Ready, Set, Fail.

“Hello everyone!!! My name is Emma Still. I was born in New York state and I am writing this blog here to tell you all about who I am and what I think I love ballet, S.E.O., marketing, crafting, caramel & bacon (preferably together! LOL!1). I’ve been living in California since the beginning of 2012 and I just love it! However, I am adjusting to being the straight-forward, snarky, and sarcastic (how’s that for some alliteration!? Amiright!?) girl in a sea of… Californians…”

Okay, let me stop you there. See that up there? THAT is exactly what I don’t want this to be. This is my own personal project with goals behind it, and those goals aren’t to bore the shit out of you (let’s see how long that lasts). Anyway, you probably happened upon this site because you:

a) are my mom
b) are a friend
c) were forced against your will

…so you pretty much know everything there is to know about me. I’m warning you that this first post is, in fact, going to be about me, but I won’t bore you with the typical “I love ponies” “My cat is my best friend” mommy-blogger type of stuff. There’s bigger ideas and goals in mind. I know that you’re waiting on bated breath to hear the method behind my madness, so here goes.

Goals

I truly believe that if there isn’t a goal for a website, webpage, blog post, etc. it does not deserve to take up valuable real estate on the internet. Here’s a few of mine:

1) Develop Writing Skills

I can remember a time where all we did in school was write. And I loved it. I always got A’s in English and was proud of my writing. Then when I became a business/marketing major in college, focus was less on writing and more on data and reporting. So my writing has definitely taken a fall off the deep end. I would even dare to say that I hate writing now. It makes me anxious, and sweaty, and I even stress about writing the shortest of emails. Forcing myself to write will place me out of my comfort zone (a place that I have gotten way too… “comfortable” with). I’m not promising that every post will be an awesome piece of literature, or will have a great flow, but that’s the point. I want to mess up. And I want to push myself to become a better writer. Added bonus: the marketing, and particularly internet marketing and SEO, industry is under a massive push for a “quality content” revolution. As a marketer, it can’t hurt to be able to create a quality piece of writing.

2) Learn

As somewhat of a noob to the SEO industry, I’ll gladly admit that I don’t know everything. When working at an agency, sometimes you can get stuck within one school of thought. You’re working with your clients, and sometimes need to appease them, even if it’s not your ideal strategy. The goal behind my personal project is to be able to do whatever I want, and use it as a learning process. I’ve already learned so much at a job I never expected to have (and enjoy?!). By starting from scratch, generating content, and using this as a platform to test, I’ll be able to learn that much more.

3) Make Mistakes

I can’t wait until I break my site. I can’t wait to write an idiotic post that I laugh at a couple months later. I can’t wait to I look back and think, “What was I thinking?!”. This might be the biggest reason for beginning a personal project. I get to do whatever I want, with no one’s approval but my own. I can’t wait to fail. Often times when working with a client, blame can be placed elsewhere if it doesn’t succeed. I want the blame to be solely on myself. I will be responsible for the success, failure, or mediocrity of my own project.

4) Because I Have To

I know “Because I have to” is not a goal per se. But hear me out. As an internet marketer, not owning your own little corner of the internet to market yourself doesn’t really make sense.

This last “goal” ties in to all 3 of the previous goals. As an internet marketer, I have to learn to write and be able to express myself. I’ll never be able to do it for a client if I can’t even do it for myself. As an internet marketer, I need to be able to test all of my burning questions and theories in a totally free and open environment if I want to push myself to learn. And as a human being, I need to make mistakes in order to grow and learn. So this is my public platform for you to watch it all go down. Game on.

“Someone who gets better whenever he fails will always outperform someone who responds to failure by getting worse”. -Seth Godin