Every Friday I break down and comment on an article I’ve read recently that inspired me, enlightened me, challenged me, or otherwise made me think. I also share some of my favorite links from the week that was. This is: The Friday Response.
9 Ways You Can Build a Blog That Matters by Benny Hsu on Get Busy Living
Benny recently wrote an article that will without a doubt inspire you to either 1) start blogging or 2) make your blog better. I’ve shared before that I believe starting and maintaining a blog can completely change your life. It will introduce you to people you would’ve never met. It will open the door to business opportunities. It will make you smarter. It will change your perspective. It will open your mind to new ideas. It will give you solace. It will spark conversation. It can inspire change. And overall, it feels damn good to write about something you care about.
Benny hits the nail on the head in a very real and tangible way with these nine tips:
(1) Write epic shit: Without good content, the other 8 steps won’t make a difference. My biggest piece of advice? Don’t worry about narrowing your focus TOO much. Don’t over-think things. Allow yourself to be a bit random, but above all, write with passion. Passion is relatable, interesting, and compelling.
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In case you didn’t know, Apple’s kind of a big deal. Over it’s last quarter, Apple’s sales skyrocketed. Selling 37 million iPhones and 15 million iPads, Apple is selling hundreds of thousands of phones and tablets every day, and is far from slowing down.
It was the second-most profitable quarter of any company ever in US history. Second only to ExxonMobile in 2008, when oil prices were through the roof (I remember that summer-of-not-driving vividly).
Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a lesson to be learned from Apple’s ridiculous success:
Innovation is recession-proof.
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“Don’t get old”. It’s a piece of advice my grandparents share with me almost every time I see them. As my grandpa takes my hand, he tells me that “Getting old is hell”. An former marine, now in his mid 80s, having the drive to do it all, but knowing that no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much his mind says “yes”, his body argues with a definitive “no”.
As we grow up, we’re enticed by the idea that after 30 or 40 years of hard work, we get to retire and enjoy our “golden years” traveling, playing golf, watching old John Wayne reruns, whatever we want.
Basically, it’s ingrained in our psyche, from an early age, that we have to work hard now to work less later. Save our money today to have money tomorrow. All in preparation for the future, at the expense of the present.
I believe something is inherently wrong with this line of thinking.
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When I was in college, I looked up to entrepreneurs as if they were deities. Just ask my partner Sam Davidson, who came and spoke to my Junior-year Marketing Strategy class, back when I was nothing more than a wide-eyed-I-don’t-know-what-the-heck-I’m-going-to-do-with-my-life college kid. He walked in thinking he was going to chat about the ups and downs of running a business, and walked out with a new best friend (ehem, that would be me), who couldn’t wait to grab coffee and soak up any and all knowledge that he, the almighty entrepreneur was willing to share.
And now, here I am, very much in the position that I looked up to only a few years ago, running my own business. Now I’m the one sharing coffee with college kids who have their own world-conquering plans and want to know everything about what I do, how I’ve done it, and how they can learn from it.
I used to think that entrepreneurship was this unattainable status that only happened to people who got really lucky or had a lot of money to throw around. If you think back to when you were in school, you probably thought the same.
Little did I know, back then, that the beauty of entrepreneurship isn’t in the success, the accolades, the respect, the money, and no, not even the freedom. But that the beauty of entrepreneurship is in the ugly.
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Create. Learn. Improve. Repeat. This is the “mantra” of Karol Gajda, a fellow blogger, entrepreneur, and world-traveler. It’s simple, yet speaks volumes. It’s a four-step process that can be applied toward nearly every decision in your life. And yet, many of us can’t seem to make it to step one.
Learning. Improving. And of course, repeating. None of that can happen if you aren’t willing to focus on the step one: Creating.
Creating is scary. Creating is daunting. Creating is challenging. Creating is uncomfortable. Creating is a risk. Creating doesn’t happen overnight. Creating is broke. Creating is ambigious. Creating is change. Creating is uknown.
Creating involves us looking inward and tapping into something previously untapped.
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