I recently came across a video blog by Jon Wheatley where he talked a little about his online projects and responded to some comments on previous posts. Not to be rude but midway into his post I started to think ‘God, I feel really bad for Jon right now given his current lifestyle’. By ‘current lifestyle’ I mean hardly sleeping, combined with stress, periods of no social interaction etc… A very pretentious judgement by me I’m sure, as Jon’s achieved fantastic things and has been a great role model for me. I don’t want to insult him, but it got me thinking… could I really live my life like that?

This is something that applies to a lot of bloggers and entrepreneurs. The ‘online lifestyle’ is not the easiest by far, and is certainly not for just anyone. If you take away the huge number of ‘hobby’ bloggers (including those who make a little cash, but nothing substantial off of their blogs/projects) then you’re left with an elite who probably have workaholic tendencies. It take’s a LOT of really hard work to make it, and even then you might fail.

At the end of Jon’s post he gives a great quote that he discovered a while back:

“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”

This quote really hit home with me. After momentarily feeling like I didn’t want the risk of entrepreneurship, I felt reaffirmed that I did. I actually started to feel like this before he provided the quote, but it kind of sealed the deal. Jon is launching a really exciting project soon called Daily Booth (I suggest that you check out his blog if you want to learn more about it). My initial reaction to Jon’s post was ‘whoa what if this project fails?’ as a lot seems to be resting on it. However, my lasting reaction was ‘but what if it takes off?’. I realized that the idea of going for things and hoping that they pay off was far more appealing than the secure lifestyle that appeals to many. This mentality particularly applies to the part of the quote:

“so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.“

The word ‘can’t’ in this context actually scares me a little. Why? Well because it suggests that you may reach a point where you’ve lost control of your life. It suggests that you might look back and think ‘if only I’d acted differently I might be in a much better situation’. Sure, people can turn their lives around, but this is infinitely harder than setting a good foundation.

My point is really two fold:

• 1. REALLY think about if what you’re doing is truly right for you. It’s better to figure this out sooner rather than later, and just because you’re ultimately not the adventurous type it’s better to accept this and stop kidding yourself.
• 2. If you are adamant that you want to make something of yourself then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. It doesn’t make you a lazy person to not follow through with your ideas, it makes you normal. However, if you really want to succeed then you need to start DOING, rather than just THINKING.

I currently have an idea for a website that I’m really excited about. I was considering the other day how easy it would be to let it fall by the wayside and never follow it through. I could probably easily forget about it altogether and go on living my life. However, I don’t want to be that guy. I’m setting myself the goal of launching this site within a month, and believe me that is a big goal considering everything that I’ve got on. In a months time I could be in the exact same situation that I’m in now (and it’s not a terrible situation believe me), or I could be seriously excited about a great new project and have high hopes for the future. I think I know which appeals more to me…

So what kind of person are you, and what are you going to do about it?

We all know how difficult it can be to earn a living from blogging, and even great bloggers get the occasional financial dry patch. Whilst income that directly results from your blog is one of the best sources of motivation, streams of passive income can help to support your blogging efforts.

But just what is passive income? Wikipedia defines passive income as:

“An income stream where money is received usually on a regular basis, without continuing effort. This does not mean no effort at all; most passive income streams require great effort to start with.”

The key is finding sources of passive income that relate somehow to your blog. As the above definition states, most types of passive income will involve a lot of initial effort, but the beauty is that you can then just enjoy the profits. It is important to note that not all types of passive income work this way, some will take you just 2 minutes to set up, and then you can forget all about them.

Some of my favorite techniques include:

I hope that these tips were helpful. Obviously some of them are very well known, but I’m trying to share with you what I think works best and what is easiest. Good luck with your money making schemes!

Hi everyone. Sorry for the brief update but I’m having a night out with friends to celebrate the end of an intense period of university work…

I just wanted to share a technique that I’ve found very helpful in increasing blog traffic. Most bloggers will tell you that replying to all blog comments within your post page is one of the keys to great blogging. Whilst this is a good idea, I like to utilize a more effective method.

Instead of replying to commenting within your own blog, why not reply to the comment on the commenter’s blog? This may sound very simple but very few people I know actually do this. The benefits are essentially that your commenters will feel more rewarded for commenting on your blog (by receiving more comments themselves) and therefore will feel more encouraged to leave you a comment in the future. Many commmenters won’t bother to check to the page which they commented on, and therefore will miss your reply to their comment.

It’s really just another form of networking but takes absolutely no extra effort and rewards you more than traditional comment replying in my opinion…

I hope this little tip was in some way helpful. I’ve been working really hard lately on a great new photoshop tutorial that will teach you how to create a stunning blog layout. The tutorial will also include a .psd for the design which you will be able to use completely free on your blog, so be sure to check back soon. Thanks!

Forums are a fantastic way to increase your blogs exposure and network with others in your field. However, many blogging forums have become empty, despite a HUGE increase in blogs/bloggers worldwide. I’ve done some research and have come up with the 15 absolute best blogging forums that I could find!

10 of the forums are specific to blogging, and 5 are active sections of larger webmaster related forums. I recommend registering at all of them (I guarantee that you won’t be a member of all 15!) and start getting the word out about your blog today!

The 10 Forums Specific to Blogging:

5 Extra Blogging Sections of Webmaster Forums:

I hope that you found this list helpful. If you did I’d always appreciate a Stumble