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Many bloggers dream of becoming influential. Because, they think, they’re going to change the world.
And they can – but not in every possible way.
Darren Rowse, “arguably Australia’s most famous blogger”, was recently interviewed on “Aussie Bloggers” and said:
“That’s why I don’t do memes; that’s why I rarely refer people to other sites which may be calling for donations for worthy causes. If I open that door, I will (and do) get flooded.“
I understand and empathize with what Darren is saying. Once you have ‘influence’, everyone wants a bit of you. And your network or connections.
When the clamor for ‘you’ gets overwhelming, it’s tempting to blank it all out – but that means your influence goes waste, stays under-utilized, lies dormant.
And that is NOT what being influential is about. You try and leverage your influence to get the MOST benefit, make the GREATEST impact, help the WORTHIEST causes within the scope or agenda of your own plan and dream.
I focus most of my fund-raising and awareness building efforts on Congenital Heart Disease – children with heart birth defects. But that doesn’t mean I don’t support or vociferously endorse other worthy charities.
- I speak up about helping children in Cambodia get better education.
- I mention Darren’s Movember effort to raise funds for prostate cancer.
- I sport a ‘pea-vatar’ on Twitter in support of Susan Reynold’s fight against breast cancer.
And I also turn down requests to support other worthy efforts.
The hardest thing to do when you have influence is to say “No”.
The most important thing to learn is also how to say “No”.
Then, you can maximize your influence – and really change the world, in every way you want to.
{ 1 comment }
Dr. Mani this is an important point – learning to say no. The other point is — if a blogger is influential – but not authentic or passionate about the cause – it doesn’t do much for the cause. So, if someone who really cares about your cause and has a technorati rating of 100 helps you — versus someone with technorati rating of 1000 helps you but isn’t really into it — the person with “less influence” will probably motivate more people to actually donate.
I don’t have proof!
So, it leaves me with the question – should those of us who are raising with money on the social web – use our time to reach out to “influentials”?
Anyway, I am very appreciative of your support – both as a donor and including links like above to my cause.
Thank you again
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