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Blogging Advice

Having an Opinion is More Important than Being Right

By 10/30/2013July 25th, 201815 Comments

I’m so excited that Penelope and I are doing this blogging seminar together that I asked her to write part of the post to include with the one I wrote the other day. Then, after she sent it over, I called her and said “How do I marry them together?”

“They don’t really go together”, she said.  “Okay, I’ll post yours after mine.” I told her.

Here’s Penelope’s post:

Maria and I spend hours talking on the phone about blogging. At some point in one of our conversations I thought to myself, ‘We should charge to listen to us’.

But I never did anything about it. Well, I did other things. I moved to a farm and called Maria and had to have her to convince my husband to paint the woodwork white. “Oh, this happens all the time!” she said. “Men are so attached to wood!”

Then she picked my paint colors and made my house look amazing.

Penelope's House

Maria Killam & Penelope Trunk

So I invited her to my house. Well, actually, come to think of it, I did not invite her. She invited herself. I was so excited to march her through my house making each room a little better.

That happened. But here’s what else happened:

I had a fight with my husband and I threw a wine bottle at the wall. Don’t tell me about violence being bad, okay? Duh. I know throwing stuff at the wall is ridiculous. I want to also add that my husband was practicing avoidance and giving me the silent treatment without admitting it. But it would be immature of me to tell you that throwing the bottle was justified.

Penelope's Blue

So I’ll just tell you that it created an opportunity to choose a new paint color, so thank goodness Maria was there. I asked her if we should choose a more muted blue than the one we originally had. She said “Oh! No! Bright colors are the trend, you should not go muted now. It’s too late for that.”

She was right.

She was also right that I needed to give my husband emotional space so that he could find some emotions to share with me.

Maria was right about a lot of things. Which is why we’re doing this seminar together. Together, we are maybe right all the time, and definitely spunky even if we are not right.

Actually, we will cover that exact topic in the blogging seminar: it’s more important to have an opinion and explain how you got there than it is to be right. And honestly, we are not right all the time anyway. But being right all the time is a sign of being boring because it means you’re not taking any risks.

Maria will want me to tell you that I have launched four investor-backed startups and my most recent  is Quistic, where this webinar will take place. And that I make over $200,000 a year from my blog and it’s not from banner ads, okay?

We are not going to talk about banner ads in this seminar. We are going to talk about using a blog to create a business you love. And using a blog to make friendships that can withstand a bottle of wine exploding on the wall.

Having an Opinion is More Important than Being Right

Register here.

Some of my favourite Penelope posts:

Blogging Essential for a Good Career

Is it Time to Quit your Job?

How to Build a Career as an Artist

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk up to the front door, become a client. On-line or In-person.

Download my eBook, How to Choose Paint Colours – It’s All in the Undertones to get my complete step-by-step system on how to get colour to do what you want.

To make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!

If you would like to learn how to choose colour with confidence, become a True Colour Expert. 

15 Comments

  • Kathy says:

    Agree about having an opinion. If you love what you’ve done in your own house, it doesn’t really matter what other people think of it because they aren’t there living in it everyday. Glad to hear you both love what you do….

  • Katy says:

    congratulations to both of you for finding something you love and making a life around it! what color blue is that?

  • Amen! I have not even read your post yet but I had to reply!!

  • Robin says:

    Great to see two of my favorite bloggers collaborating!
    The same is true in business – have an opinion. That is why people work with you/buy from you. When you are truly yourself, you will attract customers because they want what YOU have to offer. When you try to sell against your competitors, or are afraid of the competition, customers are a bit confused and they start complaining about your prices.

    You can quote me on that if you like!

  • Beth L says:

    I didn’t realize two of my must-read bloggers even knew each other! Can’t wait for the class (already signed up). One concern I have is that I’m NOT a strongly opinionated person, & I’m not terribly “original,” yet people seem to enjoy my newsletters. So we’ll see!

  • Maria, I am so happy for you both. :)! I am sure your efforts will encourage a lot of bloggers and business people. I agree with your ideas here. You so often told me that I needed to find a ‘niche’ and well.. I did! I have blogged all year.. and no, the numbers are not big, but I’m being true to myself and it feels ‘right’. Opinions are expressions of our uniqueness and people will always be drawn to that as Robin says. It makes me smile to see the real you shine through your posts as it always does. 🙂

  • Agnes says:

    Two of my favorite bloggers together?!?! Niiiice. You both have provided me with so much inspiration. Thank you for that.

  • Fran says:

    You and Penelope are a dynamic duo! Congrats on your blogging seminar!

  • Loribeth says:

    Okay. I REALLY want to attend this. How do I convince my husband to let me spend that much?

    • Maria Killam says:

      Well here’s how I look at money I spend on training, you’re guaranteed to save or make the money you spend on the course probably many times over.

      How much money have you saved (or made) from reading my blog? That’s a pretty good clue if the course will do the same for you 🙂 Maria

      • Loribeth says:

        I’m fully sold on it. I just don’t know how to present it to Jim in a way that will fly. He hasn’t read you blog. However, he DOES blame you for his oak cabinets being painted white!!! LOL

        I’ll work on him. Maybe that “honey please” you talked about the other day would work!!

  • Christine says:

    I love this – ” it’s more important to have an opinion and explain how you got there than it is to be right.” Thank you!

  • SandyCGC says:

    Maria, the minute I read the title of the post, I remembered your recent post on designers (or friends) telling a client/friend to “buy whatever you like” (or “I know you’ll find the right thing” or some similar cop-out). Penelope is so right – one needs to have an opinion but she’s also so right that one needs to explain or back up that opinion, and I think how one does that is also extremely important. Don’t tell me “You need to…” (I don’t take orders); don’t say “If I were you, I’d… (you’re not me); do say “I think… because…” (I’m much more likely to consider), or even better, “Have you thought of…because…” (now I’m sort of empowered and that’s always a good feeling).

  • Kay Perret says:

    omg, I love you already. That you can admit you fired a wine bottle across the room, well, lets just say I can relate. (No walls or husbands were harmed, I happened to be holding a dish towel…)

    Looking forward to the webinar.

    Thanks!

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