Usually I have a topic for chatting to you about right on the top of my head, or right on the tip of my tongue, just clamoring to be read or heard. Usually. This week I have been so buried in work that I’ve missed some of the things that would flip that switch in my little brain and make words bubble up.
So when stuck for a topic I always revert to the oldies but goodies. Now, I have a grandad that can talk for literally hours about politics. Mention a name in politics, any name, (no I won’t do that here) and he is good for at least 4 hours of a non stop political tirade against that name.
I too have such a trigger. At home in the real world, mention the net to pull my string, just mention about any topic having to do with computers or the internet and I am good for at least 2 hours (no one has stamina like grandad).
I often force my hapless and good hearted sister to listen to this verbal diarrhea and bless her heart she doesn’t usually retaliate with her only interest, the glowy eyed church and it’s people with the Charles Manson stares.
When it comes to the board I also have a string to pull. That would be on the topic of helping.
Yeah we all know the usual line of course this is the best and most helpful board ever built that anyone will help you and it can all be found here. Sound familiar?
Well, it is true, with a single caveat.
Like with my grandad, everything offered needs to be taken with a grain of salt and some willingness to do your own research too.
If you ask a question on Netpond chances are you are going to get a ton of answers. Depending on your topic it could be 20 or more different takes on the same question. Now that is a lot of help yeah? Are they all right? Well sometimes they are.
The bottom line is you take what you can from all those answers and do a bit of work. No one I know has a step by step golden plan to succeed in this business it will be different for each person. People on this board will offer you the tools what you make of them is up to you.
However when you ask how can I improve x or y or z in what I am doing there are going to be 10 people that have hard facts on how to do that and usually all will be different ways to do it. They are going to offer this advice freely and without strings and it will be good sound advice
Yes, this board is famous for that. People are not stingy with good advice I don’t mean just the garbage you sometimes see but with good sound advice.
Your problem will be choosing the method that is going to work for you.
Research, yes,that dirty word, that is where that comes in and some trial and error.
I think what I am trying to say here is you can’t believe anyone who says they will make you a success. You have to do that yourself and besides investing tons of time and some money into it you also have to invest the time to research and try things out.
This board is here to lay out all the pieces but what it will look like in the end is up to you.
You also need to find your particular skills.
When I first joined this board not too long back I followed a thread that helped me more than I can say it was one by Thomas Byer’s on blogging. I can’t tell you all the information I took from that thread and I will be forever grateful to that man! However, I learned very quickly the rule “what works for them doesn’t always work for me”.
ACK I am a failure, was my thought. They said it would work and it did not. Hair pulling, teeth gnashing and much self recrimination later it dawns on me. Thomas was not lying about the techniques. They DID work. The level of success was wholly dependent on me and my resources and MY skills.
So I was not a failure per se and through that thread I learned how to take yet another path and play to those strengths I do have. No they were not exactly the same ones as listed in his thread because I am me, not Thomas Byers, but the whole purpose of the thread (that I conveniently missed as a newbie looking for the blueprint) was to give me the skills to make my own way. I took the things I was successful in and built on them using the techniques he gave me, and lo and behold it worked!
Old Joe Blow with the new thread or Thomas Byers with the old one over there who says do x and then y and then z and it works like a charm and you will succeed, may well possess a particular set of skills you do not. Joe Blow is not lying to you when he says it works, it does work like a charm for him but what you may not know is Joe Blow over there possesses a few extra things, maybe a flair for writing text I mean inspiring text or perhaps a genius for SEO. Everything that Joe Blow is goes into making his business a success and unless you possess the exact same skills your results will be different.
Have I convinced you yet a blueprint doesn’t exist?
Well then let me argue that it does in a way. You follow Joe Blow’s steps and you still are not a huge smashing success. Errm so what now? Well you either go over there and follow Sam Sung’s thread and try it his way or you take a step back at your project and try and figure out what skills you do have and where it can be improved.
Whatever you choose you have to remember that both Joe Blow and Sam Sung all have different skills. So will you be hunting for a 3rd when Sam Sung’s doesn’t work for you?
Nope you are going to be smart. Take everything you can and make it play to your own strengths. There is no blueprint no one will take the pain of succeeding out of the business. There are however, outlines and those are what you should be looking for.
I guess it is human nature to look for the easiest path. I assure you here and now as have many other people there is no easy path. There is only the one you make for yourself.
I want to move this idea out to everyday lives.
There are a lot of blueprints out there for living the good and happy life. You can find them all over. My sis tells me at every single opportunity that if I only join the glowy eyed people and follow them I will be happy.
Well, I am not much of a follower myself and that Charles Manson stare really makes me nervous so the path I take on my personal life is going to vary due to my ability and skills. But then I am not looking for exact blueprints for my life or my business. Are you?

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