I love guest blogging. I love blogging too. My favorite topic: sharing blogging mindset tips to empower you to see through your blogging fears, mental blocks and limiting beliefs. I followed these paths. But I did not follow popular blogging convention in the process. I did not build a big email list. Nor have I actively built a list for the past few years. Why? Why do I not optimize my posts to drive Google traffic, either?
Building a list and driving Google traffic both felt boring, bland and lifeless to me. Both techniques felt heavy to me. How could I follow my passion if burdened by the heavy weight of doing two things I did not enjoy doing? I figured it’d be easier to stop doing what I did not like to spend all blogging time and energy doing what I enjoyed doing. Makes sense, eh? But my passion deviates from what popular convention. What is a blogger to do?
Follow your passion. I at least do half-OK following my passion while not following the common list-building and Google traffic strategies. Following your fun gives you the energy, drive, focus, generosity, patience and persistence to see the successful, professional blogging journey through for years. Some bloggers love building a list. Some bloggers enjoy driving Google traffic. Do you love engaging in the processes of building a list and driving Google traffic? Follow those paths. Follow your passion. Great success meets you as you follow your passion because your greatest fun, freedom and fulfillment is always borne of your passionate endeavor.
But follow your fun even if your passion deviates from popular blogging convention because passion wins over popularity. Whatever you enjoy doing for the love of doing detaches you from outcomes, energizes you for your blogging journey and also stabilizes your vibe to focus heavily on the blogging process. Embodying these qualities allows you to find success through any channel online. Google and email are just 2 of thousands of ways through which people can reach you, enjoy your content, hire you and buy your stuff.
Generosity, passion, patience and persistence build your traffic and profits, more than any other factor. Help people for free, patiently, for a long time because you enjoy helping people through the medium. Intellectually, blogging is simple. Emotionally, blogging feels uncomfortable sometimes because facing fear to step away from the blogging herd feels unpleasant. Welcome to becoming a professional blogger! I second guessed myself quite often during my newer and even intermediate blogging days. But eventually, fears subsided, I felt comfortable with being uncomfortable and I got clear on doing what I loved to do in order to succeed, versus doing what seemed popularly accepted and embraced, in the blogging community.
Following your passion leads to great blogging success over the long haul. Doing what seems popular because some bloggers offer this advice often leads to failure because if you mindlessly blog using popular strategies you usually lack the passion, detachment, generosity, patience and persistence required to go pro. Plus, you waste precious energy focusing on what does not matter versus doing what matters. Armies of bloggers waste vital energy focusing on building big list numbers, reaching page 1 of Google and obsessing over numbers, in general.
A number never bought one of my eBooks. Numbers never offer me endorsements. Numbers never hire me. Numbers never follow my blog. Human beings do these things. Human beings promote your success if you give virtually all of your attention and energy to generously serving human beings.
Follow your passion, blogging-wise. If your passion falls within the realm of popular blogging strategies, awesome. If not, you will become more successful following your love than by mindlessly following lifeless, heavy, leaden, popular blogging strategies solely because a pro blogger offered such advice.
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Ryan, I think you are a mind reader today. Wow. I’ve been doing some deep thinking on this one. When your principles and what you do for a living collide. Always be ready to pivot! Make it a great day Ryan.
Oh have I ever been there, Lisa 😉 You too, enjoy!