Have you ever read a book that was so good that, by the time you were done reading it, half the pages were dog-eared? For me, “Platform” by Michael Hyatt turned out to be one of those books. This means I have a ton of assignments for myself to implement. By following the author’s step-by-step guide, I will be able to make improvements on how I approach social media.
A relevant book – that is written with passion and care – can make you begin to view the world differently. So how did this book change my thinking and what would I do differently, you might ask?
- Well, as a starter, before reading “Platform,” I never thought that I would get serious about Twitter. His book finally convinced me that I must incorporate Twitter if I were to establish a meaningful presence among those who have similar interests as I do and be a part of that community. Finding my target audiences via Twitter, engaging in meaningful exchange of ideas and conversations with them, will be of tremendous value. In particular, on the topic of investing, reaching out to baby boomers who are concerned about retirement is critically important. Driving them to my investing blog will be of value to them as well as to me. They get to learn lessons I have learned since 2000. In turn, I get to build an e-mail list of those who are interested in the subject so that when the sequel to my autobiography – which focuses primarily on investing – is ready, I will have a built-in target audience.
- There are some obvious improvements that I can make on my website as well – to make it more visitor-friendly. So you will be seeing some changes over time.
I’m dying to connect with the author, Michael Hyatt, via Twitter and let him know how valuable I thought his book was. But it will have to wait for a couple of reasons – although I have a hunch that he may find this article via Google Alert regardless.
- First and foremost, I’ll need to implement at least some of what he suggests in his book.
- Second, there is one suggestion – which he considers critical – to which I remain resistant despite the fact that he makes a convincing case for it. He suggests that we must post at least two to three times per week. With all due respect to the author (and to my dear granddaughter, Jessica, who has been telling me the same thing since the beginning in August 2011), I run my own multiple investing businesses, in addition to being an author. Earlier this year, I have made a commitment to post once a month. As of July 2012, that commitment doubled – although it still remains one per topic per month – to two of the topics on my website: marketing and investing. I am not one to make commitments I cannot keep.
That being said, when some of the author’s suggestions in “Platform” will have been implemented, I expect to be able to use that same time slot for additional posts – if I so choose. The author even provides a blog-post template in “Platform” – so that increasing the frequency should be relatively painless. Before deciding to increase the frequency of posts, however, I will need to be convinced that enough people’s needs are being served by more frequent posts on my part. As noted in one of my earlier posts called, “In the beginning…,” I believe in the alignment of what’s important to me and how I spend my time each day. If I can be of service to others by doing what I do for myself any way, that would be ideal.
In conclusion, I scheduled to implement many of the suggestions in “Platform” every weekday – until completed. I also scheduled to re-read “Platform” in September 2013 to see (1) how engrained social media will have become part of my regular mode of operation, (2) what elements I neglected to implement from the book but should, and, most importantly, (3) if I will have made solid progress toward positioning myself to be well known in my niche market as a result of what I learned and will have implemented. That’s time commitment. That’s how much I value what I just read in “Platform.”
I thank Steve Harrison of Bradley Communications Corp. for recommending this book to me.
