I sometimes find it amazing to look back less than two years to remind myself what I was like when I first began blogging. Back then I was a hobby blogger. As my blogging life continues I find myself more and more excited about the road that lies ahead.
Blogging has been tremendous to me during my two years of doing it, and is responsible for both a remarkable change in my life and my own personal growth.
Starting this Blog has been without question the single most important thing I have done in my professional life. It has changed me. It has changed the way I learn and grow and it has changed how I communicate with the world. Of equal importance it has changed the way I do business.
I started to blog purely as a hobby, a way to share my knowledge and passion for living a healthy lifestyle and personal development.
I didn’t know anything about online business when i started my blog. I had no idea you could make money from blogging when I started. But things changed after about 12 months and now I am seriously working on building a variety of blogs all part of my online business. I have grown from a hobby blogger to business blogger. The beauty is I have been able to stick to my core philosophy and continue to contribute and support others in their journey through life.
At the start I didn’t care about anything other than sharing my passion with others, and making the difference to them. It of course brought me a lot of fun. I loved publishing my articles, networking with a wide range of wonderful people and seeing people visit my blog, some of whom left comments. None of this has changed.
I got to the point where I wanted to become a full time blogger. It was the perfect choice to enable me to fulfil my main goal of being able to live a location independent lifestyle. I focused myself slightly differently; I had to look at an overall business strategy, no longer seeing myself just as a blogger. Blogging for business and blogging for fun are two different things.
I still feel very much the same. The only difference is I now receive a regular income from doing this thing that I love. I’ve now turned that into a full-time job that earns me a comfortable living.
I define myself now as a coach, blogger and speaker and my blog site has become an integral part of my personal brand and my life. I also love to help people and by the emails, messages and comments I receive, it seems that the blog enables me to do this pretty well.
I still have every intention to be helpful and create high value for all of my readers! I feel my responsibility is to provide insight, guidance, and support on all matters healthy lifestyle and personal development. I love to serve my community with knowledge, motivation, and practical tips and tricks. I now have extended my subjects of passion.
I now also chose to blog about blogging itself, helping others to learn how to improve their blogs and their understanding of what is necessary to be successful. I like sharing what knowledge I’ve acquired. It changed my life so much for the better, so I feel privileged, and if I can help others do the same, then that is a great reward.
What are some of the important things I’ve learnt so far?
You can create real relationships: Blogging has taught me the value of building true relationships in the social networking groups. My Blog has allowed me to not only meet, but become very close friends with people I would have never met otherwise. I have met and connected with many like-minded individuals from all parts of the world. It connects me to people just like you.
Awesome way to build your Personal Brand: I have been able to build my personal brand. My blog has been a stage to demonstrate my knowledge and passion for my subject. A blog can lead you to many new avenues. I have enjoyed many speaking engagements and have created a thriving coaching business. My blog showcases my knowledge and passion. It has created my brand, which led to me having the confidence of setting up larry-lewis.com.
You must be organised: I made a commitment to publish 10 text-articles across my two blogs each week. Knowing that I have to write this content ensures I create and stick to a firm schedule. I have learned through trial and error, that you can’t put your blog before everything else. You have to set aside time for your family. So creating a schedule including all the important tasks you have to perform for your blogging business is essential.
It’s good to help people: I write to help solve people’s problems. Many come to my blog looking for information to help them in their day to day life. They are looking for solutions, for answers to their problems and challenges. I love to be useful and help people. Blogging gives me the opportunity of getting my message to a huge, ever growing audience.
You must take it seriously: You have to invest a lot of time and work hard on blogging to make income. You must dedicate your time to blogging, marketing and the all the other necessary online activities that will assist you in making a good income. You need to show a lot of discipline and put in a lot of hard work. Dedication, consistency and determination are vital characteristics if you want to be successful online.
Important to stay focused: You have to find the time to blog, research, write, tweet, facebook, market, network, answer your emails and coach, as well as find time to stay healthy and have a life. Blogging takes a lot of effort and you have to be serious about what you are doing. You have to direct and concentrate your focus and commitment to make the most of this opportunity.
Easy to have a Location Independent Lifestyle:- You do not have to leave the house to do your work, but just as easily you can work from a coffee shop or a beach. All you need is a laptop and wireless connection. Working as a full-time bloggers allows you to enjoy leisure activities at your comfort – there is no hard and fast working time. No more office politics, and traffic jams when getting to work.
You have to have some luck on your side. There are millions of bloggers out there. Many talented and knowledgeable people are involved in the blogosphere. Of course hard work, producing great content and building a social network are your priority, and make your success, you always need lady luck looking down on you kindly.
Don’t expect instantaneous rewards from your blog. You need to give it at least 6 months before you will see a good steady stream of income. So as you will have picked up from many of my previous articles, you need to be passionate about your niche, so as you are able to sustain the effort needed to make a success. If you blog on what you love, the reward will come, if you stick with it.. You enjoy the topic and the process, so you persist and become successful over time.
What have you learnt from blogging? Please comment.
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