Coming up with a new subject to write about every week sometimes feels like pulling teeth. I often find myself putting off writing all-together until the day before I am supposed to hit publish, simply because I am not happy with any of my ideas. And for someone like me, where writing is one of my biggest passions, not having a brilliant idea comes with an awful feeling of failure.

I think maybe, as bloggers and writers in general, we put too much pressure on ourselves to write a completely original thought piece, and that just isn’t possible. Somewhere, at some point, someone has probably written something very close to what you’re writing now. But that’s okay, because sometimes it’s not about being creative, it’s about being honest. It’s about sharing thoughts and opinions and facts that might help other people. Or at the very least, build relationships.

“Sometimes it’s not about being creative, it’s about being honest.”

The Big Why

During my weekly blog research, I came across a post by Chad Rucker titled “How to Kickstart Your Content Marketing Conversions.” As usual, I figured this would be a post where the author highlights key tactics for getting leads, possibly something I have never thought of before, and maybe it would inspire some post about conversions from a new angle. Well, I was wrong, and I am glad I was.

Rucker described a time in his career, February 24th to be exact, where he had the opportunity to excel his freelancing career by meeting with “the owner of a $100+ million dollar advertising agency.” For the purpose of this article, let’s call the owner Bob.

During his conversation, Rucker explains how he immediately started by talking about his services – copywriting, content creation, etc.

“He stared at me,” Rucker writes. “Not the good-kind-of-stare.”

Bill asked again, “What’s your story?”

Bill then explained to Rucker that he isn’t “buying what you do…I’m buying why you do what you do.”

I can bet that this was probably a real eye-opening experience for Rucker. But thankfully he wrote about it, as I think it is an eye-opening experience that a lot of people can relate to.

Rucker continues his post by explaining the importance of focusing on the value you give, and not the money you make. This is something I think we, as bloggers and even marketers and designers and developers and any job where your service involves obtaining clients, often forget.

Although most of us aren’t actually gaining a profit off of our words every week, there is still an end-goal that involves profit. I want to see Catch22 Marketing continue to grow and prosper and build an incredible portfolio filled with websites and case studies from well-known businesses, big and small. However, wanting to find success means absolutely nothing if I am not helping other businesses find success too.

My Story

I have always thought of myself as an entrepreneur. While most kids were playing house or doing other kid-like things, I was creating my own magazines, trying to sell crafts and jewelry that I made, and dreaming about the incredible career I would have someday (I can dream, there’s still time), while turning all of my female barbie dolls into CEOs of big, made-up companies. I knew from a young age that a career was important to me, but I didn’t know how or why.

As I entered adulthood, I realized that I had too many business ideas and aspirations to ever commit to a typical 9-5 job. I knew I needed to find something that not only allows me to be creative, but that somehow, in some way, makes a difference.

My life passions are very broad. I have an almost-embarrassing addiction to television (but it’s okay because it’s technically research for writing scripts). I have spent over five years in the coffee business, feeding my addiction and becoming a total coffee snob. I love all things fashion and am a complete foodie that could talk your ear off about local restaurants, cooking techniques and cheese.

However, one of my biggest internal problems has always been, in my words, “Great, I have a lot of interests, now what?” I can’t tell you how many times a day I see articles where industry leaders are saying that all you have to do is be completely invested in a topic, write about it, and eventually you will see results because other people will also see your passion. Although I am still a little skeptical that this simple solution will turn out the results I am hoping for, I get their point: That if you are whole-heartedly invested in something, you genuinely care about the outcome, are knowledgable and want to help others obtain that same outcome, then people will listen to you.

Why It Matters

Throughout my soul-searching of figuring out the “now what?” I have realized that my broad range of interests can really be simplified into one main objective: Helping the brands that I love, support and believe in reach their business goals. I don’t write a blog every week to showcase a cool new skill that I’ve learned. I don’t tell potential clients that they need a new website just so I’ll have a paycheck. I don’t express the importance of inbound marketing and content creation as a way of trying to sell businesses on something they don’t need. I do these things because I truly believe and know from experience that I, the Catch22 team, and our design and inbound marketing peers, can make a difference in your company.

My story is not about what I can do for you and the services that I offer. It’s not about coming up with a completely original idea for a blog every week. It’s a story about helping businesses achieve their full potential. Just ask some of the amazing businesses we, at Catch22 have been lucky to work with such as Clear Peak, Oakwood Realty and Yess Yoga.