Blogging has a dirty little secret. But the secret should not be a secret.
Heck; the secret is not genuinely a secret because pros have been beating this blogging drum for decades.
What is the secret that seems to evade most bloggers?
Blogging is a skill.
Right now, imagine uncovering this secret for the first time. Perhaps you never thought of blogging as a skill. Maybe you figured blogging was something you did to make money online. Or perhaps you assumed blogging was just writing and publishing blog posts before you eventually go pro.
Unfortunately for you, blogging is a skill. Bloggers who give the most attention and energy to developing this skill become highly successful pro bloggers. Everybody else struggles fails and quits because no blogger succeeds by ignoring the skill of blogging. Blogging is a serious, major league skill that requires 1000’s of practice hours to become adept at this discipline. I am up at midnight on a Saturday after blogging daily for the past 5 years and after blogging altogether for the past 10 years of my life. Why? I love blogging. Blogging has been a fun, freeing, and sometimes challenging journey for me. But more than anything, blogging is a skill that I decided to commit to 100% to see where this gig takes me.
Why the Secret?
Why do most bloggers have no idea that blogging is a skill?
Most bloggers believe that since starting a blog is easy that blogging must be easy. If blogging must be easy then it cannot be a serious, legitimate skill. Oddly enough, these same bloggers figure that this non-skill business yields massive profits easily. Imagine that? An easy gig allows you to make huge amounts of money. Even though this sounds insane on one level it makes sense that bloggers assume blogging is the farthest thing from a serious skill to develop.
What Do I Mean by Blogging Being a Skill?
Over the past decade, I spent 1000’s of hours learning and practicing how to be:
- an entrepreneur
- highly self-aware
- a writer
- a networker
- connected
- abundant-minded
among other skills contributing to the blogging skill set. Blogging is a serious skill because blogging involves many moving parts masking other skills for study and mastery. Learning how to be an entrepreneur who runs a business required hours of study and practice before I became skilled enough to turn a blogging profit. Practicing the skill of writing to gain reader trust consumed years of my life. Toss in the fact that I needed to learn the ins and outs of networking in order to become connected and you see why blogging is a major league skill demanding 1000’s of learning and practice hours to achieve mastery in this discipline.
Similar to Other Skill Jobs
Blogging is similar to other skill jobs like being a doctor or lawyer because 5,000 to 10,000 plus hours of practice spanning 5-10 years seems to be necessary to achieve mastery. I can not perform brain surgery or litigate corporate law cases but I have written 30 plus articles daily during my freelance writing peak days. Most bloggers consider that number inhuman. I simply developed my blogging – and writing – skills to the point of doing things few bloggers seem to be able to do.
Blogging is a skill job. Give 1000’s of hours to blogging to master the skill. Give little time to blogging to develop weak or non-existent blogging skills. Everything is on you.
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2 comments
Hi Ryan,
Good to see you here. Indeed, Blogging requires skill and that can only be obtained by constant writing and learning new skills. The writing part has to be a passion within you to help others with the knowledge you share. Always learning throughout the blogging journey is a must do. As we learn something new, we can then share it in a blog post for others.
Great post!
-Donna
Hey Ryan,
Rijhu this side. Thanks for your valuable and useful words. Yes completely agree with you blogging requires skills and that is achieved by regular practice and learning.
There is an old saying “practice makes you perfect.” Learning new skills, writing regularly and having strong dedication and determination leads to success.
Keep writing and sharing your valuable words. A must read post.
Regards.