Blogging and Transitioning

I’m still musing on all this blogging, tweeting business and my test subject is none other than Pastor Deanna Shrodes. (Love you PD!) Marjorie left an excellent comment on my last blog post and am appreciative of her wisdom and knowledge. (Love you too Marjorie!)

My dilemma has been this, what to blog, how many blogs to have, and what to disclose? Do I write a personal blog or professional blog? One of the blogging rules is that your blog should have a purpose. A mission statement if you will. You should have a topic and stick to it so that you’re posts aren’t all over the place. It’s a given that some personal aspects should appear every once in awhile to let people know you’re human.

Pastor Deanna’s blog would be classified as a personal blog and and she has readers from all over the world. There are a couple of things PD does as a blogger that makes her blog successful.

Writes Everyday
PD writes everyday. Without. Fail. You will find new content every morning (sometimes in the evening). Even while she was jet setting to Africa for a speaking engagement, there was new content. This is adherence to blogging rule number one – write consistently.

Why I don’t
Sometimes a lot of life is happening and honestly it has no business being featured in a blog. Creating content that has nothing to do with what I’m currently going through is difficult. If I go back to my test subject, on those days PD usually posts a meme – some trivial set of questions to answer. She has posted for the day and her heart issues stay her own. Note to self: find meme’s to answer on days where blogging is difficult!

Subject Matter
Since PD’s blog is personal, one day you’ll read about the antics of Max and Maddie Shrodes (her bull dogs), a blog about the husband and kids, of course stuff about the church and then there’s the controversial stuff – like having to go to counseling at one point in her life and her struggle with a bout of depression. And then PD talks about sex. And nothing gets church folk’s panties in a bunch like a conversation on sex. So needless to say, PD has those who wish she would cease and desist on all the sex talk and blog about cooking. But then there are those who love her and appreciate her for this candidness. Marriages have been saved and sex lives improved. So what can you say?

I believe a good blog pushes its reader every once in a while and this she definitely does.

Why I believe this works for PD
PD has been a pastor, has been ministering for close to 20 years now. Until recently, this is all she did. She like many other full time ministers and pastors took jobs outside the church to help support themselves and their families.

I believe the fact that she’s settled in her ministry and professional life adds to her blogging success.

I’m a newbie in ministry – five years in the pastorate is still considered new and rightfully so! And my professional life is in the middle of a huge transition. I’ve got two very different sides to present and I’m experiencing inner blogging conflict. I unlike PD am not settled, yet. Employers are Googling potential candidates and making hiring or do not hire decisions based on what they find online.

Oh boy.

There’s absolutely no way I can hide Pastor Lisa. She’s already out there and I’m concerned about her finding a job. My business Web site has been converted to a multi-page blog and I have to be careful what I post. My goals and aspirations are all out there and it’s scary. Who has my resume and is reading all of this and decides not to hire based on what they find online? I had a recruiter tell me my business blog was great but not to forward to any hiring manager if I was looking for a graphic design job. So I’m thinking, even if I don’t forward the link, won’t they find it anyway if they Google me? And the information on my business site simply states that I’m transitioning from graphic designer to marketing professional. According to my recruiter that says, don’t hire her as a designer because she is transitioning and probably won’t be with your company long.

My thought process says, a marketing director, or marketing communications manager job is still a few years out. Graphic design is still what I do even though I’m transitioning. *DeepLongSigh*

So I’m Christian and not just a Christian but a Christian leader who is transitioning from one career to another and looking for a job all at the same time.

Lord have mercy.

The job market is tight for the 8.8 percent of us in the Houston area who are out of work or underemployed.

I tell myself that five years from now this won’t even be an issue.

In the meantime, I need to find a way to position myself professionally. Pastor Lisa isn’t going anywhere; I can’t hide her nor do I want too.

I wonder how the Apostle Paul would have handled ministry and a transition from tent maker to let’s say carpenter?

How do I present myself online to hiring managers?

What can I say, what shouldn’t I say on my business blog?

Typing this all out has been good therapy and am finally clear about this blog! LOL! It stays!

Now that other one…I don’t know…