Canadian-based Alyson Schafer is a consultant on education and parenting. To Robert and me she is representative of how blogging will evolve from the two islands of technology and politics into all sorts of fields. Her comments:
Q. Can you tell me something about your background and business practice?
I guess my tagline says it all: I offer "principles, rules and tools for parenting." I am a parenting expert. I am the third-generation in my family to teach parent education classes and I hold a masters degree in counseling. In addition to the parenting classes, I also consult to schools, conduct teacher training, have an active speaking career, as well as a private parenting coaching practice. All of this is held together by the work I put into keeping an active and growing online community through blogging on my site.
My life's work is dedicated to changing the way we bring up children. My mission is to create a grassroots movement that will bring about sweeping social change. While the parenting ideals I espouse are 100-years-old (from the life works of Alfred Adler), I believe this is a time when we can experience Malcolm Gladwell's "tipping point," and see "post-natal" parent education classes being adopted as normal responsible parenting.
I spread information about how to parent democratically. That includes defining a democratic household and helping parents learn non-autocratic discipliningtechniques.
My blog is licensed under Creative Commons, and while I make no money off the site or newsletter, it has been the success and richness of my blogging that has allowed me to make greater financial gains. The blog serves to credential me and build word-of-mouth excitement. It also provides me with a community of parents not only to give information to, but they in turn become a resource to me and I often pull information from them which fuels my talks or provides material for my book writing.
Q. When did you start blogging? Why did you start?
I was compelled to make my message accessible. If I wanted to start a grassroots movement, starting on the web just made sense. My site has evolved since those first early static "articles" posted through Blogger in 2002. I wanted to use blogging as my training ground for learning to write since I knew I would eventually need to be a published author in my
field. With the third version of the site which I have just launched, we used Moveable Type to allow parents to post, a feature I felt was necessary if I wanted the community to really connect.
It took a leap of faith for me to put all that information out there for free. If people could read my opinions and ideas on my site, why come see me speak, take a course or hire me as a coach? My husband, Ken Schafer, a veteran blogger, encouraged me to make the move and my financials couldn't look brighter.
It seems antithetical to me, but now even more people want to catch me live and hear me teach, having already felt they had a relationship with me through my blog. One day after a talk, there was a line-up to speak with me. A women asked me a question about dealing with her son and someone behind her said "Look, she answered that right here" and she whipped out a binder that she had filled with printouts of my posts.
Q. Are there many bloggers in education?
While there are lots of other parent educators and coaches who have websites, most are static brochures and they do not really use the power of blogging to fuel their business. That said, there are many parents blogging, sharing their experiences.
I have been following these, but because of the nature of parent-to-parent conversation it creates, I don't want to descend into that space as the "expert." I am hoping with time that they will make their way to my blog.
Q. How has blogging impacted your business? Can you also tell me about the role it played in your signing a book deal?
My original motivation was to build community but the secondary gains are what make my business successful. My blog credentials me. I get more registrations and more request for services. Certainly all my media work has come from researchers finding me through my blog.
In fact, I attribute my two biggest business boosts to my blog: I have been called by casting directors for a potential television show, and just signed a deal with Wiley Canada, after my editor, a new mother herself, found me through my blog.
She wanted to meet me for coffee and discuss the idea of my writing a book. As an unpublished author, a complete unknown, I landed the book deal without having to submit a sample chapter. I believe that my competence and writing skills were proven online.
Q. Additional Comments?
Parents really identify with the content and casual voice I use in my posts. In presenting myself authentically, it seems to invite parents to just shoot from the hip and be open. They do tell me the nitty-gritty of how it is really going for them at home. I think this is a cathartic experience for parents.
