Personal Growth Series: 5 of 5

This is the last article in my personal growth series.  In this last article I’ll share about blogging, how I got started and why I started blogging.  And if you have a blog I’ll share two actions you can take now to grow your blog.

2007, How I got Started Blogging

I got started blogging by accident.

In December 2006 I met Lori-Ann Jackel who at the time was the editor in chief of Confidence Bound Magazine. We had never met before. During this time I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life.  I was exploring coaching and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

During our meeting I shared a story with Lori-Ann. She loved my story so much that she asked me to write an article for her magazine.

Before this I hadn’t written much at all. Actually, I hated writing and was terrible at it. I studied and practiced as an engineer for years. I was a math and science guy for the most part. I couldn’t understand why she would want me to write for her magazine.

I wrote that article. My mom proof read the article.  After reading it she said,

When did you learn how to write? You were never any good at writing before. ~ Mom

This article was published in Confidence Bound Magazine in 2007 and I’ve been writing ever since. You can read the article here: It’s Lonely at the Top.

March 2007, StephenMartile.com

I started blogging on my own personal domain in March of 2007.  I did this casually for about a year sort of posting when I felt like it – sometimes once or twice a week.

One year later I stopped blogging on StephenMartile.com.  I lost my motivation and that spark to keep publishing and maintaining my blog.  I was definitely struggling to remain optimistic.

If you’re currently struggling in any area, it doesn’t mean you’re not perfect. It just means you’re ready to make a shift. ~ James Ray

It wasn’t easy but that’s what I did – I made a shift.  I realized that my vision was bigger than just me – bigger than Stephen Martile.

June 2008, Freedom Education Launches

Not many people know this, but in June of this year I took all of the content from StephenMartile.com and published it on Freedom Education.  The topic I was blogging on – personal growth – hadn’t changed so I leveraged some of my content from my previous efforts.

I realized that a new site (under a different name) could attract new writers and authors.  It could provide readers with a new perspective on personal growth.  People who were willing to share their own experiences, failures, and successes.

I also realized that I wanted to create a business from my blog.  Something that was bigger than just me.  I wanted to offer products and services – information that would really have an impact on people.  It’s been my commitment from the very beginning to offer coaching and mentoring through my own blog.

I also realized that one purpose of creating a business in the first place is to sell it. Maybe one day I’ll want to sell my blog or maybe not. Having the website and company under a different name – other than my own – gives me the flexibility and freedom of choice to do that… and that’s what life is all about anyways – having the freedom of choice, isn’t it?

Here are the reasons I switched from StephenMartile.com to FreedomEducation.ca:

  • to attract new content producers and provide a different perspective to personal growth
  • to start a coaching program that was not directly linked to my personal name
  • to expand my vision for an online business beyond just me
  • to have the freedom of choice to create passive streams of income from blogging
  • to have the freedom of choice to sell this blog and start something else if I desired to do so

2008, Blogging Mindset

I think one of the biggest challenges with blogging is to remain consistent.  It takes a certain level of commitment to continually publish fresh content every week.  It takes a specific mindset – the giving mindset.

When I first started blogging in 2007, I was working at a regular job 40 hours per week.  Then on the evenings and weekends I would blog and develop my site.

This worked, but I was still having a hard time building traffic and publishing regular content.  The giving mindset was not enough.  I need something more.

You see, at the time I was doing quite a bit. I must have worked 20-25 hours a week on my blog.  I was busy at it but I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted.  It really started to frustrate me.

How to Blog Part-Time

In August 2008 I met Yaro Starak from Entrepreneurs-Journey.com in Toronto, Ontario.  Yaro is an authority on blogging.  His program, Blog Mastermind teaches people how to earn money and create a business from their blogging efforts.  In November of this year I joined his program and it opened up some huge doors for me.

You see, there is a certain way of doing things.  It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.  And how you do it comes from the inside and the outside. You’ve got to work with both to see results.

Think of it; if you’ve been doing something for a long time and you’re still not seeing results – then you don’t know how to do it.

It’s that simple.  You’re kidding yourself any other way.

Like when I started blogging, I really thought I knew what I was doing.  The problem was that I didn’t have the whole equation.  I only had part of the strategy.  Within weeks of joining Yaro’s coaching program things began to change – I started to see new results.

2 Actions You Can Take Now to Grow Your Blog

It’s been two months since I joined Yaro’s program.  His strategy is the same for anyone who joins Blog Mastermind.  There are two key elements to build a highly targeted blog:

  • Consistently produce content 2-5 times per week.  Consistency is a sign of a healthy blog.  Each time you publish content you’re demonstrating value to your audience and building relationships with your readers.
  • Consistently and daily market and drive traffic to your blog.  If people don’t know about you, then you can’t demonstrate your expertise.  You could do this by forum marketing, guest article campaigns and comment marketing among many other methods.

Still have questions or want to learn more?  See Yaro’s coaching program, Blog Mastermind.

Steve, the Blogger

2 Comments

  • Drezz

    Reply Reply January 5, 2009

    You’re the second person I know who’s vouched for Yaro’s techniques. I think I’m going to look into it.

    Thanks for the tip – and your mom is right. You write well for a “science guy”. I don’t know why you thought you were such a donkey when you were a kid, I always thought you had your act together from the very beginning.

  • Steve

    Reply Reply January 5, 2009

    Haaaaaaaaaaaaahhhaaaaaa…..

    man is that ever funny; donkey eh?

    Yeah, I guess I fooled a lot of people including myself :)

    Definitely check Yaro out – he’s the real deal. We met for the first time in August 2008 and he gave me one tip that has helped me create 700+ subscribers for my Freedom Access Newsletter….. and that was only the beginning.

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