Boquete, Panama
As a new blogger I recall scanning my inbox.
A presser style pitch found my me via a publicist for someone named “Nik Halik“.
I had never heard of him but his resume impressed the hell out of me.
Clicking that link above reveals that CBS news perceives him to be worthy of coverage.
Anyway, he is a thrill seeker who’s done everything from being an astronaut to exploring The Titanic.
I felt floored that his publicist wanted me to interview him.
My blog piqued their interest. He needed some increased coverage. Why he sought me out for coverage I knew not. This was well before Blogging From Paradise days. We’re talking 7 years before I even conceived of this blog. I had scant readers at that time.
Anyway, I heartily agreed to interview him even though the possibility had me shuttering in my cyber boots as a beginner blogger.
Little did I know that he would teach me perhaps my most invaluable blogging lesson.
Doing It by the Book
His publicist shared a list of 10 pre-arranged questions with me. The person stressed that I could only ask him those questions because he’d been prepped for those specific queries.
I read the questions and agreed.
She explicitly stated how I was prohibited to stray one centimeter from any of the 10 queries. Or something like that. Do it by the book. No awkward silence. No potential back-peddling. We wanted Nik to look good.
I nodded once again.
But intuitively I felt a strong urge to research Nik thoroughly before interviewing him the following week. I instantly knew somehow that digging deep to learn more about him versus parroting canned questions would make for a more stimulating, entertaining interview that flowed freely.
He did not know me from Adam. But at least I could treat him like a long, lost friend as I casually lobbed the softball questions his way.
Logically, there was zero reason for me to research his life thoroughly. The publicist chick told me to just ask the 10 questions which Nik would answer in pretty much rapid fire fashion. She said not to ask or inject anything else.
But your intuition often goes against logic and pretty much how the world thinks.
The Moment of Truth
When the evening of the interview arrived I turned on my tape recorder – I am not kidding; this was 2008, folks – to preserve the conversation, introduced myself and asked the first prepared question.
He instantly told me: “I have answered these identical questions 20 times today already. I’m bored. Ask me something different, mate.”
He and his publicist literally told me to do everything by the book by only asking canned questions. Right up until the moment he did a full 180, bored to tears of being a thrill-seeking robot, decided to throw out the book and seemingly put me on the spot.
My friends, this was far and away the most critical lesson I learned as a new blogger.
Be mindful. Trust your intuition. Be ambitious, independent thinking and bold. Prepare for the unexpected because it can and does arise.
The interview went beautifully because I mindfully:
- trusted my intuition
- did above and beyond the homework required
- prepared for the unexpected by being independent thinking and ambitious
and rattled off a series of questions based on:
- my research
- his life
- his incredible experiences
- genuine, in the moment frankness
But if I chose to be mindless, robotic and unprepared, waiting on the expected, the interview would have been a dud at best and likely he would have hung up on me at worst.
It was no fault of his, but I felt like he did not want to be there answering the same BS, lame questions for the 20th time that day, lobbed his way from an unknown blogger with no audience. He seemed resistant, bored, stressed and tired out, as tends to happen to folks doing pressers and promotions.
He most likely would have hung up on me if I had no other questions prepared only because he had nothing to lose. I’d not have blamed him one bit.
But he instantly perked up the moment I asked him questions about his childhood; I cared enough to do a deep dive on the dude before the interview.
Nik became quite candid, colorful and engaging.
By the time I turned off the tape recorder (stop laughing guys) I could feel his sincere appreciation. He felt thankful that his last interview at the end of a long, robotic day was someone highly prepared and willing to traipse off of the blogging path.
The Ultimate Blogging Lesson
Like my newbie blogger interview with Nik Halik, successful blogging is highly mindful, deeply intuitive and filled with unexpected twists and turns navigated only by highly prepared bloggers who did above and beyond the homework necessary.
The only bloggers who succeed are hungry, ambitious, independent thinkers with serious drive.
Of course you follow guidance from pro bloggers.
But you need to be:
- independent
- ambitious
- intuitive
- driven
- bold
- forward thinking
- curious
- hungry
- highly prepared
to become a full time blogger.
So few bloggers go full time because so few embody or at least partially develop these qualities.
Glaring Example
Generally speaking, most bloggers will ask me a blogging question on social media and wait around for an hour, 24 hours or 48 hours for me to respond to their question.
A few bloggers who embody the traits on the above list:
- visit Blogging From Paradise Dot Com
- read a few posts or buy an online course or buy an eBook
- get the answer to their blogging question in 5 minutes or perhaps an hour
I hate to say it, but most of humanity lacks independence of thought, ambition, pluck, desire, vision, drive and the hunger to succeed. Point blank; most people are mentally lazy enough to expect me to personally reply to their questions over 1 or 2 or 3 days instead of being mentally hungry enough to:
- visit my blog themselves
- research my blog posts themselves
- invest money in my courses and eBooks themselves
- get the answers themselves
- act on my guidance themselves
- succeed themselves
I do not prefer to bitch out new or struggling bloggers….but how can you ever succeed unless someone clearly points out the cause of your blogging failure? Most bloggers reading this post have zero clue how “mentally” lazy most are, instead of immediately showing ambition, drive and hunger to do the mental legwork and blogging research themselves.
You need to be mindful, intuitive and to go above and beyond in terms of preparation or else the unexpected will torpedo you and you will fail and quit blogging as surely as the night follows the day.
I’ve seen thousands upon thousands of bloggers quit since 2007 because the masses are not mindful, intuitive, ambitious and driven enough to do their homework, to be highly prepared and to roll with unexpected punches.
Most do little, get shell shocked and quit with alarming speed.
This post is a wake-up call, a notice, a bucket of ice water to the face on a wintry morning.
Conclusion
Be ambitious.
Think for yourself.
Trust pro blogger guidance but blaze your own path as you follow proven fundamentals.
Follow your intuition if it deviates from the norm.
Prepare yourself by doing more than what seems required.
Expect the unexpected.
Hit the blogging ground running by developing a strong mindset.
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