TOPIC: I Will Achieve Full Color Or Die Trying

I had a forum topic built on this before but it was shit. I did not put effort into it and I spread myself thin including fitness into it.

This time I am focusing exclusively on building my blog and will put the appropriate time and effort into making this topic readable. I want to hold myself accountable for the hours I am putting in, and the goals I am setting out for myself.

I have struggled with anxiety for over half my life and off and on depression for at least half a decade. It has been a daily battle and I have read many books, articles, visited psychologists etc.

In other words I've put in my time, and done my research and lived it. Now I finally have the opportunity to make it a positive thing. I have the chance to put a purpose to it.

The best part is I feel better than I ever have in my life. The things I have learned have changed my life and I want to share them with those that need it.

I have put 2.5 months into developing the site and creating content, but the site itself has been live for roughly 3 days now. My first set of goals is the 1 month mark: 500 visitors, 3 Email Subscribers, and 1 Sale. I think this is reasonable but will still take work on my part. Every month I will set a new goal for the month.

I also have goals for the 1 year mark: 5000+ visitors daily, 3-5 page one articles on google, $1000 a month

And of course the long term goals (3+years): Honestly I would be happy making $3000/month on top of my career, this would allow me so much financial freedom and provide the opportunity to travel extensively.

I will be grinding as hard as I can everyday, rain or shine, sick or on mars, you will not hold me back. I will put one foot forward everyday till I see my dreams become reality.

It is time to leave the black and white world, I hope to see you guys on this journey with me and on the other side.

Since this is the first week I released my site I have spent a lot of time trying to bring in some traffic and even meet some other bloggers. I am averaging about 20 new hits a day which is roughly where I was hoping to start. For the first week I will take it.

It is time to get back to writing some articles, I have set a Monday and Thursday release schedule to hold myself accountable, but with trying to bring in traffic I am spreading myself a bit thin. The day comes where I have to release a post and I feel rushed. I have around 20 rough drafts just needing polishing but I need to make each one count.

A few articles I am currently working on include:

1. My story. This one is coming out today and details the obstacles and challenges I have faced in my life. This post was a test for me. Honestly I would like to spend some more time on it but I feel like it is something my site needs to have before I move further. Since I am still developing a writing style this one I found hard to keep exciting Hopefully some readers still like it and I will polish it in the future.

2. Living with anxiety: 10 things to know. This post will focus on 10 things I wish I knew or learned the hard way along my journey living with anxiety. I feel like I would have benefited greatly had I known these in the past.

3. I also plan on releasing an article on phenibut soon as well. Since my blog is anxiety related I can't skip this. Trying to give it a unique as possible take, I did find phenibut on GLL so I will definitely link back.


Another goal I forgot to include in my first post is invest 1000 hours into this project in the first year. Since October I have likely given 250-300, I will start keeping track now assuming 250 (although with brainstorming it would be double this). While my website is by no means the best out there I am super happy with what I have accomplished. If I am only 25% of the way invested I am excited to see where I will end up.

I want to look back after 365 days and just have a "fuck yes I built this" feeling.

Edit* First post says 5000+ visitors daily, I DEFINITELY meant monthly...

Hey dude, I feel you. I fought severe depression a year ago (gained 30 lbs in the process) and battled back from it this year. I see you. I have been exploring your website and I like it a lot.

I like your goals too. Very specific. I will be paying attention to this thread.

Ray

Great site,I suffer from anxiety too so I would keep a lookout for your posts.

Could have you do a guest post for my site in future if you're keen.

Thanks guys I appreciate the support, means a lot! Tons of good stuff to come, I have so much information I am just trying to find the writing skills to present it in a way that people will enjoy reading which is new to me.

Update

The other night I took the time to read some articles from Get Paid on GLL lifestyle and damn did they get me fired up! Ironically in reading GLL's posts on getting paid I realized I have made a fatal error this last week and I am glad I caught it early.

Honestly my focus upon releasing my site was WAY to traffic bound. I literally spent 3-4 days straight just finding ways to let people know about my site. This led to me struggling to push out a decent article.

Thanks for the much needed smack in the face. While financial gain is a huge desire, my original intention was to help people first and profit later. My ego got in the way and my eyes saw green for the better part of the last month.

It is time to take it back to square one My primary goal is to build this blog and learn to put my words on paper and have them punch the reader in the soul.

Like Chris and Victor say, when you have good content the traffic will come and that is all there is to it.

I know I can continue to write for the next few years minimum and I am fine with waiting a year for things to pick up if that is what it takes.

I will get there when I get there, but I will get there. For now I just need to help people with what I've got.

Rough estimate of hours invested: 260

Alright these last two days were huge for the program.

Yesterday (Monday) was my scheduled day to release a blog post, and I decided to say fuck it and I provided my entire life story (in brief). I also decided to include my image/identity, I figured if I am going to be speaking about mental health and encouraging people to reach out for help and stop being embarrased I have to do the same.

My blog now has identity, I am the brand. This is a big weight off my shoulders and I don't regret it at all. I now have full freedom to post any pictures I desire, including myself holding products I am promoting if I so desire to show I use it myself.

Coincidentally only 24 hours later I got my first email subscriber. My goal was to get one within the first month and I got one in 12 days (from launch date) so I am feeling super stoked. I plan to follow up and make a hopefully genuine relationship with this reader (you always remember your first . I know now that I can acquire subscribers and it is nice to finally see some payoff even if it is as small as one subscriber.

The ball is rolling.

Total time invested roughly 270 hours

I have come to the conclusion I have to take a break from google analytics. My site is so new and yet every morning I check to see how many people came to my site, it is like an addiction.

Unfortunately when I do not meet my expectation it curbs my momentum. I was so fired up from getting my subscriber last night and then I check google analytics to have my lowest traffic yet and I lost all that momentum.

My site is brand new and I don't know why I expect to be getting any traffic at all. As of today I am pledging to not check google analytics for an entire month. By then I will have roughly 8 more posts up and then I can reconsider a reasonable number of traffic.

Forgot to mention I finally discussed my website with my girlfriend which is a relief. It is something I considered keeping private because I wasn't sure how she would react but she took it will, and I think she understands the idea for the most part. As much as she needs to anyways.

Taking a step back

One thing that has been busting my balls is the fact that I am holding myself to a monday and thursday release schedule. Initially I thought this would be good to hold myself accountable, but I am quickly realizing I still have a job and a real life at the moment.

If work is busy (it is the season) or I have other things to do it quickly becomes hard to put out a quality article while sticking to my schedule. This results in lowering my standards to push out an article.

I feel as though this has to stop. I'd rather get one perfect article out a week if that is all I can get to rather than spread myself thin. I know I can write better than I have so far I just need the time. I feel as though writing with dramatic quality will make the article immortalized and seen for a much longer time period to come as well.

It may take a bit longer to get a portfolio but once the posts add up it will something worth checking out and returning too.

Definitely made the right decision to scrap the schedule. Took some extra time polishing up my last article and I feel as though it is my best yet without question. I feel like I have time to make great articles AND still have time to keep learning in other areas.

I need a few days off over the holidays. Work has been super busy and I am just exhausted. I feel like I could sleep for 2 days straight. I am often guilty of pushing myself to the point of crashing and learning my limits the hard way.

I will likely take xmas eve and xmas off. I will likely spend an hour each day still working on the blog just so I don't lose momentum.

Rough time invested: 280 hours

So I actually managed to spend two days away from the blog and work and managed to finally have some down time. Almost forgot what that stuff was no wonder I was so tired.

It was definitely productive in the long run as I was able to take a step back and reevaluate a few things.

I have been reading the 4 hour workweek. Funny enough, I got last christmas and found super boring. This time around now that I can relate via my blog I can hardly put the book down. His concepts have almost changed my approach overnight.

Near the beginning he mentions spending less time working and more time WORKING. I am guilty of this and often find myself doing bullshit just to do feel busy. This is especially true when I am putting something off such as editing. Rather than spending 5 hours per day on the blog while only 2 are hyper productive I can just spend 2.5 hyper productive hours, trim the fat and gather some downtime.

I have also realized I do not need to waste my time doing little shit. I often spend just as much time planning as I do doing.

One more thing that struck home is when he mentions to set almost impossible timelines for goals in order to achieve more. I always bust my ass when I know time is limited so this is what I will do from now on. All the goals I have set for myself are for my birthday on April 13th and the ONLY goals I have are for creating content. No more giving a shit about traffic or anything of that nature

I feel ya on the wasting time thing dude. I am guilty of it myself. Overplanning is useless. However, do not get caught in trying to "Work smarter". Do your best but the most important thing is completing your work and tasks. Maybe setting deadlines will help you more with that, as you mentioned. I am thinking of doing the same thing in 2017.