See me in the featured image for this post?
That’s old skool me in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2012, hard at work.
Tons of folks wonder what it takes to be a professional blogger.
Why do so few people become pros?
You may love the sweet aspects of being a pro blogger like:
- working from home
- circling the globe
- making money passively
- no boss
- no set schedule
All sound fun, right?
I assure you; being a pro blogger for many years, all these benefits rock.
But with the sweet nectar comes not so much the sour, but the growing season.
The growing season involves:
- learning
- study
- practice
- work
- patience
The blogging growing season also involves some not so sexy activities, like I share in the video below:
I love what I do.
Circling the globe as a pro blogger rocks. I have fun helping bloggers too.
But since I am human, sometimes I don’t feel like doing what one does to be a professional.
I enjoy spending 4 months in Fiji. But writing 5,000 thoughtful comments on top blogs over years was one of the things I did to spend 4 months in Fiji. I became a professional doing fun and freeing and sometimes not too sexy things like:
- genuine blog commenting
- creating videos
- sharing other blogger’s content
- publishing content to my blog
Nobody loves this blogging ride 100% of the time – even if you feel passionate about blogging – because nobody reading these words is a robot. We all have ever-changing emotions. Sometimes we feel awesome. Other times we feel not so awesome.
Professional bloggers embrace not too awesome feelings, and do the work anyway. No excuses. No delays. Like blogging clockwork.
Amateur bloggers love the glitz and glamour of being a professional blogger but have no interest rolling up their sleeves and getting to work for the next 2-4 years, every day, creating value and building connections persistently.
Did You Watch the Video?
Seriously; watch it. As a rule, professionals and aspiring professionals pay close attention to what other pro bloggers do, to clue them in. We are all learning, no matter our skill and experience levels.
Me beside a fancy fish tank in a luxury New York City apartment while house sitting.
Observing me commenting in the video simply displays the amount of persistent, simple, basic work one does to be writing these word from NYC on a luxury house sit. Sounds sexy to be house sitting on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for 2 weeks in a multi million dollar apartment, right? Reading blog posts and writing thoughtful comments to make blogging buddies may be simple and basic, but not always easy.
I am not a coal miner; professional blogging is not a life-threatening gig. But discomfort may arise after writing and publishing your 10,000th comment on Disqus alone over the past decade, as I hit that landmark a while back.
How Do You Get through Unsexy Blogging Periods?
Blog mainly for fun and freedom.
Ensure you love working your blogging niche.
This makes the work feel like a reward most of the time, save those unsexy moments when you are just being human and a bit disillusioned with the blogging process.
I love circling the globe. I have heaps of fun helping people build successful blogs. If things feel a bit boring or mundane I take a deep breath, feel the energies, and remind myself that I love the fun and freedom being a pro blogger provides me with.
Hands down, it’s a sensational way to get back on track to persist over months, then years, aiding you on your way to becoming a professional blogger.
Or if you are a pro, this simple practice gives you greater clarity on this blogging journey.
Sometimes this journey is not too sexy guys.
Just the way it is.