A Blog Creates Career Stability

Yeah, I know...this can be debated until everyone involved is sick 'n tired of the topic. But I believe it even more now.

A writer / blogger whom I admire and follow every day (at least every day she writes), said these words ("A Blog Creates Career Stability") in her final column at Yahoo! Finance after the bigs decided not to renew her contract.

I've been blogging since Dec 2004, so I'd believe it even if Penelope hadn't penned the words. But my conviction is strengthened.

Here's an excerpt from PT's final YF column that succinctly summarizes my feelings regarding blogging and my current "career perspective:"

The blog is my own, and so is the community...The blog stays with me wherever I go, and that's important in a job market where people switch jobs every two or three years. A blog creates a network, and the network is yours. The conversation you create about your professional life is one that continues no matter what happens with your employer.

The workforce is extremely unstable today. There are layoffs, downsizings, de-equitizations, and bankruptcies. No one is guaranteed to have a job a month from now. Generations X and Y watched their parents' lives come undone when they depended on the workplace to provide stability in their lives. Today, people do that less and less.

We create our own stability in our lives by taking responsibility for ourselves. A blog is a great way to do this -- it's a professional platform that you have total control over, and you can use it to provide a home base when your work life feels like a game of dodge ball.

Rock on, PT!

Looking forward to more of the same at Brazen Careerist in 2008.