It’s time for a reality check. When I relaunched the VBL Blog on January 5th, I mentioned that I would be attempting to post daily, Monday – Friday, and after just 12 days, I quit!
I’ve always said that I’m a Businessman First, a Blogger Second. This is a statement I still feel very attached, too, even as a Virtual CEO. Although I love blogging, and will sincerely continue to focus on creating an awesome blog in Virtual Business Lifestyle, a resource, so to speak for all buddy entrepreneurs, digital nomads and location independent professionals – I have to be realistic and sensible about things.
Last week I posted five times (including one guest post). Couple that together with working on client proposals, teleconferences, additional online projects, two different websites my company is launching, management meetings, being a Dad, being a Husband an out of town guest and a few other things… by Saturday I was BEAT!
Being Consumed Is Not Productive!
Even my wife mentioned that I had been a little consumed by the blog this past couple of weeks. That statement alone got me to sit down and really LOOK at what I had been doing since the beginning of the year. She was right.
Its not that I hadn’t been taking care of my other, regular (business), responsibilities. I had. It was simply that I had spent way too much time on the blog, planning for the blog, scheduling for the blog, etc. Time that I could have been spending on other, more productive things, such as working on other projects that would either make me more money now, or in the future.
And so I smacked myself round the head and reshuffled things a little. It was simple, if I wanted to do everything I had on my ‘to do’ list this year (its a pretty big list!), I was going to have to throw the whole ‘blog daily’ idea out the window. At least for the time being, anyway.
Why KILL Myself…?
If you think about it logically, if I felt this way, and ignored it, continuing to knock out five posts a week, a couple of things would happen here on the blog – and probably pretty quickly.
- The content would start to get sucky, to say the least. Which just wouldn’t be cool.
- I would begin to look at the VBL Blog, and blogging in general, as more like ‘work’, than the fun that it is right now for me.
Blogging for me is a way to be able to express myself and help people along the way. I know that I have a lot of experience in business, and have been called a thought leader on a few occasions – especially in the outsourcing (10 years into this market sector now!), branding and marketing industries. I enjoy being able to impart some of that knowledge onto people, so they can take it and use it to their benefit.
This, along with the fact that I have some pretty ambitious growth strategies in place for the Live2Sell Group, my virtual assistant match-making business, Virtual Staff Finder and a few other related projects this year, I sat down and refocused a little. And I am super glad that it happend so early on in January – not just the year!
My New Blogging Schedule
I have a couple of these up on the walls to help me maintain focus whilst working and for general brainstorming, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I am VERY techie nowadays with ideas, and schedules, etc., but every now and then a good old fashioned PEN just works better!
Allow me to explain it in a little more detail:
Monday – ‘Major’ Post. This is my more in-depth post each week. I always try and pick a really interesting topic that I know will grab peoples interest and then look at ways where I can help people, or suggest ways to be able to make changes at how they are doing things, etc. This is usually a written post.
Wednesday – Ask Chris / Podcast. Quite simple really… I started the ‘Ask Chris’ series last week, intending for it to be weekly, but will now be doing it bi-weekly (although Edition #002 will go live this Wednesday), along with the VBL Podcast in the same way. So, two ‘Ask Chris’ editions and two Podcast episodes every month, from now on.
Friday – VBL Discussion / Guest Post. I absolutely LOVE doing the discussion posts here on the blog. Not only are they always lots of fun, but its the feedback and, er, discussions that ensue (usually!) with them that I enjoy the most! So, they are staying. I also enjoy having some of the VBL Followers contribute to the blog, too. So, a bit like Wednesday’s I will be switching between the two to bring you guys a little of everything. On the off chance that there is no guest post, I will simply post another high quality written post, or an additional video post.
Sometimes You Have to Re-Shuffle
Just by spending some time, and re-organizing my blogging schedule the way I have, I already feel immensely empowered. Its amazing how getting things ‘striaght’ can make someone feel – especially a busy, passionate and ambitious entrepreneur!
I’ve also decided to remodel my home office, too. I have my company’s contractors coming by tomorrow to measure everything up, and come up with a cool workspace for me. Doing this will enable me to get even more switched on each day. Now that I am fundamentally working at home 80% of my time, I want to feel very comfortable and set myself up to be as productive as possible. I’ve not been happy with my current ‘thrown together’ set-up for some time, so I’m looking forward to changing things. I’ll keep you up to date on the design, etc., if you guys are interested..?
Thank You, Again!
I know I have been saying ‘thank you’ a lot to you guys recently. However, I feel that its warranted. Again. So, thank you… A huge amount of renewed interest and support has come my way since I relaunched the blog, and I look forward to working on finalizing the second part of that, for the end of this month, as projected.
Even though I have abandoned the idea of posting every day on the blog, my promise to create the Number One ass-kicking resource for mobile entrepreneurs that want to create a lifestyle they’ll love to live is still very much intact. That, I can promise.
Have a killer week, everyone – I’ll see you Wednesday!