How do we get our information? There’s media, the Internet, word of mouth. For article writers, there’s a different and in some ways more powerful means of getting information, and that’s from our content writing assignments. As a content writer, you’re positioned to view the latest technology, the hottest topics in marketing, fashion, consumerism, and construction.
About two years ago, I learned about the fledgling company airbnb through a writing assignment. I was introduced to the concept of collective consumerism. Since then, I’ve rented rooms and houses through airbnb, from people across the country; I recently became an airbnb host enjoying a visit from a high school teacher from Holland, a Florida-based identity theft consultant, and a marketing manager from Monster.com who was just beginning his 5000-mile motorcycle odyssey through North America and Canada. I didn’t earn oodles of money from these guests, but I did have the pleasure of hearing their stories and sharing different viewpoints. This service is a great mechanism for reaching out to others and getting to interact with people you would ordinarily never encounter.
In only 6 years, airbnb has grown to nearly a 10 billion dollar company and is making hotels worldwide very nervous. It’s truly joyous to know that adopting a sharing, people-centric way of conducting business can also be monetarily rewarding to people helping people.
One environmental article I wrote included the story of three farmers who needed additional electrical power and got together to purchase three commercial wind turbines. They hired a consultant and obtained financing through a government grant. In three years they’d paid the loan back, had free energy, and were returning surplus power to the grid. This isn’t only a story of ingenuity, it’s a story about people power. People have the power to make incredible productive changes on their own. We can use our ingenuity to solve serious problems that we face today. One person or just a few can make a difference. We don’t need to wait for someone else to tell us what to do.
I’m astounded by what I’ve learned through content writing, if not what I’ve earned. The bountiful knowledge I’ve gained is overwhelming.
It’s time to put that knowledge to more use. I’ll be trying to help my rural community with some ways to stretch their family budgets and may start a much needed community garden. If I need help, I can turn to kickstarter.com, which I also learned about while content writing.
Linda K has been content at WriterAccess since February 2013 and has written nearly half a million words. She most values the broad insights she has gained through daily information seeking, learning, thinking, and writing.
