This blog was originally started as a challenge to generate huge traffic in limited time, but then my focus shifted quite a bit. The only challenge now is to stand out from the heap of blatant marketing blogs. You can read the full story here.

And don't forget to subscribe! :)

Sign up to my newsletter to grow your blog faster than you thought you can.

Popular Post’s
 

4 Honest Reasons You’ll Never Be A Pro Blogger

There is an information pandemic raging out of control, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Since the inception of the internet, more and more content has been made available in a highly accessible manner. The problem with this is not the information – it is the misinformation. Taking poor advice can be costly, and it is very easy to do, especially when it comes to “making money online blogging”.


img by Anirudh Koul

What makes it even worse is that it is highly tempting to believe most misinformation. It is deliberately packaged to entice us. Get rich quick schemes are still prevalent because they claim enough victims to make them profitable endeavours.

And that is why so many among us have completely the wrong idea about what drives success. When we look at the stories of Darren Rowse and Pat Flynn, we see people that experienced exponential success in a relatively short period of time. But you only have to read Darren’s and Pat’s stories to know that they had no wild ambitions. However, what they did have were all of the qualities that are required for success.

1. Determination


img by Agnieszka Mazus

If you are to be successful, you must be determined. To put it simply, you must be unwilling to give up. Failure must not be an option. Not hitting your goals, rather than discouraging you, galvanizes you to work even harder.

Determination is perhaps the most difficult part of the puzzle. In order to be sufficiently determined, you must have a well-developed understanding of what you are striving for. The desire for what you strive for must overpower the temptation to not apply yourself fully.

2. Consistency


img by communiTEEZ

If success is a bread recipe, taking out consistency is like removing the yeast – your bread just won’t rise. You will go nowhere if you are always dipping in and out of your online efforts. You must apply yourself consistently, as it is momentum that drives success.

Think of success as a long car journey. If you are consistent, you do the journey without stopping. If you lack consistency, you stop for a break every 30 minutes. When you stop for a break, you are no longer getting any closer to your destination. Not only that, when you do head off again, it will take time to get back up to your previous speed.

3. Patience


img by Tabitha Russell

One of the biggest killers of potential is impatience. We read of wild overnight success and quickly get frustrated when it doesn’t happen for us. But we can’t all be overnight successes (and in reality, very few people are). Who you are not reading about are the majority of successful people, who toil away for months or years, and eventually experience success.

4. Time


img by Nad

Going back to our bread analogy, not allowing time to exert its power over your online efforts is like placing your bread mix in the oven, but not turning it on. There is no point in making the dough if you aren’t going to let it bake.

Time is our most valuable commodity, and is integral to success. If you gave a highly motivated person with a wonderful idea a week to succeed, and a less motivated person with an average idea a year, I know who my money would be on. Many incredible things can happen if you apply determination, consistency and patience over time.

Stop Reaching For Miracles

I am sorry if this comes as a shock to you, but the vast majority of us will not experience the success of those we read about. But one of the biggest reasons for that is because many of us do not apply the above four principles. Most of you who read this article will head away none the wiser, and go back to what you were doing before. It is the few amongst you that embrace the four unfashionable truths of online success that will be most likely to achieve your goals.


Tom Ewer is the owner of Leaving Work Behind, a blog dedicated to helping people carve out their own path to self-employment. Learn how you can leave work behind here.

Subscribe via RSS or Email:
Popular Posts
  • http://8pmWarrior.com Aaron Biebert

    Nice one Tom!  Great perspective.

  • http://avajae.blogspot.com Ava Jae

    You make such a great point. There isn’t really such a thing as an overnight success–if you do any research you find out 9/10 of those “overnight successes” actually put in tons of consistent hard work and persevered when the odds were against them. Determination. Consistency. Patience. Time. Four things you need to be successful at just about anything.  

  • http://www.sparringmind.com Gregory Ciotti

    A reality check that most bloggers need, nice writeup Tom.

  • http://www.thejackb.com/ The JackB

    So many people seem to be unwilling or unable to sustain their efforts. Nothing good happens without work and rarely does it come overnight.

  • http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/ Tom Ewer

    Couldn’t have put it better myself :-)

  • http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/ Tom Ewer

    A reality check that most bloggers will ignore! Cheers Greg.

  • http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/ Tom Ewer

    Thanks Ava. In reality, the broad requirements for success on any level are typically quite straightforward. People seem to think they will  to conjure up a miracle – it’s not the case.

  • http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/ Tom Ewer

    Cheers Aaron.

  • Life with Kaishon

    This post was filled with great advice! Thanks for posting.

  • http://twitter.com/copynpastecom copy-n-paste.com

    Well this post is showing the obvious in my opinion. 
    Although many people starting all sort of blogs do not realize the commitments they’re about to make, I suppose they need to know what to expect.

    Beside the captain obvious side of the post, it’s a great post very well made.

    Well done Tom.

  • http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/ Tom Ewer

    Thanks for your kind words Mr. copy-n-paste.com, but I think you’re missing my point. My arguments are clearly obvious to you, but they are not to many people who are looking to make money online.

    Many people are looking for a quick buck, to “get rich quick”, and they have absolutely no understanding that the success they are looking for (or even expect) requires the things I discuss above.

  • http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/ Tom Ewer

    No problem – my pleasure :-)

  • http://www.ramblingsofawahm.com AllieRambles

    Tom,

    You forgot a sense of humor.  For those times people really make you angry by spamming your blog with worthless computer generated comments.  And those times when you read Pat Flynn’s or Corbett Barr’s monthly income report and want to cry but are happy for them.  And for those times nobody comments to a post you worked 16 hours researching and writing.

    Eeek!

    Well, I guess all the humor would fall under determination, consistency, patience and time.  The keys to success!

    Don’t give up.

    ~Allie

  • http://twitter.com/copynpastecom copy-n-paste.com

    Don’t get me wrong, I understand where you’re comin gfrom with this post.
    All I’m saying is that if somebody doesn’t know about these 4 points, he wouldnt have the skills to “make money” online anyway.

    When I first started to write posts on my first blog, I had to read many articles all around the internet to check which was the right way to blog efficiently (seo, how to write articles, css, etc…), and by doing so, I HAD to find out by myself that it would take forever to build up a blog with good content, because down the line if you want to come up with different content, design, etc.. than the other millions of blogs already on the web in the same niche as you, you have to work on that really hard; and this is only the first step on the path “to make money”.

    Don’t take that the wrong way because regardless of what I said, your post is really well written; but I just think that for those who REALLY want to make money online, your post content come out of the obvious. 
    But then once again, I suppose it will avoid a lot of people to invest their time in a shitty blog thinking their are going to earn thousands of dollars after a week.

  • http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/ Tom Ewer

    Couldn’t agree with you more :-)

    Anyone who knows what they are doing will read this post and probably learn nothing new. But if they know what they’re doing, they don’t need help anyway ;-)

  • http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/ Tom Ewer

    Thanks for your comment Allie :-)

    Maybe sense of humor/masochism? I think both are required ;-)

  • http://www.openewealth.com kingsley

    I agree, in my opinion With Good SEO, you’ll get good traffic and make really cool money online by displaying ads and lots more. traffic is very vital to internet wealth.