I’m 9 months into my startup/freelancing career and I found myself advising my second client on the benefits of blogging.
- record your journey and mark your progress
- show the human face behind your company, your motivations, your hopes, your fears.
- all of us, potential business partners, customers, investors, stakeholders, consumers, colleagues and friends relate to one common thread – a good old fashioned story
- content, content, content – that is the way to build and maintain your reputation
I’m delighted he took my words on point, drafting and publishing his first post 3 days later. It’s a fantastic blog.
It did get me thinking – my aspirational notions for maintaining a semi-regular blog fell by the way side after post #3. I could justify my reasons a million and one ways but honestly it comes down to doubting my value.
Nine months on, a lifetime you could say, from my very humble beginnings I feel I am emerging more confident and more passionate about my profession, communications, than ever before.
Those negativity demons still hitch a ride from time to time. But I have had the privilege to work with a truly global community, host events in New York city to indigenous communities in West Papua. Be part of growing a global movement, mobilising different groups and see that momentum build. Work with a suite of event producers, translators, editors, media specialists who work tirelessly on every event or film launch. Making new connections and reigniting old ones, it’s fascinating to see the network grow organically. Develop a visually striking brand and then be pragmatic as you tweak things for cultural differences or due to sheer lack of time! Learn how to cope when things come right down to the wire, use that adrenaline effectively and the much needed art of compromise. Be thrown together with activists, campaigners, journalists, film makers, communicators from all over the world, with varying agendas let alone languages but all feeding off the energy in the room, knowing we’re all trying to reach the same over arching goal; show the world that indigenous peoples hold many of the answers facing our planet’s future.
Each one of those learning curves could be a blog post. My intention is that in good time they will be.
So here’s hoping.
Sophia Cheng
With a decade of communications experience across the for profit and nonprofit sectors, agency and in-house, Sophia has made a habit of making ‘the hard stuff’ more accessible. Since 2018, she has reorientated her life around the climate crisis. She has forged her decade of communications experience into offering workshops, mentoring, blogging, and more, on the biggest issues of our time.
View all posts
More from Sophia Cheng
Related posts
