Recapping the second month
The second month was insightful because of the things I learned about myself. During the second month, I found myself noticing my entrepreneurial habits. From the very beginning I've been obsessed with Wealthy Affiliate. I've logged in everyday and the very first thing I look at is my ranking. I find the ranking inspiring; it's a reminder to me to be involved and to stay focused. When I don't do courses, post, or support our community, I see my ranking drop and I nudge myself gently and say, "Ok, you're tired today." The next day, I make sure that I get back on track. I am totally inspired by this community of great people!
I also confirmed (again!) that I'm a starter. I know this about myself; I tend not to see things through. I "get bored"…or maybe the truth is, I get scared and I stop. I get scared of not knowing what to do next, how to do it, failing…the usual stuff. The main result of the starter characteristic of my personality is that I now own four domains – a good start! – and have one website – I’m out of the starting gate! Yet even as I work on my first website, I toy with the idea of starting a second site because I feel uncertain about the niche I chose for the first one…and probably because I want to start yet again!
I have an old WordPress.com blog that I spent some time trying to bring back to life...it was lost somewhere in cyberspace for a while. That was maddening and inadvertently led to me to learning the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com – what a big difference! For one thing, I spent some time on my WordPress.com blog site before I learned that it cannot be used for business. Let's just call that whole thing a long learning curve instead of a waste of time!
This month, I joined Street Articles and HubPages. I set up my Street Articles profile and recognized for the first time my fears around putting myself out there; admittedly, I feel open, naked, and vulnerable. I can already see that month three will be full of writing and research - probably in reverse order. I understand that it's my writing that will drive traffic and give me writing experience as a marketer. I know that’s going to build my confidence and make me proud! I am already very proud of everything I've learned and done in the last eight weeks and, like many of you, I've done it on tired evenings after a workday of going flat out.
I enjoy every minute of this and that's how I know more than ever that this is for me!
Cheers to us and to all of our successes!
Chris
Recent Comments
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Yep, writing can be scary. We don't want to get slapped down and there are people out there that will do that. But the more you put out there, the more confident you will be. Then you will get to the point where you have a tougher skin and the people who don't like it wont affect you.
Ya, it really is scary. Rejection will feel uncomfortable; but as you say, it makes you tougher. In the end that's how we grow and that's also the reason we can really enjoy our successes so much - because we've had the taste of disappointment.
And you will get to where you really don't care. Because as Zig Zigglar says, "Sometimes, the only taste of success some people get is when they take a bite out of you."
You are such a trooper Chris! Thanks for sharing. Wishing even more enjoyment with your discoveries. Success back at ya' :) Cheers! Anna
Thanks, Anna. Yep, I'm doing this thing no matter what. Been thinking for such a long time about making work-life changes... I'm ready to do it all - at last! :-)
Hi Chris! I know exactly what you mean. I also leave things halfway to start another project. Not as much on here, although I am still guilty of it. I have always been that way. As a kid I would have half colored pages in all of my coloring books! Anyways, you are very much an inspiration and have been a friendly face on here since day one.
You're on the right track. I believe only when we see our flaws can we make changes to better ourselves.
Success is yours for the taking! ;)
Hi Beth, thanks for letting me know that you're a starter just like me. :) And thanks for your kind words. x.x.
Congratulations on all of your discoveries during your second month. I'm much the same way, I like to log into WA just to see what's going on and if there are any discussions I can jump in on and help with. I don't worry too much about my ranking here, that's secondary to helping people, but I think it's great that you're using that as a metric to keep yourself on track. All the best.
Thanks, Rick. :) It's interesting to see this side of myself and I'm enjoying the journey. I don't feel I have enough experience yet to be of much help to anyone and I've not dared to join Live Chat yet, but I'm growing. :-) Thanks for all of your help and encouragement.
Hi Chris. Two months is such a short time. On average, it takes most small business 3 to 5 years before turning a profit (if they stay in business at all). The number one reason, according to the SBA, why small business fail is lack of experience, followed by
Insufficient capital (money)
Poor location
Poor inventory management
Over-investment in fixed assets
Poor credit arrangement management
Personal use of business funds
Unexpected growth
and I don't believe that anyone in WA need worry about these. Except for perhaps the last one...and that would be positive problem.
Just putting this all in perspective.
Lee
Thanks for your reply, Lee. Yes, two months isn't long-I've learned a lot in just two months. I'm very happy about that. :) A lot will happen as I move forward - day-by-day. Thanks for your great blogs! :)
Honestly, I spent my first month on a niche site that I have since lost interest in(after pounding the content for a straight month). Looking back, the quality was actually pretty bad so I just went with the affiliate bootcamp. If you are stuck on what do do, I say you should too. It`s a lot more "step by step" than the certification courses which I thing would better suit a "starter."
BTW the large majority(if not all) of your content should to to your website. SA and other article directories aren`t worth using good content on when they don`t rank so well anymore. Better off "bulking up" your website.
Cheers and keep at it!
Choppydo. Please tell me more about your perspective on SA and other article directories.
Maybe it`s just me but I can`t get any real search traffic. Even after writing 100 articles over the past month, I only got about 120 click through at this point(with some of my later articles getting around 10% CTR). I`ve confirmed this with both Carson and Kyle as well- they both told me that 90-100% of the content you produce should go to your website now, especially since these kinds of backlinks don`t hold as much power as they used to. As they say, CONTENT IS KING.
Afterthought. I wonder why Carson and Kyle are promoting the 30 in 30 Challenge at Street Articles if search traffic has been diminished.
Good to know. Thanks again. I've already written 7 articles in 7 days, 5 of which have been published.
Yup I`d say it`s time for you to move over to writing just for your site, I spent a whole month`s worth of hard work writing 100 articles and becoming number 1 on SA and it barely did anything for my traffic or ranking. I regret not putting it all on my site. Can`t now cause that`s duplicate content :/
Thanks for your advice and inspiration. I feel good about my niche because it's something I feel is important and I enjoy. Will keep at it, as you say, and see how it goes. Content is everything for sure. :-)
Thanks for the info on articles, Chip. As I'm just staring to build content this is very good to know.
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Keep moving forward!! You are on the right track!