One Month In

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Struggles

Does anyone else feel like they are drowning during the first month? I know that I am. I'm maybe halfway through bootcamp and struggling with writing. Passive voice and bad grammar are present in everything I write.

I have a niche, one that I'm living, and have ideas for posts, but as I write them, I hit a wall of self-doubt. I've started posts and then trashed them because they don't feel right.

I keep working every day. I understand that effort over time will yield results. Butting my head against the wall will eventually knock it down or make a hole in it.

I suppose I'll keep writing/posting here so I can improve my writing and my understanding of all this.

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Recent Comments

51

Hi David, Building a business is a lot of work. If it were easy everyone would be doing it. I have the same struggles. What works best for me is to write down an action plan or a list and make those my goals. I just check them off as I go along. Finishing each part piece by piece will, over time, give you a sense of accomplishment.
Cheers,
Mike

Hi David, This is perfectly normal. I cried the whole way through my first week! and the second week, I went into complete meltdown and self doubt mode.

What is wonderful is that you have ideas, This is normally the issue with block and self doubt.

I would recommend breaking your ideas into 5 paragraphs and put a title at the top. 1) Introduction 2) content, 3) content 4) content 5) conclusion. Then just concentrate on writing 300 words for each. before you know it you will have posts of over 1500 words without even thinking about it.

If you have to, write 300 words and then take a break. I would limit time of writing. I think somebody write a post about a 25 minute timer. That way you are not sitting at a laptop getting frustrated.

self doubt is in all of us, but believe you CAN do this. I promise. Just sit down and let what you truly want to say flow. You can amend spelling and grammar after, don't stress about that while writing the content otherwise it will stop the flow.

Write as often as you can, even if you don't publish it. (As Twack said) the more you write the easier it gets.


You can do this, and these feelings of frustration and self doubt are perfectly normal : )


Much Love
Sara

Thanks, Sara, I appreciate your comments.

You are very welcome : )

The biggest step was beginning to try and build a business just being here and waking up every day to try and work it is huge ! Every one has doubts and no one has it all figured out , you can do it Just write about what you know it don’t have to be perfect write it and post it anyways get advice and help, we are not English majors so grammar, flow it all takes time but so does anything. Don’t let fear hold you back make a goal to write something every morning , it seems to me the community here has a lot of love and encouragement for new members use it!

Don't give up. I too have had my discouragements and struggles. Especially since I don't know much about the terms used here. So I'm learning technical terms, the lessons, and how to create my website! It's very challenging. But you sound like a person who has lots of curiousity, so I bet you are going to do very well here. Just keep plugging ahead.
Although I am not making money yet, I am hopeful. And in the meantime I have learned so much! I love telling people I am building a website.
Best to you,
Barb

Thanks Barb!

This is a normal thing to encounter early on in internet marketing David. One of the things worth noting is that:

It's normal.
It gets easier and with practice you'll get better.
If the way you're writing this post is any indication of how you write on your site, then I think you're doing perfectly fine :)

Absolutely Agreed! I thought what was written in this post quite fab! very descriptive.

--
What worked well for me and I was not a great writer at all by any means. is month 1..goal was simple. 600 words, I managed.

Month 2, 700 words
Month 3, 800 words

And just kept on raising the bar. Now, nearly 4 years on 5,000 words a day 7 days a week is no problem at all!

For grammar use Grammarly plug in - its free!.

At first, all new things are a bit difficult until we get the hang of them. This is no different. Kyle normally says to write as though you are having a conversation with someone.

You are not writing to impressed, you are writing to convey a message. Yes you need some proper grammar so that is easy to read but it does not have to be perfect in any shape or from. In time you will get better at it.

So, when you sit down to write, image yourself talking to your friends and tell them what you want to write about. See if that helps. This post is a well written piece you were about to convey your struggles with your writing quite well. Don't give up! Keep at it!

Much success on your journey here at WA!

Kind regards,
Nichola

Yep, we all have been there and to some extent, are still there! It's very hard to keep all the balls in the air. Training, blogging, website, it can be overwhelming. Secret...hang in there. The old adage is true...rest if you must, but just don't quit!
You're going to make it. Keep using the spell and grammar checker to make sure your words are correct, then just plow through it!
Enjoy the journey
Joe

Hi!
Don't worry, we've all felt like this at one point. The key to success is perseverance. Those posts may not look good to you now, but leave them be for a while, then come back to them and see how you feel.

If you're writing about things you are passionate about, things will all fall into place, I promise!

I know when I first wrote my posts, I worried about providing false info or being called out for the way I write. I was completely wrong. I've received nothing but good feedback. Any criticism is just an opportunity to grow.

Keep working hard and don't forget we are most often our own worst critics! Cut yourself some slack, you can do it!

Melanie

Thanks, Melanie

The important thing is to get keyword rich content out there, even if you're not entirely happy with it. But I do know what you mean and remember it well.

I cringe when I read most of my posts from a couple years ago. If they're generating traffic I usually update them. But it's those early posts that get indexed and establish your site as an authority in your niche.

I suspect I'll cringe when I read my current posts a couple years from now.

Try (although I know it's hard if you're a perfectionist) not to shoot for perfection. I have so many posts that I spent so many hours trying to make perfect that have never recieved any traffic and never will.

I could have written half a dozen good posts to every one of my perfect posts (which are far from perfect anyway).

Once you notice a post getting traffic you can always go back and update it.

Also... most people skim through posts, they don't fully read them so a lot of those little things (like passive voice) will never be noticed by your readers and you can work at getting better while writing your next post (not rewriting your current post).

First, don't trash those posts! They are likely good ideas that you can come back to once you catch your groove. What I do is I pretend that I am explaining something to a friend that I know and keep that vision in my head.

I totally understand about writing in a passive voice and I, too, struggle with that. In my previous job I was writing government proposals. You just can't have drier writing than that and its what they WANT.

Writing posts is completely different. Although you do want some facts in there, as I mentioned, pretend that you are explaining it to a friend and write it in that way.

You can do it!!!

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