Read on Medium.
I’m having trouble with my growth, in blogging. Well, not just blogging but let’s focus.
So, I asked advice to one of my successful friends. Let’s call him Wily.
Me: Listen, Wily, I don’t get results with blogging. You have tens of thousands of followers. Give me advice.
Wily: Well, there’s no single secret. Just hard work and good writing. And a few hacks, of course.
M: Mmh?
W: Do you know the $1.80 rule, from Gary Vaynerchuck?
M: No.
W: Before breakfast – every single day – you should have given your 2 cents on the top 9 trending Instagram posts for 10 different hashtags.
M: Seems lot of work!
W: Not really. Consistency is the key.
M: But I want to write. I don’t use Instagram.
W: To have social success you have to be social. Else, nobody will read you. Anyway, writing will be important too. Every single day, before breakfast, you have to write and publish a post.
M: Oh. That seems a lot of work too. It’s already hard to post twice per week. You know, research, structure, editing…
W: No, no, no. Don’t use that word again! No “research.” You don’t have time for that. Nor for editing or anything else. You write and publish. Repeat.
M: I’m not sure this fits me…
W: Eyes on the prize. These are proven tactics.
M: Okay…
W: And of course, every single day, before breakfast, you have to follow as many people as possible.
M: Follow? I already have to do the 180 cents thing and publish a post! How can I read tons of articles?
W: Who said ”read”? I said follow. Come on, you don’t have to know those people. But they see you in their notifications, you’re generous with them, and many of them will follow you back.
M: Seems just a numbers thing.
W: Seems success, to me. I got my first 10K followers this way. Do you want that too?
M: I understand. Maybe I should really give this a try. But now I’m curious about…
W: What?
M: What time is it, breakfast?
W: 6 am.
M: Ouch. Seen what I have to do before, I’d have said 3 pm… So, when do I get up?
W: 3 am is fine.
M: Oh. I’m not sure I can do it. I’ll try 4 am… And after breakfast?
W: Podcasting. Upload one episode per day.
One month later.
W: How’s going with the “routine”? Got results?
M: To be honest, I’ve had a hard time, with it… I got up at 4 am for one week, and all I got was nausea for the rest of the day. So, I switched to 5 am, but there was no time left for the 180 cents, and growth was slow. So, I focused on writing, but my mind was blurred. My words started to make sense after breakfast, but then the rest of the day was calling, and I didn’t even have time for the podcast. A big mess… I’m not good at it…
W: Come on! You just need coaching! I can’t do that for free, but you’re a friend, we’ll arrange.
M: Maybe you’re right but no, thanks. Maybe I’m just not a writer. I thought the whole thing was about writing.
W: I don’t understand. It is, about writing. I write a hundred comments per day. Plus a couple of daily posts, one about writing and one about making money by writing.
M: Don’t bother, W., but thank you for all the advice. I don’t have time, now. I need real money.
W: Don’t worry, I’ll give you all the links for that. But the first thing you have to do soon is to publish a long article about how to make money. Believe me. Before breakfast. After that, upload a video.