Did you know that you’re an investor? If you publish anything or have a blog at all that you’re an investor in people, their missions, visions, hopes, and dreams.

Have you ever thought about it that way? Have you ever thought of yourself as an investor? I have and I do, constantly.

The first time I realized this was early in my blogging history when someone had enough courage to comment on my blog and told me that I had encouraged them to try something they had always wanted to try but they didn’t have the right perspective to make the commitment to move forward.

All that changed with a simple blog post. What’s funny is that the purpose or intent of that particular blog post had almost nothing to do with what she had taken away from it! A loose bit of correlation and a whole lot of trust were the key ingredients.

I was shocked but I accepted it graciously, thanked her for the comment, and proceeded to ruminate about this dynamic for the rest of the day. Had I stumbled onto something incredibly unique? Had I done something outstandingly brilliant?

Nope. Not really. All I had really done was hit the “Publish” button on a blog post that I didn’t feel had much brilliance in it at all. And yet I had changed someone’s life and made a very positive (and perhaps life-long) investment.

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One of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that when success is all about me (diagram #1) and everyone pouring into me then a few things happen:

1. It’s all about me – This feels good, but ultimately it’s selfish, prideful, and doesn’t help my health (literally).
2. It’s not sustainable – Because I’m feeding off of everyone that I come in contact with it ends up being exhausting.
3. It’s not stable – In addition to not being sustainable, it’s also emotional dangerous as my emotions are subject to the masses perspective and opinion.
4. It’s directionless – Getting shuffled by everyone’s opinion I serve everyone and as a result I serve no one.
5. It’s not productive – It just isn’t. Trust me.

When I started moving into the second model I learned a great deal of things and how it’s much more a model of personal and professional success than the former:

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I have three irrational fears (that I know of) which can, at times, completely dismantle me in the moment.

The first is related to the microwave oven – yes, that appliance which sits in nearly every home on the planet.

You see, I’m scared that it’s going to blow up. I don’t care if it’s one of those super-silent-no-noise-generating-eco-friendly-low-power-usage microwaves… I think it’s going to blow up and if not kill me then maim me badly.

Irrational, right? I can’t seem to help it…!

And no, I haven’t sought counseling for it and it’s not something that needs an incredibly amount of attention but it’s real: My palms get sweaty, my heart races, I get short of breath, and I feel compelled to walk away or duck behind a larger appliance (like my fridge) just in case it does go kaboom.

You ready for my second irrational fear? This one’s somewhat similar to the first… (more…)

I love this quote by Ira Glass which is transcribed below:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste.

But there is this gap.

For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.

A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this.

And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.

And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

I think there’s much to be said about this quote and I’ve mentioned more than a few times on this blog that one of the top and most simple strategies for you, as a writer, blogger, and publisher, is to just create content, day after day after day.

It’s the volume game; quality (and recognition) will come in time.

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… get into the high tech industry. Web technology (and anything related) to be more specific.

Period.

I’m blessed. Seriously blessed – and trust me, even in the worst of times I can see these blessings clearly and I don’t take them for granted one bit. You see, I live in an environment and work inside an ecosystem that has shown mind-numbing growth over the past decade.

I’ve never been in want for a job. The demand for the work that I do continues to grow and the compensation isn’t too bad either. And, the longer I stay in this industry the greater value I bring to the table. It’s a win-win-win-win (“winning?”) scenario.

This isn’t just my one-off perspective, it’s been studied in great depth and as one industry report has shared:

High-tech is a bright spot in an otherwise gray economic picture. Jobs in this industry have grown nearly four times faster than the overall economy during the past 18 months.

There are dozens of other reports (like this one via Mashable) that tech hiring is going is going up-and-to-the-right on a curve that is not stopping.

Especially if you’re somewhat “bent” technologically and have had an inkling – do it! What’s stopping you?

Oh, I get it… I understand… you see, here’s the thing (before you say anything close to “BUT… … … … … I’M NOT A DEVELOPER OR DESIGNER OR PROGRAMMER OR… … …”): You don’t need to be a super-whiz-top-of-your-game-technology-guru to do some serious damage in my playing field!

All you need are a few tips that can get you started:

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Most of you have never seen me like this before and most of you will never see me like this in the flesh (if I can help it) – but there are times where it’s absolutely necessary that I don the slacks, the button down, and even rock a belt for goodness sake.

And it’s nice belt (or at least I think so…) – it’s Kenneth Cole (is that a nice company? I don’t know…).

Oh yeah, I can’t forget the shoes – the shoes! I’m a fan of Zoo York’s brand of shoes; highly functional, very comfortable. Today I’m rocking a pair of shoes that were ridiculously priced from Aldo – a pair left over from the days when I was an executive at a Fortune 50. Bleh.

But it is what it is. I’ll be spending most of the day today in a company that had over $40B dollars in revenue. Yes, that’s billion. They are a bit more button-up and pro-fess-ion-aalll than what I typically wear at home (or act).

The point is that at times we need to do what it takes to build the relational capital necessary to have a platform in someone else’s life – to have the authority and influence to speak into their lives so as to ultimately provide value to them.

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One of the tell-tale signs of a non-focused, newbie blogger is that they decide to blog about everything, instead of blogging about the few things that make that blogger standout and unique and make them a leader with a point instead of a busy blogger with no point.

In addition, not everything is applicable to blogging directly and you shouldn’t try to force a “lesson” or “takeaway” from some experience into blogging all the time – I’m tired of seeing blog post titles that really stretch that relationship, like:

• 10 Ways How Blogging is Like Eating Candy!
• 100 Reasons Why Painting by Color is Like Blogging!
• Why You Should Always Blog Like You Drive Your Car!
• How Your Shoe Size Equals the Number of Categories on Your Blog!

Wait, wah?! Really? Shoe size equals # of categories? … … … … I had no idea…!

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No one is listening!

This is a Guest Post by Ben, a 21 year old blogger from the UK. He writes about a variety of different subjects including the Music Industry and his quest to Make a Living Online.

Is there anything more frustrating than having a message, a vision and a goal, yet not seeing any results, no matter how hard you work at it? Trust me, this is a problem that I’ve seen many an early-stage blogger encounter.

We start out in the blogosphere with a dream; to rule our niche, to become an authority and often, to make money. When you’ve worked hard for three, six, nine months, even a year or more, and not seen any real results, discouragement is a natural reaction, but with the world of blogging, you need to push through this, or all the work you’ve put in will be in vain.

I’m going to kick off with something of a parable:

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Not.

I remember when I had first started seriously considering the opportunities available to me of making a few dollars with my online properties and my blogs and thinking to myself “Wow, it looks so amazing! It would be the perfect lifestyle!”

I had these crazy thoughts that somehow it would change everything and life would be so much better this way – it was a bit like a Japanese Anime cartoon where everything is bigger, more pronounced (like their hair and eyes) and everything just is fine and dandy with big peace signs and buckets of cash.

… I honestly thought it would be like I was living on a different planet. I had no idea what I was thinking.

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I’ve been sitting on this blog post for a few days to make sure that I have a clear head about it before I hit the “Publish” button because it has the chance to offend more than just a few people.

But I woke up this morning feeling good about it and after a few moments of reflection remembered that what I’m sharing is simply a part of life – rejection happens, get used to it.

The problem is that the internet and online culture can challenge our socially accepted norms of personal engagement – in fact, it has lowered the barrier of entry to start a conversation with others and many people have forgotten their manners as a result.

I have long-kept my direct email address public as well as have kept an “open door” policy to the entire internet at large – you can email me, send me a message via Facebook, and do anything you really like on Twitter to engage me directly. I promise to read everything but I don’t often have time to respond to everyone.

The vast majority of people know how to take this rejection just fine – they understand how busy I am and the responsibilities I have to my family first, my partners second, and then the internet last. Although those who have engaged with me know that I’m pretty darn available and I respond to nearly everything, even if it’s just a “one line” response.

I pride myself on my ability to manage this well (I’m not perfect, mind you) and the “brand” that I’ve created around my ability to be open and accessible. But there are some people who need a serious kick in the pants and who need to learn very quickly how to accept rejection, especially, especially, if you’re soliciting me for something.

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