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Why I quit reading books

By on May 19, 2011 in General, My Story, Online Business 10

Quit Reading

Photo Credit: Mell P

Whether or not they will admit it to you, many contractors have more free time now than ever before. Obviously it’s because we (past tense for me) aren’t as busy.

During the final year of my subcontracting business I had quite a bit of free time. I was starting Blue Collar Coaching at the time but it was slow going as I was trying to find myself in this new business venture idea.

During 2008, 2009 and 2010 I was reading about a book a month. Just right for a simple minded fellow like myself. Any more than that and my comprehension would likely plummet anyway.

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What does “good enough” mean to you?

By on May 17, 2011 in General, Online Business 12

Probably one of the biggest challenges you will face in just about anything you do is, ‘Is it good enough?”.

I fight this battle with every single episode of the Blue Collar Business Podcast. I do the show completely unscripted with the exception of a few notes (I can’t stand the sound of someone reading). I’m up to 48 episodes at the time of this writing and with the exception of the shows where I have a guest, I’m scared to hit the publish button pretty much ever time.

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Someone Needs You To Keep Trying

By on April 13, 2011 in Online Business 4

Help ThemA couple of times a month I like to write something for my friends out there trying to make a living online like myself. Today, is one of those days.

It’s tough building an online business. You can write blog posts for months with little or not attention at all. During the first 90 days it’s exciting. Your friends come by, read your stuff and compliment your writing or content (or both).

After a while, they quit coming by. It’s not because they don’t like you or your blog or your service. They’ve just heard it all from you for a while and they don’t see the point anymore. It’s okay, don’t get discouraged, your friends aren’t who you are trying to help anyway. They did their part, they helped you get going. Encouraged you out of the box. Now it’s time to move out on your own. It’s just a little lonely.

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Quit Trying To Get Noticed And Serve

By on February 23, 2011 in Online Business 5

Please forgive me as I take a week and write a blog for my friends who are trying to build (at least partially) online businesses.

When first starting your online business it’s so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of the need to follow those who are successful with their online companies. You hear, or read, their stories and jump on the bandwagon. You read everything they write. You respond to them in twitter. It may be subconscious but if you were to be completely honest with yourself you would admit that you are hoping they will notice your blog and maybe give you a mention to their audience and BOOM, instant success.

How do I know this? Because I was there last year. That’s what I spent the first 3 months of my business, Blue Collar Coaching doing. I kind of chuckle now. It’s not like this blog, or my podcast, is something they would even be remotely interested in. This site isn’t even their demographic. Nonetheless that’s what I did. In stead of being completely focused on my demographic, my target market, so much of what I was doing was knocked off course because I was too consumed with the ‘gurus’ of the online industry.

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