Perhaps, I should say they can grow together and produce a bumper crop.
Darren Rowse of Pro Blogger has been running a brief two part series on agriculture and the blogging world. Part two of the blogs and farming series is found here.
Darren quotes his friend who farms in Australia. Darren's friend compares building up a blog, and developing a readership to the business of agriculture. Both businesses require patience along with the necessary inputs of labour and capital. Risks are inherent in both blogging and in agriculture.
Note that the weather and crop prices are out of the hands of the farmer. The search engine algorithms of Google, Yahoo, and MSN are also out of the blogger's hands. In both cases, planning and research of the markets and environment are necessary to reduce that risk to manageable levels.
Over time, both produce a crop, and hopefully, a profit.
Return Customer (via Pro Blogger) picks up and expands on the topic of farming and blogging.
I have long believed that agriculture and farming were ideal industries to add a blog component to their operations as well. A blog would be particularly powerful for market gardeners, organic farmers, purebred livestock breeders, pedigreed seed growers, and any producer who markets a product directly to other farmers or consumers.
The farming and blogging analogy is the type of leap that aids in creative thinking.
Finding two seemingly unrelated items or industries and discovering the parallels leads to many new insights and ideas, that benefit those who take the time to consider them.
Creative thinking, like that demonstrated by Darren's friend, is a powerful business tool. Finding similar patterns can develop new ideas and ways of viewing problems and opportunities in business. The comparison of farming to blogging is one such creative leap. Like many businesses, the same sort of analogies can be drawn, leading to a much more successful business.
I consider creative thinking to be a way of actually reducing risk.
By finding new ways of looking at the way the business operates, problems that seemed unsolvable can be remedied. Overlooked money making ideas can be integrated into the business revenue stream.
Like adding a livestock, orchard, or market gardening component to an existing grain producing farm, new sources of income can be developed.
Business bloggers can learn some valuable lessons from agriculture.
It's time to plant a bumper crop in your blog.
