I was talking with a fellow blogger recently about what it takes to make a small business grow and be successful. I’ve learned quickly that growing a business and growing a blog are really not all that different. Actually, the exact same principles apply. I got a great insight from this conversation. It was this: when you first start, your blog is a baby. No way around it. And if you feed it, it will grow. No way around it. But it will be hard work, and it will probably take longer than you want. If you stick with it though, you will get the result. Problem is, most people just don’t stick with it. Could it be that success in blogging is really this simple? Yes. Simple should not be confused with easy though.
Success is not this nebulous process that only happens to the lucky. Your blog WILL succeed if you do the work.
Who takes a baby and shoves it to the side…saying “I don’t have time for this. You’re too much work”? No one does. It IS a lot of work to take care of a baby. And it’s more than worth it. But we don’t spend all our time looking for a way to feed a baby faster. You feed the baby. It takes as much time as it takes.
I think the reason so many of us spend so much time on searching for shortcuts is because we simply don’t realize how valuable the end result of building a successful business is to begin with. If we realized how awesome and liberating it can be to have a successful business of our own, we would gladly buckle down and do the work with a smile. A successful business can set you free. Not just financially but in much more important ways as well. We tend to overlook the upside of hard work. It’s just ironic how hard we work to avoid work, you know?
Building your blog is not a magical process. It doesn’t take special tricks or luck. That’s the beauty of it.
What it Takes to Build a Successful Blog
This is what it takes to build your blog (no more, no less):
- Regular, high quality content
- Incessant networking
- Being attentive to your readers
- Making offers (asking for the order)
- Being open to admitting mistakes, and learning from them
- Time
I suppose I could complicate it for you if you want. I could sell you a system for a thousand bucks that promises to make your blog grow on autopilot. But if I made you such an offer, would you buy it? I might make a few bucks, but we all know this isn’t how it really works 
Don’t Starve Your Baby
We want to skip and short cut the hard stuff. It’s natural. But think of the baby. Your baby. It needs what it needs. Who’s fault is it? No one’s. You can’t skip things just because it’s hard. It’s gonna grow up to make you proud, and it’s going to take care of YOU one day. Sooner than you might think. But for now, it needs you.
This is why I say it’s so important to love what you’re writing about. It can be tough writing consistently for a small blog that’s just starting out. But that’s where you start. It’s where we ALL start. All blogs start out as helpless little babies. I remember watching David Risley start his latest blog. This was a guy who already had significant success building a successful tech blog. But when he started davidrisley dot com, he had plenty of posts with no comments. But then when people started trickling in, they saw he was the real deal and was providing a lot of value, and word got out fast. What if he had quit just because no one was paying attention at first? It pays to stick with it. Don’t starve your baby. It needs you.
The Upside to Sticking with It
The upside to creating a successful blog is huge. After you have the audience and the trust of your readers, the amount of leverage you have at your disposal is really powerful. It’s so easy to get things done when you have thousands of people listening to you.
So many people want to know how to get results faster. That makes sense. We all want results faster; it’s a human inclination. Would you ever ask how to get your baby to grow up faster? It’s a stupid question really. It will grow up at it’s own pace, as long as you take care of it.
I thank Sean D’Souza for comparing his once young business to a baby in his recent interview with me. The analogy really made an impression on me. I’ve seen Sean’s business grow massively, and he has retained a masterful level of control over his operation, which is something I admire.
Running a successful business is a life changing process to be sure. I can’t imagine doing anything else. If you’re blogging to build your business (I hope you are), resist the urge to rush it or expect too much too soon. All you can do is work hard, use good marketing tactics and enjoy the ride. You’ll get there. I promise. And it will be more than worth it.
