I wasted 5 years of my life blogging mainly for money.
I did not care much about my blogging niche. Maybe I cared about my niche a little bit. But largely, I did what I did online for money. Since I did have some fun blogging and got clear on receiving money I did generate a full time income during various points of those 5 years, but I stunted my growth, terribly.
I made about the worst newbie blogger mistake 10 years ago: I began blogging largely to make money for escaping an unhappy, depressing, miserable life. Being a fired security guard, I feared going back to work at a different terminal just to make money. Fear built up in my mind. How could I get money fast? Blogging sounded easy. One mentor made blogging sound easy enough to me, for building business and making money.
I invested $500 in an opportunity, my domain and my hosting, and dove in. Struggles followed. Terrible struggles. I did experience muted success but the intent, the driver, mainly to make money, spoiled 5 years of my blogging career. I rarely do regrets but still have a bitter taste in my mouth over making that ridiculous error. I should have known better.
The Mistake
Make sure you buy my eBook: My 10 Worst Blogging Mistakes
Chapter 1 is “Picking the Wrong Intent / Being Unclear”.
Most new bloggers mainly want to make money blogging to escape an unhappy life, to desperately pay bills or to greedily gobble up something for nothing. Years ago, 8 of 10 bloggers never made more than $100 blogging during their careers. I suspect the number remains constant because of this money-focused, fear-filled, escapist, desperate or greedy driver.
Let’s think it through.
You blog mainly to make money so instantly, you are in a rush and do stupid stuff. All you know is you made 0 dollars so far through blogging and need $25, $50 or $100 this week. By month end, you need $500. Focus all attention and energy on outcomes and you have no attention and energy left for the process of:
- patiently learning blogging
- generously practicing blogging
- generously creating and connecting
- abundantly opening income streams
EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR you make blogging flows to you because you followed the prior 4 steps, daily, (save the income streams; open one every 1-3 months), for the next 2-4 years of your life. But most new bloggers skip all 4 steps, being obsessed with making money. No time to learn, practice, create, connect and monetize. You need money. Skip all steps. See zero dollars after 3 months. Lost motivation. Quit. Blame blogging, or bad luck.
I love you guys, but I have seen this process unfold so many times over a decade online I dubbed it: Newbie Blogger Mental Illness. You want to make money but do not want to learn how to do it, practice how to do it, and lay the foundation for a successful blog. I see this bizarre tendency to be a bit insane.
Alonzo Pichardo is a glowing example of someone who patiently and generously blogged the right way. He learned how to prosper online, practiced to improve his skills, patiently created and connected with folks and opened multiple streams of income. Following his advice patiently, and generously, I see my blogging income grow month over month, versus the wild fluctuations of years ago, when I was not fully invested in blogging for fun, being patient and allowing success to flow to me.
Blogging is a real, nuanced skill, a bit like being a doctor or a lawyer. Blogging is nowhere near as challenging as being a doctor or lawyer but still requires 10,000 to 20,000 hours of practice to get really good at it. Do you think I could have gained the experience and skills to write the 7,000 word eBook above if I was obsessed over making money for my entire blogging career? Nope. I would have quit blogging 10 years ago.
Blog mainly to have fun, to free yourself and to help people.
Become fully invested in enjoying the process of helping people as a newbie blogger. Success will eventually find you.
Related blog posts and resources: