800,000 Points Begins With The First Step!

It all began on a day when I was researching about blogging on the internet to actually help other real estate agents. It was getting quite depressing in my tiny deep dark cave in micro-section of blogger.com surrounding by what seemed nothing more than an echo. 

The spider bots led me on a path that was sprinkled with a trail of crumbs from forum to forum.  I was in Hansel and Gretel trying to find my way home, but to which home was the question? Where would I fit in? Hard to know when the lack of feedback on a lonely blog somewhere in this vast internet has barely a comment or two. 

How else would I find a common friend, a site where I would feel at home and a place where my paying it forward would be greeted with gratitude rather than disdain and jealousy? 

This path of crumbs turned into nuggets of gems and gold. 

I lived in Hawaii for five years and love it more than anywhere else I have been or lived in this world. It was not a mere chance that these nuggets would lead me to Sally Cheeseman's blog on a site called Active Rain. It all came together for me. I read Sally's blog for a while immersed in memories of Hawaii and basking in the rich history of Hawaii that Sally so fondly writes about. 

That was the beginning of a few points in June of 2007 which have evolved over the last 3 years into over 800,000 points. 

Along this journey there have been some milestones that have touched my life in such a way that they are forever embedded within my soul. 

The first was when my friend Margaret Woda and I learned about Localism together. We connected right away and learned the ropes of Active Rain together. We both joined at about the same time.  Whenever one of us wrote a Localism post the other made sure to comment. This is really showing you care about each other's success. 

The next one was Brad Andersohn's brother finding him after years and years of separation through finding a post that Brad had written on Active Rain. 

One night while I was drifting off to sleep the still small voice whispered to me to get up and write a post about my life in a domestic violence relationship in a marriage I was in for 20 years. This was of course, before Nestor, my knight in shining armor. 

 It was the most transparent post I had written up to that point on Active Rain. 

What happened next changed my life forever. There was a young girl who had a baby. Her boyfriend was abusing her terribly. She put her baby to sleep in his crib and started to follow through on her thoughts of committing suicide. The still small voice told her to get up and go to her computer. She had NO idea what she was looking for. My domestic violence post came up for her. 

As she read my post tears streamed down her face. In my post I told her that she was a child of God and had a right to be here, that she was loved.  Here is the post I wrote. She said she read a lot of my posts on freedom and domestic violence. 

She printed out the post and taped it on her baby's crib. She read that post every night and every day. You can imagine the feelings that filled my heart when she emailed me about her story. She gave me permission to post her email because it may save yet another life. This post was featured. Here is her story. 

If I had to go through 20 years of abuse so that I could write that story in order to save her life- it was all worth it. Everything happens for a reason. That was  a life changing event for her and for me. 

Never again did I look at blogging the way I did before her email. This is the biggest reason I am SO big on transparency in blogging. 

The friends I have made along the way have extended beyond the rain. There are bloggers that were here when I started who are no longer here but we remain in contact with each other. 

Then there are my friends who I can count on for anything: 

Sally Cheeseman- Thank you for being who you are. 

Patricia Kennedy- You met her through my posts last month. 

Missy Mullen Calk- I KNOW we are related! Missy is my soul sister but I also think we are blood related. We both have the same maiden name- but it is that feeling you get when you meet someone. I can count on Missy for anything that I need.

Todd Clark- Oh, where do I start! He and his wife homeschool their kids for many of the same reasons we homeschool ours. But that is just the beginning of our bond. The bond we share extends beyond this life and into eternity.  I am so blessed and honored to have been an instrument in God's hands in Todd's life.

I have one more amazing story to share with you in the next coming week or so. ( It is the surprise that I can finally let out of the bag.)

Of course there are many, many more friendships, clients and coaching students that I adore and I feel so humbled and blessed to know. 

Yes, the money is great too. I never thought I could be blogging for a living. I am living my life's dream or being a well known writer, reaching out to touch the lives of others, helping others to discover their greatness and to help them achieve their dreams. 

My Active Rain blogging has opened many doors for me, increased my confidence and helped us to achieve the online dominance that we have achieved. 

I am excited to see what the next 800,000 points hold in store for us! 

 

 

 

        

 

 

Copyright © 2010 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.*800,000 Points Begins With The First Step*