dog today sitting out in the rain”, you may remember later or you may not. I mean really, unless you’re doing a report about homeless people would you really care?

But what if I walked up and said “Hey, I saw this homeless guy with a dog today and it was so cool. It was pouring down rain, the guy was sitting down next to a building with nothing but a jacket on and was getting wet. But the thing was, he had an umbrella, and it was working, but instead of covering himself so that he could stay dry, he had let the dog lay down  in front of his feet and he was using the umbrella to make sure that the dog stayed dry. Man, he must REALLY love that dog!”

Which are you going to remember? Are you gonna tell your kids about how caring the homeless guy was to his pup when you’re having dinner conversation with your kids? I know *I* would!

THAT’S the difference your stories about your personal life make. You know that there’s a wet homeless guy hanging out with his dog no matter which way I tell you. But you’re going to REMEMBER when I tell the story. And you’re going to tell OTHERS!

You Can Do It!

Become that person that people are sharing with others… the person that people think about and remember when someone asks about a supportive blog or a trusted entrepreneur! After all, whether you’re out here only to spread your message to help others, or you’re creating relationships with customers to earn an income, you just can’t beat word-of-mouth advertising.

And if you’re reading this and your head’s starting to spin with all the reasons why you can’t possibly share about yourself online, jump on over to Tiff’s blog and check out her post about how to fix that whole issue!

And, the next time you’re double-guessing yourself as to whether you’re sharing too much or whether people care about you sharing details about something you did, I bet you’ll remember a story about a homeless guy who was willing to get wet in order to keep his best friend dry!

YOUR TURN: Have you had people comment about your blog posts that have been more personal? Have you shared stories that you’ve read about other people with your friends because you remembered them later? If so, feel free to share about it in the comments below. 

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