This week I began working on a commitment of weekly marketing for my blog. As I built and modified text and images to market links to old content, I made certain to honestly represent the subject of the post. Honesty is a quality that many take for granted, but we all know when someone hasn’t been honest with us.
For example, a few weeks ago while browsing on YouTube, I came across a video that claimed to be about “## actors who are dying.” I’m not normally interested Hollywood gossip or news, but it caught my attention. How could over 20 actors in Hollywood be dying of illness, and I hadn’t heard anything about it? As I’ve gotten older, I don’t often care what Hollywood is up to, but this headline made me feel like I’d been living under a rock. That’s why I clicked to watch it.
Hook. Line. Sinker.
It had happened. I was drawn in by the clickbait. The content creator tricked me.
While there were indeed a handful of actors suffering from terminal illnesses, most of the actors were suffering from long-term – but not terminal – illnesses. A wise individual in the comments section had no problem pointing this out, and they called out the content creator of the video for their claims versus their results.
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight. (Proverbs 12:22, NKJV)
This is precisely what I don’t want to do to readers. I don’t want to use “false advertising” to draw in people and then offer something completely different. In fact, I’m still trying to figure out what my blog will ultimately be about. It’s had multiple iterations including leaving the library world, looking for work, career transition, and currently, becoming a freelance writer. My blog has grown with me over the last nine years, and I expect it will continue to grow with me. If I’m guilty of anything, it is probably confusing people with my myriad of interests and topics over the years.
As a Christian writer, I don’t want people to think I’m something that I’m not. As I have changed careers, I’ve had to provide various answers to what I’ve been doing because the tasks have changed. I don’t like to give people false answers, but it’s been hard since I had been a librarian for over 20 years. Now, I tell people I’m a writer, and if I’m doing something else, I explain why. My answers have changed with my career transition. The point is to be honest.
Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and a fool. (Proverbs 19:1, NLT)
If we draw people in with misrepresentation, we instantly create distrust. I’ve learned over the years to stop promising more than I can provide whether it is with family, friends, potential employers, or readers. I’ve learned not to say yes before carefully thinking through something. I’ve learned to say, “We’ll see,” when I’m not certain I can commit. Then I’ve learned to be honest about whether I can or can’t commit to it.
Marketing for a Christian should be just as honest as our dealings with our close family and friends. We shouldn’t offer results we can’t provide, and we shouldn’t give people a false representation of what we can and cannot do. I don’t claim to be an expert in changing careers. Instead, I’m the confused individual walking the crooked, bumpy path to becoming a freelance writer who is willing to share the ups and downs with everyone else in case it inspires (or amuses) someone.
It’s okay to be honest even if it means I lose out on a writing job because I cannot fulfill it. I’d rather be known for being honest than failing to provide what I promised. Honesty should serve us well in our careers, and the reality is that we don’t want to work with people who don’t value that quality. As you look for ways to move up in your career field or market yourself in a new career or business, keep honesty at the top of the list of character traits to maintain.
Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people. (Proverbs 11:3, NLT)
All Things Subject to Change 