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If You Can Achieve Something Without Struggle…

September 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As you probably know already, I am obsessed with all things cycling (that’s why I started Bike198.com). Cyclists…specifically pro road bikers…are known for overcoming struggles to achieve goals. With the epic stories of Lance Armstrong to come back victories of Greg LeMond and others, we can draw inspiration and motivation in our own lives from watching athletes perform above expectations in races and events like the Tour de France.

The following quote from Greg LeMond summarizes a very key point in my life that I felt warranted further explanation.

I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it’s not going to be satisfying.

-Greg LeMond-

What a killer quote. If you sit back and think about it for a second, it really starts to sink in and make sense. The story of the “free lunch gone bad” is one that goes down in history over and over again. Why do you think most lottery winners are worse off 5 years down the road than before they received their pile of cash?! When you are given something without the blood, sweat and tears that goes into the acquisition…you do hold hold the same perceived value with the feeling of accomplishment that goes with that achievement. Therefore…the easy come, easy go mentality sets in and you tend to not protect your asset as much as if you had worked your ass off for it.

Blogging And The Ultimate Grind

Truly successful blogs and businesses are not overnight successes. Yes…we hear the results of successful businesses online, but we very rarely hear the massive effort put forth on the back end and during the beginning stages to get there.

Whenever someone starts up a new blog and asks how to make it big…they look at the success of others and attempt to replicate it. However, 99% of those beginning bloggers are not willing to put in the effort when no one is reading. They are not willing to put in the late nights, the practice and patience of learning the craft or the dedication to treating this medium as a business. Instead…they want to see their little corner of the web explode income without putting in the work because the Internet…as a whole…is still perceived to be an “easy money” outlet when that could not be farther from the truth.

Blogging is not the easiest way to make money online.

Blogging is a grind. Day in and day out writing, promotion and innovation bring success over time. The reason you see such solid businesses built up around the online medium of blogs is because that asset is protected strongly by its creator due to the amount of effort it took to gain success. Do you think bloggers would protect their online real-estate as closely if it was just handed to them? Probably not.

The struggle in blogging is the reason for the payoff at the end of the rainbow. It is the reason we grind away at creating and promoting content. It feeds the love of connecting with other people around the world that share the same passion as you do. It is the story behind the success that in turn breeds more success.

If you are expecting to achieve your dreams through blogging without the grind and struggle…you are wasting your time. If you are ready to grow past your expectations and wildest dreams through hard work and improvement by learning through failures…you are at the right place.

It is a long road, but the journey defines the commitment and success over time.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Trust, Credibility and How To Lose It As A Blogger and Marketer

August 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Internet marketing can be a jungle. Everyone is fighting to be the first to release products while at the same time relying on others to help promote them. While everyone is watching out for #1, there is an unwritten truth throughout the industry that you need the help of others to get ahead, so you better not burn too many bridges. Typically, this keeps everyone on their best behavior and everything rolls along smoothly, but…every now and then…something happens that you attach your name to that either isn’t on the up and up or is dancing around that sleezy line that you would rather not be involved with. Before we get specific…let’s talk about credibility, trust and their rolls in your blogging.

Your Online Credibility Is Built One Reader At A Time

Online street cred is not an easy thing to come by. By building up trust with your readers, fellow bloggers and companies that want to deal with your blog over time, you are able to establish a strong, positive credibility online. This takes time and sometimes lots of it. With each action, you are adding to your point total and this happens progressively through consistent effort and results.

This is nothing new to the business world. Just like with brick and mortar businesses, you have to watch who you associate with in blogging because your name and your brand get attached to everything you touch. At the drop of a hat, several wrong decisions (or sometimes even one) can strip you of your positive trust and you are back to square one clawing and scraping for anything you can get.

So your job as the blogger is to protect that credibility by watching who you associate with, how you treat your readers, the quality of the products you release and controlling the quality of the products you promote. It is a constant balancing act all with the same goal…to build our business.

A Recent Situation: Fake Scarcity

Recently, I was caught in a situation that I had attached my name to that made me uneasy. Fake scarcity was attached to a product I was promoting but I didn’t know it was happening. Let me preface by saying a couple of things off the bat…

Scarcity When Followed Through With Is Not A Bad Thing

Yes, especially in the blogging/mmo niche, we deal with scarcity on digital products. Many of you might say…”there is no way you can only have 150 eBooks…that is dumb and sleazy.” However, scarcity with digital products can serve two functions.

  1. It Can Control The Amount Of Work – If you are releasing a product that is going to require a lot of follow up time and support, only releasing a certain amount of copies, spots, etc. can keep your work level manageable on the backend. Can you imagine trying to converse and support thousands of people? I can’t…so sometimes putting a limit on things is a good idea from a quality standpoint.
  2. Scarcity Gets The Tire Kickers Off The Couch – By only allowing purchase of the product for a specific period of time or raising the price after a prelaunch, you are able to get people to take action. The key…follow through with whatever you are planning on doing after the allotted time period or quantity.
Where Scarcity Goes Wrong

When scarcity goes wrong, it is usually an attempt to scare visitors into taking action when the scare tactic is not ever going to be followed through on. So what happens? The potential client/customer takes the action thinking they only have a little bit of time left. Then, at a later date, hits the same sales page only to find that nothing has changed.

At this point…the product means nothing as the customer feels cheated.

To make matters worse, if you were the one promoting that product…your name is attached to it just as much (sometimes more) as the marketer who released it. Except…you have zero control or ability to change it.

The Personal Experience: Lessons In Affiliate Marketing

The recent experience involved a marketer I have dealt with in the past and a product that I actually use and believe in. I promoted the product. I was told the product was going to go up in price…so I promoted under that premiss…and the product didn’t go up when the time hit. At that point, was was emailed by readers who were pissed. I can’t blame them because I was too.

To make matters worse…emails and attempts at rectifying small bugs and the situation went ignored. On the outside…it seemed like this kind of attitude was taking place…

You made me my money…now I’m done with it.

Ego blogging at its finest. Use it up and move on to the next…

One of the hard parts about affilate marketing is attaching your credibility to a product and marketer that you have zero control over. Like this circumstance, there are even situations when you think you can trust what is hitting the screen only to be blindsided when things go wrong. It is dissappointing to say the least and I do take those situations personally.

On the flip side…when you create products and services and you need another bloggers help to keep the ball rolling, keep this story in mind as I will never promote for this blogger/marketer again because of the anger that came out of my readers and my personal views on using those kinds of marketing tactics (I hate them if you can’t already tell). You will need the help of others during your blogging career and burning bridges like this is not a good idea.

If you take anything from my situation, let it be these two things…

  1. Your credibility and the ability to be trusted as a blogger is everything. Do not waste that in an attempt to make a couple of bucks…you will lose a lot more in the long run.
  2. You are never bigger than one of your readers. If anything…you are a servent to you subscribers…not the other way around.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Sometimes Our Worst and Darkest Times Are Actually Gifts

June 17, 2010 By 21 Comments

Many of you have read my post on “5 Years Ago Today – Things Were Much Different“. Here we sit…6 years past that infamous day that has forever changed my life and presented the path across which I walk now. After another year under my belt and careful recollection during this time of year, I yet have another point to present as we get busy living instead of getting busy dying.

Every year around this time I feel an amazing sense of gratitude for what I have and hope for the future. No…not some stupid logo and tagline to try to get elected for something, but true hope that progress and effort lead you down a path that is positive and life changing. For many people, they can not pin their lives on a single moment where everything changed. I can…and this is what I take away from it.

Sometimes Our Worst and Darkest Times Are Actually Gifts

There are periods or moments in our lives that feel terrible when you are entrenched in the grasps of darkness. Maybe you lost your job, your relationship fell apart or…like in my case…the wreckage of your life finally caught up to you in a split second moment. During this time, your only thoughts and feelings are negative. How am I going to get out of this? Can it really get any worse? I don’t know if I can handle this…

Somewhere in the bottom of despair, human survival instinct kicks in and we start the good fight. We start the job search, we get back out on the market or we start to assemble the wreckage and make something better of ourselves. With time, this effort does not go unnoticed and one day we turn around to find out all of our dreams have now come true. Everything we thought we had lost is now come back better than before through hard work and dedication to the cause.

None of this would have been possible if we were just floating on in life. It was built out of necessity as we had no choice. It was fight or flight time as that period or moment in our lives defined the coming years without us even knowing it. When we look back with hindsight 20/20, we now become thankful for one of the worst times in our lives as the gifts that were presented later down the time-line are some of the best we have ever received.

I say we in this article because I am not the only one that has experienced this. Whether it be small or drastic, each of us can pinpoint a moment in our lives that altered our path for the better when we thought we were actually at a roadblock.

What Has My Darkest Time Given Me?

Honestly…more than I could even dream of. I am now married to a beautiful, caring woman who is much smarter than I am. We have two dogs that keep us laughing day in and day out. I have an incredible circle of family and friends. I am the owner of a business that is growing by the day that is directly involved in everything I love.

Robb and Jenn in New York

Hemi and Hans

The future is bright for all of us. We just have to be willing to put in the work necessary to make our dreams a reality. We have to continue to fight forward using our past as a learning experience for the future. It doesn’t have to take a drastic event, but if you are in one of those or crawling your way out…know that the light at the end of the tunnel makes it all worth it.

Life is not perfect. There will be bumps in the road. But with a positive outlook and the willingness to put forth the effort…you will find that your wants and dreams were actually short sided as you receive more than you could have ever imagined. This is our one and only life…as such…we should always treat it that way.

To quote a friend of mine that beat Hotchkins Disease last year and is getting married this weekend…

I just breath different air now.

Filed Under: My Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

Dropping The Mental Barriers To Actually Make Money Online

April 20, 2010 By 4 Comments

Over the past week, I have covered a lot of ground on newsletters and why your blog must have one to be successful online. Even with the overwhelming evidence and personal experiences, there are still bloggers out there that are not willing to take that first step to success with a newsletter on their blogs. Why do they not want to take that leap of faith?! They are not willing to spend the small amount of money a month to make it happen.

If You Are Not Willing To Reinvest…You Will Fail

This is a simple business principle that carries outside of just newsletter subscription services and is at the core of successful business building. If you really want to make a successful run at blogging, you have to stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like a business owner.

If you are not willing to reinvest your earnings or drop some out of the personal bucket into your business, you are going to fail or not see the growth you are seeking.

Owning a successful business, online or brick and mortar, is about managing expenses against revenues and reinvesting profits. Yes…you have bills in the house that you would love to pay, you have that incredible new 3D TV starring you in the face, a new car would be fantastic, but…the harsh reality of business owning is that if those items do not increase your bottom line…they are worthless.

Blogging is not a 100% profit business. This is not an atm where you are just drawing out cash without having to put anything back in. If you are thinking you can get away with a free theme and your articles, you are going to be one of those unsuccessful bloggers that believes the rest of the successful blogging world had a secret you didn’t.

Well..they actually did have a secret. The secret is investing back into your business brings you faster growth over time. By making smart investments (a newsletter subscription service like Aweber), you are insuring long term, positive growth over time.

Make That 20 Bucks Work For You

As you look at your blogging, even if you are just making 20 dollars per month, how can you use that 20 dollars to reinvest into your blog so that next month you are making 80 dollars? Do you want to make another 20 dollars next month or do you want to put that 20 bucks to work for you and increase the number generating a higher profit? Those are the questions that business builders ask while employees are glad they are able to go out to dinner one more night this month with their earnings. See the difference?

When assets like newsletters bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars for bloggers each year, do you think they are really worried about the small expensive per month they have to pay to generate that revenue? Before you jump in with the excuse that they are making that much money to cover it and you are not…remember this…every blogger (yes…even the ones with 100′s of thousands of subscribers) started off with nothing. They started off with a “hello world” post and their mom subscribed to their rss feed with a dream of making something better for themselves.

Their willingness to take that extra step that the competition was not catapulted them into blogging super stardom. By making smart investments back into their efforts, they were able to build upon their small successes to make larger ones. Not all of the investments were smart ones (no one has a 1.00 batting average), but smart decisions over time add up.

Do you want to be successful? Start looking for smart ways to invest your earnings back into your business. I would suggest starting off with a premium theme, some kind of logo and a newsletter service like Aweber right away. Locked and loaded with those three assets, you will already be 3 steps ahead of where I started back in the day…

Newsletter Series Recap

Sign Up For Aweber By Clicking Here (get started for only $1!)

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , , , ,

Blogging and Money – The Ugly Truth

February 12, 2010 By 13 Comments

Ok…both David Risley and Nathan Hangen have weighed in. Here are my .02 sense on blogging and making money online. You got a hint of this with ‘Problogging Is Dead‘ (free download…no opt in…hit it up!) where I showed you what it means to be a blogger that makes their full-time income online. It isn’t as easy as throwing up content and getting subscribers. Real, successful, money making blogs are much more complicated than that and based off of traditional business models that breed success. So…as others are weighing in on the blogging niche and where blogging is as far as generating income online, where do I stand and what do I think?

The Harsh Truth About Making Money Online

Everyone is not capable of making money online. If you are not prepared to own a real business that you are going to be 100% accountable for, you are not ready to make your living full-time online. There is no 2 hour work day. There is no income on autopilot. Anyone who tells you any differently…is trying to sell you something. Bloggers that make 100% of their income online are not bloggers. They are business owners that make money by leveraging blogging to attract clients, customers and consumers of their products, services and advertising.

There are business owners who feel like they only work 2 hours a day, but that is because they love what they do…not because they are actually working 2 hours a day.

A blogger is an individual who likes to get their thoughts out online as a hobby and could care less if they make a single dime. It is for fun and they enjoy doing it. More power to them as they are finding a way to express themselves…but with that attitude about online production, they will never make a full time income online.

I see a lot of bloggers that want to make money online, but they bring the employee mentality to their blogging. If you are going to own your own business, your mind does not shut off at 5pm. You do not have a set schedule you can adhere to.

As a business owner, you have more flexibility with your time but you gain that by taking all of the risk and investment. It does not come for free.

Making money online is exactly like making money in the brick and mortar world…the only difference is the low cost of entry attracts a lot of eager “bloggers” all looking to make it big. So what happens? We get a lot of blogs about blogging written by bloggers whose only blog is their blog about blogging (wow…that sentence got repetitive). The “take the journey with me as I figure out how to make money online by copying someone else’s winning formula and regurgitating it in my own words just to give up before my blog hits its first anniversary because I am not making any money because I have zero f’in clue what I am doing” is worn out and is done every 5 seconds in the blogging world. Did I mention that it fails miserably every time?

Most of the massively successful blogs online you never hear about because they don’t have a blog about blogging. A lot of times, they have a terrible design, a pitiful Alexa ranking and they are killing it with a massive amount of traffic and converting that traffic into income streams.

Here at RobbSutton.com, I try to keep any blogging tips directly sourced from how I have success on Bike198.com. The only reason I even started this site was to answer the multiple questions I was receiving about Bike198.com and product reviews/blogging. With that…I saw a need and I filled it with this site and Ramped Reviews. What I found was that I really like helping bloggers like I help cyclist on Bike198.com. So…I run both sites in my business under that presumption…I help people become better at what they want to be good at (my wife hate’s it when I end a sentence with at). It’s the basic principle of business expansion…

So How Do You Make Money Online?

Like I said before, you have to treat it like a real business and stop thinking like an employee. You have to start thinking of ways that you can generate real income and then attract the readers that will need that resource.

Look…all of the controversial posts and pure opinion stuff is fun. It generates a lot of comments, it creates traffic to your blog, but it also attracts a crowd that is critical and ready to rip your ideas/products apart without even laying eyes on it. If you are trying to make money online, is that the kind of reader you want scouring your pages?

Please do not take this the wrong way, but I do not need cheerleaders telling me how great I am in the comments of my posts…I need bloggers and cyclists that I can help accomplish goals. By helping you achieve your goals and dreams, I am able to achieve mine. Successful businesses help more than they receive. Think of it this way…the more your customer sells, the more they buy from you. If your customers (readers/subscribers/members) are not selling more, your business model is going to dry up quickly.

A lot of people would look at Bike198.com and think…that isn’t a lot of comments…this blog must not make much money. But the truth is that the cycling audience is not big on commenting…they are big on buying a hell of a lot of gear. It’s an obsession, so they **ahem** we scour the web looking for more information on the gear we want. Once we find the information we need…we buy! I know what my audience wants…I deliver what they want (honesty about products and tips on how to become a better rider)…and I make money doing that.

Find a profitable need, find the audience and then provide something that offers real value to that audience. There are many ways to generate this income from physical goods to informational goods to coaching. It is up to you to find out what works and what doesn’t. If your idea does not work, you learn from it and apply that knowledge to the next until you find a winning formula.

Stop beating your head against a wall wondering why your incredible articles are not making you any money. Unless you are a freelance writer, you are never going to make money off of just words. Even then, the freelance writers are making money off of the jobs they pull end due to their blogging and not the blog articles themselves. See the leverage?

I know a lot of this sounds harsh and makes some online entrepreneurs (maybe even me included) seem like they are solely focused on money. That isn’t true…they make money by helping people online. To help people, you have to gain their trust and make that connection, but you have to be making it with a person that is willing to consume what you are offering.

Also, there is ‘only right way’ of making money online through blogging. The only right way is whatever way puts money in your pocket on a consistent basis. You can click from blogging blog to blogging blog listening to the way they want you to do things. Some will say eBooks are dead, some will say Adsense is dead, others will say affiliate marketing is a waste of time…the reality is that you need to find the way that works with your audience and light it up! After that…test new ways and continue to diversify! If someone you are listening to is so close minded that they can only think  of one way of doing things…they are probably not the person to listen to anymore.

You can be a blogger or a business owner…it is your choice and it all starts with your mindset…

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , , , ,

What Do You Do When All Of Your Cards Are On The Table?

January 25, 2010 By 6 Comments

It is the bottom of the 9th, 4th quarter and you are all in. You size up the situation around you…look at your competition…read your opponent…dig deep within your gut and make a decision. You make the decision to fold or go for it. This decision is made in a split second based off of facts that are nothing but educated guesses. You go for it…hit it big and enjoy the reward…or you sit back and wonder what could have been. Either way…the decision was yours…you made that decision and now you are the one that has to live with it. Success or failure…it is all on you as you move forward.

What Do You Do When All Of Your Cards Are On The Table?

Pressure does different things to different people. How we react to a given situation varies depending on variables weighed in at the time. Do react differently when the risks are higher? Absolutely! The question is when do you make the decision to hit the risk when everything isn’t on the line.

Many times, we get stuck in a pattern. We hate our jobs but don’t do a damn thing about it. Why? Because it is a steady income stream and you hope and pray that it will get better over time. You put off the risks of today in favor of the sure thing. It is a difficult situation to contemplate as you move forward in life, but what separates the really successful from the routine employee is that willingness to step outside of the box and take that risk.

This risk is not always monetary in nature. Maybe you are stepping out of your comfort zone by really putting yourself out there for the ridicule or praise of others. Maybe you are stepping into a new, unknown field where you will have to learn a new trade all over again. Maybe you are just taking that risk to push for that promotion or raise.

As you look at your business and life decisions, you need to ask yourself a question. How would I approach this situation differently if my life was on the line?

In all reality, our lives are on the line each and every day. We do not know with 100% certainty that we are going to be here tomorrow, so why do we treat all of our decisions like they can just be handled later? As you go through your blogging or business building, are there certain decisions you have put off until tomorrow because you are afraid of the reaction? The result could be life changing, but you put it off out of fear of rejection, losing it all or just the fear of actual work?

If you would handle the situation differently if you suddenly lost your job or got a massive pay cut, then you should probably analyze the current situation and ask, “why not now?”.

Why would you treat the situation differently if all of your cards were on the table and what can you do now to further enhance and better your life through action? Tomorrow is too late and today is the day to start living. Complacency and laziness will keep you trapped. Motivation and the willingness to take calculated risks will catapult you into another world.

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There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

January 14, 2010 By 5 Comments

I’ll admit…I am starting to get irritated with Twitter and other social media outlets (a lot of bloggers included) as more and more people try to get a free lunch. What do I mean by free lunch? They actually think that by spamming the hell out of everyone…they will get a long lasting income. You know which ones I am talking about. The Twitter user that promises to put your income on autopilot and get you 1,000′s of followers a week (but only has 200 followers themselves), the self-proclaimed gurus with the next get rich quick scheme, the make money with Google experts…they are everywhere! And the more these kinds of wastes of Internet space show up, the harder it is for real business owners and bloggers that want to bring real value to the table to stick their head above the mess.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. There is no quick and easy way to make money online. There is no quick and easy way to get thousands of Twitter followers that want pay your mortgage. Building real businesses that make real income over your lifetime takes hard work and dedication. The only real sustainable growth is slow and steady increases. You wouldn’t even be able to handle a drastic increase if it was handed to you…and besides…you wouldn’t have the tools and knowledge you had built over time to use it properly anyway!

As you look at all of the products and offers online, if it seems too good to be true…it probably is. If that wasn’t the case, we would all be rich off of our South American prince that just needs to move his money and wants to give you a cut! All you have to do is give him all of your banking information right?

As you build your business, bring value…bring hard work…show your readers/followers/customers that you are willing to put in the work it takes to enrich their lives with your product, your content and your dedication. If you want real success…that is the only way of going about it. The rest is just pissing in the wind.

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

I Am A Servant: "One That Serves Others"

December 16, 2009 By 4 Comments

This ideal, theory, way of life is a thought process that needs to be beat into any beginning entrepreneur or aspiring blogger looking to make an income online. I am a servant to my readers. I provide a service that they need in order to make their online experience better and more fruitful. I am not here to inflate my ego…I am not here to have you tell me how great I am…I am here to help you achieve your goals and fill your needs. I am a servant and while servants can lead by example…they are still at the mercy of the people and they need to deliver what the people want.

Typical Life Cycle of the Failing Entrepreneur or Blogger

What I am about to share with you is the typical life cycle of the failing entrepreneur or blogger. I have seen this happen in everything from a blog that has 500 subscribers to multi-million dollar companies that went from rapid success to an even quicker failure. As a blogger…you are not immune…you are actually more prone to an even more rapid life cycle. The following scenario applies to all types of business and is easily seen in blogging due to the nature of the business. Hopefully…by pointing this out…I can help you guys avoid the pitfalls that success can bring to a blogger and aspiring entrepreneur.

Stage 1 – I’ll Give You Whatever You Want!

The first stage in any beginning entrepreneur or blogger’s life start with an idea and a willingness to give their small customer base (readers for the blogger) whatever they want to get the business rolling. This is a new and exciting time for the entrepreneur as they start to get their first sales and see the beginnings of a profitable business. A lot of passion and drive brings this stage to the next step with very little payback as things are just starting to build. Most of the time, this stage is filled with a lot of work that helps others but does not bring back a lot of return. The new business owner uses that willingness to do what others won’t to build up his business to get a strong, loyal customer base. All of the focus is on the customer as the business continues to grow and prosper.

Stage 2 – Unique Ideas Breed More Success

In stage 2 of the process, the company continues to grow and unique ideas that solve the problems of the customers start to appear. These solutions were not requested…but presented. Most of the time, it is an inventive way to increase productivity on both ends of the relationship that was not thought of before. By listening to the needs of the readers, customers, the people that bring you income, the owner was able to solve their problems in a unique way through a new product or service. This uniqueness spreads and brings the success that entrepreneur was after from the beginning. This is another exciting time for the entrepreneur as customers are now looking up to you for answers to their problems instead of providing the direct ideas. You are providing a unique solution based of your originality.

Stage 3 – The Beginning of the Breakdown

Bloggers Stop Listening and Start Telling

During this stage in the process, you start to see a breakdown. The entrepreneur lets his unique ideas go to his head and now…he starts to believe that his unique ideas are going to apply to everyone. He starts to stop listening to his customers needs and wants and starts to tell them what they need. What results is a series of products and services that are overly complicated that do not fit the needs of his clients. Instead of listening to this feedback, the business owner just pushes harder because his customers do not realize how bad they really need that product. The praise, news stories and being mentioned throughout his industry has built up an ego in the mind of the business owner (blogger). They are now bigger than their audience/customer base.

Stage 4 – Failure and Final Breakdown

Due to a series of unsuccessful products and ventures, the company is now losing money. The growth he saw at the beginning of the process grew the company and the overhead, so when customers started leaving to other companies that were willing to listen…revenue went down and fixed costs stayed the same. The once eager entrepreneur is now blindsided by failure due to the growth of his ego. During the last stage in this process, he forgot the key to success…listening to the needs and wants of the customers. The business is now sold off after several drastic attempts at income that all fail due to lack of planning because of urgency.

What Can You Learn As A Blogger With This Process?

You are servant to your readers. As long as you are delivering what your readers want on a consistent basis…you will continue to see success and growth. Unique ideas that solve your readers problems in a new and more efficient way will bring faster success, but you need to make sure that the increased attention does not bread a top-blogger ego. We see it all the time…a little success and a couple of thank you emails from readers…and all of the sudden the blogger thinks they are king of the world! If you live and breath the philosphy that you are a servant to your readers and they are actually above you…you will do well overall in business and in blogging because you will continue to deliver what your readers want…and not what you are telling them they need.

You are…and never will be…bigger than a single reader of your blog. They are what bring you success in the long run. Remember that…

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , ,

Why I Am Now Wearing A Livestrong Bracelet 24/7

September 4, 2009 By 6 Comments

I have caved in to the peer pressure. My left wrist is now decorated with a yellow Livestrong bracelet so I thought I would take a second to tell you why. Over the weekend – as many of you already know – I participated in a charity road bike ride to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The $50.00 entry fee went straight to the foundation and other teams and individual riders raised even more money for the cause. It was a great chance to raise money for cancer research and ride the pro course before the guys who can really lay down the speed raced later that after noon.

Now…set aside the fact that raising awareness for cancer research is a great thing in itself. Also set aside that Lance has successfully made the yellow bracelet that features the Livestrong logo a fashion statement that has spread like crazy and some people just like to ride the trendy atmosphere that seems to surround the idea. I wear my Livestrong bracelet for a different reason. I wear my Livestrong bracelet for me.

Why I Wear A Livestrong Bracelet

You are probably thinking…”wow…what a conceded bastard. You wear a Livestrong bracelet for you? Where the hell do you get off making a cancer awareness symbol about you?” or you are just thinking…”ok…whatever”. Either way…let me explain.

I use the memory of cancer survivors and those that fought long and hard with the disease but lost the struggle in the end as motivation to make my life better. We are put at decisions on a daily basis where we can ‘put up or shut up’ and unfortunately for most people in this world…they decide to take the easy road (and most of the time they still don’t shut up). For those that are fighting cancer, they do not have the luxury of picking and choosing. They are fighting a very hard battle that can be won or lost in the matter of days. These fighters also happen to be some of the most giving and honest people I have ever met.

Over the course of my adult life, I have not made things easy on myself. There are many times that I took the the easy road and for a number of years…I chose the destructive road that leads to no where but bad. Coming out of that destructive behavior gives me a look at life that many never get to see. Life…every second of it…is precious and we take that for granted constantly.

Whenever I feel things getting difficult or I find myself whining about things that don’t really matter, I now have an in my face reminder to be happy for what I have and the life I live. There are many people in this world that do not have the same luxuries or ability to just get out and do what they love. I also find myself looking back on past events and being grateful for coming out of the darkness I was living in to find a new life that is rewarding.

I also use the Livestong bracelet as a motivational tool to further expand my ideas and push through the hard times to see success. When others will try to pull you down, you can constantly work harder to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. When you are reminded that this is your one and only life, you are able to compartmentalize the road blocks and push through with the steps it takes to be successful in whatever venture you are pursuing.

There are cancer survivers that have overcome extreme diversity and proved doctors wrong by beating the disease. If they can do something that heroic in life, we have no excuse. We have the ability to come up with a thousand lame excuses that do not hold water, but – when it boils down to it – it is up to us to make the things happen in life that we want and desire. No one is going to hand you a end all cure…you have to work your ass off and go against what is considered normal. You have to be a survivor.

I have been a survivor once in my life already from self inflicted problems. Now…it is time to use the memory of true hero’s as the motivation to make every day of my life better and to truly enjoy the time I have. I wear my Livestrong bracelet as a constant reminder to be a better person and to achieve my goals through the memory of cancer patients that define the word heroic…

Filed Under: Lifestyle Design Tagged With: , ,

So You Blog, So What?

August 24, 2009 By 4 Comments

This is a guest post by Corbett Barr. Corbett blogs about Lifestyle Design at Free Pursuits. He recently returned from a six-month road trip through Mexico with his wife and dog.

If you read Robb Sutton’s blog, you’re probably interested in building a successful business or blog. That’s great, but do you really know why you want to? Are you looking to express yourself, escape from your job, make some extra money, get rich or something else?

If you’re like me, it’s much easier to be motivated and successful at something when you know the real reasons for doing it. This is especially true when working for someone else, but it’s also important (and often overlooked) when working for yourself.

You might think “because I want to” is a good enough reason to keep you moving in the right direction. It’s definitely easy to start something “because you want to.” But, what keeps you motivated when things aren’t going perfectly, or there is real “work” involved?

Take a Step Back

There are a whole bunch of reasons we decide to do things in life, and most of those reasons are actually beyond our own desires. There are societal norms and expectations, pressure from friends and family, and our own perceptions about the world and what we’re capable of.

Most of these perceptions and expectations influence us to “just fit in” or otherwise remain part of the status quo. The typical life plan that most of us default into teaches us to become corporate drones, working 40-60 hours or more every week while living for the weekends and a few weeks of vacation every year.

Once we start on that path, it’s damn hard to break free. The status quo also usually involves becoming part of the competitive consumerist cycle that piles on debt in an attempt to find fulfillment in buying more stuff. There’s a self-reinforcing nature to the cycle, and soon enough all we can hope for is either a) getting rich somehow to become “king of the hill,” or b) retiring at a reasonable age while we still have our health to escape the rat race and finally pursue the things we’re interested in.

Why does it have to be that way? Why can’t we live a life we want to now, without being rich or retired?

When you think about the things that really make you happy in life, work is probably not high on the list. Money is definitely on the list, but probably not as important as most people make it out to be. Time and health are definitely important, because we can’t create more of them. Mobility is also important to most people, because being mobile means we can visit friends and family and travel to new and exciting places.

When you compare this list of things that are important (time, health, friends/family, mobility, money, work) to the list of things you would think are important by the way typical Americans live our lives (money, work, friends/family, health, time, mobility), you have to wonder how the typical lifestyle go t so far off track.

Back to your Blog or Business

That brings us back to your blog or business. Undoubtedly, you started it to achieve more of what you really want from life. What I’m encouraging you to do is to really think about what’s important in life, so you can know what real success would mean for your business. If you don’t do that, you may end up working for yourself, but in all other ways, you’ll still be on the hamster wheel of the status quo.

When you start with what’s really important, you’ll find it easier to stay motivated when times are tough. This is what will lead you to success as well, because success will have a firm definition instead of being a moving target.

So you blog, so what? What’s really important to you in life? How will your blog or business help you achieve what really matters? Please share your plan in the comments!

Image by Pulpolux !!!

Corbett Barr blogs about Lifestyle Design at Free Pursuits. He recently returned from a six-month road trip through Mexico with his wife and dog.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , ,
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