This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.
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Having just finished shoveling snow for the 23rd friggin time this winter, it seems fitting to shovel away the heaviness left by this post a couple days back. If you haven’t read it yet, it can best be characterized as me whining about sometimes feeling like a loser.
BTW, for those who responded with concern for my well-being (Rex, Effern and others), thank you. It was very kind indeed.
There were four different things going on with that post.
1. I was testing the edges of my own honesty. In other words, I’ve never been one to air my dysfunctional thought processes in public. It seems like whining to me. Almost everybody feels like a loser on occasion (don’t they?), but most don’t go around telling the world about it. I just wanted to see how comfortable I was talking about my dark shit publicly. (I was very uncomfortable.)
2. Writing Practice. Having been inspired by Augusten Burroughs‘ Dry, I wanted to see if I could capture the wave of an emotion and ride it all the way to shore. In words of course. I give my effort a strong C+. I do, however, love this line:
"As the phrase ‘quiet desperation’ begins to gently permeate the chorus of a song yet unsung, you find yourself still there."
3. I was venting. The theory is if you can just say what you’re feeling publicly, it loses it’s emotional energy. While this may be true, my take away from this experience is it’s probably better to do this with your therapist rather than your blog readers. Unless of course that’s the type of material your blog readers expect from you. Mine don’t.
4. How much transparency is too much? There’s a lot of talk lately about the need for transparency in business. Especially in the context of blog writing. But do we really want to know all the gory details of what goes on behind the closed doors of a business or within the mind of a business person?
Naturally, it’s up to you and your customers where that threshold of comfort lies. For me and this blog, one of my readers answered the question best when he emailed me and said, "Your last two posts are NOT why I read your blog. I hope you get back on track."
Going forward, I can’t promise I won’t experiment some more, but I will try to keep it light and entertaining. Thanks again to all who responded.