It’s Monday. I’m home from BlogHer. I miss San Francisco. I listened to fascinating stories. I talked too much. I lost my voice. I didn’t sleep there. I slept here until 10 this morning. I am not back on central standard time. I did upload some images. Here is one, taken in Union Square.
And, I’m in a mild state of shock.
On Friday, my blog was named to Alltop’s PR list. What’s 14 x 3? Oh yeah, it’s 42. That’s how many PR blogs Alltop lists today.
On Saturday, I made it into the AdAge150, coming in at 467.
And on Sunday, I came in at number 32 on a world’s top 50 PR blog list.
This is all well and good and I am pleased as punch, if only to prove that what the heck? I guess I do know what I’m doing. . . and yet, I silently wonder:
Am I good enough?
Who am I to be at the top?
What do these rankings really mean?
And, in the end, what does it matter?
Today what matters is that my clients get the attention they deserve, my family gets some kind of attention from me – at least a hug or kiss or two, the bird feeder is on full, the cat can find her catnip cigar and I’m on time for the finance committee meeting at church tonight.
You betcha, I’ll list these rankings. But, I won’t pose as a world-ranked PR guru. Because, really I’m not- yet, anyway.
I am a person who helps people tell their stories.
One of my most gratifying moments came near the end of BlogHer. Someone found me and asked me to help a young woman conquer her public speaking fears. Although she was comfortable speaking to thousands from a stage as protestor, she was petrified of talking about business to a small group of supportive local business owners. Security stopped by to ask us to leave – twice. The party was almost over. But our conversation was too important to end our discussion.
Being comfortable delivering your message to the intended audience is a huge roadblock: I hope I helped her move it and I hope that everyone who stops by here is somehow inspired to be who they want to be and then talk about who you are to the people who want or need to listen.
And, I really, really want to congratulate all the other PR bloggers on all the lists for being the brightest PR beacons that burn through the fog.
