I'm Just Sharing

After reading Problogger’s article 20 Types Of Pages That Every Blogger Should Consider, I decided that one of the pages I was going to add was an About page. I’ve just added the link to it, but it’s actually above here, in the title of the name of my blog, which is I’m Just Sharing, next to the link containing my series on Blogging. I also added a Contact page, though it’s somewhat non-traditional.

However, I’ve wondered if anyone ever goes to the About page to learn about the person writing the blog. I have to admit that I used to do it all the time, but now I probably do it 25 – 30% of the time. The reasons I don’t go as often as twofold: one, because I visit so many blogs and post on so many that I don’t usually stop to take time to learn more about the writer, and that’s a shame; two, because most of the time there’s very little written there, and then I feel like I wasted my time. I know some blogs come with the About link already set up, which includes the new template of my business blog (which, I admit, I can’t figure out how to get to, so instead I changed the color so it blends in with the rest of the line), so maybe it’s not totally their fault for not filling it in. Still, it’s there, and I figure it should have some purpose.

So I have an About page here, but it doesn’t tell the whole story about me. This will be the only post where I say more about myself than my About link says, mainly because I want the About link to only concentrate on this blog, and not me personally. I do include a link to my business biography, if you’re so inclined to learn that much more about me, but here’s a different take.

My name is Mitch Mitchell; no, my parents didn’t name me that, but very few parents actually name their kids that, so almost every single Mitch Mitchell you know has a different first name, including the guy who was the drummer for Jimi Hendrix (whose real name was “John”, and other than him I’m the only “Mitch Mitchell” that shows up on Google in the top 15!). I am a consultant; that’s the easy part. I consult in different fields, though, and I make a living in all of them, to a degree.

My main business is as a health care finance consultant. Being more specific, I help hospitals make money. I do that by finding out where they’re missing it and help them capture it. I help their profitability so that they can survive, and I like to think I’m pretty good at it. I helped one hospital find over $2 million dollars in a 30 minute phone call. I helped another make $730 million dollars over the course of a year; I’m not bad, I’d say.

My secondary business is in leadership, management, and diversity. I’ve done seminars and speaking engagements across the country on these topics and other topics related to it. I also do business coaching.

My tertiary business, as if I not already doing enough, is in building websites for small businesses and doing their search engine optimization work, with a company I call SEO Xcellence. I have a few monthly clients whose sites I maintain and work on trying to keep them relevant, which can be difficult when you can’t get them to keep writing new content, but so be it. I’ve also spoken on that topic, and of course I’ve hawked the little ebook I wrote enough times, Using Your Website As A Marketing Tool.

So, that’s three businesses for one guy; you’d think that would be enough, wouldn’t you? But no, I have one more area to try to conquer; I’m working hard at being an internet marketer. You might ask why I’m doing this, with the other businesses I have going. Well, one, I do a lot of traveling, and sometimes I’m gone for months at a time. Next year I hit a milestone birthday, and frankly, if I’m going to travel for business I’d like it to be more on my terms than someone else’s. Two, it would be nice if I could establish that base of residual income so I could be more choosy in what outside assignments I take. Three, the marketing is so much more different online than it is offline, though I haven’t totally figured it out just yet. Offline there’s a lot of phone calls, letters, postcards, networking meetings, etc. Online, if you do it right, you do almost everything from the comfort of your office, and if it’s even better, you don’t even have to be around while the money is being made.

Frankly, that appeals to me greatly, which is why I keep buying books like Adsense Secrets, participating in programs and forums like Self Starter Weekly Tips (by the way, the moderator of that forum, Lynn Terry, holds a free weekly call, and on Tuesday I got some great information from that call), and creating sites like Medical Billing Answers.

And of course, it also explains why I keep blogging, and reading and commenting on other blogs. I have a lot more to learn and a lot more to share. And now, I’ve shared a bunch about myself, and there’s still more in my About tab above, if you haven’t gotten enough of me yet. Think about creating something like those two tabs, or pages, for your own blog, and every once in awhile, take the time to look at them on other blogs you visit.