Natalie Zfat on Building a Personal Brand

A brave cadre of fearless self-starters are helping to redefine work as we know it. Natalie Zfat, of Natalie Zfat, Inc. is one such person.

After being laid off from her job several years ago, she didn’t go searching for a new one. Instead, she capitalized on her talent for blogging and social media, turning her personal brand into a thriving business.

Since then, major brands such as Dell, NBC, Google, the Food Network, Levi’s, and Amex have regularly courted her to create content for them.

Now, with a staff behind her and over 400,000 followers across her social media platforms, Natalie Zfat makes a full-time career out of writing about the things she cares about and loves.

How did you create a successful career out of being Natalie Zfat?

I originally started out writing at Rolling Stone. I wrote for them for about two years, during which time I cut my teeth, learned a lot, and gained great mentors in the editorial space. Eventually, I got laid off and I had to make some tough choices about what to next. I watched and participated as blogging and social media were quickly on the rise. It presented me with an interesting opportunity to parlay my writing skills into a digital format. That was really my first time thinking not just as a writer, but as an entrepreneur. Soon, a lot of brands started asking me to write for them, and like any good entrepreneur, I recognized the demand and created a supply.

Read the full interview here

Should I Blog Every Day?

I’m asking this question honestly.

The great marketing guru, Seth Godin does it. He blogs every single day, and he has thousands (millions?) of readers. There are people who won’t even start their workday without first checking out what Seth has to say as they sip their morning coffee.

Godin has made the case for blogging, stating that everyone should write a blog every day. He believes that blogging helps people get better at communicating and see the progression of their own ideas. He’s also a big believer in showing up consistently. Showing up again and again and again. And if you lose? According to him, the person who loses the most, wins.

People have argued with him that blogging every day is a bit unrealistic.

Seth Godin isn’t buying it.

In at least two interviews I’ve seen with him, Seth Godin expressed skepticism at the idea that it’s not possible to blog every day. “I write like I talk,” he explains. And you never run out of things to talk about. “Nobody I know gets ‘talker’s block,'” he said. It’s not like you wake up one morning and can’t talk, he argued. So, if you write like you talk, you will always have something to write about.

See clip from this interview (minute 9:30): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtfvZ_KOiZY

Still, blogging every day still isn’t easy. Hell, I find it hard to do it every week! You need to be disciplined and focused. You need to be thinking and forming opinions about subjects of interest on a regular basis.

This Hubspot article has some tips from Seth Godin about how to blog every day:

How Seth Godin Finds Time to Write Blog Posts Every Day 

Perhaps, I’ll try to implement some of these ideas. But part of me thinks that while blogging should be frequent and consistent, quality trumps quantity.

I agree with being consistent, planning, and sticking to a blogging schedule. But every single day? I’m wary of filler content and I don’t want to say something just for the sake of saying even during times when I don’t have anything meaningful or valuable to add.

I don’t have the answer to this question.

On the one hand, I found it very inspiring when he said in the interview linked above: “If you never run out of thing to talk about, you won’t run out of things to blog about.” On the other hand, I want to add value to the lives of my readers with very blog that I post, and I’m not sure I can do that if I force myself to blog every single day.

So, should I blog every day? Will you? Is it advisable?

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Please feel free to share your opinion in the comments!