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“Her head swelled up to the size of a basketball….”
This thought ran through my head. During a savage tropical downpour. While I perilously balanced my meat suit in knee-deep water, in a remote Costa Rican jungle, 3 hours from civilization.
Fer de lanz snakes, the notoriously aggressive, lethal viper of Central America, frequented the stream I was walking through. Said snake tagged one of the homeowner’s hearty Rhodesian Ridgebacks once, causing her dome to swell up to the size of the basketball.
I had to fix the hose which channeled water from jungle stream to the hut I mean house I mean haha shack, because the water became tainted with silt after 2 days of torrential downpours.
I needed confidence to step into the stream, in knee high water, during a blinding downpour, knowing how the homeowner noted he saw fer de lanzes in the spot where I had to walk through.
If I don’t have balls the size of the King of Bayonne I sit inside the hut, don’t fix the hose and run the very scary risk of either suffering from a stomach illness (dirty jungle water = dangerous to drink water) or becoming severely dehydrated. Which in either scenario would suck, being miles away from town.
Don’t kid yourself; *not* having blogging confidence is just as lethal to your blog. You’ll self-sabotage. Every time. If you lack confidence in yourself and your blog. You’ll mail it in. You’ll fail it in. You’ll rail against successful bloggers – whose stones you envy – and may assail yourself, for your pitiful profits, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll snail your way to scant success, drinking ale (to rhyme, and not missing any opportunity for a Game of Thrones reference), and eventually, you’ll bail….on blogging.
BUT…..if you develop blogging confidence you will:
- build your dream life through blogging
- have fun blogging
- work vague, silly, Doctor Seuss type references into your posts
- boost your blog traffic and profits
- appear to be omni-present in your blogging niche
- blog with love
- blog with clarity and focus
- help more folks, 1 to 1
- enjoy the ride
- be given a grander, greater stage to impact folks in your blogging niche
Follow these tips to grow blogging stones bigger than King Kong’s cajones.
1: Blog With Love
I decided to blog mainly with love – not fear – a while back. My confidence shot through the roof.
I cannot lack confidence if I am in harmony (blogging with love) with others.
Fear is the great confidence killer. Because if you fear loss (not enough traffic or profits because you are blogging mainly from fear, for stuff) that fear of loss bleeds through your being and dissolves your confidence.
If your blogging boldness hangs by a thread, face, embrace and release fear-based drivers. Blog with love. Blog to serve. Blog to help. You will become a highly confident, clear blogger by blogging with love.
2: Blog For Fun
Blogging mainly for fun moves you out of the doubt-filled “OK, how am I doing?” energy so you can create from the clear, bold, “Wow this is fun!” energy.
Make fun your prime driver. Not stats. Blogging for fun removes heavy, leaden, judgment-based ways of blogging, and leaves ’em in the rear view mirror.
3: Dive Into Your Blogging Fears
Every single confident, natural, seemingly effortless thing you see me do today I was once FREAKING TERRIFIED TO DO!
Across the board.
Diving into my blogging fears and life fears built my blogging confidence like few other practices.
Because when you dive into your fears, you develop a sort of fearlessness which makes you a highly assured, calm and bold blogger.
Suggested Reading: Creating the Mindset of a Successful Blogger
4: Surround Yourself With Ballsy Human Beings (Cyber Style or In Person)
Check out Will Hatton of The Broke Backpacker.
I have followed his wacky, ballsy, fearless ways for years as he circles the globe. Seeing Will in action made me more confident in life, and through my blog.
I have met countless fearless types during my world travels. But you can meet them at the click of a mouse.
Feast on inspiration. Grub on boldness. Believe in yourself by chowing down on the confident energy of other human beings.
5: Meditate Daily
Meditating daily expands my awareness. Which helps me become aware of my confident ways – so I can move in that direction – and of my non confident ways – so I can move in that direction.
Doing what I feel confident doing powers my boldness. Doing what I don’t feel confident doing ferrets out the non confident energies in that area, in those uncomfortable moments, making me more confident.
Meditating also gives you peace of mind, clarity and calm; all great Blogging Balls Builders.
6: Create Products And Services
Creating a product, then offering a service, and writing eBooks all helped me believe…..”Hey! I’m a blogger!”
Running a blog gives you a boost in your belief in self. Creating premium products and services gives you that extra boost that puts you well on your way to become a pro blogger.
7: Study Bold Bloggers In Great Detail
Confident bloggers like:
all have different styles, but blog from a place of confidence and clarity. From their writing voice, to brand clarity, to their products and services, to their persistence, each blogger gives you someone to emulate if you want to develop your blogging confidence.
8: Toss Salt Over Your Shoulder 3 Times Daily
Sea salt. Of course.
9: Start Doing Facebook Live And Periscope And YouTube Live Videos
9 years ago I hated how I looked and sounded on video. Earlier this year I had the Facebook Live video confidence of a yearling learning how to walk on ice.
I dove into doing live video on Facebook, Periscope and YouTube and experienced a Thor-like level of confidence (with hammer) which surged through my entire blogging campaign.
Doing live videos is one of those “last frontier fears” for many bloggers. Sure you will be scared to do stuff down the road. But diving into doing live videos forces you to see you, to hear you, to open yourself to feedback, to be spontaneous and to….gasp….be the real you!
The last one may scare you, more than you think. But being the real you makes you infinitely confident in all you do.
10: Freely Share Products And Services
Freely sharing my blogging products and services through all online channels – including social media – made me more courageous.
I was scared to do so for many years. But I felt the fear, did it anyway, and when I killed that fear I became more confident.
Many bloggers utterly lack confidence in their premium offerings. Sharing premium offerings on social brings up the lack of confidence so you can purge it. For good. It is only money you attach to a premium product, not the customer or client’s first born, or prized iguana (for Herp Heads).
11: Study Blogging Like A Cyber Nerd
Studying blogging made me a bold, clear, focused blogger.
If you learn blogging, and study blogging, you will exude an air of authority about your work.
12: Write 1000 to 2000 Words Daily (For Practice Or The Real Deal)
Practice the core blogging skill daily.
Get really good at it.
Gain blogging confidence.
Next!
13: Buy Premium Products Or Hire Blogging Coaches To Gain Clarity In Your Strategy
Confident bloggers buy premium products or hire skilled bloggers to boost their confidence even more.
Last week I went to NYC to attend Affiliate Summit East. I received a free pass (told ya making blogging buddies rocks!) but spent $30 on transportation to learn from Zac Johnson, John Chow, Syed Balkhi and John Rampton (when I could have watched their YouTube videos or read similar blog posts covering these topics at home, for free).
I took mental notes. I put their wisdom into action. I became more confident and clear, in the past week alone, since rubbing shoulders with big dawgs.
When you spend $3 or $30 or $300 or $3,000 on premium products or services, you instantly gain confidence, clarity and conviction in what you do because you are *being* a pro blogger.
14: Sit With And Feel Blogging Criticism
I wanted to roast blogging critics on a spit, like fat critic suckling pigs, as an idiot blogger many years ago.
I wanted to dump boiling oil on said critics through a murder hole not too many years ago.
The current day me sits with and feels blogging criticism. Because feelings I experience after being criticized tell me if I am confident and clear, or not confident and clear, on my blog, eBooks, courses, everything.
Note; thank those critics who seem to piss you off or embarrass you or annoy you. These seeming scum helped unearth fear-based emotions you needed to clear to become a confident blogger.
Your Turn
How are you becoming a more confident blogger?
What tips can you add to this list?
Course….Or Coach Ryan?
If you are excited to build a fun, freeing blog, but need some guidance, I offer coaching services and blogging courses. Click those links to learn more.
Ryan Biddulph
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50 Comments
Amen Mike. If you love the journey, the work is the reward and all outcomes feel like extra.
Awesome tips and blogging for fun is definitely important!
I find the mix a bit challenging too Mick. We always write for people but adding effective SEO to a post demands a delicate balance between writing in your voice and cleaning things up. Thanks much bro 😉
Ryan, solid points you got there. The challenge for me is finding my “voice” but being strategic SEO wise!
Great reading!
Will do Sudeep, and you keep building your confidence 🙂
Hello Ryan,
I have just started my blogging journey and I think I have found the right way to confidence…
Just Keep it up and keep exploring the world…
Go for it Kevin! If you need inspiration you can find me going live daily on YouTube – under the moniker RB Biddulph – Facebook or Periscope, and realize I piddled in my pantaloons before doing lives on each site 😉
Great list and a great article, mine is number 9, I really want to start to do live feed on Facebook, but i’m way to nervous. I’m nervous of how I sound and if anyone will even log in and watch. I need to take that leap.
Excellent Chris. I was thinking the same thing on #1 and #2. Definite combo-package there. I am happy you are meditating too. Guided meditations with music can help ease the transition from doing and doing and doing to being, aka, just sitting and observing whatever happens in the moment. I feel meditating has as great an influence on who I am than any other thing that I am doing or I mean, not doing LOL. You too man, see ya on YouTube and Periscope and Facebook Live.
Hi Ryan,
As usual, you hit the nail on the head with these tips.
You could actually combine #1 and #2 together because, if you are having fun blogging about something, it’s usually because you love it in the first place.
When I was being mentored in the internet/affiliate marketing niche, there was a lot of focus put on the numbers. I can see it from a marketer’s standpoint.
I can also see how, as a blogger, it shouldn’t matter as much. We will get readers, customers, and clients by putting out problem-solving content consistently through our blog, commenting to add value to the topic on others’ blogs, promoting new products, i.e., ebooks, courses, coaching programs, etc., Live broadcasts on social media, etc. Basically, just focus on taking action and things will fall into place.
I just started meditating. I know I need a lot of practice to get it right. I have meditation music and can find guided meditation videos online to help me.
Still working on my first ebook. The original idea has been scrapped. It was a practice run.
Going to get deep into learning from the best in the biz to be the best blogger I can be.
Thanks for sharing these tips.
Have a good one……Chris
Pedro thanks heaps for the rocking comment 🙂 I only kept at this blogging game by doing it inside-out. The mindset stuff, the inner world, the clarity, it’s what separates the established bloggers from those who throw in the towel.
Way cool Monica; much appreciated 🙂
Ryan, this post male me think, all the person who has a blog needs confidence! For sure, because the blog is like a life book! Amazing! I had never thought about is. And you are an exemple, you are totally confident to do it. Congratulations.
Hi Ryan,
Wow, another fantastic post with practical, actionable tips!
You put it so well! To weather the inevitable storms that affect bloggers, we need blogging confidence!
To blog with confidence we need passion, self-improvement, networking, vision, courses and everything else you mentioned. But for those times when we feel discouraged (or for those who lack the passion for blogging) there’s always discipline.
The competition is fierce and relentless. It is said that a new blog is created somewhere in the world every half a second. Since there 86,400 seconds in a day, it means 172,800 blogs are created every day. 172,800 new blogs every single day! There is an estimated 152 million blogs worldwide with 1,896 blog posts published every minute or about 3.39 million blog posts published daily. With those statistics, we need blogging confidence to stand a chance!
Awesome, awesome post 🙂
Best regards
Pedro
Good deal Sambhav.
Number 11 and 12 were very helpful. From now on, I will try to write at least 1000 words per day. It would give me confidence in writing and would be helpful to write quality content in future. And, Study blogging is a word I have not heard before. After reading your article, I came to realize that how important is to study blogging. Thanks for this helpful post.
Super stuff Benjamin. I have never actually quoted his work in my blog posts….but now you have me thinking 😉
Oh yes Cori, all of this stuff is deeper than just blogging stuff. Everything in life comes down to the love-fear thing; when we fear, predominantly, in some area, we want to allow love in. I am happy you are delving into this fear. Only sweetness and great success lies on the other side of it. As for Periscope that was a gateway channel for me; I feared the trolls aka strangers over there LOL. But it is a super platform for connecting with folks.
Awesome tips as always Ryan!
I’ve been working on gaining my confidence to get in from the camera to go live on Facebook and Instagram (still not on Periscope :)).
I’m meditating about it and – don’t laugh – but I even reached out to my therapist. Meditating has made me realize it’s something deeper than blogging fear and I need to get to the bottom of it if I want to move forward.
And I agree investing in our growth is the best thing we can do for ourselves.
Thanks for sharing your tips with us! I hope you’re having a great week!
Cori
Awesome Post! It does all start with love and blogging with love makes such a difference. Those of us lucky enough to discover blogging as the vehicle to share our calling/passion/purpose have to bring the love in all our content or it won’t be authentic.
Just curious, what’s your favorite Dr. Seuss reference you’ve used in your content?
Hi Mitch,
#1 – Let go the idea that specific niches are trickier, or tougher, to work. When the limiting belief goes, so does the resistance 🙂
#2 – Follow all the fundamentals you can find through my hundreds of blog posts, courses, 100 plus eBooks, all of it. These basics work for any niche.
Donna no way is this biatchy at all LOL 😉 I have done the same thing. Folks who make excuse after excuse had to go. The awesome peeps who hang around, who work, who learn, who keep at it, no matter what, these are the folks I give my attention and energy to. All the other people had to go, because they are not committing, not all in, not ballsy, and just not on that same bold wave length. You got it on the shout!
Hey Ryan,
Firstly, thanks so much for the mention.
I gotta say that it is so worth it to invest in premium products and services. Paying out money to get one to one coaching (which ain’t cheap) can catapult your business in so many ways. First, you are accountable to your coach. You do your “homework” asap and keep up with the instructions given. Before you know it, you are learning by doing and that to me is the best way to get things done. I’ve been around a long time and as things change, or I do, I seek out another mentor to pay for a good learning curve I can apply to my business.
Imagine doing things the “free way?” It would take years to figure things out and time is money!
And ALWAYS surround yourself with ballsy human beings on and off line. When hanging out together, it just boosts up energy. I may sound like a b*&$H but I have cast out all those who are whiners, who never do not one thing I teach them, and those who take years to do one single darn thing!
So there ya have it!
-Donna
Hello Ryan,
Do you have some tips on blogging on more business equipment? I work for a company that sell niche furniture, so its a little more tricky to work with.
Me too Sanjeev. I was terrified early on of how folks would react to my work. Over time I accepted how their opinions are their opinions which have nothing to do with me, so the fear subsided. It only took like….8 years for me to realize this 😉
Godwin this comment is brilliant dude. Brilliant. Agreed 100%. When you try to entertain, tension and resistance arises because you are manipulating. But when you help, the resistance dissolves into love, service and co-creation. Oh nope, the fer de lanz did not rear its head at all. We avoided meeting it up close and personal 🙂
I love meditating Praveen. Sometimes it gets really tough. Today in NYC I sat in a different environment. My mind raced. My body felt tense. But I sat and observed the mind, and tense sensation, and as always, each passed. Fabulous confidence builder for sure.
Yes Shantanu; I have seen this with your writing recently. Well done bro! Learning from the best is one easy way to develop confidence. The blogging pros are confident, clear folks who inspire you to be confident and clear.
Good deal Arvind! Do enjoy the eBook. As for your experience, I vibe with you. I did not stop writing, creating and connecting, and even SEO allergic me drives Google traffic these days LOL. Persist thru it all. Your confidence grows. As does your blog.
I LOVE the pullback Susan. Yesterday I ran 12 miles in NYC, in Central Park. Woohoo! My record 😉 But when I returned to blogging last night I felt calm, confident, relaxed, chill, and totally in the moment, where all my blogging power sits. Thanks as always 🙂
Hey Ryan,
Blogging with confidence has been a die hard game. If you can build you confidence to blog, you can build your dream life through blogging. This is nothing but the truth. Some newbie bloggers can easily get frustrated while blogging if the core why the started their blog is to MAKE money as they practice the ugly C and P blogging.
Blogging is about value creation and problem solving. As you have fun while playing soccer, you can too while blogging. I have not tried using Facebook Live , Periscope or YouTube. They can be a good source for consistent blog traffic while you make COOL money online as you said. I need to get the stage prepare to go LIVE.
Thanks for sharing, Ryan.
P.S: You were mentioned in a post here.
Take care 🙂
– Prince.
Exactly Maria. This blogging bit gets easier when you do it mainly with love, not fear. Total energy shift which opened my eyes to a new way of blogging.
Such great post… you well said Blog with love.Because the more you do work with Love the better result you get.
Thanks for sharing this amazing post.
Hi Ryan,
Great tips and I so agree about not being afraid to spend money. So many bloggers want to do everything for free. However, we all know that the fastest way to learn something or get better is to invest in ourselves and our businesses.
I make it a point to take time off from my blog each and every day. I love going walking and spending time in nature to clear my thoughts and just be.
It’s definitely made me more productive and has even given me some confidence in both my online and offline business.
Just like everything else, it definitely takes some time to build our confidence as a blogger.
Thanks for sharing these tips with us have a great day 🙂
Susan
When I started blogging I used to feel very boring to write articles…with less traffic and no earning I used to think I am wasting time..but after 1 year I made some good presence in search engine which brought handsome traffic…this all happened because of blogging and I did not stop writing articles..yes their is lot of fun involved in blogging and one should be have self confidence as well…great post Ryan…I am looking forward to buy one of your ebook on blogging..!!!
Hello Ryan,
Great tips over here 🙂
To overcome our fears, we need to work more and more upon that, things we are afraid off.
Its good to read the blogs we visit daily, at least 10 blogs per day. That would give us the rough idea how people do it.
Things would be more clear in our minds.
You always mention, to write at-least 1000 words daily and since I started this off, damn I have seen the betterment in my side.
Thanks for the tips buddy 🙂
Shantanu.
Hello
Ryan,
Nice to read your post. Blogging is something that needs confidence and nothing can be without confidence. Here you share very effective advice and this will proven to be very helpful for all and newbie bloggers. It is true that meditation gives us confident and to work with energy all day. Similarly, keep writing an effective post and share it with us.
Best wishes,
Praveen verma
Hey Ryan,
It’s been quite a while, but I’m back now.
You’ve written another awesome post again…and I want to comment on the first point which is blogging with love.
The fear of blogging is real…very real as the snake of Fer de lanz. I know this because it also happened to me years ago when I started. And I think one of the Major cause of this fear is the feeling of being vulnerable, the feeling of putting yourself out, the feeling out being insecure at what the world will think about you and your blog. It is also caused by the feeling of trying to compare or judge your work or writing with those other accomplished bloggers in your space.
So I understand this fear is real…and I also understand it has solution.
When you look at this feeling of fear closely, I think it all boils down to self-consciousness…more like someone trying to make an impression, at least in my experience.
So to combat its devastating effect, I began to take the focus off me, and ACTUALLY put the focus on my audience. And one trick that greatly helped me was viewing my role as a Helper rather than an Entertainer.
Take for example…What would possibly happen if I attempted to entertain the President of the United States or that of any nation? I would probably be apprehensive…I would fidget…I would be self-conscious and the thought of even doing that will make me not to even try.
But if on the other hand, I’m a pharmacist and the President walked into my store for a particular drug, would I be apprehensive to attend to him? The answer is No.
In this case, instead of being apprehensive, I’ll be bold. Instead of being self-conscious, I’ll be “authoritative”. I won’t hesitate to give him the drug. I won’t hesitate to serve him.
Why?
Because I’m rendering help. And help is something that’s greatly welcome by everyone, including the high and mighty.
The same applies to blogging. When bloggers begin to really put their attention and focus on their audience rather than themselves, the fear of blogging really diminish. When bloggers begin to see their responsibility as truly helping and serving people rather than entertaining or impressing them, the fear they have about writing that next post evaporates…
Because it will no longer be an issue of “Is this post as good as the one on Mr Wazoo’s blog”. It will now be now be “Will this Post really help my audience?”
And once this level of understanding has been reached on a personal scale, the old dynamics of blogging changes, including the fear that comes with it.
Thanks,
Godwin.
P.S Regarding Fer de lanz snake, hope it didn’t do anything silly?
Hi Ryan,
Great read. When I first started blogging I was more scared than anything about the reactions you get online. I think with time I have overcome that and accepted that every one is entitled to have their own opinion and we need to move forward with our visions.
I really love your tip about helping people 1 on 1. It adds so much confidence and long term relationships for bloggers.
Thanks,
Sanjeev
Always my pleasure Lisa 🙂 I too saw how investing money in my education gave me a boost. I was being a professional, established blogger so it felt good, and increased my confidence too. Loved your video with Donna. I look forward to seeing more FB Live videos from you.
Hi Ryan, you make a great point about purchasing premium products and services for your blog – I started doing that earlier this year and it did give me more confidence in my blog.
Having premium plugins and great hosting services can definitely give bloggers more confidence in their work and thus themselves. Same for taking courses and getting coached.
I can’t believe I’ve read your statements about writing daily so many words and I have began to do it. Every time I think – that Ryan was right!
As you know I did my first Facebook live with Donna Merrill – I was scared but knew it is something I must get used to doing. I hope to continue soon doing more. I have to go the whole 9 yards as you said 🙂
Thanks for the mention here Ryan, I really appreciate it – have a great evening!
Amen to this Brandon. Simply doing certain things persistently boosted my confidence in those areas. Be *all in*. Your confidence will grow.
I’d say Patrick, start with 5 minutes. This is a good space for feeling out meditation, for being present with your feelings, and for getting acclimated to a routine. Then you can add a few minutes each week.
This is an excellent read for finding a meditation style, and understanding how it works:
Journey of Awakening
Go for it Monna! The course; not living in these beautiful but wacky places LOL. All I needed to do what I am doing was a little nudge here and there from someone else. I think you just received that nudge yourself. Thanks as always 🙂
Hey Ryan,
You are absolutely right. The more you work at it and do the things that scare the bejeebers out of you, the better you will get. Still working on that process myself.
I still say you’ll never catch me in some of the places you’ve visited, beautiful but scary. Not Me! No Way!
I had almost talked myself out of creating my course I’ve been thinking about for a while now but reading your post today has reawakened that in me and I am going to go ahead with it.
Thanks again for all you share. 🙂
What is the appropriate amount of time that should be spent meditating per day? I want to get into this but I’m unsure of the practice and how it works. Thanks Ryan for the great post! I can totally understand how building all around confidence will help your blog confidence. It is also important to blog with love, it’s easy to tell when someone does not!
I say, with practice, you can become pretty confident with ANYTHING!
Just get going and you’ll get the hang of it. Thanks for a great read.
Excellent Jane. I am onboard with all of your tips. Follow successes then adopt your own style. I dig it.
Read, read and read more of other’s blog (especially yours of course!) – see how others do it, don’t copy them but be your own person, put your own buzz into it! Learn and keep learning.
I left a thought.