Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Things I Love: Other Bloggers
The tradition continues. It’s only the second week, but to do something two weeks in a row like I said I was going to do? It feels like a major victory.
My invented tradition is #ShareSunday, or #SS if you’re going to play along. My idea is to highlight some of the best blogs I discovered during the week or to highlight my favorite blogs – blogs I frequent. Last week it was Write Now! Coach, my sister’s MomRunsHalf blog, and Real Life Husband.
This week, I’m going to tell you about the head of the MSU Alumni Association, Seth Godin, and spunkybean.
Scott was introduced to me by a friend, Jeff S., while at work. My friend and I are huge Michigan State Spartan fans and when he learned I love writing and social media he said, “you need to meet my friend Scott,” who just so happened to be the head of the MSUAA. Scott spent years in the private sector and I can only assume he was a beloved boss, valued and respected co-worker, and visionary. His weekly blog is always there and his advice is timeless and perfect regardless of your walk of life. His blog entries have been converted and re-purposed into two books. He’s like a mini-Seth Godin (see next paragraph). Scott reminds me that it’s OK to pursue your passions and dreams. He obviously (a) loves writing, (b) loves the science of motivation and management, (c) loves being a Spartan, and (d) loves sharing the music he loves with anyone who cares to listen (shame on me for not downloading his podcast, yet). Every Sunday night, without fail, he blogs something and it gets my week jump-started.
I’m going to tell you about this guy as I’ve come to know him. Maybe this won’t be his actual story, but I think it’s close. Seth Godin is a major player in advertising, branding, and blogging. He’s written multiple books, all of which are fairly brilliant. The only thing about marketing and branding that never changes is that it’s always changing. Seth saw the change a’ comin’, and he made himself a thought-leader. He did it through this blog. Through consistency. His ideas were so great, people started begging him to teach them. He proves the theory – content is king. Consistency is queen. Do these two things, and you’ll build yourself a kingdom, no matter what you’re doing. In a world where everyone will tell you, “oh, you have to be optimized and you need keywords and embedded links to rank on Google”, Seth proved them all wrong. You need a story. Tell your story, and tell it often, and people will hear it. Heck, look at his blog’s URL …it’s the same blog he started with. His entries aren’t full of hyperlinks and pictures and trackbacks. He just tells us a story about how marketing can work, and you’ll want to read it every day.
His latest book, We Are All Weird, is waiting at the library for me, today, and I’m going to ride my bike up there and grab it this afternoon.
Many of you are probably rolling your eyes, right about now. “Don,” you ask? “Seriously, you’re going to tell us one of your favorite blogs is spunkybean, which is your own blog?” Well, yes, I am. But not for the reasons you think. It’s a success story in spite of me. It’s a success story because of EJ and Myndi, the co-authors who refuse to surrender, no matter what. And that, my friends, is how you succeed as a writer and blogger. spunkybean’s also a success because of Mike W., who taught himself all the back-end stuff (like SEO and meta-data) so EJ and Myndi could focus on writing about things they love …television and TV shows. 
Mark my words …before it’s all said and done, EJ and Myndi are going to be full-time entertainment writers. spunkybean was founded 6 years ago by a friend of mine. He read my blog entries on my personal blog about American Idol. He said, “hey, I’m creating a pop-culture website and you can write your blog entries there.” I said, “yes.” Then I recruited a few other writers, and snagging EJ and Myndi was one of the more (only) brilliant moves I’ve ever made. You can’t have a TV-related blog if you only love one show (which, for me, was American Idol, still is Survivor, and to a lesser extent, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette). EJ and Myndi are perfect examples of people who write about what they love. So what if it’s TV and everything that’s ever existed on TV. They aren’t alone. And with their content, and Mike’s SEO stuff, nearly 10,000 readers stop by every month to hear what EJ has to say about Batman and Venture Brothers, and what Myndi loves about Dancing With the Stars, Big Brother, and anything else awesome on TV.
Why you should read it? Because you’ll see what true passion and love looks like. Read what I said about Seth Godin, again, and you’ll see …a blog can succeed without banner ads and SEO tricks …it just needs content born of passion, enthusiasm, and love.
There you have it. Three blogs that kick some serious butt. Three blogs I read and that make me a better blogger (and, yes, I still blog at spunkybean from time to time).
Thanks for reading. Wanna know how I can say anything in 140-characters or less? Follow me and talk to me on Twitter @donkowalewski.
Don Kowalewski 