I’ve written more than 1000 blog posts and published 10 books.
And I still feel like I have no clue about writing.
I gave up trying to understand how it really works a long time ago.
And instead I started focusing on the only thing that really matters.
I focused on writing.
Each and every day.
No matter what...
# THERE ARE NO RULES
The blank page is your castle. You can write about whatever you want to write about.
# THE MORE YOU WRITE...
The better you’ll get. It’s as simple as that. No one was born a great writer. It all takes patience, practice and hard work. A lot of people ask me whether quantity or quality is important. Here’s the thing… the only thing that will ever lead to quality is quantity. That’s why quantity beats quality. Every single time. Because quantity is the only thing that leads to quality...
# PUT IT OUT THERE
If you don’t put it out there it’s like you didn’t even write it. It’s like it doesn’t even exist. Putting it out there is the only way to see what works and what doesn’t. Hundreds of unpublished blog posts and dozens of unpublished books in your drawer don’t make you a writer. Putting it out there for the whole world to see it was makes you a writer…
# NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU
And that’s great news. Because you can use the time while no one cares about you to get better at your craft. So that once the spotlight is on you, you’re ready to go and at the height of your game.
# MEDIOCRE
Most of your stuff will be mediocre. Just like most of my stuff is mediocre. And that’s ok. What’s important though is that you don’t get bogged down by your mediocre stuff. That you keep showing up. No matter what. Do you know what separates the successful writer from the not successful writer? The successful writer never gave up…
[Related: 121 Unusual Tips To Being A Better Writer]
# BAD DAYS
It’s not what you do on your good days that will make you. It’s almost always what you do on your bad days that will either make you or break you…
# BUILDING AN AUDIENCE
The only way to build a sustainable audience is to show up. Over and over again. More often and longer than most people feel comfortable with. At the end of the day it’s very simple… the longer you show up, the more people will start to notice and the bigger your audience will get…
# SOCIAL MEDIA
Doesn’t say anything about how good or bad of a writer you are. All it really says is that you’re able to reach a lot or not a lot of people. And your reach usually doesn’t depend on your capabilities as a writer or content creator. It usually depends on your ability to market yourself…
# MARKETING
You might think you’re a writer. But what you really are is a marketer. Because if you don’t take care of your marketing, then nothing is ever going to happen. Because no one will do your marketing for you. Except you...
# SALES
Like it or not, but you’re also in sales. Why? See the reason above...
#STANDING OUT
The only way to stand out is to do the stuff that no one else is doing or saying. The stuff that everybody else is afraid of or too embarrassed to say.
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# EXPERT
You don’t need to be an expert when you’re getting started. The only way to become an expert is to do stuff. Here’s the thing… no one ever became an expert by not doing. And no one started from the top. We all have to start from the bottom and work our way to the top…
# FEAR
Is normal. And it will never go away. Even after 1000+ blog posts I’m still afraid of hitting the publish button. Every single time. It won’t stop. It’s like a disease that doesn’t go away. But that’s ok. As long as you keep writing and keep putting your stuff out there….
# MONEY
You can’t make a living writing online anymore. Maybe you can, but then you’d have to work for one of these sites that scream “clickbait” in your face 24/7. The only way to make a decent living writing online is to use your writing to send people to other things you offer. Maybe you create your own products, services or whatnot. That’s what 99% of the successful writers do. The other 1% of successful writers are able to make a decent living just by writing. So what about the not successful writers that only focus on writing? Like it or not, buy they will just disappear...
# BUSINESS
You need to build some kind of business on top of your blog or your writings to be able to keep writing…
# SUCCESS
How long will it take until you’re successful? If you’re thinking 1 year, it’s probably 10 years. If you’re thinking 2 years, it’s probably 5 years. If you’re thinking 3 years, it’s maybe 3 years…
# SURVIVING
So how can you even survive as a writer? Here’s the thing… you just can’t. You gotta become a brand. A media company. A business. Or else you’d be eaten alive by the ones who are. And this isn’t about money, it’s about being able to keep spreading your message, your thoughts and and your ideas. You’ve gotta build a business so you can keep writing. So you can keep helping people and increase your impact.
# ATTENTION
Is limited. So if you start putting yourself out there you'll be competing with everybody else who's already competing for everybody else's attention. Attention is a limited resource. And the more people, organizations or companies fight for attention, the harder it'll get to break through the noise...
# GETTING STARTED
So how can you get started writing online? You just start. And then you basically never ever stop again. That’s really all there is. That’s the secret sauce. That’s the only growth hack you need to know. That's how you break through the noise and become the signal. Start and then never ever stop again…
# FINISHING
You’ll never be done. There will always be things to say. Things to do. And things to write about…
# GIVING UP
Is the only difference between someone who’s successful and someone who isn’t…
# REJECTION
Is probably what’s going to happen each and every day for the rest of your life. So you better get used to it. So how do you get used to it? By being rejected each and every day...
# FAILURE
Is the same as rejection. It’s going to happen each and every day. And the only way to get used to it is to fail at something each and every day…
# THE SELF PUBLISHING LIE
It doesn’t matter whether or not everybody can now self publish. If something is accessible to everybody, then over time everybody will do it. And when everybody does something and supply explodes without the demand going up, then prices go down. This is exactly what happened with self publishing. Demand for unknown authors stayed the same but more and more unknown authors self published books. So prices naturally went down for unknown authors. They’re so low now that it barely makes sense to write and self publish a book. As of writing this, unknown authors will be able to get 99 cents for their ebooks, at best...
# BRAND
That’s why you have to build your brand. That’s why you have to go from nobody to somebody. That’s why you have to go from unknown author to well known author. And the only way to go from nobody to somebody is to do something that most people would never do. Something that most people are afraid of doing. Something that most people aren’t capable of doing. And simply writing online isn’t one of these things anymore...
# HISTORY
A couple of decades ago it was hard to get started writing online. That’s why all you had to do to back then to build an audience was to start a blog and people would listen. But today there are millions of blogs out there and it’s the easiest thing to do. That’s why almost everybody does it. And that’s why it’s very unlikely that starting a blog and writing online is going to help you to go from nobody to somebody. Simply because everybody does it. And when you do something that everybody else is already doing, then you’re going to end up competing with everybody else who’s competing with everybody else. On the other hand when you combine writing with doing things that aren’t so easy to do, let’s say you create one piece of content and put it out there every single day, then that’s something that’s going to help you to go from nobody to somebody...
# PLATFORM
Whatever you do, you need your own platform. You can write and produce content all day long but if you don’t have your own platform, a platform you own, then all your hard work could essentially be wiped out over night. This is what happened on Facebook. And Twitter. And Pinterest. And it’s happening on Medium right now. Changes in those platform’s algorithms will lead to your reach to go down to zero. And when that happens, then you have no chance to reach your followers and your audience anymore. Unless you pay for it through ads. But you need your audience. Because your audience is what will keep you alive. So whatever you do, make sure you work on building your own platform that you and only you can control. A platform like your own blog or an email list for example...
# CONSISTENCY
Is everything. Just like patience. And persistence...
# SHOWING UP
The more often you show up, the higher the probability that people are going to see some of your stuff. Emails are opened on average by 20% of the people who signed up to your newsletter. Posts on a Facebook fan pages get an organic reach of around 5%. Maybe even less. Twitter even less than 5%. So whatever you do, if you want more people to see your updates then you’d either have to pay for reach or create more content...
Alright. So I’m going to stop here. I’m tired of writing. I’m going to follow my own advice here and apply rule #1. The rule that says that there are no rules….
[Related: 121 Unusual Tips To Being A Better Writer]
