I don’t write here to make money. I don’t write here in hopes of one day becoming a “famous blogger” or to get free stuff from companies.

I do it for the likes.

I work for social currency.

Many of today’s creators are “doing it for the likes”.

The thing is, people don’t want to pay money for content. The internet has taught us that content should be free. Facebook accounts are free, Flickr photo hosting is free, Gmail’s email service is free, Skype is free, WordPress blogs are free to create and free to read, Instagram is free, and tons of the other services and things we interact with online are free. We watch YouTube videos for free, browse Google Images for free or read news on the Huffington Post for free.

It’s an epidemic of free.

The current common consensus is that content is king and content is free.

So as creators, we have no choice, but to do it for the likes. All we ask is that you repay us with some form of engagement. We’re in it for the retweets, comments, linkbacks and “social amplification” that your likes cause.

If you stop participating, we stop creating.

We need reaction. We crave engagement. We desire emotion. We inspire connection.

Support creators by providing one of the above.

And don’t be stingy with your likes, after all, they’re free.

Follow me on Twitter here.

One thing that I’ve always been good at is meeting new people.

I sincerely believe that meeting new people is at the center of any success story.

Think about it. When you’re in need of something, who do you go to first? You go to your friends, your personal network. You’d rather have a friend of a friend fix your water heater or help you with a design project, instead of finding a stranger on Craigslist.

Simply put, the more people you meet, the better your chances are of finding what you’re looking for. It’s a relatively simple concept, yet many people seem to under estimate the power of a strong, well-developed personal network.

I like to take meeting new people a step further by making sure that I’m meeting different types of people. I’ll be the first to admit, this is the hard part.

That’s because marketers go to marketing events, doctors stick to other doctors, carpenters know other laborers and no one wants to leave their safety net.

But what if you’re the marketer that attends a landscaping conference? Or the photographer who decides to visit a social networking event?

The opportunities that arise are endless when you’ve got different friends in different places.

I’ll go to most events (given that I have time) just to strengthen my personal network. I want to be the guy that “knows a guy” for just about anything.

For me, it’s enough knowing that there’ll be times in the future when I’ll know the right person to help out a friend, and that’s invaluable.