very few blogs make much money. in fact, the vast majority make no money whatsoever. but that’s not what you want, is it? you want to make some real money blogging, and that’s why you bought this book in the first place. congratulations! you’ve already completed the first step on your path to becoming a dot-com mogul. now you just have to read the book and implement the strategies described within.
that’s on page one of john chow’s latest oeuvre, the paperback make money online. i said i was going to review it but i’m afraid there is already so much in those few words that it might just be a paragraph review, not a book review. sorry, john, you just have so much to say 🙂
let me unpack what he says:
if you know what you want, go after it!
going after it starts with the first step.
getting what you want is not difficult, all you have to do is implement.
incredibly simplistic, isn’t it? it’s the cliche that all get-rich-quick schemes use.
well, let’s see.
first of all, let me get this out of the way:Â john chow is not really a get-rich-quick kinda guy, he’s more the get-comfortable-within-a-reasonable-amount-of-time type. yes, yes, his brand is that he’s evil but every time i meet him, i’m struck by his intelligence, his focus, his geeky quirkiness, and by how straightforward he is. plus he’s got a good heart. i have a lot of respect for him.
okay, let’s go back to the cliches. the thing is, they’re cliches for a reason: they contain a strong element of truth. it’s just that, as usual, we have problems with the truth.
(if) you know what you want, go after it
again, simple to the point of being simplistic. the problem? we often don’t know what we want. that’s why i started with the “if” in parentheses. a few years ago, i was going to take john chow’s advice and try to monetize my blog. i played around with it for a while but then it turned out that i didn’t really WANT (as in desire, hunger after) to make money online, i just thought it was a neat idea. big difference.
we spend way too much time thinking we want something when really we’re just lukewarm about it. so why not figure out what we REALLY want? and then let’s go for it with gusto!
start with the first step
yup. that’s it. unfortunately, we often start with things like, “but what if my boyfriend/mother/boss won’t like it if i buy a porsche with my first $20,000?” you know what, that’s not step #1, that’s step #1,783. plus you started the sentence with a “but”. ninety times out of a hundred, that’s a way to stop yourself in your tracks. it’s a word like the snake kaa that hypnotizes mowgli into paralysis in the jungle book. start with the first step, don’t paralize yourself with buts, then take the next step. really. it’s as simple as that. we tend to balk at that simplicity because we take those snakey “buts” way too seriously. (we take it so seriously, i should write a whole post just about that – in fact, i could write a book about it!)
so start with the first step. then the next. one after the other. if a step is too big, make it smaller.
getting what you want is not difficult: just implement
well, in most cases it isn’t difficult; it’s just hard (as in hard work). let’s go back to “how to” books again, like john’s. in my experience, quite a few “how to” books or blogs actually give good advice. again, it’s simple: you’re probably not the first person to want to do something, or solve a particular problem. there were others before you, and they’ve found tricks that consistently work.
in many (or most) cases, “how to” books don’t work because we don’t work them. if john says on page 23 to get your own domain and you drag your heels on that because it’s more comfortable to use the pre-made wordpress.com platform, don’t be surprised if your online branding drags its heels, too. there’s a reason why the people who came before you suggest certain things. that doesn’t mean you have to accept everything blindly. give them a chance, though! otherwise, why did you buy the book, attend the workshop of subscribe to the blog in the first place? if there’s something that you can’t quite accept, ask questions rather than dismissing it.
so if you want something, do the things it takes to get there!
what do you think? do you have a “how to” book at home that you have followed – or not? what’s your experience?