Are you an action taker or opportunity waster?
Sometimes, life can be tough.
There are so many things to juggle (especially if you're caring for children) that it can tempting, when the working day is done, to just relax with a Presecco and binge on Netflix.
If you're trying to build a side business, this is a way of life that you need to learn to let go of.
Entrepreneurs don't get to squander their time watching television or playing games (unless these are specific niches to be exploited).
No, you need to stay focused if you're going to juggle establishing a profitable side hustle at the same time as working a full time job, taking care of a family or both at the same time.
The title of this post sounds confrontational and to some degree, it is.
Except I'm not addressing you. I'm addressing myself.
We are only truly accountable to ourselves
I now ask myself this question every day and have done for the past two months.
This is how I tackle my addiction to procrastination and wasting time.
I force myself to ask this question: "Are you an action taker or are you happy to let the opportunities that I've been given slip through my fingers and never achieve success?"
Some days, I really don't like the answer but by forcing myself to answer has helped me to get back to creating content and believing in the possibility of success.
When I joined WA in 2016, I was not an action taker.
I was, quite frankly, a disorganised mess.
I wasted vast amounts of time playing computer games and watching television and when I did try to further my goals on WA, I was that torn between three different site ideas that I foolishly tried to create them all.
As you can imagine, that didn't end well.
This year, that all changed.
I called myself to account.
How have I spent my time since I joined WA? Should I cancel my membership? Is it worth it?
And that's when I realised (for real, this time) that the only person that was responsible for my lack of success on WA was myself.
And so, I asked Kyle if I could join the super affiliate challenge.
Comfort zones change as we do
Since April, I've discovered some amazing things about myself.
I can write.
I mean, really write.
My latest blog post was 4,400 words long and it was written over two half-days.
The only reason I've been able to do that is by paying attention to the training and taking action in the SAC.
Kyle's excellent advice has given me a new excitement about creating content, and a drive to develop content that I'm proud to publish.
For the first time since joining WA, I feel that I'm growing as a content creator, as an affiliate marketer and I can see skills developing that I never imagined I would achieve.
The reason that I mentioned comfort zones in the sub-title is because I was once comfortable writing 500 word posts. I thought I'd acheived something when I'd posted one.
Then I pushed myself to start writing 1,000 word posts.
Then I discovered the power of breaking down my post ideas into subtitles for the sections before I wrote anything (thank you Kyle, again) and pushed myself to write 2,000 word posts.
I now aim to write 3,000 word posts because apparently Google now values content of that length more highly than shorter posts and because I want to write content of value.
As I've developed my skills as a writer, I'm no longer comfortable writing short posts - my comfort zone has adapted.
I'm excited about the content I'm writing, instead of doubting if it's worth reading.
Attracting action-takers
A lot of the training here on WA requires people to read it.
Sure, there are videos but a lot of it is still text-based.
I realised that if I wanted to attract referrals to WA that were willing to commit to the training and find success, I needed to write long content.
If people are willing to read 3,000 words on my blog before they click through to Wealthy Affiliate, they are more likely to want to do the work here.
Of course, I could be absolutely wrong.
Either way, I'm loving pushing my writing skills and seeing the change within myself.
Wealthy Affiliate doesn't just teach you how to create an affiliate marketing website.
It also teaches you:
- to be a better writer
- to be more creative
- to find keywords that people want to read about
- to be more confident
- to believe that if you put the work in, you will find success.
Have an awesome day, everyone!
If you have any thoughts or ideas about how WA has improved you, please post a comment below.
Recent Comments
12
Wow! As a computer gamer (for pleasure, not profit) your story really resounded with me. Thank you very much for the inspirational words and the much needed kick in the butt!
Hello and I just want to stop by to read some post (in my break)..I like it! It is so nice to share opinion and experience among all of us. Have a great day! Vesna
Becoming involved with WA is getting me to focus on what is important and eliminate the chaff from the wheat in my life.
I love nothing better than to chill out after the day job with a bit of Netflix but ultimately this is not going to help me reach my goal of early retirement.
Thanks for post.
Gaz
Thanks Gaz.
Like you say, it's nice to relax with a bit of Netflix (or whatever) and it will be even nicer to retire early with a side business that's easy to maintain.... then we can really relax!
Sounds like you are definitely an action taker!
Yes there is lots to learn here at WA. I’ve certainly been thinking a lot more about the content I put in my blog posts and I’m starting to see the results in google rankings 🙂
Thanks Dave -
sadly I didn't used to be (as I mentioned in the post) so I need to keep reminding myself that action leads to success!
See more comments
I have learned a massive amount from WA, the training is fantastic, whether the structured courses or the incidental things which you can pick up every day from the posts, Alan.