How Do You Stay Inspired Every Day?

Not to sound like a Baptist preacher, but we should all rise up, and give praise for the existence of the Internet. Every day. I mean really. Never before in history has it been so easy and inexpensive for you to share your ideas with an audience that could potentially number in the hundreds, thousands, or even millions.

Never before has it been so easy and inexpensive to get your product or service in front of prospective clients and customers. Never before has it been so easy to connect with people all over the world, and create new relationships. And it’s never been easier than right now for you build your personal brand, and make your mark on the world, even if in a relatively small way.

“We are going through a gold-rush of branding. In the old days to become a brand, you needed a lot of mainstream media attention. But now, if you get talked about enough in all the social webs; blogs, you can get there. You can build your brand; you company’s brand. But it all starts with that first moment when you look in the mirror … first moment. What do I want to do?” – Gary Vaynerchuk

I don’t know about you, but I spend a good 15 hours a day online. Most of it spent reading, writing, communicating and just generally doing business. And when you spend that much time online, it’s all too easy to take the Internet for granted.

I remember when I first discovered blogs and blogging many moons ago. It was sheer bliss. I appreciated the Internet. I cherished the opportunity to put my thoughts and ideas out there so quickly and easily. I couldn’t wait to get home after working 10 hours at a job I hated only to to spend several more hours typing away on my blog into the wee hours of the night.

I saw the Internet as my path to freedom. That metaphorical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The mechanism of my own personal emancipation proclamation. And eventually, that’s exactly what it turned out to be, because I was able to build an online business that allowed me to quit that job I hated, and work from home all day, every day. Or not, as I chose.

Eventually though, like many relationships that start out strong and passionate, the honeymoon came to an end, and I began to take the Internet for granted. Fortunately, someone occasionally comes along and issues a well-deserved wake-up call. My wake-up call came yesterday morning from David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR. And it came in the form of these words posted by Joe Pulizzi, who interviewed David recently:

“Before the Web came along, there were only three ways to get noticed: buy expensive advertising, beg the mainstream media to tell your story for you, or hire a huge sales staff to bug people one at a time about your products. Now we have a better option: publishing interesting content on the Web that your buyers want to consume.” David Meerman Scott

How about you? Who delivered your wake-up call? Who is the person or people who inspire you, and make you feel thankful that we live in a web-based world?