There has been a saying that I have always found true in any line of business or blogging…
If your competitors are complaining…you must be doing something right.
In business and in blogging, you are going to have to grow a thick skin and realize that criticism is often times a measure of success. Think of it this way…if you were not doing something good…would they really take the time to stick their head above water and try to put you down? Of course not! They have to publicly bash you in order to try to discount your growth and what you are trying to accomplish. Otherwise, they might lose readers or market share to the competition.
Luckily, in the blogging world, there is a unspoken unity among bloggers that typically results in a team work affect that genuinely helps serious blogs realize success. Throughout the course of our blogging, it is recognizing the causal critics and ignoring their random rants that separates the successful bloggers from those that take what others say too seriously and give up. Successful bloggers and businessmen know how to separate constructive criticisms from the occasional rants.
I Am Not Back On My Bike For You
I know what you are thinking…I see another commercial down there…what is it this time? During the Tour de France coverage, there was a Nike commercial that really touched my heart as a cyclist and business owner. During this sequence from Nike and Lance Armstrong, Lance silences his critics and shows…once and for all…exactly why he stepped back into professional cycling after his “retirement”. His passion for raising awareness for cancer research and survivors was the driving goal behind entering back into professional cycling. By ignoring all of the critics that claim he was washed up, he was able to realize his dream and eventually landed on the podium in the overall results in the 2009 Tour de France.
What can we learn from this?
Down deep…we all want everyone that reads our blog to soak up the content and fall in love enough to subscribe and spread our blog to everyone they come in contact with.The reality is that not everyone is going to agree with what we have to say, or even like us. That is just part of the game as you continue to throw out your unique voice and opinion to the world wide web. You have the right to publish your writing and they have the right to say whatever the hell they want to about it.
It is always easier to criticize than create. As you go through the process of growing your blog, remember that it is those that have nothing to create that jump on the criticize bandwagon first. If they had the ability or drive to create something of their own…instead of throwing rocks at others desire to achieve…then they would not be on their pedestal screaming at the world. Successful people use these naysayers as a driving force to continually do better…not a reason to give up and throw in the towel. If you are getting negative attitudes…check out this blog post on “Don’t Feed the Trolls” to get a grasp on how to handle negative waste. In the meantime, keep pushing forward to your goal and keep the dream alive. As you find more success, you are going to find more critics…it is just part of the game. It is how you deal with the critics that will separate you as a successful blogger and one that gets obsessed with convincing that one critic they are wrong…and eventually alienates the readers that were attracted to what you were doing well.
Watch the commercial…get motivated…and continue to see success.