Ah yes, my list.
After a day of procrastination I opened my
notepad and took a glance at my To-Do List. I realised it really was just a
list, and if I just plodded through the items one by one my tasks would be
done. What was there to be concerned about?
So that’s what I did. To refresh your
memory, the list is basically a wish list that will get me from where I am now
(in debt and not fulfilling my dreams), to where I want to be (a millionaire
blogger). First up was discovering out how much a four bedroom house on the
Sunshine Coast in Queensland costs. And well, what a surprise that was!
I discovered that a four bedroom, two
bathroom house within close vicinity of Maroochydore beach could be snapped up
for less than a 1-bedroom unit in Bondi. Gulp. Suddenly my dream became less of
a fantasy and more of a potential reality. Right, I really could afford a house
on the Sunshine Coast. All I have to do to achieve that is earn a decent wage
(for me, the plan is to double last year’s income so let’s say $90-100k by the
end of 2013). Sounds doable (as long as I continue crossing things off my
list).
Second was to continue writing my blog
(tick) and to find out how to build my audience and understand the world of
blogging in general. Writing is the easy part, I have plenty of material there,
but I know next to nothing about blogs and blogging (never even read one before
I started my own), so that research saw me dive onto my MacBook and not even
surface for a drink of water before two hours had passed. Wow, there’s soooooo
much to know (and read!). To grow my audience it was suggested that I connect
with fellow bloggers who are covering a similar subject to mine. By commenting
on their posts, their readers would become aware of my blog and with any luck,
click through to me and become engrossed in my story.
There are so many blogs out there, I barely
knew where to begin, so I went straight to the Top 100. Interesting. Not a
single personal development blog in sight. The top spots are held by news,
entertainment and political bloggers. It seems the general public are more
interested in what’s going on around them than what’s going on inside them.
Fair enough. I did manage to find a couple of sites that were relevant in terms
of them being for women (I at least fit into that gender graphic), and from
there I discovered a few other blogs that interested me, namely itsallaboutyoga.com, gaiam.com and lipsticking.com. There were others with large numbers of visitors,
but when it came to posting a comment in order to raise my profile, I felt
fraudulent and couldn’t think of anything genuine to say. I realised that
becoming a millionaire blogger is my aim, not to lose all morals in the name of
wealth and status. Becoming All That I Am is more about how I feel than what I
will be able to buy. It was refreshing to know that I maintain 100 per cent
integrity even when clambering to the top of the BRW Rich List!
I could easily have spent the entire day
checking out blogs and posting about them, but with each bullet point calling,
I was happy to have gained some new insights and moved onto the next point at
hand: meeting Mike Dooley. Part of my blogging research involved finding his
blog, but it seems Mike keeps his thoughts to himself, as all I could find were
people blogging about him. A bit like I am! I am aware that Mike runs workshops
throughout the year so I have made a note under the heading of “Wouldn’t It Be
Great” to attend his Thoughts Become Things training in Orlando next October.
It’s doable. All I have to do is keep working, keep earning and keep the end
goal in sight.
If Jacqueline Harrison’s book How To Create a Business From Nothing
becomes a NY Times bestseller then my goal to edit bestselling books will have
been achieved. But point three: how does one attain such a moniker? It seems
pretty straightforward. You have to sell a truckload of books. However,
bookshops are not the only outlets that are counted. Wholesale sales are also
considered, as are ebook sales. I know that sounds obvious but there is a
mystery surrounding the NYT bestseller list, and I’m sure there’s more to know.
Fortunately I have industry contacts with authors who have enjoyed bestseller
status, so I will delve further into this point and gather some inside info.
Writing about all this now, it doesn’t seem
like much, but gathering data on these few points actually took me a whole day.
The upside of all this work is that I now feel as though I have given myself a
“real job”. Instead of knowing in the back of my mind I can do all these things
and therefore not actually doing them, (a bit like the way you never go sightseeing
in your own city), I’m now putting pen to paper, fingers to keyboard and simply
working from a backlist of what I want. And so far it’s been easy. My next move
will be getting on the phone and emailing people I know, (or don’t know) and
asking questions. Before beginning this process, asking vague acquaintances for
information or advice seemed pushy and manipulative. Now, thanks to a succinct
list and a future vision that I can share (if I want), contacting people has
become simply a quest for knowledge. And who doesn’t want to share their
knowledge?
With this new methodology, my energy is
coming from a more humble position and seems to be founded on connecting and
having a conversation. Previously, that same conversation felt unconsciously
loaded with expectation (of what, I didn’t even know). Just talking to someone
feels a whole lot easier and more authentic than hoping someone can help me
fulfil a dream that I’m not even able to articulate! Now that’s a big ask!
So, with only a few days before I board a
flight to South Korea and head off for a month’s holiday, I have plenty of
points still to work through. As is becoming clearer every day, this list is
about so much more than just a list. It is also unlocking the answers to
questions I didn’t even know I was asking. After a few days break in Seoul, I’m
departing for the UK where I’ll spend Christmas with my parents. I haven’t
spent Christmas with my family for 15 years.
I wonder what they’ll think of my blog? And,
more fittingly, I wonder if they’ll approve…?
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