There are some obvious measures of success:

• fame
• fortune
• power
• groupies

And I certainly wouldn’t throw a stick at any of those, but there’s more to success than that. When it comes to blogging, some will say “success in blogging is tied to your influence.” Influence is a form of power. And although there’s no perfect way of measuring influence, when it comes to blogging things like readership, feed subscribers, comments, trackbacks, etc. do indicate influence.

More important than influence, and outside the realm of the blogging world, I want to measure success by the amount of opportunity I create for others.

Why would creating opportunities for others be a measure of success?

1. What you give, you get in return.
2. You learn a ton about social networks and the power of communities.
3. Helping is an active process, not passive. Success is active; you have to go out and get it, not sit back and wait for it to come.
4. Creatively, you’ll be bursting at the seams.
5. New opportunities will arise for your own projects and businesses.
6. It feels good, and success should feel good.

I’m not rich, powerful or famous, and there are no groupies tracking my every move.

But in the last few months I’ve worked on helping others with their projects and ideas. I’ve made it clear I’m open to helping and creating opportunities for others through my growing network of contacts, business experience, etc. My efforts have already been returned in kind, and I have no doubt good things are on the horizon. I’ve learned an immense amount, and interacted with some amazing people. And business-wise I’ve got my hands in more projects now than ever!

Creating opportunities for others is easier than you realize and it should be a huge part of anyone’s success.

This post is part of my Group Writing Project, answering the question, “What I Learned in 2006?” You can participate too! Until Sunday, December 24th, write a post answering that question. Link back to Instigator Blog and let me know. I’ll donate $5 to charity and you can win some great prizes.

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