You don’t think you can do it, I know.
Posted by Ben Lumley on Feb 19, 2010 in Success, Thinking Differently | 43 comments
Editors note: This post is written by James, The Infopreneur. James writes passionately about Providing information and making a living by providing that information online. James is one of the hardest working bloggers I have ever come across. In this post he’s going to demonstrate, using his own experience, how you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
OK a recent comment from Ben on one of my recent posts, was backed up a comment made by an awesome guy called Ralph. The post I published was essentially a recap of the progress my site had made and the traffic it was doing. Ralph said ‘you make it sound so easy’ to which Ben backed up the point that it does sound easy but most think it’s unachievable, I know different.
Hours
I didn’t build the site up to what it is today by doing the ‘4 hour week’. I have a full time job which costs me 60hrs a week, once I have finished my shift at work I come home and work on the site and all the other things involved in being a dad and husband to a young family. I literally have fallen asleep on my laptop typing comments or writing new content. I survive on 5hrs of sleep a night on an average day.
Some people rely on traffic spikes to help them relax a bit, for example if you have a guest post published on a high traffic site, you will get click throughs which give you more traffic than normal. Some people rely on those traffic spikes to take a break and relax, I don’t. I exploit traffic spikes to propel the site to a new level and capture as many of the new readers as I can.
You have to put the hours in, after I have finished my shift at work I must average 4 or 5 hours a day working on the site in one way or another, that’s everyday of the week, hell I even posted new content on Christmas day.
Easy Work
I class working on the site as easy work, yeah it’s time consuming, but it’s not arduous labour. Having spent 10 years in the military serving all over the world I know what hard work is and this isn’t it, take this post for example. I’m sat at the dining room table over looking the park tapping the keys on my laptop drinking coffee. I’m not in Afghanistan of west Africa carrying a ton of kit for the 19th straight hour.
Do you get my point? Owning a website is easy work, but it takes a lot of hours to make it happen.
Passion
I always say and Ben will back me up on this, you have to have passion for what you do. I love helping people transform their traffic, I love motivating people into producing more. There is nothing better than to watch someone who first left a comment on my site a few weeks ago, transforming into a polished website, it’s fantastic.
If you have passion, you can do and achieve anything and I mean anything. Look I’m not a guru, nor marketing expert, I haven’t invested in any of these programmes to bring me traffic. I want to be at the top of the tree helping others, so while the site isn’t at the very top yet, it will be.
Make sure you have a true passion for what you are doing and question your motives for doing so, are you doing it to make money or are you genuinely interested and passionate about your subject?
Drive
Drive is different from passion, most people never make the distinction, but it is different. While passion is a love for the topic and an interest that borders on obsession, drive is the ability to keep working at a pace that is leaving the rest behind. Drive is your motivator that destroys any doubts about being able to make it, or any thoughts about if you are actually any good at it.
I write a lot of content on my site, but you don’t need to, some of the most successful websites in the world don’t update their content very often, but they have drive behind them to get people to look at what they are saying.If you’re a business or a blog, you need to be driven in order to get people to sit up and take notice of you.
As I said, it’s out there for everyone and if you’re having doubts about whether you can do it too, just remember this;
I started my website just over 3 months ago, with no mailing list and no previous knowledge of writing, I don’t even have any qualifications and my writing is hurrendous at times. I have an IQ of 94 and severe dyslexia, but if a dumb ass like me can get to this point in 14 weeks, then so can you!
So what are you putting off because you don’t think you can do it?
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Ben Lumley writes about Success and Personal Achievement at 6aliens.com. He is a Personal Achievement Coach and Motivational Speaker.
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I am so glad you said all that! Growing a successful really isn't that hard – it just takes a lot fo hours. And it is usually the extra hours that most people are not willing to put in that bring the success.
I really applaud you James for the effort you have put into the Infopreneur, especially considering you have a crazy work load with your job!
Yeah it's all about the hustle Tom. The ability to come home after a hard day's graft, some time with the family and then start working on your passion.
James has hustle by the bucket load – now if only he could find a way to sell buckets of hustle; he'd be a millionaire!
Cool site
I like it, especially the style of the blog and this post rings so true. You have to believe in yourself against all odds, it is right before disaster that the amazing happens.
Hey Brother, I see you everywhere at the minute!
Thanks man, you're right it's not hard work at all, just a lot of man hours, easy though eh!
Ha ha I wish that was possible, maybe it is who knows. Maybe I should start thinking how that could be possible, any ideas?
Hey Maren, Great to have you hear.
Maren as you know, business won't ever come to you, you have to go and capture it.
Also I should have that podcast for you soon , prob a couple of days
Thanks Maren – nice to have you here.
Yeah self-belief is a key component of success and one usually overlooked. You have to believe that you can achieve something before you ever go out there and do it.
haha! Yea I do try! But as you say it is quite easy work, just a lot of it.
“I literally have fallen asleep on my laptop typing comments”
Ohh that explains the strange comment I've seen the other day on a blog. It went something like “Hey brother, sadffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff”.
Just kidding, I saw no such thing
Great post James!
Lol thanks for dropping in Phil!
Great post James, nice to see you over here again (Ben, your site is awesome btw).
I think my problem with my site at the moment isn't that I lack drive or passion; I'm just not sure where to be focusing it. And I need a bit more sleep than you do apparently
I'll get there, just growing and testing at the moment; big pushes to come.
Thanks for the heads up though! Love being reminded that it IS possible, because I have my moments where I think it isn't too.
Aw thank you Heather!
Yeah focus is a key part of getting success. Maybe you need to spilt your focus for a bit? I.e. have a self-help type blog and a technical blog. Might be a way to go.
Anything is possible if you want it enough and are willing to work for it
Funnily enough I've been toying with the idea of doing just that… not certain yet though. I suppose the danger there is updating one site more than the other and/or accidentally merging the two of them. Something to think about at this stage rather than later though I guess.
And thank you
I'd add that you need to know what you're working for though, otherwise you end up working your ass off and getting very little to show for it!
James, you get everywhere. I guess you look at your website a bit like training in the military, sure it's tough but it's preparing you for the real work of being in theatre.
Like you I found that I'd fallen asleep at my laptop last night too, so didn't get much opportunity to comment on anyone's site!
Hi James and Ben,
I think that if one applies oneself to the task (or blog in this case) at hand, you can generate a following. John Chow is credited with the saying that the bloggers task is a simple one for those that desire to profit. “Drive traffic to your site and convert that traffic to sales”.
As I see it you have several steps to this process.
1. Concept or Your Idea.
2. Putting the tech together to get it up and running.
3. The expression of ideas about your concept.
4. The building of community and the spreading of those ideas.
5. The production of products to expand your ideas to others.
6. The delivery of those products at a fair price.
I got stuck on number 4 and James was instrumental in getting my over that one. I have number 5 done, now I need someone to work with me on six.
James; what are we going to do about number 6? You have led us to the gates of Troy with your strength of community, now what? How do we take the city? Let's skip the Trojan Horse thing, I think most everyone has heard of that by now. This is 2010, our community needs to get on with it and make some sales! Your thoughts Please!
I had to laugh when I read your comment about falling asleep at the laptop. I've done that! It's amazing the things we do when we have the drive and determination to do so. I agree though James, everyone can do what you do. They might need to tinker it to suit their lifestyles but Give A Brick and Big Red Tomato Comany alone give you all the proof you need that anyone can do this.
I hope Matthew doesn't mind me drawing him in here but I've heard him talk about the stats of how his traffic has improved over the last few months and Give A Brick has gone from 8.5 million to a 528K in less than 50 days. Your methods did that! And if a fuzzy-brained mum of three can follow your methods, anyone can
Hey Phil,
You probably have I just edited it! lol
Hey Heather, you have such a raw talent that you can absolutely do it and achieve anything you put your mind too!
Hey brother, ha ha yeah I suppose it is like that really, train hard, fight easy
Hey Brother,
Awesome question, for me 6 is combined with 5 in that I aim to produce unique products and services that I would pay for myself. Delivery?…. well you can go down the whole affiliate route lettings others promote your product and takiing a cut of the price of you can do it all yourself but run the risk of not getting as many sales.
What are your thoughts on it?
Blushing now… Thanks James ^_^
Being a mum of three makes you anything but fuzzy headed! That makes you a damn super hero.
Thanks for the support though, yeah it's such a simple techinique but it really does work
Hey Matthew
Yeah James gets everywhere doesn't he?
Hey Jeffery – I like how you've broken a blog done in to 6 steps.
I think I'm around 4 at the moment with 5 and 6 coming along behind the scenes
James is definitely an inspiration for what we can achieve with a little self confidence and a lot of hard work. I personally feel that he would have done the same had he started a bricks and mortar business.
Bricks and mortar shop is the dream really but I honestly don't think the time is right, I would love to run my own gym
James,
A great post, what else would I expect from you? You share some excellent stuff your readers and with such passion too; what a great place to share it on an equally great blog such as Ben's. Well done to both of you.
By the way James, as an educator I've worked with a number of people with severe dyslexia who have shown, in many case, to have more about them than their non-dyslexia counter-parts. Their problem was they'd fallen on the wrong side of the law and were unfortunately serving time. A real shame!
Anyway thanks so much for sharing.
Regards
Paul
The best part of your response was “I aim to produce unique products and services that I would pay for myself”. Ok, cool. That's a great yardstick.
As for delivery, I'm going to have to go it on my own for now, until I gain more experience. I can't miss step at this point in my growth, by putting out a product that is not received well by the masses and damaging my name. I rather go back to the drawing board after a few express their disappointment rather than deal with a huge fallout!
Your doing fine Ben! I really enjoy your site and look forward to promoting your products over at Bloggers Market in the future when your ready!
well done james.
this is inspiring and i can relate with it. I came across your site 2/3 weeks ago and my approach to blogging took a turn for the better. I have gained from you as a person and from your blog.
i'm going to make a sweeping statement(and i stand by it) but you seem to be the only person i know in your field, emphasizing more on working hard than using various marketing softwares, ads, article distribution… and the truth is, it works.
anyway do have a lovely weekend
Thanks for your kind words Paul.
I've also come across a lot students with dyslexia with a lot more going for them then their non-dyslexia counter-parts. James definitely doesn't let it hold him back
Thanks Jeffery!
Yeah James is all about the sweat and hustle.
Lots of people look for techniques in order to bring them success but nothing beat blood sweat and tears.
Thanks for stopping in Ayo
Hey Paul thanks man,
Yeah I could have quite easy gone that route, I decided very early on I wanted to get away from 'home' and just went for it, that was 13/14 years ago, never been back and always move forward.
It's funny how some see it as a reason to slack and blame it, for me it's the reason I have to work harder. HAVE TO.
Hey Brother,
Thanks for the kind words brother, it's certainly a different approach and I know it won't work for everyone but for me and some others it works a treat, so I'm just pushing on.
By the way Ayo did you get any snow last night?
Thanks Guys…. just what expect from the two of you… excellent, clear, no BS communication that tells it like it is…. both of you clearly put in extraordinary effort to build both sites, and I get a buzz out of both of you…keep up the good work.
Thanks Mick! I'm really glad you like what I do here and James does at his place.
You're so right, James. This is not like digging graves. Writing on the internet is *easy* compared to so many other jobs out there. We all have a choice – we choose to write and blog and comment and everything else associated with it. I'm so glad that we have this ability to build a community on the net and share with others what we have learned. We all have what it takes to be successful, it's just a matter of wanting it bad enough. We all know who wants it bad enough
Great article, as always, James.
Thanks brother, you're well on your way man for sure, you have the right attitude about it all
Great post James. I like how you drew and example from being in the military service and compared it to blogging. The fact that you have a full time job and also support a family is inspirational to us finding it difficult to have success with blogging. It shows that if we put enough hard work and dedication towards something, anything is possible to accomplish.
Anyone can roll a rock down a hill, it's the ones like you that put the effort into rolling it up the hill that I follow.
That's the point Hulbert. If you are dedicated enough and are willing to work hard for something you can ultimately achieve anything you set your mind to
Nice analogy Lee!