Raise your hand if someone (anyone) has ever told you, "You're doing it all wrong!".
People feel comfortable sharing opinions about your strategies and tactics even if they don't know your goals or objectives.
Let's establish the difference between a goal and an objective:
Goal: A goal is an outcome you want to achieve.
My goal for When Everybody Clicks was to be a curious thought leader and to learn. That is still the goal.
Objective: An objective is a specific and measurable action that can be reached in a specific and usually shorter amount of time.
My objective has been to host a website and blog and write a book in support of that goal.
Strategies & Tactics: Strategy is the action plan that takes you where you want to go. Tactics are the individual steps and actions that will get you there.
My primary strategy is to interview people smarter than me so I can learn. I write about that learning because it forces me to turn that learning into insights.
Yet, I constantly have well-meaning folks telling me, "You're doing it all wrong!"
You have to have LOTS of subscribers!
NO ONE will take you seriously if you host your site on Wix.com!
You have to have a HUGE reach!
You have to rank for MANY keywords!
You CAN'T talk about...your family, politics, food...you can only talk about Marketing!"
It's ridiculous shenanigans for anyone (even your mom, favorite peer, or best friend:) to weigh in on your strategies without understanding the goal and objectives.
Writing is challenging and soul-affirming work. I'm not as good at it as some amazing writers and journalists I admire, but it still brings me joy and helps me meet my goal when people read something I wrote and talk to me about it. I keep learning when we have those conversations.
So if you are passionate about doing something that educates you and brings you joy, but you're holding back because someone has told you you'll do it all wrong, remember whose goal it is...it's yours.
Notes:
Wix has gotten way better at SEO in the last decade.
I'm currently working on interviews for my next iteration of the book which will focus on mission-driven organizations (healthcare, non-profits, and retail businesses with a mission other than money).
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