Dead Blogs and Watered-Down PD

[Interpreneur]

Steve Pavlina has inspired a lot of people over the past few years including myself. I am now an early riser, and I have kicked some pretty bad habits using 30-day trials. So I am very grateful for Mr. Pavlina and his blog.

This morning I started clicking on a list of links for personal development blogs that I have been collecting over the past couple of years. To my surprise, most of those blogs (over 90%) no longer exist or have not been updated in a very long time. A lot of them still cite "Steve Pavlina . com" as their inspiration for launching, which strikes me as ironic because Pavlina is still going strong and they quit a long time ago.

Of the blogs that are still active, a lot of them are still promoting what I call "watered-down personal development". They talk about "7 ways to make money online", or "14 proven ways to pretend veggies taste like meat". There is no real substance in their writing, and a lot of them are simply recycling old ideas or quoting "The Secret".

So I guess my rant or high-pitch whine is directed at those people wanting to start a new blog today in order to become the next Pavlina, or John Chow, or even John Cow. I recommend you take a long, hard look at the reasons why you want to start a blog, and analyze how deep your commitment is.

It seems that after reading half of a Pavlina article, a lot of people are ready to launch their own personal development blog and start living the Pavlina lifestyle, but most of those folks are falling short. Way short.

I know dead blogs don't hurt anybody, but I think all that time you spend learning the ins and outs of Wordpress, and the time you spend writing articles about topics that have been beat to death, could be better spent doing some personal growing yourself (so perhaps when you're actually ready to launch your own blog, you will be providing some actual value and making your own mark in this world).

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to writing my new article "7 ways to live happily in a cave even if you're a grumpy old fart".

[1000feet]

It seems likely that some people have started blogging just to see what it was all about and ended up helping a lot of people, just as some people have great plans for their blog but can't keep it up. There's nothing wrong with starting a blog just to see where it goes - if you come across one with a small archive and you don't get one bit of information or entertainment out of it you can always get a refund for 100% of what you paid for it

When it comes to making money online however, blogs are definitely the thing of the day. For some people it's a good path, but anyone doing it because it sounds like an easy way to make money will run into problems pretty quickly. I've studied a lot of (free) internet marketing resources, but when I turned my attention to the less exciting business that I had all along it quickly gave me much better results than the average blogger.

[Steve Pavlina]

So again the lesson is: Don't be average. Find your own path.

[Jarrod]

Wordpress.com has stats for today saying: '3,495,607 blogs with 103,585 new posts today'

Obviously the stats don't represent exactly how many blogs are active but even if you were to assume generously that each blog posts once a week and times the figure by 7 you still only have 20% active blogs. Blogs have very low entry barrier and are take a lot of effort to get really going and maintain.

As for 'personal development', I really don't know what the term means now, seems to include everything from spirituality to productivity and money. Maybe that is the definition in which case it is a very broad category.

[liverpool footballer]

Mmm, i'm one of those you mentioned and i think the reason is simple. They read steve pavlina and have this mental projection of themselves being a top blogger earning lots and helping lots and get all excited and start. Then, they realise its not that easy for them to publish original, quality material, and their lack of views and readers means they have little motivation to continue.

Just that alone is a wonderful learning experience for them! They learn that its not as easy as it seems, and then learn that they have to channel their energies into something they can really provide value to! For instance, i learnt that, yes, even though i did help some people, i wasn't able to publish good, original material regularly. In fact, most of the time i'd do a sort of summarization and paraphrasing of pavlina's posts and then say that actually, time would be better spent reading his blog and posts directly.

Right now, i'm just blogging my own style and way, not really focussing to cater to anybody. My blogging is more like that of blogging about my day-to-day life, with other genres peppered here and there as and when i feel inspired. The value i provide is probably in showing how personal development has affected my life experiences as well as tracking down my progress.

[borntosucceed]

Well isn't that true for so many areas in life. A lot of people think: This looks easy I can do the same and have big hopes for themselves. Once the going gets tough or the results are not as expected, they stop - leaving the field for the few of us that keep going to excel.

Apart from running an Online Life Coaching site, I am doing some network marketing and see this every day. People are joining up often with false expectations. When these are not met of if they are not making thosands of Dollars in the first 6 months they stop and say - This doesn't work!

If it is blogging, network marketing, investing etc.: You need to learn your trade before you can be successful. Be persistant and learn and you shall succeed.

Have you seen a surgeon performing keyhole surgery on his first day in the operating theatre?

[Tabs]

Your post has been hunting me ever since I read it, I am operating on less than four hours of restless sleep, not because I am on any of S.P.’s plans, just a simple, normal too late night, too little sleep, and too early a wake up call. I was just hoping to visit the forum write “something” so I would stop getting that “message” every time I logged on. But I am rambling…

WHY is your post keeping me awake? Because I think I may have fallen into that 90% category you were talking about. I had a self-help site two years before I ever heard of Steve, I love the self discovery, the discovery of collective consciousness and power of the mind stuff has been mind blowing. I love everything self help, personal development etc… But luckily for me I had the good sense to decide to be one of the “Smart People” and read Steve’s Blog, articles and all, I have been a fan for a few years now, however, I am one of the “Smart People” who decided from the first start that there was no way I could be “A Steve” I mean the man writes 10 page Blogs minimum on a bad day. He doesn’t sleep and half the time when you read his stories you are sure he is either superhuman or not human at all. (Sorry Steve ) I decide I would not be a Steve, but I would work real hard to adhere to the high standards he set.

I wrote Blogs from questions I had, if I had a question, I did the research came up with answers to fix it and shared it on my Blog. It was fun until, life got lots better, the questions dried out and even coming up with a quote for the site was a chore. How good did life get? Well, good enough to open and run a restaurant for over a year and watch it come crumbling down.

So guess what, I now have questions, I closed the doors on what was my “ticket out” a month and eight days ago, I may not be “A Steve Pavlina” blogger but By George I ran my restaurant Like a Steve Pavlina. How did I end up here, well like I said I now have questions.

I am ashamed to look at my Blog because of all the quotes and fillers I put on it for the last year and a half. I apologize for that, but like I said I was running a restaurant from an empty shell building to one hot mama. You should check out what I have to say to first-time restaurant owners when my other site comes up.

It has been five weeks since my restaurant closed, I have started two new businesses (all pd related) and plan on firing up my personal development career again.

So I guess the reason your post has kept me awake is because I have to ask you to pardon those of us that rode the wave of success down different paths, I hope the others had more luck than I did. I am also glad I kept my site and Blog, because sometimes you just end up taking the LONG way home.

Got to go before I break into song or something, I have to get up in less than 5 ½ hours and I am no where near ready to sleep.

P.S.
Aren’t those “7 Ways to …” articles ever so easy to write?

P.S.S.
Thanks by the way, this will keep me on the straight and narrow, but I have been walking that path for the last five weeks (working on a theory).

Later,

[beautyscientist]

Hi Tabs, what happened to your restaurant? I can't work out from your post whether it was a great success or not?

[Tabs]

beautyscientist,
Sadly it became a statistic, we closed our doors one year after opening.

Later,

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Tabs

Sadly it became a statistic, we closed our doors one year after opening.

More than a statistic... it must have been quite a learning experience.

[Tabs]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

More than a statistic... it must have been quite a learning experience.

Steve, it was invaluable, like cramming a life time of experience into 24 months. There were very personal lessons I took from it, but also the industry as a whole needs help. I have a project I am working on and I am sure that the restaurant failure statistic is mainly comprised of first-time restaurant owners with life time dreams of owning a restaurant. Those that still love the industry go back and are successful the second time around. I on the other hand, would love to do something about that "statistic."

Hey, you live and learn and when you fall, fall forward...

Thanks,