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Jim Duncan asks everyone at AgentGenius.com what they would change if they could start their blogging career all over again. So instead of writing a ridiculously long comment, I’ve written it out for you here and supplemented my list of changes with MAJOR CONFESSIONS about my career as a blogger.

Confession

I didn’t know what blogging was as of January 2007. Seriously. Yes, I’m 26 years old. Yes, I knew about Facebook and YouTube. Yes, I took a college course on email and forum etiquette. Yes, I learned Dreamweaver when I was 17. Yes, I watch Family Guy. Yes, I’d heard the word “blog” but thought it was reserved for the likes of Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin (did I just reveal what news station we watch?).

No, I had never heard of Active Rain. No, I’d never heard of Word Press, Blogger, TypePad, Jay Thompson, Bloodhound, Perez Hilton, bubble blogs, server outages, Twitter, Jott or anything like that.

That means that between March 2007 when I wrote my first blog and today, things have changed significantly- I manage several hyper-local blogs, the corporate blog for Single Pointe, have my hands all over AgentGenius.com, write at LiveMom.com, used to write at Bloodhound Blog, RERevealed is my own baby and I overload Twitter with my microblogging efforts daily. Talk about big life changes.

What I WOULD Change

• I would be brave with my identity. Some of you remember I had an array of names while commenting- my maiden, my married, our company instead of my name, just my first name… I wasn’t sure how to market myself because I didn’t feel that I had any authority as a non-licensed real estate insider. Now, I consistently use “Lani Anglin-Rosales” which has allowed old friends and new friends to find me easily (and I DO have authority).
• I would have skipped RealtorWives and just done RERevealed. I never imagined that I was the only wife involved in their husband’s company- I never successfully recruited ANYONE to co-author with me which is why it died/evolved. Most of you know that I have a knack for recruiting, but RealtorWives never panned out the way I wanted. How’s that for honest?
• I would change how intensely I felt when attacked personally. I’ve been the target of some vicious people and now realize that they are vicious if it’s my side their fangs are in or another’s. I would have less heartache over their pathetic nature and ignore it. There was one time that our lawyer was actually paid for a few hours of his work looking into pursuing a real estate blogger but we decided they weren’t worth the effort (although we had a great case).
• I wouldn’t be scared to just say “NO” to over-widgetizing my sidebar. This has been rectified but y’all remember on Blogger when I had every widget known to man/computer.
• I would have been an earlier adopter of Twitter had I known it existed. Grr.

What I WOULD NOT Change

• I linked out a LOT and I commented TONS on other people’s blogs in the real estate blogging community (REBC). This was no accident, I knew exactly what I was doing and no one told me to, it just was intuitive to me to network (always has been).
• I have always had a lot of offline interaction which is the true secret to running the blogiverse. I spend time over email and the phone conversing with other bloggers and get dibs on them when they come to Austin.
• Others said they would read other blogs first, but I jumped right in. And it worked. I’ve always had a Web2.0-ish tone to my writing, just ask Deanna Roy who was my high school journalism teacher (and now blogs also, so meh).
• I would NOT change that I wrote at BHB. It was a great experience back in the day, and was a great learning ground for me on how to handle myself on a big stage. I would NOT change that I am active on Agent Genius despite it not being what pays the bills.

Head over to Agent Genius and tell everyone what YOU would change if you could start over again today (and please feel free to act really shocked at my confessions)!