Old Training - New Affiliate

As the new HUBS training rolls out, I am faithfully making my way through the old, and soon to be phased out, "Online Entrepreneur Certification."

In Level 2: Lesson 15, one of the tasks is to create "one blog post within Wealthy Affiliate."

I skipped this, initially, and moved on to Level 3.

Why did I skip it?

The thing is, I have been trying to be very disciplined about completing all the tasks in each lesson as I go.

This is because I am prone to a couple things that tend to derail my progress.

Thing One. I want to know everything upfront.

This tendency makes it hard for me to focus on the task at hand.

I skip around. Read ahead. Don't understand what I have read because I am skipping around and then start to consult outside sources of information in order to better understand. Massive amounts of time go by. And I feel somewhat accomplished as I have now consulted every authority (and non-authority) on the Web on the topic of, say, "niche selection."

But I haven't made any actual progress.

I haven't even selected a niche.

"If only," I think to myself, "I could leap forward in time and know everything that I will know a year from now, including that I have actually chosen a topic I love to write about and a niche that is profitable."

And I get stuck right there and consequently choose no topic, never discover if I love to write about it, and continue to wonder if it would have been profitable having never put it to the test.

And guess what?

What I describe above is exactly what I did for almost a year after initially joining Wealthy Affiliate in 2022.

Now, I was very busy with my other job as a ghost writer/technical writer. That is true.

But the other is also true and I would be lying to you if I said it wasn't.

So, in order to not succumb to this tendency, around October of 2023, I refocused.

I commanded myself to go through the Wealthy Affiliate training lesson-by-lesson, in order, skipping no tasks. I could back-up and review a lesson for better understanding or ask questions within the W.A. platform - but no day-long excursions on the Web.

A year had gone by since I initially joined Wealthy Affiliate in 2022 and it was almost as if I had just joined.

But, at last, I was making steady progress.

Thing Two. I quickly get very excited about an idea ... and nearly as quickly lose confidence in it.

Ask me how many .com domain names I own.

Actually don't.

Let's just say, I probably spent more money buying domains in 2022 and early 2023 - domains that, at that moment, captured an idea that I was super excited about ...

... then I did on upgrading my W.A. membership.

Which do you think was a better investment? Five-year ownership of gymgrrrl.com [CRINGE] or upgrading to Premium or Premium Plus?

I can't believe I told you that. (But, hey, maybe my confessional will make a great Boot Camp post some day.)

So, in order to combat this shiny new object meets lack of follow-through tendency, I commanded myself to choose a niche.

Here, I must digress.

Niche selection is hard!

More importantly, the more you read a niches and niche selection, the more confusing it gets.

I'm sure this is why W.A. consistently advises new affiliates not to overthink it and to just choose something that they are passionate about.

Its important to just choose something and get started, so that you can learn the process. Once you learn the process, if you really aren't happy with your niche you can apply what you now know to something else. That's way more productive than impulse buying domain names based on your latest, greatest brainstorm while learning nothing.

Also, its totally true that it is much easier to research and write about a topic that you are interested in. I buy that.

But in order for me to choose a niche, I had to do something a little different. Here's what I did.

First, I had to quit using the word niche.

Second, I made two columns on a piece of paper. One column was a unordered list of stuff that I had an authentic relationship with. Meaning I had used it, owned it, studied it, or done it. The other column was an unordered list of people (maybe even real individuals, including myself) who I wanted to help. As I created each column, I did not overthink it (see, I got that part) and I did not initially try to make any connections between column one and column two.

Only after I made my lists did I think about what I had written a little more deeply.

What was it about my waitress friend that made me want to help her, and in what ways would I like to be able to help her?

Did I really find cat ownership interesting enough to write about it every day? (Isn't it enough that I daily scoop their litter boxes?)

This exercise finally helped me choose a ni..., I mean, topic for my site. And when it came time to write that About page, I was confident that I had an authentic relationship with my topic and that put me well on the way to being a trustworthy authority.

Best of all, this approach put me and Google on the same trajectory as Google favors content that is "written or reviewed by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well."

So I have learned two things.

Thing One. To make progress you have to stay focused on the task at hand. For new (or newer) affiliates like me, that is training. Go through the lessons step-by-step. Complete the tasks. Move forward. Then move on to the next task.

Thing Two. Chose a topic for you site that you are interested in AND have an authentic relationship with. Feel free to use my two columns exercise. But beyond that, don't overthink it.

But what about the task I skipped?

At the moment (probably sometime after Thanksgiving of last year) that I arrived at the Level 2: Lesson 15 task of creating "one blog post within Wealthy Affiliate," I felt like I had nothing to say.

In my head, I imagined that post as an insightful (and somewhat snarky) summation of all the wisdom I had gained in my first year with W.A.. Maybe a list of 10 pointers for newer members.

But as I drafted this post in my head, it quickly began to sound like one of those awful college admission essays in which you are trying to sum up you life thus far in a way that conveys just how special and unique you are so that the admissions officer has no choice but to admit you. And hopefully sheds a few tears as they read.

And then you realize, or at least suspect, that by comparison to others, you haven't done that much.

Crumple mental piece of paper. Toss into virtual bin.

Enter the week of January 8, 2024.

Tuesday, I spent the day at the dentist getting the final three of a total of six crowns on my teeth - the culmination of a nearly three month process that has been surprisingly painful (and unsurprisingly expensive).

Wednesday, I took my much-loved cat Jack to the vet for a rhinoscopy. (Its a thing). This procedure involves sedation and, thus, the risk associated with sedation. Jack is older and so I spent Wednesday worried. (He came through fine, but cried all the way home from the vet.)

Thursday, I am ready to get back to training and working on content. I am in the midst of writing a post for my site and have the goal of publishing 30 posts on the site by the end of January. (I might not quite make that, but I should be close.)

And I cannot focus at all.

At which point I learned (or remembered) a third thing.

Thing Three. If you cannot focus on writing the content in front of you, write about something.

Writing is hard. It doesn't always come easily or go well.

But the way to get past a writing stymie (I know, "stymie" is a verb, but wouldn't it be a great noun?) is not to stop writing. Its to keep writing.

Just write about something else.

Just let the words flow.

The act of writing will generate more writing and pretty soon you will be primed to work on the task at hand.

Which is what I need to do - but am also ready to do - now.

Post Script

Here are three more things I have learned (or knew) that have really helped me ... in completely random order. (You smart kids probably already knew all this!)

Newer to affiliate marketing or W.A. and need some inspiration? Read the first posts of a seasoned W.A. member who you admire and see what they were thinking when they were new (or newer).

Doing research for your site and can't relocate that super interesting and relevant idea in that lengthy web page you are reading? CTRL + F opens up a box into which you can type a word or phrase to search for and that will help you locate that word or phrase anywhere in any text. Its also a handy tool for editing your own work.

Think you have accidentally and irretrievably deleted a post you have just written for WA? (Just me?) Fear not! Your post is being autosaved. When you click on Create a Post, the "What's On Your Mind?" window opens. At the top to the far right is a button named "Drafts." Click on it. Your autosaved draft is there.