Yesterday I wrote a post telling people that I was available for both interviews and questions. It may have seemed like a strange post to some, and I mentioned in that post that I was looking to increase my influence and find more topics to make videos about. But that’s not all, and I thought I’d talk about the rest of it in a secondary post.
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I’ve done a lot of interviews with other people. I’ve posted them on this blog, my Syracuse blog, and my business blog, Mitch’s Blog. The thing is that I’ve actually put out way more requests than that, and it’s that point where things have been a bit irksome for me.
As I write this I have 6 interview requests out there. Actually that’s not quite accurate. I have one interview requests and I’m waiting for 5 people with whom I’ve requested interviews from to respond to the questions so I can put them, well, somewhere. These are people that agreed to be interviewed, people I’ve already sent the questions to.
Now, I know people get busy, and I know I didn’t specify a time frame. However, when I sent the interview questions, I actually figured I’d get responses back in 1 to 2 weeks. This isn’t the case, though. Three of the interview requests are more than 3 months old at this stage, and I’ve sent them all followups. I figure it’s not going to happen, and that’s too bad because I think it would have been as good for them as it would have been for my blogs.
People are funny. They have these businesses and they say “I don’t know how to increase my sales or get people to know more about me”, and then an opportunity arises, it’s free, and they disappear. Months ago I put out a call to interview people for my business blog. In general it has a format that everyone has to adhere to, only 5 questions, and folks have to be independent or a small business for participation. I had one person who responded; now that’s a shame. I put it out on Twitter and I repeated it twice, and only one person? This from, at the time, almost 3,000 people who supposedly follow my stream? Even people I know didn’t pony up for it.
What does this say? To me it says people have no idea what an opportunity looks like. Sure, this blog might not have an Alexa rating under 10,000, but it is under 100,000 and that’s a pretty good accomplishment. According to Feedburner there are more than 250 people subscribed to this blog, and that probably means there’s at least that many people coming to the blog in other ways on a daily basis. Many of those people are consumers in some fashion, or looking for ideas, or are just interested in learning more about something or someone. And let’s face it, you never know when someone might reach out to you to ask for your services or products if they get to know you better, right?
This was on my mind when I wrote yesterday’s post. If others don’t want to jump on opportunities to get their name out there, to increase their influence and possibly affect their income, I’ll take their place. Strangely enough, a couple of days ago I was listening to an interview I did with someone 4 years ago talking about SEO and websites, and the good thing is that interview is still out there affecting someone’s life; okay, maybe not but I can dream. lol One just never knows.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled reading. 😉
Mitch, I’ve contacted more than 20 people, regarding interviews in the last 3 months. I got 2 replies and 2 interviews. You gave me the first one and the 2nd one is a person that I know for about a year. Actually I got a 3rd confirmation from somebody that I have worked with for 6 years. The other 2 replies were – contact me after 2 months (wow, I think this is a bit nasty) and the 2nd reply actually I am quite thankful is from very popular blogger which most likely will give me this interview. Well, I guess people are busy or just don’t understand that this is free promotion.
Carl, it’s a strange thing but some people may feel they’re above it as well, or question your motives. There’s another person that talks about blogging a lot who I asked for an interview. She told me to schedule it with her secretary, even though we’d been talking to each other directly for a bunch of emails and messages. I decided I didn’t want it that badly; maybe wrong on my part but come on, I was going to be sending the questions via email; why would I need to talk to a secretary for that?
This really sounds a bit odd. Long time ago, when I worked as a reporter, it was a sport to chase somebody for interview, but for online interviews, I don’t really think that it is that worthy as there are many reputable people in business.
Carl, I just get the feeling that people say they’ll do it being nice, and then just let it go, act like they never got it, and move on with life. I was chasing people but I’m going back into the mode where I’m saying if they don’t want the publicity, then I won’t help them get it.
Hi! just to share a piece of my thought. There are some people who doesn’t give much attention to offers until the day they need it much. So don’t be annoyed if they emailed you back after 2 months.
Thanks Mardile. One can only hope that most people get the idea of having dual benefits, and getting the word out on what they do. To me, being asked to do an interview is a pleasure.
Hi Mitch,
Wonderful post by the way, I have read one of your interviews and I really learn from it. I’m still new in the blogging business and still in the process of learning. Reading interviews of experts like you is like studying a course in this business. Can you tell me if ever you have an interview again? and if you post it?
Hi Betsy, and thanks for the words. Although I’ll put it in a post later, I just had another interview post today: http://www.techatlast.com/mitch-mitchell-interview
I’ve only just stumbled across your blog, after reading a comment you made on Linda Grace’s blog. I havent had time to absorb all of what you have written, but your honesty is clear to see in your articles. With so much competition out there, and especially in the blog blog writing sphere, an Alexa ranking under 100,000 seem healthy. I have to say I would not have the confidence to issue interviews, so I think you will find success with your offer. Good luck.
Richard, I’m sure you and most other people have something you can contribute to others through an interview. Just have to find the right people asking the right questions, and you might have to help them a little bit with topics.