How You Matter

Rene, a reader of my newsletter about personal growth and business development, asked me a very good question about some of the things I say in it. I asked her if I could talk about it here.

Rene Said:

For example, you (or whomever is writing for you) don’t know me from my nephew Adam, yet you write (albeit, in a blast email, which I get), “I’m grateful for every day we have together.” “We” (you and I) don’t spend any time together. You write in one locale, I read in another, well away from each other, as far as I know!
You also write “You matter to me” and “you’re worth it.” But what I fail to understand, besides being a part of your list count, is how I matter to you. It would be good, every now and then, to be reminded why my reading your blog emails actually matters, to you or anyone else.

I Said Back:

Since I was 11, I’ve been used to having friends I’ve never met in person. My whole life.
HOW you matter is simple: you matter because if you’re the kind of person who reads and reacts and responds to what I’m writing, then you are no doubt the kind of person who seeks to be helpful to others. You’re one of the most thoughtful people you know. You’re the friend amongst your friends who actually thinks to include someone new, etc. That’s who you are. Of this, I have no doubt. You have flaws like every good human does, but YOU, Rene, are that kind of person who I know is out there making the world better.
Me? I work for you. I don’t write this for my own entertainment. I *know* what I think about. I need to share with you so that you can make your own world more interesting.
If you could see the trail of “unsubscribes” from my letter, you’d know that my efforts are to weed out those who just want “yet another business newsletter.” My goal, as it were, is to help human business work. (Huh, sounds like my company’s name, doesn’t it?).
Is there an intent to build your self-esteem baked into my newsletter? Damned skippy, there is. You see, it’s a very important thing to me that you be happy with who you are. Why? Because then you can be helpful to others.

Does That Make Sense?

Do you see where I’m getting at with my newsletter? And what do you think? Do you have relationships with other newsletters in that vein? What’s it all mean to you?