London, UK
A few moments ago someone bought this Blogging From Paradise eBook.
I checked my Gmail and saw the registered sale.
Observing the sale goaded me to write and publish this blog post.
Why?
I had to overcome my biggest blogging obstacle to not only make blogging sales but also to frame blogging income in the proper light.
The obstacle: equating one blogging course or eBook sale with the amount of work executed *prior* to the sale and feeling like repeating such work for future sales would be an impossible task.
Especially during newish or drought-like periods I felt completely hopeless when after blogging patiently, persistently and generously for 3 months that 1 sale would pop up in my email inbox.
The ego voice in my mind said:
“You just put in 500 hours of blogging work over 3 months for ONE eBook sale! You’re nutz! Give up! Now you need to work twice as hard to sell a $100 course next month and put in triple the effort to sell a $200 blogging course. Why even bother?”
None of these ideas are true because the ego shouts fear-based lies. Listen to the raucous ego shrieks and you will struggle, fail and quit.
I made the common blogging error of thinking, feeling and acting like an employee. Blogging is a business not a job. Bloggers are entrepreneurs not employees.
My mindset seemed stuck in the employee mode of: work X number of hours to get X number of money.
Training my mind to shift away from getting paid based on working a set time or putting in a set effort felt incredibly uncomfortable because it entailed facing, feeling and releasing fear.
I gradually trained my mind to think like an entrepreneur who patiently builds a business without seeing much income for a while to eventually allow the business to yield passive, increasing profits. But training my mind felt unpleasant because I kept coming up against beliefs mired in fear, scarcity, poverty and loss, sometimes dripping in panic, terror, shame and embarrassment.
Feeling these fears felt horrible. But hugging the emotions, forgiving the feelings and proceeding eventually let me realize that if you build your business effectively, patiently and persistently your blog itself does the selling.
I had to forgive my employee mindset to reach that perspective.
Employee Mindset to Forgive
Basically guys, you need to:
- face
- feel
- release aka forgive aka look past
the fears in your mind scaring you into thinking like an employee who works a set amount to receive a set amount of money.
Forgiving that mindset instills an entrepreneurial mindset based on:
- trust
- peace
- confidence
- a predominant sense of attachment
in knowing that the blog that you build slowly but surely nets passive, organic profits on its own.
In the scenario above, I did not trade 3 months of work for $10 USD. I spent 3 months building a blog and business that positions me to live a lifetime of fun and freedom over the long haul.
Framing blogging work not as a 1 for 1 trade between time-effort for money but an investment in long term freedom, fun, liberation and money makes the difference.
Surround Yourself Only with Entrepreneurs
Surround yourself only with entrepreneurs to gradually think, feel and act like a business owner.
Allow their habits to rub off on you.
Follow their behavior through osmosis.
Ramp things up by studying the lives of iconic entrepreneurs. If you fear trading 3 months of work to build a lifetime of recurring income, freedom and the joy of serving, simply observe billionaires who took on debt in the hundreds of millions of dollars to build epic empires. Studying their boldness shocks you out of employee-level thinking shackles keeping you mired in survival mode.
Build It the Right Way and They Will Come and Buy
Building your blog the right way allows the blog to generate passive income.
Perhaps you net sales as you sleep, or enjoy a holiday or even work on other elements of your blogging campaign.
Building your blog the right way involves following successful blogging advice diligently.
Drilling down into the blogging details gives you a framework to follow for increasing passive blogging income.
If you build your blog effectively, patiently and persistently then you will never need to trade time for money again because the blog will make money for you passively based on the work you put in over the years.
Do Periodic Rebuilds When Necessary
I am in a serious rebuild now and have been for the prior few years.
A series of offline shake ups combined with more dedicated mind training guided me to change my blogging strategy somewhat radically over the prior few years in some regards.
Rebuilds typically accompany periods of diminished traffic and income. Can a half-built restaurant generate income? Where will customers sit? On a pile of bricks? Where will you store the food without the electrical and a fridge being set up? In the sun?
Be patient during blogging rebuilds because past employee mindset shifts can and do trigger when your worldly success drops off deep into your blogging career. Panic not. Success awaits but you need to patiently build it the right way – again – for the targeted traffic and blogging income to gradually increase.
Entrepreneurs Typically Work for Free for a Long Time Before Making Serious Bucks (or Any Bucks)
James Patterson has sold hundreds of millions of books.
But as a new author decades ago he gave away 100’s to 1000’s of books for free to increase his credibility and exposure.
Phil Knight is the billionaire founder of Nike now. But as a new entrepreneur decades ago he drove his station wagon to track meets to sell sneakers for significantly less than a top flight pair of Nikes goes for now.
Entrepreneurs usually work for free for a long time before making even pennies, let alone the big bucks most aspire to earn.
J.K. Rowling is a billionaire now but a bunch of publishers told her that her idea for Harry Potter was worth 0 dollars. One publisher’s child planted the seed for a billion dollar publishing and movie empire by enjoying the idea which set off a light bulb in her parent’s mind.
Stop believing that each sale hinged on a heavy work load.
Begin believing that the heavy workload sets you up for passive sales that will keep increasing as your generosity, scale and creativity expands.
Develop a Vision
Hold a vision of freedom in your mind.
Blogging work that you do now is for permanent freedom, an exponentially increasing business and the cherished opportunity to be truly helpful to humanity.
How does that sound for expansive thinking to shock you out of an employee mindset hellbent on making 1 for 1 trades?
Conclusion
The blogging work you do now moving forward is for fun, freedom, expansion and exponential business growth over the long term.
Sear this idea onto your mind to put my biggest blogging obstacle behind you….for good!
