Like many of you, I read blogs—lots of blogs. Be it marketing, small business, motivational, spiritual—I enjoy being a part of the conversation and learning from others. I’ve been active on the blogosphere for about a year now and I’ve begun to notice a trend quite perplexing as of late—bloggers and online business owners everywhere are unhappy….unfulfilled…and flat-out miserable.
- Some of you out there may know what I’m talking about. You see, for many the trend of a blogger often works a little something like this:
- Start reading about how to make money online
- Get really excited and believe everything you read
- Come up with a blog idea and get even more excited
- Bust out the gates and start blogging like a man-man (or woman in many cases)
- Participate like crazy w/online networking, learning, commenting on other blogs etc.
- Begin to develop a following…watch traffic pick up…feel pressure to do more
- Continue to read about other bloggers kicking tail and push harder to be ‘that guy’
- Begin to struggle with original articles, new products, etc.
- Push harder, harder, harder
- Obsess over traffic and subscribers more, more, more
- Push harder, harder, harder
- Obsess over traffic and subscribers more, more, more
- Stress, unfulfillment, and scatter-brain become common place
- Originality runs dry
- Burnout
- Where to go from here?
Although such a description of the order of operations varies from person to person, let me assure you this pattern happens more and more each and every day online. And what’s really interesting is that I’m now reading bloggers talk about it. They talk about being disenchanted. They write of their disillusionment. The enjoyment has ceased and they can’t understand why they’re not Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, or Seth Godin. Simply put, they’ve been so obsessed with making their blog or online business successful that they’ve lost touch with one incredible element to all of this:
Happiness
That’s right, what started off with so much joy and excitement turns into pain and suffering. But why? Why do so many blogs, many of which have great intentions, fall by the wayside? Here are 5 definitive reasons I’ve come up with:
1. Comparing Yourself with Others
In every industry, there are giants. There’s the ‘inner circle’. There are the people that are just absolutely crushing it. And as we watch and observe these stars, we fall in the habit of comparing ourselves with them. We wonder why they can get so many followers, make so much money, get 50 comments per post, etc. But if there is one incredible truism life has taught me it’s this:
Compare Yourself to No One.
That’s right, no one. For some stupid reason, we feel this huge need to compare, compare, compare in our society. When our kids don’t do well in school, we tell them ‘they’re behind their peers.’ We tell them they ‘better keep up.’ We instill from day one this utter need for our youth to constantly look over their shoulders.
This, my friends, is utterly useless. We’re all different. Just as we’ve all got a distinct finger print everything else we have and do is unique as well. Personally, I enjoy reading what makes other bloggers and online business owners successful, but I don’t get disenchanted because I’m not at their level. Fact is, they do things better than I can in certain areas. So what? I’m also superior in my own ways. Such is life. Such is how the Creator made us. So be it. Let’s quit with the comparisons.
2. Write about Subjects You’re Not Passionate About
This is a huge problem in the blogosphere. I see people do it all the time. Maybe they’re doing it for SEO and going after a particular keyword. Maybe they’re afraid they’ll lose traffic and subscribers if they don’t post. Fact is, bloggers constantly feel pressure to post articles—even when there’s no fire or passion for the subject. As you might imagine, this ain’t good. In fact, it spells disaster. Because it lacks enthusiasm and inspiration, it kills fulfillment. And once fulfillment is out of the picture, why do bloggers blog? Beats the heck out of me……
3. Selling Crap Ain’t Fun
Let me start this one off by saying I’m a capitalist. I’ve got no problem with bloggers and online biz owners trying to make a buck. The problem lies though in the fact that so many have to make money. And because they have to make money to survive, they push too hard. They promote products they don’t really believe in. They obsess over traffic so as to enhance their affiliate or adwords campaigns. And what’s the result? Just as with #2 they lose fulfillment which in-turn kills their happiness and sense of purpose.
4. Too Many Projects at Once
Golly this is an easy trap to fall into. Bloggers and online business owners, because of their natural tendency to feel as if they can conquer the world, often times get involved in entirely too many projects. This tendency leads to a major ‘Jack of all trades, Master of none’ problem throughout the blogosphere. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Be great at ONE thing. Once you’re great at that, then move on. But for Pete’s sake, don’t allow yourself to be known as Mr. Average in every business and endeavor your involved with.
5. Clearly Don’t Understand Your Higher Purpose
I strongly believe happy and fulfilled bloggers aren’t happy and fulfilled because of the money. They’re also not about chasing fame. No, bloggers that are the happiest are the ones that would write even if they didn’t get paid a dime. They do it because they love it. They do it because they feel a burning desire to give to others. They do it because they understand their mission and purpose in life.
I say this because I’m a truly happy blogger. These days, I worry very little about what my next article is going to be about. I often don’t check traffic from one day to the next. And I certainly don’t know when Darren Rowse will be knocking on my door for a guest post 
Heck, I’ve written over 100 articles on The Sales Lion over the last 9 months, have built a meager(compared to many) following of over 1000 subscribers, and haven’t a single penny to show for it…..or do I?
Notwithstanding all of this I’m happy. Such is my reward. I write about the world as I see it from one day to the next. This blog is a journal of my mind. It’s my every day observations. It’s the story of my life. And hopefully, somehow, this blog will help other people find success and happiness in their life.
It’s my life’s mission to teach. That’s what I was put here for. I don’t need constant reinforcement to know that. It’s who I am and it’s why I do what I do. This is living. This, if I may dare say, is happiness.
What are your thoughts? Agree or disagree? I’d love to hear what any of you bloggers out there have to say on this unique yet important subject.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
This is more or less what Godin talks about in The Dip, right? We often start projects with a poorly defined goal or poorly defined way of how to measure success. Partially due to that, we see what we think might be success along the way (blogs visitors for example) and forget about what could/should be our ultimate goal: actually selling something, a new job, or who-knows-what.
Not that this can be put in a short and sweet manner, but I would say: 1) Don’t do something new unless you are SUPER passionate about it and have no doubt that you can be the best, 2) Define how you measure progress and success, 3) Have laser focus and dedication. If you’re a germophobe, whose pet peeve is people not using hand sanitizer, do your research on how to get your message out there, figure out if you’re going to sell something or get media attention hopefully or something else, and don’t give up when you hit a bump in the road. Be the guy or gal who is up at 3am, posting to your blog not just because you know you have to, but mainly because you care so much about it that you couldn’t envision doing anything else.
Awesome post, Marcus.
.-= Eric Pratum´s last blog ..I was featured recently on the Heroic Destiny Podcast =-.
Dang Pratum, bringing the heat this morning brother, and spot on you are! I loved how you said:
Be the guy or gal who is up at 3am, posting to your blog not just because you know you have to, but mainly because you care so much about it that you couldn’t envision doing anything else.
Well said my friend
Thank you very much, Marcus. I know you’re one of those guys. It shines through in every post.
.-= Eric Pratum´s last blog ..I was featured recently on the Heroic Destiny Podcast =-.
I have been feeling this way lately. Always thinking there isn’t enough time and I need to get one more thing done, one last project updated. At the end of the day when I look around I have gotten a lot accomplished. But I get so caught up in the more more more bigger better pattern I’m not able to enjoy what I do get done.
I used to sit around in the evenings after work and watch some tv with my family. The last few months though I couldn’t help but feel that tv is a waste of time because I sit there and get nothing accomplished. Yet I’ve realized that relaxing surrounded by the reasons I work so hard gives me back the passion that is lost as I flow throughout the day.
Great post Marcus.
.-= Domain Name Ninja´s last blog ..Ask a Ninja- Small Business Geographical Marketing =-.
Thanks Ninja. Keep your head up brother. You’re doing some really good things over there on your blog– posting stuff that will give value to readers and eventually build momentum. Stay strong my friend and keep smiling
Great post-
It reminds me of the feeling of “Glengarry, Glen Ross” that I have sometimes when I watch it. I could identify with each of the characters at some point in my career. Your description of the feeling of being a blogger, trying to make something happen was spot on.
I think I may be on the other side of most of what you describe in the beginning of the post and now live more in the 5 points you make. If I start to slip though, I’ll come back to this.
Thanks.
Nice analogy Tom, and thanks for stopping in. It’s something we all need to come back to– the idea of achieving fulfillment and not blogging for the wrong reasons. Heck, I wrote this more for myself than anyone else in the sense that I want to remember where my state of mind is today and not deviate from that path.
Hey Marcus,
Great post, I know many people feel this way and I can truthfully say that I am moving up that list.
As anyone who reads my blog knows, I believe in high set goals and hard work for their achievement. With that said, when everything isn’t going perfectly smooth it is easier to answer by working harder and harder.
Of course when you get back to feeling on track you start to feel like it would be great to be ahead of the goal and therefore start working even harder.
This is the problem I have been having at late. I keep spinning between ahead of my goal and behind, the answer in both situations is to work harder, putting me in a never ending spiral.
I am aware of it though, which means that I can work on it and the solution I am working on at the moment is very firm weekly planning, I do exactly what it says on my weekly list, no more and no less.
That way I know that every week I move steadily towards my goal and there is no reason to fret about it.
I do watch my stats daily though as I think it is a great way to learn what was popular, what style of writing worked and so on.
.-= Daniel M. Wood´s last blog ..Back To Work! Back To Work! Back To Work! =-.
Daniel, you are a driven guy, no doubt, which is likely why you and I get along so well. In fact, it’s kinda cool that we both pretty much started this thing called ‘blogging’ around the same time. You’re doing great things with yours, and I likely your planning focus. As far as traffic is concerned, there are arguments to be made on both sides, but I find that many people post a new blog article just because they’ve dropped below X, but their goal is Y, which is not the purpose of writing a post– to maintain an average. Anyway, thanks for always contributing such solid thought here at The Sales Lion Daniel.
Wow, this is a great post. Straight and to the point. It’s a fact that many bloggers face at some point. The last thing that I want to happen to me is to burnout. I’m not gonna lie, it’d be nice to grow a blog to something bit, but I definitely want to enjoy the process. If it takes a year great, if it takes 20 years great too. And if it never happens, no big deal because it’s about the journey. But this post reminds me to do it for the fun and passion.
Keep up the good work.
-Gabe
.-= Gabe´s last blog ..5 Ways to Improve Your Memory =-.
Hi Gabe, a pleasure it is seeing you here for the first time. I stopped by your blog and love the subject matter, so keep doing great things. It appears your just getting in the groove, which is cool, and I hope you’ll remember some of the suggestions here– not because I wrote them, but because I honestly believe they’re true and can make a difference in our lives as bloggers.
Best of luck to you with your blog. I subscribed so keep ‘em coming
Thanks Marcus. Yes, I am just getting into the groove. So far I’m learning a lot and having a lot of fun. So this post couldn’t have come at a better time.
I’m just going to see what happens in the future, but have fun along the way!
.-= Gabe´s last blog ..The Art of Persistence and How to Be More Persistent =-.
I had to laugh when I read this:
“We wonder why they can get so many followers, make so much money, get 50 comments per post, etc”
Looks like you are becoming “they.”
It’s so cool to see someone in their groove and you are definitely in it Marcus.
Marlee´s last [type] ..The Entrepreneurial Economy- Why you must cultivate the entrepreneur within
Ha Marlee! Yeah, guess you caught me