Advice
Becoming a Better Problogger By Becoming a Better You
Ever been in a rut as a blogger? I can tell you that I most certainly have.
Have you ever “worked” really hard all day, then sit there at the end of the day and wonder what you really accomplished? I have.
Have you ever had difficulty concentrating? Have you ever felt like your life was not exactly balanced and felt like it was starting to get to you? I have.
One thing that always underlies all success in internet business is your foundation: YOURSELF. And what about that?
Why Personal Development Is Important
It is really interesting. When I get into the circles of some of my internet business friends and colleagues, I find that there is a common interest and drive into the area of personal development.
And it makes sense. After all, when you run your own online business, it isn’t as if you are a cogwheel in a large operation. Most likely, you are the ENTIRE operation. If things aren’t going well with you, it affects your bottom line.
At the same time, most people who run an online business seem to be into the idea of lifestyle design in some respect. Working online gives time flexibility and that means you can ultimately decide what kind of life you want to live. If your body isn’t healthy and you’re not in top form mentally, it casts a cloud over everything.
So, personal development is very important.
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Blogworld Discounts Expire 9/14
If you’re planning to go to Blogworld (or even considering it), you should know that I just got word from the folks at Blogworld that the discounts are expiring on September 14th.
These discounts apply to both the conference and hotel stays.
Save 20% on your conference ticket using discount code FB20. And, when you book with one of the conference hotels, you can get discounts on your room rates.
I’m staying at the Vegas Hilton for $69/night. Not bad at all.
I might suggest you check room rates on Travelocity or one of those other travel sites, though, because sometimes you can do better. And the room rates in Vegas are REALLY cheap these days.
And another tip: Try to get a hotel which is near the Vegas monorail. It saves you a lot of hassle in getting around town without a car. You can get a multi-day ticket on the monorail and it is a lot cheaper than taking a taxi everywhere you want to go.
If you’re going to be at BlogWorld, let’s hook up!
Are You at a Blogging Crossroads?
This is a guest post from Nathan Hangen, a webrepreneur, social media consultant, and triathlete. He authors the Webrepreneur Blog.
I remember some time ago when I was thinking about giving up blogging. I wasn’t getting many comments and my page views were inconsistent. It seemed like I was putting more work in than I was getting out and although I wasn’t really dying to make money with it, I wanted to at least feel like I was contributing something.
6 months later, things are moving in my direction and I’m extremely grateful that I stayed with it. Looking back, I can see where the crossroads occurred and I know exactly what I did to get passed it. I’d like to share that experience with you so that you can do the same.
The first thing I did was to hone my niche down to a much narrower range so that people knew what they would get when they came to my blog. Previously, I was blogging about anything that came to mind. Although that was fun, it wasn’t productive and led to an inconsistent readership. Narrowing my focus to motivational posts about making money online and starting your own business started bringing people around much more often.
The next thing I did was to sign up for every blog newsletter in my niche and comment as often as I could using relevant and professional posts. I didn’t comment if I didn’t have anything to say, but I tried to comment as often as I could. I wasn’t worried about being first, but I tried to respond to replies and stay as active on as many fronts as I could. Although this didn’t bring me a ton of traffic, it did help me get to know the bloggers I commented on and their readers.
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Important Skill in Life: Saying NO
Do you ever find yourself going in a million directions at once?
Do you ever find yourself being tempted into some new opportunity when you’ve already got plenty of stuff going on?
Do you ever find yourself being really busy, but ultimately not living the life that you want?
Perhaps you need to learn this skill of saying NO.
This thought has occurred to me many times, however just recently I was reminded of it.
See, several months ago, I was actually a regular weekly contributor on a technology radio show. Every Saturday morning, I was on this radio show which was broadcast from 820AM WWBA here in the Tampa Bay area, but reached much of south Florida, all the way down to the Florida Keys. There is admittedly a bit of bragging rights to say you’re on the radio.
But, I quit. And just recently, I was offered another gig doing a Friday morning tech radio show here in Tampa. Once again, I turned it down.
Why?
Why would I stop doing something that others would think is so cool? Why would I stop being involved on a radio show, even though I could pimp my own website on the air every show?
I quit the show because it didn’t line up with my long-range plans. I might run a tech site, but ultimately my goal these days is helping bloggers make a living through their craft. So, becoming known as a computer geek on the radio just doesn’t fit my goals. Not only that, I was committing myself to a schedule. I had to create and prepare content for the radio each week. Guess what that reminds me of? Another J-O-B.
So, I said “NO”. Both to the show I was already on, as well as this latest opportunity which hit me this last week.
I don’t live to work. I work to live.
My efforts these days are primarily to help bloggers. I learned my craft by being a tech blogger. I am and always will be interested in computers and tech. I love that stuff and will continue to write on the subject for my PCMech.com readers. However, my professional emphasis has moved on. And my goals, for now, do not include growing my reputation as a technology guy.
The lesson here is learning to pick and choose your battles. Say YES to those things which further your goals. Say NO to those things which would take you away from your goals, even if that opportunity it enticing.
The ability to say NO without feeling self-doubt is crucial to your ultimate success in whatever you do, because there will always be shiny objects looking to distract you.
Why Throwing Money Away Can Make You Richer
We’ve all heard the phrase: “It Takes Money To Make Money”. Do you agree with it?
Usually, it is thought that this means you have to invest money to ultimately make money back. In almost all cases, this is true to some degree.
However, I think there is a matter of attitude about this. And I think this attitude goes right to the heart of your ability to HAVE money in the first place.
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Twitter Suspensions Show Need For Social Redundancy
It might go without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: You don’t actually own your social media profiles. So, don’t depend on them.
Last week, a couple of friends of mine got suspended on Twitter. Neither one of them did anything shady in the slightest. My guess is that Twitter will eventually reinstate their accounts and that this was a result of fitting some kind of broad pattern.
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It Is About Lifestyle Design (Part Two)
Yesterday, I talked about this idea of lifestyle design. I walked you (and myself, quite frankly) through an exercise of determining what one would need to produce online in order to live the tropical island life.
This exercise hopefully made it clear that creating the ideal life (whatever that may be for you) isn’t really a matter of dreams. It is a simple matter of working it backward to determine what kind of sales you’d need to make to earn enough to make it happen.
The flip side of this lifestyle design, however, is not to commit yourself to things which would bar you from living the life you want.
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Your Problem Isn’t Traffic, It’s You
When I ask bloggers about their chief issue they need help with, traffic usually ends up at or near the top of the list. And it seems obvious. After all, you can’t make any money if you don’t have anybody looking at your blog, right?
However, I’m hear to tell you that, most of the time, your problem isn’t traffic. Traffic strategies aren’t the solution. Usually, there is some constraint holding you back that supersedes traffic. In other words, low traffic might be the symptom.
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Do You Suffer From This Disease?
One of the most common traits of people who make little to no money online, almost across the board, is lack of action. It is a disease rampant among people who’d like to make some money with their blogs.
But, while it is a disease, the cure is so simplistic.
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Do You Pause And Reflect On Your Business?
This last Friday, I decided to take a breather from normal production in my business. I took the laptop to Panera Bread (a local coffee place with free wifi) and sat down to do a little strategic planning.
I'm David Risley. I've been making my living as a blogger for over a decade. Blogging is my business and how I support my family. With this blog, I'm just gettin' REAL and telling you how this business works. 
