success

The Top 5 Phrases Successful Bloggers Never Say

We all measure blogging success in different ways. For some, it’s seeing those traffic numbers increase every month. Others care most about their bank account, and still others just want to write something they’re proud of writing. Whatever your goals, though, you can learn from the people who are already successful (by your own standards) in your niche.

Study their techniques and tips all you want, but at the core of success is attitude. What you don’t say is what matters most in finding success. You have to mentally get your ducks in a row first.

These are five things top bloggers do not say to others…or even to themselves:

1. “I don’t feel like it.”

Being a successful blogger is hard work. Anyone who tells you differently is lying. Do not buy it if someone tries to say that making money online is easy. They’re probably trying to sell you some kind of secret or something, but there is no secret. It’s just about hard work.

Successful bloggers never say that they don’t feel like blogging (or working on the business end of their blog) and instead take time off. They just get stuff done. The idea that you get to flit away on vacations or spend all day with your kids is a silly notion. For each hour your spend away from your computer, you have to replace it with an hour (or even more) at your computer. Time management tips can help, but if you can’t hack the work, you aren’t going to find success.

And, really, if you’re saying that you don’t feel like working on your blog, perhaps this isn’t your true passion after all. Over six years after I wrote my first blog post, I still absolutely love doing this. Sure, I have my days (don’t we all), but if you never feel like it, if blogging is a chore to you, go out there and find something more fun to do with your life.

2. “I should *insert task here* but I’m just way too busy.”

Top bloggers might say no when they are legitimately busy, but be careful with how many opportunities you miss with the excuse of being too busy. If you really want to do something, you will find the time. Several times at NMX (previously BlogWorld), keynote speakers have flown across the country for just a single night in order to give their talk. You can usually make time if you really want to do something.

That doesn’t mean that you should spread yourself so thin that you never sleep. What it does mean, however, is that you prioritize your tasks honestly, work on your time management skills, and stop lying to yourself about being busy when you really just don’t want to do something.

3. “This is easy.”

I never take someone seriously if they say blogging (professionally) or making money online is easy. It is not easy. This goes back to point one – blogging is hard work and anyone who tells you differently is lying.

Furthermore, you’ll probably notice that top bloggers have all gone through struggles to get where they are today. Beware overnight successes. They’re usually lying, doing something to scam the system, or both.

Even after you’ve “made it,” blogging isn’t easy. There are a lot of cogs in this machine, and you have to grease them all daily. Yes, the hope is you can someday hire people to help you or sell your blog completely, but the truth of the matter is that it will never be easy.

4. “I can’t.”

I recently wrote a post about the three words killing your blog, and those three words are “I don’t know.” The sister of “I don’t know” is “I can’t.” These two phrases should be banned from your vocabulary! If you don’t know something, figure it out. Google is your friend. If you can’t figure it out, find someone who can. Social media is your friend, too.

Top bloggers never say they can’t do something and just give up. They are problem solvers, and they find a way to make things happen, one way or another. If you can’t fix a problem, find a path around it. If you can’t find a path around it, ask for help. “I can’t” is just another excuse.

5. “I don’t care.”

Lastly, if you don’t care about your blog and your business, what are you doing in this industry? Top bloggers are extremely passionate and in tune with every part of their business. They care what font is being used in their posts. They care what community members say in the comments. They care about minute details that probably don’t actually matter at all.

To be a top blogger, their blog is their baby. If you don’t feel that strongly about your blog, think about changing your niche. You have to care about the details to be successful.

I already talked about banning “I don’t know” and “I can’t” from your vocabulary, but in actuality, all of the above phrases should be banned! Are there any I’m missing? What phrases do you think bloggers need to ban to be successful? Leave a comment!

Why Bad Bloggers are Sometimes Successful

Author: elkecarvosso6

It can be hard to see “bad” bloggers become successful.

We follow the rules. We monitor our stats and strategically plan our content calendar and engage our community via social media. We write long, from-the-heart posts that are education, inspirational, and grammatically perfect. We spend thousands of dollars on domain names and themes and plugins and all of the other things the experts recommend.

And then some jerk with a brand new blog comes on the scene and just kills it. Within months, they’re surpassing you in traffic and making a livable income while you’re still struggling to get started.

You know it’s true: there are some really bad bloggers, by your standards, who are extremely successful. It can be infuriating.

It’s Time to Stop Caring

First and foremost, because I talk about the “why” behind bad bloggers, I want to make a very important note: it’s easy to get consumed by jealousy of others’ success, especially when we perceive that success to be unfounded.

The reality? In the vast majority of cases, a “bad” blogger that gains success has absolutely no effect on your blog. There are enough readers to go around for everyone. If you’re producing good content, promoting your work well, and really staying true to what you believe, than someone else’s success or failure shouldn’t matter to you.

Jealousy is a difficult emotion. For me, the best thing to do is acknowledge it and do my best to just let it go, remembering that every moment I spend worrying about someone else is a moment I could be putting energy into my own work.

“Bad” is in the Eye of the Beholder

When I’m feeling frustrated by a “bad” blogger’s success, I try to keep in mind, first and foremost, that beauty is in the eye for the beholder. I call it the Justin Bieber effect.

I have never once met anyone who admitted to liking Justin Bieber. Yet, he wouldn’t be famous if some people out there liked him for some reason.

Similarly, there’s a reason why people like the bloggers you don’t like. Maybe these bloggers are doing something completely different and readers find it an attractive break in the monotony of other blogs in the niche. Maybe these bloggers are extremely charismatic and good at building a community. Maybe people are entertained by their “bad” content. I could go on and on. The point is, when you come across a “bad” blogger who is popular, try to understand the reasons why they’ve achieved this success.

We’re All Just Sheep

Sometimes, “bad” bloggers are popular because no one is brave enough to point out that they stink.

When a blogger’s value is validated in a major way, it’s easy for popularity to snowball – even if that popularity isn’t truly earned. It’s hard to stand out from the crowd and say you don’t like someone or their work when it seems like everyone else in your niche is gushing about how awesome they are.

It’s actually kind of funny how easily people will change their tune if you’re honest about your thoughts. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to friends “I don’t think so-and-so gives very good advice,” and they’ve replied, “Oh, thank god! I thought I was the only one!” even though they’ve just retweeted that so-called expert not moments before.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in someone’s popularity too. When everyone consider someone to be a true thought leader, we start to lie to ourselves, trying to see what everyone else sees. I’m unashamed to say that I’ve been caught up in the hype of someone’s popularity on several occasions. What’s important is that you reexamine your heroes and role models often, constantly learn new things, and try your very best to live above the influence of others in your niche.

Invisible Children’s Co-Founder Naked and Detained: Was the Viral Success Too Much?

Author: elkecarvosso6

It’s been a whirl-wind few weeks for co-founder of Invisible Children and Kony 2012 creator Jason Russell (pictured at left). As of writing this post, the Kony 2012 video has over 79.9 million views and over 1.3 million likes on YouTube. Along with viral success, however, comes extreme scrutiny, and Invisible Children has been both attacked and defended since the release of the video.

I can’t imagine how that kind of pressure feels, and it seems like Russell, 33, found his breaking point. Last night, he was detained by San Diego police for “being drunk in public and masturbating,” according to a San Diego affiliate. Police say they received calls about a man running through the streets in his underwear, vandalizing cars, and screaming. Apparently he was totally naked and pounding his fists on the pavement at one point, as this video shows (warning, you totally see tushie if you go to that link, albeit from afar).

Invisible Children CEO Ben Keesey released a statement today, saying:

Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better. The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday. Jason’s passion and his work have done so much to help so many, and we are devastated to see him dealing with this personal health issue. We will always love and support Jason, and we ask that you give his entire family privacy during this difficult time.

Russell wasn’t actually arrested, only detained and sent to a medical facility for treatment. Police have said that he appeared to be under the influence of something, but there are no reports yet about what actually happened. Was he drunk? Was he on drugs? And if so, was he under the influence due to his own choices or was he drugged? It’s all speculation right now.

I think the question this raises for all of us, however, is this: just how prepared are we for success?

We talk a lot about failure. No blogger, podcaster, or other online content creator is a stranger to failure, and even the most successful among us don’t always make winning decisions. We talk about how important it is to pick up and move on, to learn from our mistakes, to be better next time. We’re ready to deal with failures.

But what about dealing with success? And not just from a technical standpoint. I’ve seen people talk about how important it is to be prepared for server overloads, dozens of emails every minute, and other growing pain problems that happen when you have a viral hit. What I think it even more important, though, it to be mentally ready for it.

Are you ready to be under an intense magnifying glass, with every mistake in your past brought to light?
Are you ready for your every move to be watched in case you make more mistakes?
Are you ready for the people in your life to be sucked into the Internet celebrity tornado?
Are you ready to deal with the trolls, who are jerks even when you’re not making mistakes?
Are you ready to question yourself even more than normal?
Are you ready be under intense pressure to replicate your success?
Are you ready for people to treat you like a hero or expert?

Success is not an easy thing. It doesn’t matter what your industry. Once, when I was working for institutional advancement at a college, we were awarded a million-dollar grant through a state programs – the largest in our school’s history. Our lead grant writer, who headed up the project, ended up having to take some time off because she was overwhelmed by the pressure. And I don’t blame her – even as a lowly student worker who did little more than proofreading on the project, it was overwhelming to fight for something and then suddenly have that level of success.

So what I hope you take from Russell’s story is not that Invisible Children or Kony 2012 is worthless or a joke, but rather that success is difficult and when unprepared for it, even the strongest people break. This is something that we all need to understand as online content creators with the ability for our work to go viral.

Picture by Jane Rahman, used under the Creative Commons attribution license.

The Top 5 Phrases Successful Bloggers Never Say

These are five things top bloggers do not say to others…or even to themselves:

1. “I don’t feel like it.”

2. “I should insert task here but I’m just way too busy.”

3. “This is easy.”

4. “I can’t.”

5. “I don’t care.”