Here’s another message I sent out to my eager Blog Mastermind students-in-waiting, this time on the subject of consuming too much information and not actually doing anything with it.
If you want to get these messages (and I’ve sent out over 20 already) you need to be on the Blog Mastermind early notification email list.
******
There’s something that really frustrates me. You want to know what it is?
It’s you.
Well, not you exactly. What I mean is the majority of people who have ever purchased an educational product online.
I wasn’t going to launch a blog mentoring program for one very good reason – there is so much free information already online about how to make money blogging, how to drive traffic to blogs and just general blogging tips, I thought what’s the point?
Who will join my program when there is so much free content out there already?
Then I realized something.
If there’s so much free information out there already, why aren’t more people enjoying success with their blogs? Why aren’t there more professional bloggers? Why isn’t it NORMAL for people to earn a full time income from blogging?
It comes down to two issues:
- Blogging for profit isn’t easy. It can be simple, but you do have to work at it and do certain things well.
- Most people read all the great free information about blogging and then don’t do anything with it, or even if they do they don’t do it consistently enough.
The fact is most people, for whatever reason (lack of self esteem, lazy, distractions), don’t put enough effort into something to become good at it and enjoy the rewards. That’s why those that do make a good living online are the exceptions, the people others idolize and follow hoping some of the “magic” will wear off on them.
Of course those who have the “magic” know there is no magic, they just did certain things often enough to get results and then did more things and are still doing more things today.
All this thinking lead me to believe that despite all the free information out there, there is definitely room for a blog mentoring program because people need to be told what to do.
Just reading articles about great blogging will not turn you into a great blogger. That’s why free information fails.
I hate to say it, but most of what we read online from blogs is entertainment for people because they prefer to read and think rather than study and do.
Even when I tell people how I got a certain result by writing an article about it on my blog or newsletter, most people read it and go -
“Yeah, Yaro has a great idea there, I should try it out once…”
Yet they don’t.
There are a few highly motivated and successful (or soon to be successful) people who do take action after studying the work of other bloggers, but sadly most don’t. Your goal is to become one of the people that do.
One of the best “antidotes” to this problem is pain.
Pain causes action. It motivates people to do something to stop the pain or take action to realize an outcome that made experiencing the pain worthwhile.
I don’t mean physical pain – although that certainly motivates – I’m referring to other discomforts like parting with some of your hard earned money. This is often called pain money, a price you pay to join or buy something.
The act of paying makes you more inclined to actually do something and take what you learn seriously. You need to feel satisfied that you recouped your investment cost and to do this you take action.
It’s for this reason that I’m charging people if they want to learn what I know about making money blogging.
I could put out every single piece of information I have prepared for Blog Mastermind as free content on my blog. No doubt it would increase my traffic, people would leave comments thanking me for the great information and I’d increase the money I make from my blog from advertising, etc.
The problem is this won’t achieve my goal of actually forcing people to become better bloggers and to earn big money through blogging.
I want my students to focus on active learning, not passive. That means going out and doing what I suggest. Testing techniques for yourself, learning from your results and seeing what works for your blog and your personality.
By paying the price of admission you form a contract with yourself and with me to take action and focus only on the information you need to achieve your goals.
This is not about finding and consuming all the information about professional blogging, or even the best information, only the specific information you need right now to get an OUTCOME. Consuming information should only take up a small part of your day. One or two lessons each day is all you need. The rest of the time should be spent actioning those ideas. That’s it.
Working on your blog business is 30-60 minutes of study and 1-2 hours of implementation. If you do it right and focus on results you will be rewarded so much more than if you spend your entire day hunting around and consuming all the free information available online.
This is not about quantity or even quality of information – it’s about focus and ACTION.
The 80/20 Rule
I first formed the mentality discussed in this article after studying the 80/20 rule. If you want to read more about this rule, here’s an article I wrote about it -
What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life
Focused Information
If you are expecting a massive quantity of information from me in Blog Mastermind you will be disappointed. The program is not about providing you with everything I know about making money from blogs, but what you NEED to know to make it work in the least number of steps.
It’s about focus, forming the right mentality and work habits, and aiming for a certain result at each stage of growth of your blogging business.
And it’s coming very soon.
Yaro Starak
Blog Masterminder
Two points spring to mind Yaro. Firstly, John Caples reports in his book Tested Advertising Methods (published in the 30s, but very relevant to bloggers) that personal development products sell very well via direct mail. So people reading about and buying personal development products around blogging is the continuation of a noble tradition.
Secondly, blogging requires skill, and people with a natural talent have an advantage. As Rich Schefren points out in his coaching programme (thanks for the tip), just because its largely a mental activity doesn’t mean everyone can do it. But I’m sure those with the aptitude and application will definitely benefit from blog coaching!
Yaro, I couldn’t agree more that readers come to a web site or blog and go very quickly without really taking much in. You’re lucky, I’m told, if visitors stay on your site for 17 seconds. Only the best sites hold readers enough for them to comment on your work.
Yaro, do you sense that comments are a barometer of what people take away from your articles?
Great post Yaro. I totally agree. I just joined STOMPERNET under the trial membership and the one thing about it that works is that I am MORE motivated to take action, then I was before. Albeit, I was taking action before, just not as much…
Hi Robyn,
I don’t think comments are a very good barometer simply because most people do not leave comments.
The comment leaving population of the people who read blogs is VERY small. I suspect many people get a lot from blogs and engage with the content and author, despite not leaving a comment as a representation of this.
In fact I’m one of those people – I rarely leave comments anymore.
Amazing what $1 worth of pain money will do to motivate someone hey George
Yes, plus I want to see how much value I can get out of it every month to see if it’s worth the 800 dollars worth of pain a month.
At this point, I can’t really tell. I will no better in a few weeks.
Ooops, I meant “know” not “no”…
Glenn – yes, I agree. I hope I can zero in on the bloggers with a natural talent and convince them to join Blog Mastermind because I believe they stand to benefit the most.
Mentors always enjoy working with bright students since they see their advice come to fruition that much quicker (or if at all!).
I am interested in extrapolating out Dr. Jakob Nielsen’s (useit.com)rule of 90:9:1. that is: 90% of people just lurk on blogs reading, 9% respond if something someone else has created tickles their fancy and 1% initiate the discussion/actions.
I think the questions that might help explain this would be: So how often do you read something and say “oh good idea” and do nothing? How often do you read it, agree/disagree and decide to do something about it? And how often do you hit that 1% where you come up with the idea yourself, discuss it/get feedback with the 9% and then implement it for the 90% to read/use?