Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

Why Stuck?

Filed Under Basics, Guest Writer, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 6 Comments

Todays guest post is from Kneale Mann.

Kneale Mann is a writer, a coach and a strategist. With 26 years experience, he consultants on communications, marketing and social media strategy in the private, hi-tech and public sectors. He is also an associate with CEPSM and a member of the TEDxOttawa organization team.

We All Have Choices

Recently, a friend sent me a copy of Rick Butts’ book “7 Choices”. In it, Rick talks about the time we work on us verses the time we work on what we do or getting customers or what we can offer. In the age of social networking, we can all create profiles and exchange ideas and share. But how much time do we spent on better understanding ourselves?

In 1943, Abraham Maslow outlined our need to belong in his paper Hierarchy of Needs. No matter your age or situation, you want your life to have purpose and passion. That is the core of why we may get stuck – we aren’t following either. We haven’t deciphered who we are and what drives our passion. All too often we seek external confirmation.

Internet Friends

If you are immersed in social media and haven’t taken a moment to think of all the wonderful people you would not have met otherwise you are missing the essential part of the process. In my case, I met Liz Strauss and Kathryn Jennex and over the course of two years we all got to know each other. A few tweets turned in to some emails and phone calls then in to actual work. I look forward to new projects with them in 2010. My friend Lisa Hickey calls it accelerated serendipity.

I was at an event last week and realized that the twenty or so people I was sitting with had all met online. We shared similar sensibilities, we found trust with each other and we want each other to be happy and do well.

So why do we get stuck? Is it because no one will help us realize our passion and purpose? Or is it that we haven’t discovered it inside us in order to tell people what we want?

Three years ago, a friend gave me a copy of The Secret and I have told this story numerous times but I watched the first half of the film with my closed mind and arms folded and the second half taking notes. But notes aren’t enough. We need action and focus. We are human. We get stuck. We fall into the same traps of listening to the opinions of naysayers. We fail to listen to that pang in deep in our gut.

I was speaking with a client the other day about Ellen DeGeneres. She endured three years of unanswered phone calls. No one wanted to hire her and she was running out of money. She was stuck. She then got the idea of doing her own talk show. The studios weren’t falling over themselves to help her realize her dream. But she made it happen and built it into one of the most popular shows on television. It took work and persistence. She did it because she found out who she was and got unstuck.

Why do you get stuck? Why are you not following your dreams and passions and purpose? Or maybe you are?

Does this mean we shouldn’t discover people we trust to help us navigate this journey? Ask the most successful people on the planet if they get stuck and you will get a resounding – YES! None of us is immune. But if someone asks you to help them get unstuck, forget their resume or the past and listen to what they need. If you do, magic will happen for both of you.

Blogging Your Way Into The Real World

Filed Under Basics, Guest Writer, Successful Blog | 4 Comments

Todays guest post is from David Spinks.

David Spinks is the Community Manager for Scribnia, where the world’s bloggers and columnists are reviewed by their readers. He also blogs at The Spinks Blog about business, young professionals and social media.”

Starting a blog takes a lot of guts. Making that leap into the public eye isn’t easy! Even after you get started, maintaining a blog that doesn’t get much traffic or comments right away can be discouraging.

It was right here on Liz Strauss’ blog where I got my first dose of confidence in my blogging career. Back in January when I was still a senior at SUNY Genseo, I had become friends with Kathryn Jennex through twitter and my blog, and she was kind enough to include me in one of her posts on this blog.

I’ll never forget that post. It was my first reassurance that maintaining my blog was a good idea…and now here I am again almost a full year later. I now work full time doing something that I absolutely love.

Every young professional or professionally aspiring student has a great deal to gain from starting a blog. The time and commitment that you have to put into maintaining a blog is greatly outweighed by the value that you get out of it.

I started my blog at the beginning of the second semester of my senior year. While I didn’t plan it this way originally, looking back, I think this is a perfect time for students to start a blog. It’s right around the time when most college students start taking their career seriously. They see graduation day fast approaching, and worry about what they’re future will look like.

Here are some reasons why starting a blog in your senior year is a perfect transition from college into the real world:

  1. Best of both worlds. To this point, you’ve probably only learned from teachers, looking in from the outside. Reading blogs, and starting your own blog will allow you to put one foot into the real world, while keeping the other foot in school. You can learn what the industry is really like, in a setting outside of the classroom.
  2. Start to make connections. For networking, there are few methods that are better than blogging. Not only because people read your work, but also because you’ll be reading others’ work and commenting there. You can tie your blogging conversations to conversations on twitter and make connections there too. You can go to 100 job fairs in your senior year, but all you need is the right connection at the right time, and you’ll find a job.
  3. Catch up on trends. Most college courses have one major downside, they talk about the past. Very few professional courses will teach you the newest and most innovative methods that are being used today. Blogging tends to take place at the cutting edge. If there’s a new trend or tool, the blogosphere has it covered.
  4. Make yourself an attractive candidate. You’d be amazed how highly regarded bloggers are in the professional world. They’re considered thought leaders, innovators and leaders. Your blog displays your knowledge, your commitment and your ability to write/communicate. It will be a huge differentiator when you’re competing for job openings.

It’s been an amazing experience for me and has proven that the time put in truly pays off. I meet amazing people like Kathryn and Liz every day. Without blogging, none of it would have been possible.

So what are you waiting for? Start reading and writing some blog posts. Inspire yourself to inspire others.

Ever Been on a Blog That Was Laid Out Like Las Vegas

Filed Under Basics, Marketing, Successful Blog | 8 Comments

A Navigational Crap Shoot

blogworld1

I’m leaving today for BlogWorldExpo in Las Vegas. The convention is a treat of Blog and New Media conversations, exhibits, and information. I look forward to catching up with old friends, getting some work done, and making some new things happen.

What dread is what it takes to navigate that city.

In Las Vegas, the shortest distance between two points is never a straight line. They’ve purposefully made it that way. I’m frustrated, beat up, and lose time whenever I try to find anyone or anything that isn’t the nearest casino. A round trip from the front desk to a hotel room easily can steal about 20 minutes.

Las Vegas is like a blog filled with shiny things that distract and divert people. Ever been on a blog or website like that?

Las Vegas doesn’t want me to be in my hotel room.
Some blogs don’t want me to read them.

545561_las_vegas

When we have all of the time in the world to get where we’re going diversions can be interesting and wonderful. But it’s not often that the luxury of time is with us. Make it easy for folks to find what they came for and they’re like to come back again to find the next thing.

Unless you want them to be lost in your casino.

Ever been on a blog like Las Vegas?

Hope to see you at BlogWorldExpo!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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How to Be a Successful Blogger . . . Without a Blog

Filed Under Basics, Guest Writer, Inside-Out Thinking, Successful Blog | 6 Comments

A Guest Post by Ali Hale

The Living Web

“Can you be a successful blogger without a blog?” It sounds like a trick question, doesn’t it? The sort of thing you might ask on Twitter when you’re bored and wanting some funny responses.

But I’m here to tell you that it is possible. I’ll explain how, but first, you might want to think about what being a “successful blogger” means to you. Here are a few possibilities:

We all have different definitions of success, but chances are, one of the above will resonate with you. They’re all ways in which I’d judge my own success as a blogger – and I achieved them all without my own blog.

Guest Blogging

Most bloggers – even most people who read blogs but don’t write them – know that it’s possible to get a guest post onto another blog. Some bloggers have never attempted this, but for me, it was the first step in achieving blogging success.

(If you want proof that you don’t need a blog to be a guest blogger, check out Scott McIntyre’s excellent guest series from a non-blogger’s perspective.)

Having just one post published on a big blog can win you dozens of appreciative comments and emails from readers. If you can get a regular guest-posting slot, you can take this even further: you’ll have a chance to write about topics that interest you, and you’ll have a ready-made audience of thousands.

The one drawback to guest blogging is that it’s unlikely to give you the financial success that you might be after. So…

Paid Blogging

The next step up from regular guest blogging is to get a regular and paid slot on a blog: what I call “staff blogging”, as you become a “staff writer” for the blog.

Many bloggers aren’t even aware that this is possible – or if they are, they dismiss it as not being for them. This might be because their concept of what “blogging success” constitutes is a little limited. Maybe they’re fixated on getting our own blog into the Technorati Top 100, or winning a certain number of RSS subscribers.

If your goals are financial, though – if you want to earn a living from blogging – the easiest and quickest way to do it is to write for other blogs. This is exactly how I’ve been paying my rent and bills for the last eleven months, so I’m proof that it works! Unlike the more traditional model of blogging, where you start from scratch on your own blog and slowly build up an audience and various revenue streams, staff blogging will earn you good money from day one.

Plus, as well as the financial side, I enjoy all the other successes I listed above: big audiences, appreciative feedback, and the chance to write on numerous topics for several different blogs.

So how do you go about finding yourself a staff position on a blog? You could trawl through online jobs boards, or places like elance and Craigslist – but you might well find that it’s a frustrating and time-consuming process. I outline four methods of finding paid jobs in my Staff Blogging Course, but the one that’s worked best for me is to contact editors directly.

Don’t just start writing to all the blogs which you read, asking for a job, though. You need an action plan – and here it is:

Step 1: Check the blog uses paid writers
Many blogs, even quite large ones, are one-man bands: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger doesn’t use paid bloggers, for instance, so you’d be wasting your time by trying to butter him up for a job!

How can you find out if a blog does have regular paid writers? A couple of big clues are:

Step 2: Send the editor a guest post

How can you convince a blog editor who’s never heard of you that you’d be a great addition to his/her team? Simple: send a guest post. Check the blog for any guest posting guidelines, and if you can’t find these, carefully read a few posts and make yours a similar length and style.

Write a short, polite email to go along with your guest post, and send it off to the editor.

When your guest post is published (and if you did your research and took the time to write it well, it will be!) make sure you email the editor to say “thanks”. Keep an eye on comments and respond to any that come up.

Step 3: Ask for a job

This is the scary step! Assuming your guest post went down well, write to the editor again. Say how much you enjoyed guest posting, mention that you’re a freelance blogger, and ask if there are any vacancies on the blog.

In some cases, you’ll be told that the blog has a full contingent of writers – but that there might be a slot coming up in a month or two. I’ve found that patience, and the occasional polite follow-up email, works well in these situations.

This three-step method is how I landed several of my blogging gigs (and twice, I just sent a guest post and was offered a job without even asking). The last two blogs I’ve started working for headhunted me, having seen my work on other blogs.

So there you have it: proof that you can be a successful blogger without a blog. Even better, if you do decide to launch your own blog (I launched mine just a few weeks ago), you’ll be able to bypass the frustrating first few months of having almost no readers – you’ve already got name-recognition in the blogosphere, and there’ll be plenty of readers keen to come and see what you have to say when you’re on your own ground.

Could you branch out by guest posting or writing for pay on blogs other than your own? Why not shake up your definition of being a “successful blogger”?

—-
Ali Hale is a freelance blogger and part-time post-grad student of creative writing. She’s the author of the Staff Blogging Course, a complete guide to becoming a well-paid, successful blogger. She’s recently launched her own blog, Aliventures, where she writes about getting more from life.
—-
Awesome, Ali!
Great connecting with you. You’re a blogger to me. :)

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

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Great Idea? What’s Your Strategy for Visibility?

Filed Under Basics, Successful Blog | 3 Comments

Go Out and Tell People ????

It’s so exciting to have a great idea, a great project, a great new job! How can we share the exciting things we’re doing without constantly talking about about ourselves? No thoughtful person wants to risk turning to “that guy”? No one who’s met “that guy” wants to do business with him.

It helps a lot if we don’t go hunting an audience.

When I figured out that asking folks what they’re doing and how they might help me do better at what I’m doing, talking about my work got easier, more fun, and more meaningful.

What’s your strategy for making your great ideas visible?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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