I recently had the pleasure of spending an entire day with a tool that I had previously been unaccustomed to using: A jackhammer.
I’ve seen them, for sure, as much larger and stronger individuals would be using them to tear up the streets around Atlanta but I had never imagined myself using one. In fact, I’ve never once had an inkling to ever try it out as I had a strange fear that I would literally kill myself using one.
But I encountered a serious need a few weeks ago as my driveway needed to be demolished to give way to some of the small renovations we needed to do to the house and the surrounding lawn area and I either could pay someone an incredible amount of money (thousands of dollars apparently via a few quotes) or do it myself.
Ugh. I had a decision to make – either I man up and do the rough work myself or pony up the greenbacks for someone else to do it for me. I opted to do the former.
Here’s the overall cost associated with the endeavor:
- Jackhammer – $80 from Home depot for 24 hour rental.
- 3 Pairs of Gloves – I destroyed three pairs of gloves as I lifted the busted driveway into a wheelbarrow to haul to the back. Those pieces are sharp!
- 1 Wheelbarrow – $30. This broke down on the last haul. It was a cheap plastic one that said it could hold 200 pounds. Doubtful…
- 12 Pack of Gatorade – $10. Yum.
- 6 hours of my time.
Not bad, to be honest.
But I won’t lie to you – it was really tough work, the kind that I really never want to do again. My entire body was sore and I had to sit down and rest multiple times. And without those gloves I would have destroyed my fingers and hands. I’m surprised I didn’t crush my feet a few times as well as I don’t own industrial boots!
Thank goodness my brother-in-law came to help (all the way from Augusta) as well! There’s no way I could have done this alone!
The end result was extremely satisfying and we got the job done – but it was work, no question about it.
Do the Necessary Work to Grow Your Blog
I realized that this work is very much like a lot of the resistance that I hear many bloggers talk about, especially when it comes to growth and the success (or lack thereof) that they are experiencing.
Sometimes it’s the tough but necessary work of optimizing your blog (like via SEO) or working through content strategy or even taking your online brand seriously for the first time is all that’s stopping you from working through that apparent “ceiling” that you’re bumping into.
But at the end of the day it’s just tough work, but you have to do it. You can certainly pay someone else to do it (like I could have with my driveway) but there are things that you need to simply learn through the process of doing (my jackhammer analogy now “breaks” down here…).
No one can teach you how to become a better blogger better than you, yourself, blogging and publishing consistently. You can learn from those that have come before you and get tips, tricks, and tons of other neat things, but the vast majority of them might simply be better labeled as “distractions.”
Pick up that digital jackhammer every once in a while and work through some of the stuff you’ve been meaning to get to but have put off for ages. Put on those working gloves and boots and just get it done.
Awesome post as always John. You always do a great job of taking life situations and applying it to our online work. I like the Makita jackhammer too by the way.
I see a future advertisement: Makita – The official jackhammer of tentbloggers everywhere
A good word brother. I just got done talking to my wife this morning about taking Geek for i to the next level. We just made a few sponsors for an eBook we are super excited about and the money we are making is going directly back into making the site better.
Now to get some advertisers outside of Adsense haha.
This is the most excellent analogy. When I started my blog, I was determined to go from the ground up and do it right. It was excruciating. I had no clue what html really was, much less css, gravatars and favicons, oh my! Every time I googled something, it was like reading a foreign language. I have learned SO MUCH from doing it though and the feeling of accomplishment is worth the labor. You have inspired me to tackle SEO…I’ll see you in a few months, haha!
Thank you for this post! I am new to blogging and my website is in the beginning stages. I am not really getting many views right now but I am still in the very beginning stages. I am definitely grateful that I found this website because I have been getting lots of great help from it! Thank you for your awesome posts!!!
That’s a great analogy. I HATE paying for things like that knowing that if I just man up I can do it myself.
Funny…I struggle with thinking that way about blogging though. Thanks for the insight.
My hands hurt just looking at those pictures. Man I bet that sucked royally. Well done on the driveway and thank God for brother-in-laws. Mine’s helpful too. Nice post bro.
Hey John! Great post. Your blog is helping me immensely with growing my blog. Keep up the good work.
I bet once you got started it was actually kinda fun, right!? On the front and back end of work, it can often be, “eeeuuckk..,” but on the real, I’m willing to bet after it was all said and done it was a really awesome experience!
The analogy is well chosen, working on a blog seems to be like a long alley to destroy with your hammer sometimes
Thanks for the encouragement, John. I finally got my website going and it took me “forever” to figure out how to stream video and get the video file written correctly so that it would start playing immediately. I read and tinkered around alot and I finally had that “aha” moment. Now I have the membership subscriptions up. The “ceiling” for me is just to start writing posts that people can enjoy writing. Writing is not a problem for me, though I may not be a professional editor/writer, but to me it’s just getting from thoughts to written words. So I depend on the ideas of my community to find good topics to write about. Check out my site at http://www.woodturningtutorials.com
I really need to pick up the digital jackhammer and get to work! I have let my blogging slip this past year. I am trying to get back going then…thats a start!
It’s interesting you working outside, I thought I was the only one.
Blogging seems easy at times but at the end, I am not so sure.
Thanks for sharing John.
Hey, newcomer here -
Picked up the link to your blog from Noah’s Dad, and have been perusing your site for tips, etc. I get the analogy with the driveway work and the encouragement to “just do it,” but for us greenhorns, could you post a few links detailing what exactly are the steps involved in doing “the necessary work to grow your blog”? Theory is nice, but how to apply it is another story
you need to just browse some of the archives on this blog…! http://tentblogger.com/archives/
You have a weird way of articulating the same things I am thinking. I spent all weekend thinking about how I need to get down to some serious work on my blog, and then I find this. Your post gave me the kick I needed to get to work.
Thanks, again.
Greg
Damn you, John. I really need to hear this.
I don’t need to read anymore about how to write well or blog better. I just need to do it. I’ve got the tools, I just need to man up and take the time to do the tough work.
Thank you for the reminder.
If you ever need a side job for extra $$ you could jackhammer someone else’s driveway for $1000+ markup.