Wow, B2B Writing Success!
The Reality Blog is one year old today!
Thank you to all the wonderful readers who helped make this such a fantastic year. Your comments, support, and feedback — both here and through social media — were more appreciated than you’ll ever know.
In the past year, I’ve:
- Published over 80 articles and blog posts (most of them paid!)
- Landed my first ongoing social media contract
- Tripled my LinkedIn Connections and landed my first job through my LinkedIn profile
- Launched my Money-Making Website, the Mind and Memory Explorer
- Created my first YouTube video, first LinkedIn Pulse article, and first Facebook ad campaign
- Made lots of great friends
- And made a few mistakes, too J
This has been a learning year for me, as many of you know. I learned from my successes and I learned from my failures. But the important thing is that I learned from doing. I accomplished things. I moved forward.
And boy, am I ready for a big year now!
Did I meet all my goals this past year? No. Not even close, really. But I did make some steady income. I made progress. And I gained two extremely valuable assets.
Confidence and Momentum.
That’s what has me fired up each morning when I sit down to write. That’s what has me staying up late to check off the next task on my list. Because I know I’m on the right track now. I know my persistence is about to pay off. I know that success is near.
I can taste it.
Where I’m Headed
Right now, I have two main initiatives I’m working on.
The first is my LinkedIn marketing strategy. Over the past year, I experimented a lot with LinkedIn. I published articles. I commented in groups. I Liked and shared to build relationships. Some of it was helpful. Some of it wasn’t.
Recently, though, I’ve embraced LinkedIn on a whole new level: InMail.
Instead of passive Likes and shares rolling through peoples’ feeds, I’ve started communicating directly and on purpose. Already it’s paying dividends. Over the next three months, I plan to grow my LinkedIn connections from 330+ to over 1,000.
And I’ll expect some business along the way, of course. Why? Because I’m going to tell those prospects that I want it, I’m going to engage them in conversations, and I’m going to ask for it.
The other major initiative I have going is my website, the Mind and Memory Explorer.
This has been a testing ground for me as I learned about sales funnels, social media advertising, and conversions. I experimented with lead magnets and landing pages. And now it’s time to get serious.
Over the next three months, my goal is to find my first 1,000 subscribers. I’ll also monetize my site and list for a small, but steady, income (a large income would be welcome, too, of course). To do this, I need to develop a couple of products over the next few weeks to complete my sales funnel.
Luckily, I know just what to do and I’m eager to get started.
Where I Missed
My biggest miss this past year was in direct marketing my copywriting services. Sure, I built some authority through blogging and social media. But I wasn’t able to leverage that authority into bigger projects like I had planned.
Why? Most of it had to do with time, unfortunately. Once I started teaching and only writing part-time, I had to make some tough choices. That’s when I decided to focus on social media and my Money-Making Website. All my direct marketing plans were put on hold.
Oddly, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. That tighter focus allowed me to make tremendous breakthroughs in those two areas, which I might not have realized otherwise.
So even though I have some good direct marketing content and strategies, I’m keeping them under wraps for now. I strongly suspect that “opening up my arsenal,” so to speak, would only hurt my chances of success.
Instead, I’m going to stick with what’s working, stay focused, and drive it as far and hard as I can.
Other Things I’ve Learned
In addition to all the lessons in marketing, writing, and business, here are some of the other key takeaways I’ve learned this past year:
- Always be learning, but don’t focus on learning all the time. You’ll gain much more if you learn from experience instead.
- Find what you’re passionate about and let it push you forward.
- Write something every day.
- Find some way to spark ideas and foster creativity, like an idea journal.
- Connect with people. Let them know what you do or what you’re trying to accomplish.
- View everything you write as a sample of your work and leverage it wherever you can.
- Focus on one or two things and drive them until you succeed. Don’t spread yourself too thin with too many personal projects.
- Purge your email. Often.
- If you’re feeling information overload, you’re probably studying too much instead of doing.
- Choosing a niche makes your life so much easier, and doesn’t limit you nearly as much as you think.
- Look for partners who will support and help you. Peer groups are a great start.
- Believe in yourself. Be positive. You can do this!
Thanks for reading! I’m looking forward to the next stage of our journey together!
