Jeff Goins writes a great blog, and I often find what he says about writing and blogging, and finding your voice and tribe is incredibly valuable. With his permission, my blog today is the three lessons he has learnt from having a tribe, which does not appear on his blog but arrived in his e-newsletter recently.

What I learned

By Jeff Goins, 17 March 2013

The generosity of my tribe has … given me the freedom to write, speak, and blog for a living.

Three lessons I’ve learned from this journey:

1. Passion trumps planning.

The best jobs don’t feel like work, and your life’s task doesn’t need to be monetized. If you truly do what you love (and make smart choices along the way), you will find your reward.

I didn’t plan to become a full-time writer; I just wanted to do what I loved. Along the way, I discovered people love following someone who is passionate about what he does. This is so rare that many find it inspiring.

So why not be that person everyone wants to follow?

2. Voice is stronger than topic.

People don’t care what you talk about as much as what you’re about.

In other words, they want to know your thoughts and opinions and how you see the world, your worldview. We teach this in my course, and it’s a big shift for a lot of writers.

What you write doesn’t matter as much as how you write it. It’s the reason people tell me they read my blog. They like my voice and resonate with my worldview.

3. Generosity wins.

Starting a business was never something that was on my radar. I just wanted to help people. But by trying to be kind and helpful, I often saw my efforts reciprocated.

And when they weren’t, it just felt good to give.

In a world full of me-firsts and gimme-gimmes, the best strategy for standing out is ruthless generosity. Nothing builds trust and engenders loyalty better than unselfishness.

The power of a tribe

So that’s what I’ve learned (so far). Without my readers, this never would have happened. It’s really a testament to the power of a tribe — a small, but loyal, following.

If you’d like to learn more this, about how I built my audience, check out Tribe Writers. It’s an online course to help writers find the audiences their writing deserves. And it’s full of some seriously amazing people.