First off: Holy shit! Secondly: HOLY SHIT!

Since posting my article The Truth About Being Remarkable and Giving a Shit last week, things have been pretty crazy around here.

The comments and emails have been pouring in I feel like all I’ve had time to do is answer them! Now I know what Adriennne feels like!

Seriously though, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment here and/or listened to my Podcast interview with Penelope Trunk. It’s actually a weird feeling having so many people take in interest in my story here.

I’ve received some of the most insightful, sincere, and though provoking comments I’ve ever seen on any blog! It’s really very humbling and incredibly moving.

My Deal

Since starting this blog almost a year ago, I’ve been doing all the things I thoughtΒ  were necessary in order to build a successful online business. I wrote what I considered to be great content, I engaged in social media, I hired a designer to spice up my blog’s aesthetics, I made loads of online friends, I guest posted on popular blogs, I started a Podcast, I ranked #1 for a few very good keywords, and yet still I failed to do the one thing I actually needed to do.

And that’s build a business.

When my traffic started increasing to respectable numbers, I thought: I’m doing great, things are moving in the right direction, and one day this blog will explode!

In all reality, what I did was create an incredibly time consuming hobby for myself.

There was no business!

How and why I overlooked the main objective for this blog is not a mystery to me. To you, yes, but not to me. There are several reasons I (consciously or subconsciously) chose this approach:

  1. I didn’t have a goal for what I wanted to do with this blog. I was open to all possibilities including freelance writer, niche marketer, life coach, tech help, and consultant, but committed to none.
  2. I chose to play it safe by not putting my ass on the line. See Ash Ambirge for someone who put it all out there.
  3. I have a fear of success, which is subconsciously keeping me from moving forward and getting myself into a “dare to be great” situation.
  4. As much as I hate my fucking job, there is still that level of comfort keeping me from taking massive action.
  5. I’m confused, scared, and/or overwhelmed with most areas in my life and it’s easier, albeit painful, to just stay in my shell and not deal with them.

And it would have been just as easy to continue doing things this way if it hadn’t been for Penelope’s call and all the subsequent responses I got. Having this level of support has been a true blessing for me.

It would have been easy for you to tell me to stop being a pussy and move on with my life already, but you didn’t. You showed that you cared and it means soooo much to me.

The Business Of No Business

I think it was around the 4 month mark of this blog what I got an email from a successful blogger wondering why I hadn’t begun monetizing. My numbers were good and were growing pretty quickly, I was building a following, I was offering value to my readers, so what was I waiting for? I didn’t have an answer.

Fast forward 8 months and I still didn’t have an answer.

I know plenty of bloggers who have created products or courses with far less traffic than me and are now making money. What do they have that I don’t then? I’ll tell you..

Balls. They had the balls to take a risk, a leap of faith that their product would benefit their readers. Did some flop? Sure. But I’m positive that they are glad they did it anyway.

As I’ve come to learn the hard way, blogging is not a business. And as Penelope politely put it, blogging is a time suck.

I have never wanted to teach people how to make money online. I’ve never wanted to post ads. I’ve never wanted to become an affiliate marketer. I wanted to be a blogger, that’s all.

Unfortunately, blogging is not a business and is never going to get me out of my day job. I could have 100,000 readers and still be making no money. That could have been my reality if it weren’t for this reality check.

Finally, A Wake Up Call

One of my biggest flaws (other than being a lazy, no goal, fantasy land dreamer, time wasting blogger) is not being able to see the forest for the trees. I’m a complete one dimensional thinker and I have the hardest time understanding certain things.

I can’t seem to understand that thinking about building a business does not actually create a business. The more I think about things, the more I believe my business will be successful. I think, think, and think some some but never take a step towards creating.

For example, in the past 2 days I’ve spent several hours on the phone with successful bloggers who are telling me the same thing: TAKE ACTION ALREADY! What are you waiting for?

But I keep coming up with excuses. “I need to wait for the perfect idea to come to me”. “I need to get better at creating sales pages”. “I need create the best product the world has ever seen”.

It’s all just an excuse to be inactive. And by inactive I mean not moving forward. I am very active doing all the things that I want to do but are not getting me any closer to quitting my job or bringing in income.

I spend 99% of my time in my head and1% of my time taking action towards my goals (or lack thereof, Penelope).

My friend Marcus reminded me of this exact thing earlier today. He told me that the only thing I needed to focus on at this point is creating something. Move forward. Get yourself closer to your goal, even if it’s just a little.

There is nothing left to say. It’s time to do.

He also wrote a great post about taking action and growing versus just thinking that you are.

I have zero experience in making money online and creating products. The only thing I’ve launched in the last year is my stapler into my wall at work. Marcus told me “you’re trying to hit home runs when you haven’t learned how to swing the bat”. What he is saying is that I’m trying to do everything perfectly right out of the gate.

What I failed to see is all the small steps in between that will lead me to the point of creating a truly great product. How can I reasonably expect to create an epic, life altering product without ever have done anything?

I can’t. I just need to take action and create. That’s the million dollar word. Create.

The Only Way Is Up!

As of right now, I am starting fresh. I am starting from zero. I am going to apply what I’ve learned in the last 96 hours and make a change in my life.

My mind has been in overdrive and I have some great ideas for the direction of this blog and my business. I will be revealing them in a future post, but suffice it to say, it will be a step forward…

I have to thank every one of you who have commented on my post or sent me an email. This has been a game changer for me and the world just got a whole lot more interesting.

I am also now accountable to myself and to all of you to create, produce, and move forward…or not.

Penelope was right on so many levels and although I hate listening to the interview, it makes me a better person when I do. And by the way Penelope, I did have the highest number of visits on my blog ever. Although we both know it’s not about that…

And while I can’t expect to see this level of interaction on every post, I would love to see as many of you as possible around here. You all make this worth it..

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