For all you beginner bloggers (including myself for this blog)
It’s tough when you’re just starting a blog - when your blog is in its infancy - to stay motivated to keep writing posts. It might feel pretty lonely when you first start your blog - it’s like you are blogging without an audience. Once again it comes back to setting your goals and keeping your incentives in mind.

Write and they will come
Don’t stop writing - keep posting. Try to make it fresh and interesting content - content is king. If you stopped now all that time you have put in was wasted. Keep chugging away. Continue to read and follow the blogging tips of those that are already successful - they too had to start at the beginning. Some blogs grow faster than others - it depends a lot on the amount of time you put into it.

Keep promoting
Even if it doesn’t seem to be working - keep leaving quality comments on related blogs and get the word out about your content. Make this part of your routine - it can be hard to get motivated to do the promoting - add it your daily list of blogging tasks and just do it.

It takes time
Rome wasn’t built in a day - or some other catchy cliché. It takes time and effort to grow a blog - especially if you don’t have a high traffic site to promote through. It may seem like you are getting nowhere - stay with it. The first few months can be difficult - stay motivated and remember your end goals and incentives. If you want it you’ve got to put the work in.

So, don’t give up even if you feel like you are blogging without an audience - I’m there with this new blog, but I’m going to keep writing and keep promoting.

Michael Hargis

Popularity: 97% [?]

First off, I really enjoy following Zac Johnson on his blog Inside the Secret Life of a Super Affiliate. It’s definitely worth the read if you are looking for information about affiliate marketing - from where to start to what techniques and affiliate programs you should use. Zac has done a great job sharing his knowledge with his readers.

So, yesterday Zac Johnson wrote a post called Your Job Sucks? Six Reasons to Be Your Own Boss Now! Wouldn’t that be great - I know there a lot of people who are doing it. But is it the right time for you to make the jump? Here are a few reasons why you should hold off on being your own boss.

1. Current Economy - Jobs are being cut right and left - businesses are going under and the economy is hurting. If you quit your job now and your work at home ventures fail - you may never get your old job back. This, of course, depends on your profession. It’s just something to think about - you need a back up plan in case being your own boss doesn’t work out.
2. Your Current Income - I’m not talking about what you are currently making at your job - I’m talking about your current money stream outside of your job. The income you are making now from your online ventures, or whatever you plan on doing once you quit your job. If you are thinking you can just quit your job and start making enough money to support yourself, and maybe a family, right away - you are probably wrong. You should have at least a couple months of income saved up to support you while you get your own business ventures running. Or better yet, they should be running while you are working and making enough money to allow you to quit.
3. It’s all on YOU - So, maybe you don’t have to mess with a jerk boss or annoying coworkers, but if you screw things up when working for yourself it’s all your fault. You can’t say, ‘I was just doing what my boss told me.’ There is no one to blame but yourself. Are you ready for everything to fall on your shoulders? Maybe that’s exactly what you want or need to get you motivated.
4. Benefits - one of the nicer parts of having a full-time job. At most companies, health care, dental, vision, 401K, stock options are taken care of for you. Things like these are great benefits of having a job in a company. This might be one of the hardest things to let go when quitting your job. It can be worked out though - your spouse might be able to put you on their insurance, you can get your own health insurance (can get pretty expensive), you will need to take the time to manage your own money and get in touch with accountants and setup your own retirement fund. It can be done - it’s just another thing to think hard about before you go on your own.
5. Taxes - Don’t forget about taxes. When you’re on your own it’s up to you, or your accountant that you hire, to take care of these things - they can get confusing.

This isn’t a give up and stay in the workforce post - it’s a be realistic about your future post. If your goal is to work from home and be your own boss then staying focused, motivated, and working hard can get you there. Just be realistic about it - or it could turn out to be a very negative turn of events in your life.

I know my goal is to work for myself and a lot of the reasons I want to work for myself are mentioned in Zac’s post - he makes some great points. I also know that I will need to be absolutely sure I can financially support myself when I make the jump from the 9 to 5 to working my own hours for myself. If you read Zac’s post Your Job Sucks? Six Reasons to Be Your Own Boss Now!, which I suggest you do, make sure to read the last paragraph of text. And don’t give up if being your own boss is your goal - stay motivated and work hard and it will happen.

Michael Hargis

Popularity: 71% [?]

There are a lot of things to worry about these days. We live ‘oblivious’ to a lot of the issues. I put that word in quotes because I think a lot of us fake being oblivious to certain issues. We don’t really play dumb, but we kind of just turn our back and don’t pay attention to some things. Probably because we don’t need another worry in our life. We have plenty of things to stress and worry about in our own ‘normal’ lives without adding all the new stress the news brings us each day. Sometimes you can’t avoid it though. Other things you think hard about when you hear about them, but then shut them out later.

Is this a good or bad thing? Who am i to say? It’s sad that most of us are constantly worrying about things like employment, money, the price of gas and food, our safety, etc., when we should be enjoying life. It’s a hard thing to do though, putting away your worries and just enjoying life. Sure, it happens once in a while - on vacation, a weekend off of work, relaxing with friends or family, but not nearly as much as it should.

So, I bring up a problem. Do I have a solution? Isn’t it really just considered whining if you talk about a problem but offer no solution? Maybe we all need to reassess the way we live our lives and what is important to us. It’s hard not to lust for the big money, the fancy house, and a nice car. If you’ve got the funds to purchase those things without adding extra financial worries to your life then that’s great. But the first thing on your list should be happiness - for you and your family. That can be a tough one - do nice things really make you happy? It’s a question you have to ask yourself. Really there is no way for me to answer the problems I have just talked about - you have to find the answer for yourself as I for myself. What’s important to you matters - not what I think is important.

Michael Hargis

Popularity: 48% [?]

I hate traffic. It usually takes me about 50 minutes to get to work every morning but not today. Today was the first regular workday (Monday - Friday) with snow on the ground, and I guess everyone was scared. The thing is it was just flurries. There was barely any snow actually on the ground and roads were fine. I’m on Interstate highways pretty much the whole way to work. People just suck at driving - haha. But seriously there are way to many bad drivers out there.

Traffic was slow the whole way to work. I guess I can’t be mad a people for being ’safe’, but like I said the roads were not bad at all. So, I wouldn’t have cared if it was just a 5 to 10 mph decrease in speed the whole way - but someone caused a wreak. I was nowhere near it, but it brought traffic down to a crawl - I’m talking 6 minutes to go 1 mile crawl (I timed it). So, creeping along it got me thinking, and I’m sure you are wondering what does your 1 hour 50 minute drive to work have to do with the price of tea in China.

Motivation
A goal of mine is to at some point to quit my ‘day job.’ I would like to earn enough income from Internet ventures and freelancing to work at home. A lot of people are making good money online - through blogging, affiliate marketing, freelancing, etc. I’m not looking to become rich - I just want the added freedom that comes from working from home. I don’t want to have to spend my days in an office, or cubicle. I don’t want to be required to be at a job from 9 to 5. I don’t want to have to deal with traffic. Freedom from the 9 to 5 - the normal workday schedule - that’s what I want.

So, all this time I spend in traffic jams is motivation to me. If I can motivate myself and set goals, I can cut-out all the wasted and stressful time I spend in traffic. It’s a negative thing in my life that I need to spin to work in a positive way. It’s something I extremely dislike. So, I need a way to avoid it. With going to work I am pretty much guaranteed to be in traffic either on the way there or the way back home. Working from home, making money online, can help me avoid this nuisance - it’s motivation to work harder on producing an online income.

Motivation Challenge
So, here is a challenge for you. Take something that is a negative in your life and flip to be motivation towards a positive outcome or goal. A lot of times motivation is fueled by something we dislike. We want to find a way to make this dislike better. Overweight? Don’t like the way you look? Use that as motivation to change your self-image - exercise and eat healthy. Don’t like your career choice? Use that as motivation to save up money and go back to school to study something that you will enjoy and bring you a better job. Be motivated.

Michael Hargis

Popularity: 34% [?]

A Blogging Tip: What do you do when inspiration strikes?

It’s not always as simple as sitting down at your computer or with a pen and paper and writing your idea out. What if you are driving, at the beach, outside, lying in bed, or in the shower? What do you do? Do you just hope that you will remember the idea, or do you have some sort of method to record your ideas?

Usually, I use my trusty Samsung Blackjack. It is almost always nearby - I’ve had ideas hit me while lying in bed, so I reach over and grab my Blackjack open the notes program and start typing out the idea. A lot of times I’ll just quickly type the idea and a few main points and then flesh it out later. I also use pen and scratch paper sometimes.  One day in between classes I just started jotting down a bunch of ideas for another blog I was working on. I didn’t have my Blackjack at the time, but this method is much easier when there a lot of different ideas to be written. Now a days, if it is just one main idea I will most likely type it in my Blackjack. If it becomes a whole brainstorming session for a site then pen and paper is better.

What if neither of these are available? If I have some type of writing utensil and anything I can write on, including my hand, then I’m set. Other than that I guess it’s just up to good old memory for me. I suppose you could tell someone you were with and then you double your chance at remembering the idea… but make sure they won’t steal it – haha.

- Michael Hargis

Popularity: 55% [?]