The 3 Biggest Mindset Hurdles For New Bloggers

bynathaniell

100.6K followers

3 years ago

Becoming a successful blogger isn't easy. However, the biggest enemy of the new blogger is not that this is some kind of impossible task like sending a rocket to mars. The biggest enemy of a new blogger is themselves and their mindest. Here are the top 3 mindset hurdles that new bloggers face, and my advice for how to overcome them and reach your goals.

1. An Unrealistic Timeline

The biggest crusher of new businesses is too high of expectations for the speed of results. ALL bloggers in the MMO niche highlight amazing blog success stories... because they are amazing. They spark interest and motivation.

It's way more interesting to click a video titled "$4,000 per month website in six months!" than it is to click $4500 in 3 years. At least in my experience with my own blogs, those stories are exception, not the rule.

Unfortunately, that means a lot of people start the first affliate blog with the expectation that they are going to be financially free before the end of the year. Usually, that's not the case.

My advice is to extend your timeline. Think in years, not months. How many years are you willing to dedicate to your business in order to see the results you want?

With the exception of fidget spinners, there's literally nothing in the world you can become an exepert at in less than a year, so why would running a successful online business be any different?

2. Unrealistic Income Expectations (Too Low)

A pretty common goal for newbies in affiliate blogging (including myself in 2010), is to simply replace your income. That's going to be about $30k - $80k per year for most people in the USA.

This is way too low of expectations in my opinion, and I think the low income expectations is what sets people up for that short term mindset I talked about in item #1 above. Think bigger.

There's literally no income cap to how much a webiste can earn. Your website - the one you are working on right now - has the potential to earn $100,000+ per month.

When you start realizing that, you start to think bigger. It's obvious you can't just turn a site from $0 to $100k in a month. Or even a year. A decade? Maybe! And that's how you can start thinking long term.

I like to think about what my website will look like in 10 years. What would I be proud to own? What might $100k/month look like? That little bit of adrenaline boost is often enough to get me to sit down in my computer chair and start writing and article.

When it's late at night and I want to go to bed, will I push through and get to work for an extra $30k/year? Maybe not. I'm pretty happy where I am. But would I dedicate a few extra hours each evening to be earning 7 figures online? Hell yeah.

That's how setting high income expectations can be a great motivator to keep your foot on the gas.

3. Understanding Your Unique Value

I honestly think that some people quit because they feel like they aren't "good enough" to make it in this industry. For me, as new blogger, everything was confusing and I felt like my website sucked compared to everyone else. I felt like there was no way that I could ever build something good enough to make money when everyone else knew more about my niche and had a better website.

I didn't realize two things at the time.

1) You can improve your website incrementally over time. Using the Way Back Machine, you can see what my blog One More Cup of Coffee used to look like in 2013 and how it changed over the years. It's been 9 years (started in 2012), and many things have improved over time.

I've added stuff, changed stuff, deleted stuff, rewritten stuff.

2) A lot of what you read on the internet is just people's opinions, written as if they were facts. Your opinion matters. You just have to find an audience who thinks like you do.

There are millions of people online and they all think differently. As many people as there are who think one thing, there are just as many people who think the opposite. This is very easily seen in the arena of health and fitness, specifically in eating habits. I like to look at vegans vs carnivores.

Both camps have strong opinions. Both have academic resources to back up their claims. Both have anecdotal evidence. Both have celebrity endorsements. Both cannot be convinced they are wrong, no matter how strong of evidence you provide to the contrary.

This same thing plays out in virtually every other niche out there. The solution? You don't have to pretend that you are infallible and your way is the right way, you just have get comfortable talking confidently about your opinion openly.

This confidence will also come with time, and that ties into the #1 item from this list. For example, 80% of MMO brands out there will tell you that you have to build links to have a successful business. Many people in the comment are of my YouTube videos will laugh at me, or even get angry (claiming I'm giving bad advice) when I tell people that they should not waste time building links.

However, I know from my own experience that my own websites earn good money without any link building, so I can confidently state my opinion and back it up with anecdotes. You'll be able to do the same in your own niche as you become an expert.

Your opinion is not any better or worse than anyone elses. It's just another unique voice online, and there are people who will resonate with your point of view. Using keyword research and SEO, you can connect with those people and build your online brand!