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Jaclyn Schiff is a journalist based in Washington, D.C. She is a full-time writer for a Web site that focuses on global health issues. Jaclyn has published articles in a variety of print and online publications and she blogs about Gen. Y at 
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New here? Employee Evolution is a blog written by Ryan Healy. Ryan is a Co-Founder of Brazen Careerist, the webs #1 social network for young professionals. Ryan speaks with organizations on best practices for recruiting and retaining Generation Y and how to effectively use social media to reach your target market. To contact Ryan, please visit our contact page.
If you’ve seriously considered blogging, you have probably come across lists and reasons why a well-maintained blog can be good for your career. The online exposure can lead to new job opportunities and there are numerous examples of people who have advanced in their careers or even changed careers because of blogging. Employee Evolution is a case in point.
For me, there’s something extremely satisfying about coming across a case in point or proof of concept. In blogging and virtually any other endeavor, ideas are the easy part. But the implementation, perseverance and business savvy required to move from concept to finished product are where the real challenges arise. So when it comes to blogs, I’m really impressed by individuals who start their own small operations and create something significant enough to capture the ever-expanding blogosphere’s attention.
Millennials around the world are championing this model and using blogs to raise their visibility and launch exciting careers. We’re certainly not the only generation doing it, but we are the first to have the opportunity to start our careers online. Blogs provide the opportunity to become a recognized expert pretty quickly. They accelerate the pace of networking and allow you to be evaluated based on your individual qualities. Conventional approaches to becoming established often take a lot longer. More simply put: it takes years to climb the corporate ladder, but your blog’s readership can explode in fewer than 12 months.
Case in point: the three millennial bloggers briefly profiled below. Although there are other comparable success stories, I’ve taken a special interest in these bloggers over time and have followed their successes. I learn so much from this stuff and I welcome comments with similar stories.
Samantha Brett - AskSam
In 2005, Brett published “Luv’n Txt: The Secrets of Text Appeal,” a book about technology and dating. It was so well received that she decided to approach the Sydney Morning Herald with the idea for a column. On Valentine’s Day 2006, Brett’s blog Ask Sam launched. It started receiving tens of thousands of page hits and hundreds of daily comments almost instantly. Brett quickly became Australia’s go-to-guru for relationship and dating advice. This visibility recently earned her an endorsement opportunity with Impulse True Love perfume. Since the launch of her blog, she has also published a second book and appears frequently in the Australian media.
Jon Ostrower - FlightBlogger
Last March, Ostrower, 24, started blogging about aviation. Flying had always been a passion and readers of his blog, FlightBlogger, quickly picked up on his affinity for the subject and detailed understanding of the flight industry. After just six months, FlightBlogger had accumulated almost 400,000 visitors and a loyal audience. It had become so popular that the aviation news and jobs Web site Flight Global brought Ostrower on board so that he could blog full-time. As I type, Ostrower is blogging away at the Singapore Airshow, typical of the assignments he gets in his new job.
Brian Stelter - TV Decoder
Stelter is probably the most well known on this list. His transformation from anonymous college freshman blogger to New York Times journalist has been well documented in the media. In 2004, Stelter launched CableNewser, which quickly became a staple for anyone who pays attention to the TV news business. After a few months, he began talks with Mediabistro.com and eventually joined the site. The blog was renamed TVNewser and Stelter started blogging for cash. He continued working on the blog until he graduated, establishing a solid reputation as a journalist and TV news expert. Nowadays, Stelter can be found writing and blogging for the New York Times, where he has worked since graduating from college in 2007.
There are so many success stories out there you could write a book called “How to Succeed in Life through Blogging” and fill it with case studies. I got my start in public relations because I started a blog about it, but I haven’t been able to make a career out of blogging…yet!
Jaclyn, very good and interesting examples. Did you find out about them through other blogs you subscribe to or do you know them personally?
Sounds like you have an interesting story Chris - would love to hear more.
Dan - Thanks! I found out about Stelter through Mediabistro.com. Sam is a former classmate from elementary school and I went to college with Jon.
I completely agree with the comment “I learn so much from this stuff.” Reading success stories is highly inspirational and motivating! Right now, I’m in the process of starting a company, and have been greatly influenced by the book Founders at Work. So much so, that I’m writing a serious about it (and the lessons learned from it) on my blog in hopes of inspiring other entrepreneurs. Thanks for the post!
Great post - very inspiring for newbie bloggers like myself just starting out. I think it’s interesting that in many of the successful blog stories people started them for fun, and then the money came. If you enjoy something, you continue to pursue it and put all your efforts into it, which then eventually reaps benefits.
My only question is so many people are starting blogs these days, so will we see an increase or decrease in blog success? Like, will it just become a passing .com trend that will eventually burn out? I hope not, but just thought I’d add that to the discussion.
@Chris Clarke
This is not related to the post but still pretty urgent, your link to your blog takes you to a wordpress installation page. Right now anyone who goes there can set your blog up to be something pretty funny. You should fix that.
blogs are the 21st century version of the resume
Diana, you bring up an interesting question. I think the explosion in the number of blogs doesn’t really make it easier / more difficult to become a successful blogger, it just makes the game a little different. I think it’s all about great, interesting, unique content… people respond really well to that no matter if it’s online or in print and I think blogs that offer substantive content are here to stay in some form or another… I think the big numbers just mean more competitiion and generally that’s a good thing, I think. It raises the bar for what is considered good or bad.
@jaclyn happy to chat anytime, Jaclyn. Email me at chris@studentpr.com anytime!
@Brad M thanks for the notice, I’m looking into getting it fixed. I tried to setup something funny (to see if anyone else could) but it didn’t work because my database appears to be broken.
Jaclyn,
Very enticing post. This is exactly the sort of information that those of us in the blogosphere thrive off of. Oppurtunity awaits us.
It seems that your first two examples each had a niche (dating and aviation), where as the third was a journalist, which can be considered a niche in itself. Thus, establishing blogs that deal with specific subjects which are also relevant, is one great way to approach a blog. Employee Evolution caters to the ambitous twenty set who want career advice (not to mention network),
I am inclined to think that blogging is bound to become a new dominant form of journalism, as newspapers are declining. I wonder how much room there will be for all those ambitious bloggers…
Todd, thanks for your comment!
In the case of all three blogger they started blogging about really good niches, which is an important part of setting yourself up for blogging success. Although Stelter is a journalist, he was blogging at first about cable news and then all TV news, definitely a niche there. Also worth noting, Brett is a journalist by training. I linked an article above which includes info. about her background. The blog subjects were all things they enjoyed writing about and were broad enough to have large audiences and specific enough to create a real connection between the bloggers and the audience, which I think is key.
I can tell that this is not the first time at all that you write about this topic. Why have you decided to write about it again?