Breaking Down The Difference Between Clout Chasing And Networking
We've been hearing the word clout the entire year of 2020. I like to know what the catch phrases mean before I adopt a word so I decided to do some research on the definition of clout chasing.
Clout Chasing is defined as a person that only hangs with certain people or starts beef with people to gain popularity. Examples of Clout chasing are: looking to come up off one’s success without contributing to the work or effort, hanging around someone you dont like to gain something because of their status, or merely just being in the way and intending harm on the person. After getting a better understanding the definition of a clout chaser I do not classify and I hope that who ever reading this is not a clout chaser as well.
I think some people get clout chasing and networking confused. People love to say someone is doing something for clout when they post something or otber people on their social media. Have you ever thought maybe that person is networking or maybe trying to get noticed? I don't think there is anything wrong with marketing yourself if you are working towards something great or if you want to align yourself with the people you want to work with. Let’s look at what it means to network. Networking is defined as the action or process of interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts. As a blogger I'm looking to become worldwide, I network by messaging potential collaborators, going to events, talking to business owners and sharing people businesses on my Facebook,Instagram and Twitter page, and doing one on one interviews to get that person story told.
I’m a firm believer of evolution, we all should be evolving in life and not being complacent or settling. When I first started blogging I wanted to be global meaning I wanted people from all around the world to read my story. I knew I had to start somewhere to get to where I wanted to go. I set goals for myself, prayed, fast and worked towards my goals. Needless to say I'm in it to win it. In everything I do in life I always want to grow and succeed. I feel like we all should have this sane mindset.
As I told you before, not only do I reach out to people within my reach or in my community, I try to reach out to people on different cities and big brands as well. This is all about growth and evolution. The picture above is Shekinah Jo, she is a reality tv star, celebrity hairstylist and entrepreneur. She has a haircare line called Shekinah Jo Healthy Care Collection. She has appeared on several shows to name a few: TI and Tiny Family Hustle,Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, and Tiny and Shekinah's Weave Trip. I follow her on her social media because I admire her struggle, and her love for God. She used her platform to tell her story about being in an abusive relationship, and how she was tired of getting mistreated so she decided to do something with her life, so she studied cosmetology to fix hair, even to this day she’s still building her brand.
Yesterday as I was on my Instagram account I saw that she went live, so I joined in to see what she was talking about. On her live she was speaking on negativity, mental illness and some other stuff. The conversation was interesting. She later went on to say, “ I’m tired of all this negativity, who wants to come on and tell me about their occupation and talk about something positive, if you want to be added just say add me" . As I was listening,I put in the chat add me. A few minutes later Shekinah added me to her live. I was surprised that it happened, I was excited and felt unprepared at the sane time. I said to myself let's do it. She asked me about my occupation, I told her I'm a 4k teacher and a blogger. She asked me why I wanted to blog. I broke it down to her and said, I want to help others, and I want to shed light on positive things that’s going on in our society and I want to help people promote their business, as I was talking she cut me off and she started fussing at me , she said," Once you tell God something, leave it alone, stop asking for the same thing over and over, he heard you the first time”. A light bulb went off because often times I do that. At that moment I know God was using her to speak to me .
I just want to encourage someone to listen to God and don't allow anyone to tell you what you can't do. If you have a vision, go for it, don't allow negativity and naysayers to get you off your course. When things get tough pray and talk to someone that is like minded and someone who wants to see you win.Much love and blessings to you all. Thanks for reading, I’ll talk to you soon 😃