What’s the Point?

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I’ve been invited to be a Panelist at the Canadian Chiropractor Business and Professional Growth Forum at McMaster University in June.  The panel discussion will be surrounding Social Media and its role as a business tool.  I was asked to participate primarily because of my blog, but I must admit, I feel like a bit of an impostor.

An impostor, because the primary purpose of my blog is not business-building.  Far from it- in fact, it has very much become a hobby, a passion, a creative outlet.  I would be writing this blog whether I was a waitress, a scientist, or a stay-at-home-mom.  I look forward to clicking ‘publish’ every Tuesday morning, and I have a notepad on my bedside table for when ideas wake me up at night.  Certainly it has helped to grow my business, as perhaps it’s made my name come to mind (and to Google) when people think of ‘Burlington’ and ‘chiropractor’, but that’s been a bonus effect rather than the ultimate goal.

I’ve always loved to write, and this blog began nearly two years ago when I was starting my six-month maternity leave with my daughter.  I had been considering my own website, and a blog seemed like a nice way to personalize it and keep it current.  The feedback I received was encouraging, and to my surprise, my readership grew quickly.  A year into it, Momstown asked me to be a Guest Blogger for their National site, and my ‘Letter to My Husband‘ and ‘I Hope you Always‘ posts became #1 and #3 respectively on their 2013 most-read list.  DR.WOROBEC.COM now averages about 2000 readers/month; some posts have hit hot buttons (‘I am a Chiropractor‘) and some have fallen flat (‘6:00 AM‘), but I can genuinely tell you that I’ve been proud of each one.  My writing fills the creative gap in my life that I didn’t even know was missing.

So, like I said initially, I feel like an impostor at the upcoming forum.  But maybe that’s a good kind of panelist to be.  Authentic.  Genuine.  Honest.  I’m what-you-see-is-what-you-get.  Perhaps that’s the point.

Cdn Chiro conf

For interest’s sake:

  • ‘Break the Silence‘ was my most personal post and the only one I’ve questioned publishing.
  • ‘Gifts and Gifts and Gifts, Oh My!’ is my favourite post.
  • ‘The Blogs of 2013‘ was the most fun to write.
  • Most reads in one day: 3190 (‘I am a Chiropractor‘) on Sept 27/2013.
  • I get nasty, rude comments on a post every few months, but I need to ‘approve’ each comment before it’s posted on the site, so you never see them.
  • My husband is my editor.
  • 319 people receive weekly blog post updates by email.  Join them by clicking ‘Follow’ at the bottom of this site.

Then the most incredible thing happened.

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The most incredible thing happened at my gym last week.

It was an 8pm workout on a Monday night.  I had come straight from a busy day at work, and dragged myself there somewhat begrudgingly.  It was cold, it was windy, it was snowy.  I hadn’t eaten dinner yet and the assigned workout did not play to my strengths.  My couch was calling my name.

I went through the warm-up, some burpees and duck-walks and bear crawls, all things I love to hate.  Onto mobility.  Shoulder mobility.  The majority in attendance took their pullup bands to the main rig to begin going through the drills.  Myself and two others ended up on the other side of the gym, away from the group.

“Do you blog for Momstown?” she said.

I turned my head to see a friendly face that I didn’t recognize.  “Yes I do” I replied, “how do you know that?”

“I’ve been following your blog.  In fact, you’re one of the main reasons I decided to come here.”

You should’ve seen my face.  I was shocked and floored and flattered all rolled into one.  She went on to explain that she’s been reading my blog regularly and since I blog about Crossfit often, okay very often, she wanted to try it herself.

“I thought to myself, she’s a mom, she works, and she can do this stuff.  So can I!” she said.

So there you have it.  All this time I’ve been writing… all 82 posts… all those should-I-publish-this or shouldn’t-I-publish-this moments were worth it.  Because it made a positive effect.  It did some good.  It helped someone.  I’ve been writing this blog because I love to write, I love to share my views, I love to see the feedback.  I love the encouragement and the criticism and the debate.

Then the most incredible thing happened.

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The Social Media Powerhouse

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Oh, the power of Social Media…. I have been witness to this over the past few days.

I wrote a blog post called ‘I am a Chiropractor‘ more than a year ago, and this week it was picked up by a couple of Facebook Groups and went viral.  My blog, that usually has a few hundred people reading it each week, got nearly 6000 hits in just three days.  Wordpress provides me with some detailed analytics, and it was interesting to learn that:

  • 86% of the people who read my blog only read that one post.
  • 48% of readers were from Canada, 41% from the United States, and 11% were from all corners of the world.
  • 7 people left comments in the Comments Section.
  • 5 other bloggers ‘Liked’ that post.
  • 3 people signed up to receive email alerts for new blog postings that I publish.
  • 5% of people read the ‘About Me‘ section of my website.
  • 4% of people viewed my Home Page.
  • 13 new people ‘Liked’ my Facebook Page.
  • 4 new people ‘Followed’ me on Twitter.

It was a fun experience from my end, seeing people’s reactions to the words that I wrote, and seeing the cascade of online sharing that began.  In general, the feedback was very positive.  And then this email rolled into the ‘Pending Moderation’ file in the Comments Section and changed the mood:

“Sorry, but you’re not a real doctor, you’re not a “body mechanic”, and chiropractic most certainly isn’t evidence based medicine.”

But here’s another fun part: it’s my blog.  I get to decide the content and comments that are published.  And I chose to mark this one as ‘Spam’.

And now, back to the fun…

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