When I was young, I was once told a story that I still relate with everyday. Even today just before I started writing this blog post, the story still had influence on my life and I’m going to share it with you in a para-phase.
***There was this young man who journeyed to build a house for himself in a distant place. Since he’s new to the area, he needed to ask questions about the best location to site his new house but he didn’t. He went ahead, built his house and…
Unknown to him, there’re several times of lands in that area, some were particularly good for farming and some were particularly good for breeding animals while some are good for building nice houses.
This young man built his house on a ground that was supposed to be used for breeding animals. Little did he know that the kind of climate and wind around there including the strength of the ground made people to refrane from building houses there but because it’s cheap, he went ahead, built his house and started to build…eventually, he built his house untill disaster stroke him like a plague…
The land on which the man built his house was weak and very formidable. More to the assault is the fact that he didn’t employ the best possible materials in building. The rain and heavy wind started and all he labored for was destroy in one night.***
How does that applies to me and you as a blogger?
Before I answer that, why not let us see the morals of the lessons.
1. Always ask questions. You can know a new area more than those that are there before.
2. Due diligence is very important. If you miss this, you’ve missed all.
3. Your foundation will determine how far you’ll go in your life.
With the lessons above well taken note of, these are how you and I can explain this to our blogging career.
- Build a Strong Foundation- this might be overly easy judging by the conventional knowledge available on the subject. I’m sure you’ve read your share of things to know before starting a blog but I tell you that those are not what you need. I’ll write extensively about that later.
- You can’t blog in isolation! You just can’t!. I know this because i’m a testimony. I used to blog alone and wanted to achieve success alone but I came to discover that the internet is too vast for anyone to succeed alone. Even in life, we need the help of other people to get goals accomplished. That still applies in life and in blogging. You can’t do it alon! I’ll write later on how to get conversation going with people and how to get them interested in you.
- The deeper your foundation, the higher you building can stand! If you want to build a two storey building, you’ll need a more shallow foundation that if you want to build a sky-scraper. If you doubt me, ask Donald Trump!
I know there’re are things I didn’t explain into details here. I know there are things I need to further expand and I promise I’ll do that. I’ll continue this series if you like it.
In my next post, I’ll talk about the things you need to set a good blogging foundation so that you can build that blog and get a popular!
Tim
April 26, 2011 at 10:46 pm
Hi, Tim! I agree with your points about blogging. It helps to start with a foundation, to know what you’re going to build with your blog. But going it alone will not work very well. I, too, have found that connecting with others on your blogging journey is invaluable!
Jeanine Byers Hoag recently posted..Last Day of Six Items or Less- Final Thoughts on This 30 Day Wardrobe Challenge
May 3, 2011 at 7:28 pm
I totally agree that connecting with others is the key. No man is an island of knowledge. We must grow and connect with people.
Thanks for dropping by. Have a great day!
Tim
April 27, 2011 at 12:10 am
I loved this post, Tim! It’s so true that a foundation is key for any major project or business we start up!
I would add to your first moral: the power of observation. I think that sometimes, it’s not enough to ask questions because we don’t even know what kinds of questions to ask. There’s much to learn from observing respected bloggers! =)
I hadn’t thought about it, but I see how diligence can also be super important to a successful blog! It makes a big difference if you’re in it for the long run or not!
Thanks for this valuable post, Tim! =)
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May 3, 2011 at 7:30 pm
…another post idea! Thanks Samantha…really observing people will go before asking questions. It’s not enough to ask questions, the key is asking the correct questions. Thanks for bringing that up!
Tim
April 27, 2011 at 12:20 am
Tim, aloha. Your post is right on the mark–lay a solid foundation and ask questions. If people would learn to ask, they would save themselves so much pain and agony.
As you know, Tim, our online world is filled with people who are willing, able and even anxious to help. All we need to do is ask.
Look forward to reading your post with the building blocks of the foundation. Aloha. Janet
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May 3, 2011 at 7:32 pm
Your right Janet. Thanks for taking the time out to comment here. You’re awesome!
Tim
April 27, 2011 at 3:54 am
Hi Tim,
I like this story, and I can say that I’ve certainly hurried into things and build my “house” on the wrong ground a few times.
Asking others is such a simple thing to do, but often times it feels so difficult. I love the collaboration and teamwork approach to building a blog and marketing online because by developing relationships with others, we have many people to ask for help, and many people will just offer to help.
Looking forward to your upcoming posts!
Heather
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May 3, 2011 at 7:42 pm
Thanks Heather. I totally know and believe from experience that untill you ask the right questions, you can’t get the right answer.
Simply asking people will not hurt you and you’ll be amazed how much people are willing to help you.
Tim
April 27, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Hi Tim,
You bring up some very important points. It’s important to do our homework, to ask others and get advice from people who have been where we are. We also need to make sure that we have a solid foundation or everything else is for naught.
Thanks!
Stacy
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May 3, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Yes, asking questions is important. No one can do it alone. Thanks for dropping by Stacy.
Tim
April 28, 2011 at 4:29 am
Hey Tim,
Yes – it’s all about a solid foundation without the isolation. That is your new blogging slogan
Great points and true because as much as we’d care to believe it, we can’t just push content and expect things to go on auto-pilot. Most of us will need to reach out and meet others and mastermind or our sites just don’t cut through the noise out there.
Can’t wait to read your follow-up!
Jon
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May 3, 2011 at 7:48 pm
Thanks Jon. I like your…my…new slogan.:)
Good to see you around.
Tim
April 28, 2011 at 5:32 am
Hi Tim,
This story you shared with us does correlated with blogging. It is so important to lay in a strong foundation when building your blog. It is important to know your target audience and what they are looking for if anyone wants to generate leads or any form of income from blogging.
Thanks for the story…
Josh
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May 3, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Thanks for dropping by Josh. I really appreciate it. Loving the fact that you love my blog and my writings!
Tim
May 3, 2011 at 7:38 pm
Thanks Heather. Really, some things seems too difficult until you try it out. Before I discovered the little secret that gave my blog life, I was hesitating asking a known blogger the missing link was…I was thinking she’ll not have the time or simple ignore me but I was dead wrong!
She did reply, quickly and gave me exactly what I needed.
Another time, I had this idea about generating traffic to my blog using the bigger traffic channels and didn’t believe people will respond to the idea. I was simple blown away…the moral of the lesson is, if you don’t ask, you can’t get the answer. Simple!!!
Tim
June 23, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Hey, great article! You are totally right, in business, it’s very hard to go it alone and succeed.
Mac
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