On Friday, 9/7/12, around 1:00pm EST, I went on a little Twitter rant. Not because I was particularly upset about anything, or because I was having a terrible day.
In fact, the day was going pretty well.
"You can do EVERYTHING right. You can KNOW everyone and still spend half your artistic life reintroducing yourself to people you already met."
"The key to being great at something IS NOT that everyone GETS IT. The key is doing what you want so that when NO ONE DOES–You're happy."
What began as me reading some of my favorite newsletters and famous blogger's emails for the week, ended in my feeling legitimately unsatisfied and deceived.
Here's the truth, plain and simple. And be prepared, because it's hard to swallow.
IF YOU WANT TO MAKE IT, IN ANY FIELD, AT ANY THING, YOU HAVE TO PUT YOURSELF IN THE SITUATIONS THAT MAKE IT MOST POSSIBLE.
That's the secret. That's the magic pill. That's how you go from 65 page views a month to 90,000 page views a month.
Hard work, sacrifice and probably doing a lot of stuff you don't want to.
I earned MY stripes when I was unemployed for nearly a year and living off the $80 a week I made writing posts for a small music website. I earned my stripes when I wrote for anyone who would ask, for years, for FREE.
Here's the secret of how I became a blogger who knew a lot of other really successful other bloggers, but didn't make as much money as them: I tell stories, damn good ones, every single time, and I don't sell stuff and I try to help a few other people tell their stories–and I do all of this while having a regular job.
Be yourself and be great at it.
And that's the God-awful truth about how to be the best at blogging and anything else you can think of.