Don’t Do What Everyone Thinks Is Best For You
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles
When I first started blogging four years ago, I would not have imagined that I would fall in love with it.
I saw this as an opportunity to showcase my thoughts on what was happening in the world and being able to tell stories of people who are achieving success the right way.
Let just say that I did not had a direction of what niche I wanted to get into.
All I knew was the fact that this was an amazing platform.
One thing I did not do was remain consistent in the blogging schedule because it was like the spur of the moment if a particular event happened.
In that first year, I learned that you had to keep on blogging every week because if you did not, you would lose some readers and it would take a while to gain them back.
Even to this day, I still struggle with writing long form content because I will admit, I get bored if the content is very long winded and it does not get straight to the point.
However, it has been a fun challenge to write longer form content because I am a contributing blogger for Millennial CEO and I want to give their audience the best information possible that will make them feel better and give them actionable advice.
Since founding this website three years ago, the blog posts has been a mixture of sports, some travel and university affairs.
Also, the site has been growing slowly with viewership from around the world whether they stumbled on the site by accident or had meant to visit it.
I will be honest of the fact that I wished I could have bigger viewership.
At the same time, I rather this type of slow growth because I want to see what works and what does not work.
I also want to achieve what is called the “5 to 10 year overnight success” because I want people to see that there is no such thing as an overnight success.
I want them to see that they have to put in the effort and work to achieve their goals and not think that someone was lucky when they achieved their goals of writing a great book, running their own company, etc.
When they say that someone is lucky, all they are doing is cheapening the success of the person and validating their excuse that they cannot achieve their goals.
Also, I want this site to be as close as the Huffington Post as possible.
Is this a lofty goal?
Yes, it is a lofty goal.
At the same time, I believe it can be achievable and I am willing to work extremely hard to achieve the goal of being a close to the Huffington Post.
The only thing is that I will not use any short cuts to get there because I rather achieve the fruits of my labor.
Another thing I want to address is the fact that there have been so many blogs, podcasts webinars, etc. that talks about choosing a niche.
While I am totally in agreement with the people who mentioned about choosing a niche, I have to disagree with them to a small degree.
The reason is that I love sports, travel, business and social media and I feel that it is very difficult to choose one out of the other.
I believe that these things above is who I am and I want to express myself here by writing about sporting events, travel and interesting things that is going on in social media.
Maybe I am not the only one who think this.
If I am the only one who think it is o.k. to write about different subjects like sports, travel or other things that interest them and not just one particular subject, then I will not apologize for it.
All I care about is making the reader feel better about themselves and solving their problems.
This is the reason why I am blogging.
I hope that you will do what you love and not worry about what other people think about you.
We Don’t Always Have It Together
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles
We see a person who have achieved their goals and are showcasing their expertise to the world.
We might think that the person has everything together and might be thinking that nothing can go wrong in their life.
It is understandable to think like that because most of the time, we see in media outlets of how a person seems to have everything together with their life.
We might only see the successes, but never see the failures that they endured to achieve success.
One case in point, Michael Jordan, who celebrating his 52nd birthday today.
We all know him as arguably one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game.
Amid the 6 National Basketball Association (NBA) championships that Jordan won and being one of the major reasons why the NBA is globalized, many might not know about his “failures” while trying out for the varsity team in high school.
Jordan did not “make” the varsity team during his sophomore year even though he played for the junior varsity team.
Even though the junior varsity team was a consolation prize, it motivated Jordan to work even harder on his basketball skills.
Jordan made the team in his junior and senior year of high school, went on to the University of North Carolina, sanked the game-winning shot in the 1982 NCAA national championship game against Georgetown and a couple years later, got drafted by the Chicago Bulls and the rest was history.
You might be thinking after reading this that Jordan has been rising in success and does not have any struggles.
I can guarantee that Jordan and ultra-successful people still experience failures despite their success.
The biggest difference is that the successful are not afraid to fail.
They do not see their failures or struggles as the end of the world.
Instead, they see their failures or struggles as learning experiences so that they can achieve their success.
We might be afraid to show our failures because we think that people will judge us.
However, if you showcase your failures and your struggles, they will be drawn to you even more because they can relate to you.
Though I have achieved some successes like becoming an Amazon best-seller author for my second book, “8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn,”covering sporting events as a freelance journalist, hosting a podcast and being a blogger, I still struggle with self-doubt and comparing myself to others everyday.
At times, I struggle with putting a great article together because I want the post to be stellar and I don’t want to fail.
But the truth of the matter is that I work hard everyday and keep a positive mindset because I know that I want to be successful.
If I would have allowed the fear of failure to stop me from becoming a blogger, I would not have had the opportunity to venture into podcasting and becoming an author.
In conclusion, it is o.k. to fail and share those failures because you will show everyone your journey to success.
Just don’t feel sorry for yourself when you experience failure.
Have you experienced failure in your life? If so, how did you overcome failure to be successful to make the world a better place?
Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Affiliate and I earn a commission whenever I recommend a book. In this case, I am recommending my book.
Learning Life Lessons In Unexpected Places
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of www.craigmotor.wordpress.com
Sometimes life lessons can come in unexpected places.
Like if you missed your bus to go to a sporting event or you have a flat tire.
The only thing you have control over is how you react to circumstances that is out of your control.
You can choose whether to have a pity party and rain on the parade of people who are having great days or see it as a life lesson.
I had decided to go to downtown Houston to put up a blog post and participate on Twitter chats.
When I missed the bus at a “particular time,” at first, I was mad at myself.
It was freezing cold outside and had to wait about an hour before the next bus arrived.
I could have continued to wallow in self pity.
However, I decided to just enjoyed the scenery and wait patiently.
After the next bus arrived and arrived at a local coffee shop where I normally do some blogging and participate in Twitter chats, a person was at the table where they was only one place where you can plug your computer.
With the batteries running out, I decide to make the most of it and in the process, I ended up chatting with college students and later, some business people who were on their breaks.
If I had arrived earlier, I would have missed out on the opportunity to have a conversation with the people about meaningful topics.
So the next time something does not go your way, take a deep breath and relax.
That could turn out to be a lesson in disguise.
Have you ever experienced a time when things did not go your way and it ended up being a blessing in disguise? You can leave your comments below.
First Lesson In Podcasting: Start Locally
By Cheval John
This is the first “lesson” chapter of my second book “8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn.”
I am blogging this book as part of Nina Amir’s Write Nonfiction In November challenge.
The post “The Process of Writing A Book” explains why I decided to join in this challenge.
You can see the introduction of the book, “Introduction To Podcasting” right here.
If you have a desire to write a book and want to join me in this challenge, then head over to Mrs. Amir’s blog to find out more about blogging a book.
Without further ado, here is the first chapter.
When many people are first starting out, they are tempted to reach out to the most recognizable person out there.
The logic is that the recognizable guest will “drive” many listeners to the show.
It is very reasonable if you want to start your podcasting journey on the right foot.
However, this is the wrong approach.
Many of these big name people will not even give you a second thought because your are not big enough, especially if you are just starting your podcast.
They will feel nervous because they do not know what to expect.
That is why it is important to start locally because your potential guest already know you and trust you.
If you built that relationship with the people who are prominent in your area, then it will be easier to approach them to be one of the “firsts” guest on your new show.
And once your podcast gains traction, it will be easier to reach out to the “big name” people because they will see your track record and nine times out of ten, they will accept.
When I was in preparation to launch my show, “What’s The Word?,” I reached out to a “prominent” person and she accepted the invitation.
Three days before the show was set to launch, she sent me a message saying that she was not able to do the show because she had to focus on her new clients and wished me luck.
Though I was bummed, it was a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to reach out to the people I already knew at my alma mater, Sam Houston State University.
The show launched a few weeks later and from that moment, I had many “well known” guests on the show.
So if you want to have a great start to your podcast career, it is really important to start locally.
What are your thoughts on podcasting? Leave your comment below.
Video courtesy of Nina Amir.
Choose Yourself In Order To Earn Attention For Your Talent
By Cheval John
Photo Courtesy of Tigger 11th
As we are almost in the middle of March, most of the U.S. are anticipating the NCAA Division I basketball tournament, which is dubbed as “March Madness.”
This week, teams are vying for a chance to make this prestigious tournament and have an opportunity to showcase their talent in front of a national television audience.
Let me rephrase that, teams who are normally not featured almost regularly on national media outlets like their counterparts in the top conferences (ACC, Big 12, SEC, Pac 12, Big East).
The only way these “unknowns” have the same opportunity to showcase their talents on national television is if they are in the finals of their respective conference tournaments and if the winner is playing in the national tournament.
Now things have kind of changed in recent years with the “unknowns” getting some television coverage during the regular season.
Before, a person would only know of the big name schools like Texas A&M, Florida State, the University of Florida, the University of Texas, etc. because their teams would always receive constant television coverage.
You could say that collegiate sports have always been the best marketing tactics to gain exposure for their respective schools.
Others would say that it a particular degree programs or world class teachers that allowed their institution to gain either national attention or world-wide attention.
The truth of the matter is that collegiate sports is the reason why universities are gaining national exposure.
And prospective students would always dream of going to the big name schools because they want to be part of the attention that the schools are receiving.
And the branded schools would be able to recruit the 5-star athletes because they have the capabilities of helping them reach the professional sports levels like the NFL and the NBA.
So the not-so branded schools like Davidson, Sam Houston State, McNeese State, Stephen F. Austin, etc., were at a disadvantage because they could not recruit the 5-star athlete and also gain the best and brightest students in the world (the exception of gaining the brightest students are the Ivy League schools like Harvard and Princeton).
The lesser known conferences would at times gain national attention if their schools made a national tournament (mainly the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, the College World Series and in football, the Divison I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs).
In this day and age, the playing field have been leveled to a large degree for all universities.
Some of the mid-major conferences made deals with television networks like ESPN and Fox Sports to broadcast their games on television.
While conferences of the “lesser known schools” in the words of James Altucher, “choose themselves”* and create their own television networks to showcase their athletes. term paraprhased*
One of the conferences who “choose themselves” was the Southland Conference.
They have always found a way to remain competitive in the midst of realignments of schools in their now 51st year of operation.
However, they went to another level under the direction of commissioner Tom Burnett.
With his leadership, the conference decided to create the Southland Conference Television Network in 2008 to showcase their member school’s athletes (regular season, football, basketball and in tournament time, all of the sports teams) via television affiliates to about 13 million viewers in the states of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.
If the Southland did not choose themselves, then the nation would not have been able to see former Sam Houston State running back, Timothy Flanders flipped over the defender and landed in the endzone for the touchdown.
And because the Southland choose themselves, they have earned the attention of national media outlets to where their members’ regular season football games and basketball games are now broadcast live nationally on ESPN3 in addition to their network.
The lesson that can be learned from this is that if you want to gain your dream job, but you are not “qualified” for the job, then you have to create your own opportunities to succeed.
Most of the time, job seekers just send in their resumes and hoping that someone will call them in for an interview with the possibility to work at their company.
Instead of waiting and hoping for that call after putting in the resume, be proactive.
You can do internships to get your foot in the door, attend networking events, etc.
From there, you can share your knowledge and the lessons from the work experience you gained either with your own blog, a podcast, or YouTube channel.
When you do the above, nine times out of ten, you will have a much better chance to gain your dream job.
In the case of podcasting, you can interview anyone who are in the industry that you want to work in like public relations and share their story of success with your audience.
I can guarantee you the most busy professionals will say yes to the opportunities to be on your show because they see the opportunity to promoting themselves and their companies without spending a whole lot of money for marketing.
In conclusion, do not wait for someone to validate your talent or expertise because you will probably be waiting forever.
Instead, create your own opportunities by blogging, podcasting, etc and prove to the prospective employers that you are very knowledgeable in your chosen career field.
Over time, you will gain the recognition and even earn your dream job with the company you always wanted to work for.
Video courtesy of the Southland Conference Digital Network
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