Today I was fired as a guest blogger by Dynamic Business. And not by Dynamic Business but by the readers who found my latest blog offensive? In good time I will let you judge.

In fact, my normal Monday blog was loaded by the editor who felt there was some good tongue in cheek humour in the blog. It was then put on Twitter and 27 minutes later the blog removed and an email from the editor saying:”I’d like to thank you for your blog submissions so far, but we will be unable to take further blog post submissions from you as our readers have stopped resonating with your posts on DB.”

It is quite a weird feeling being fired from a voluntary role based on public opinion. But the when blogging the power is in the hands of the readers and you must never forget it.

The main lesson I have learned today about blogging is that is is not about marketing. And I think here are the 2 areas are stuffed up:

1. I used attention grabbing headlines. As you know the key to any marketing piece is the headline. It is there to attract attention and make your marketing piece stand out. But in blogging that appears not to be such an issue. People read your blog because you add something or they love reading what you write. So the catchie head line is less important.

2. You can add value to the world in a blog but you cannot openly ‘sell’ your product or service. Which to be honest I don’t think I did in the blog but combined with an attention grabbing headline, it may well have come across as a sales pitch.

I am sure when I consider my situation more there will be even more lessons for me but as I have really been blogging for just on 8 months, I am prepared to say I am a novice! And we’ll put this down to experience.

Word of Warning: If you are to start blogging, be prepared! You need thick skin because when you do write your opinion, there will always be people that will argue with you and if think you maybe be offensive. They will bag you with great passion and on-line. I felt sick in the stomach when my first negative comments came back. Comments were really personal and could be taken as offensive. But you have to expect that when putting yourself out there.

So if you were hoping to read my blog on Dynamic Business in the future, you won’t the readers have spoken! You will just have to come to my site!

You want to read this ‘controversial’ blog that got me fired? Here it is.

My Wife was Filthy!

You know when your spouse is so angry no matter what you say or do just it seems to either a) maintain the rage or b) fan the rage?

At lunch today I was in a no win situation and let me tell where is all began: response time to left messages and texts to friends!

I know how petty.

Well for some this is not petty. My wife making an effort with friends meant she thought it was really important and began to question her value to them as friend. An interesting emotion I had never considered.

My wife has no self esteem issues but she said, “If they don’t reply, does that mean we are not friends?” She went on to question the relationship and her importance in that relationship. A perspective I had never thought of.

Here were the two examples and you consider what is appropriate?

• Friend #1 – my wife left a message on Wednesday afternoon, last week to see how she has been. She admits she left no call to action like “Give me a buzz.” But after 5 days and no return call, she is a little upset.
• Friend #2 – One of our friends was having a ‘girly’ operation last week. So my wife sent a text on Wednesday wishing her well and another text on Friday to see how she was feeling post-op. And as of lunch time Sunday, no response. (FYI – a response was received late on Sunday)

In fairness to the second friend, she is and always has been very slow at replying to texts, so from my side of the fence, my expectations are set – I’ll get a response within 7 days. But my wife considered the slowness of this particular response very poor, especially considering the fact she has been in hospital.

So the lunch time discussion centered on what is acceptable and what is unacceptable response time.

My wife was of the feeling within 24 hours is an absolute courtesy to friends. You could stretch that longer if an acquaintance. Stoking the fire of the discussion (but not intentionally) I said 48 hours, as my condition was “maybe something was going on in their life, which makes 24 hours impossible.”

But no matter what tact I took, I could not win her over. Nevertheless, the discussion proved that every person has a different belief in the appropriate response time and more importantly how fast or slow we respond does carry an underlying message to the receiver.

We then discussed what about in a work situation? What is the appropriate response time and we agreed that in a work situation that within 12 hours was professional courtesy.

We also agreed if you respond to a text (and even an email) instantly, then you are setting the expectation that when you get a text or email you drop everything and respond immediately. You could well be setting an expectation that you will find difficult to meet every time in the future.

Plus an instant response could indicate you are desperate for work, as you aren’t doing anything!

But then I said, “If you say you will respond within 12 hours, could you be placing greater stress on yourself to make sure you make that call within the 12 hours.”

“But it is a professional courtesy,” was the constant retort from my wife.

So again we differed on the appropriate response time but we agreed that in the work place we can reduce the pressure to respond if we set the expectations for our staff, clients and customers. For example, having a note at the bottom of an email “I will respond to all emails within 48 hours.” Or on your voice message, “Thanks for the call, I will return your call within 2 days.” We both felt if you did this then everyone knows where each other stand.

But like all good husbands, we always we go one step too far! And I figured that while visiting the dog house, I may as well move in with this comment, “Well, if it that important you know how they are doing, why don’t you just pick up the phone and call?”

Ouch!

But c’mon, who is with me? Pick up and call if it is that important?

What do you think? Was this offensive? Did I over step the mark? Was there a hidden sales message? I thought it was all ok but many in the on-line community didn’t like my title or my copy. So as Donal Trump says, “Your Fired!”