Loyalty isn't Instant

I've been keeping an eye on our blog because I know I’m approaching 250 articles and I want to celebrate that milestone. I've been feeling pretty good about that. Four years of consistent blogging is an accomplishment, don’t you think?

Jessie Toope stands by the Girl Guide monument in Bowring Park in this 2010 photo.
Jessie Toope by Girl Guide monument in Bowring Park 2010.
Now, here’s some perspective. I just finished reading this article in The Telegram (St. John’s, NL) about my aunt who recently passed away. Among her many other accomplishments, she wrote the Guiding column for The Telegram for 50 years (starting the year I was born). During that time, she wrote over 2000 columns! (The link above includes her last column.)

In a world where we now seem to measure success in months and even weeks, 50 years and 2000 articles seems rather daunting.

I have seen, though, what a long term consistent approach can do for a small business, at least as far as newsletters and blogging go anyway. When you demonstrate your loyalty to your readers by being consistent over time, they become loyal in return. Once you have loyalty, you have fans. Doesn't every small business want fans?

 originally published in Work Better, Not Harder May 15, 2014

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