On Being Valuable
Saying something useful in a visually saturated world
In the fog of doubt and existential ‘what am I doing with my life?’ thoughts that fill my mid-40s mind at the moment, I’ve managed to connect some positive dots this week, with the help of a few things: words of wisdom from a stranger; the art of Barbara Kruger; and something very lovely that one of you said to me.
First up, the stranger. Although she doesn’t feel so much like a stranger because I’ve been reading her weekly emails for years now. She’s called Helen Perry, and she gives advice on small business marketing — building mailing lists, social media strategies, content creation, that sort of thing. I also know about her puppy, I know about her piles of washing, her weekend plans, her skiing holidays, and what she watches and listens to for business and pleasure. When her email lands I always open it. I’ll usually find something valuable in what she shares but mainly I just love how she says it.
In this week’s email Helen told me about how she hasn’t really posted on Instagram at all this year. She used to put out a lot of small biz content, and it was really useful stuff. She has been wondering whether anyone had noticed that she had stopped posting. To be honest I hadn’t.
