3 Lessons I’ve Learned From 7 Years of Blogging

I started this blog back in November of 2014. While the ideas are constantly evolving, the theme has remained the same all of these years.

In the last 7 years, Calm and Collected has produced tens of thousands of dollars for me.

If you’re looking to start a blog? These 3 lessons will help you increase your chances of blogging successfully.

Blogging helped make my dreams become a reality. I’ve dropped over 100 pounds, am financially independent, and found love.

Greatest of all I’m living the life I wanted all those years ago.

Now you’re here to learn and have your eyes opened like I was 7 years ago. What’s been done before, can be done again and experienced by you.

What I Learned From Blogging

While blogging isn’t as popular as it once was. Now everyone is on social media.

Your blog is still your home and body of work. Social media is where you amplify your message. You can then direct people to your blog from there.

Blogging is one of the best tools for getting your life moving in the right direction. It forces you to face yourself and get honest.

Which leads me to the first lesson.

Lesson 1) Authenticity is the best Attention Grabber

In my early blogging days, I wasn’t authentic. I tried to be the image instead of actually living it. My blog ended up getting more traction faster than I thought.

It wasn’t long before I got called out by one reader named Connor. Connor sent me a long email telling me why he liked me and why me pretending wasn’t good.

I thanked him for his advice and changed my approach.

It’s easy whether you have a blog or any other medium to try and act a certain way. To you, you’re just posting on the internet.

The reality is though that people are watching you. Sure, you will grab attention by acting like the image. Some even build a following.

However, they will always fade away into the background. There’s a reason 7 years later people still come to this blog, buy my courses, watch my videos, and follow me on social media.

Authenticity is the best attention grabber.

More importantly, it gives you a personality. It makes you relatable. I’m sure you can relate to not being happy with how you look at times. You’ve had days where you feel like nothings working.

You have felt lost and maybe even had suicidal thoughts. You probably don’t enjoy going into your job every day.

You’d much rather be able to make money online. If you’re wanting to build an online business of any kind. Blogging, freelancing, social media influencer, or an agency. Being authentic will always cause you to win in the end.

It’s why everything I have overcome is written about. I share my wins, losses, and anything which is of use. You relate to me more than any of the other blogs that try and just be an image.

Authenticity is the difference between lasting for a year and having a business that makes you money forever.

Share your real achievements, pains, and journey.

If you’re reading my words and don’t know what to talk about.

Go out and live your life. We all have problems we want solved. It’s your job to solve your problems and turn them into a business.

Need any help?

Message my Livechat agent with what you’re struggling with. Or send me an email from the contact form. We will put together a plan.

Lesson 2) Try a Little Bit of Everything

When I first got started, I thought blogging was the only way. For years I labored writing hundreds of articles. Sure I made some money, but it wasn’t quit your job to work from a beach in Brazil kind of money.

Eventually, I had to be realistic with myself. I realized the blog was a long-term business for me. It wasn’t something I could force to start paying the bills. Instead, I would have to build real-world skills to pay my bills.

The issue was I didn’t have any payable skills. Or so I thought. I tried a little bit of everything. From driving for Uber to running affiliate sites and flipping products on Craigslist.

Heck, I even started my own parking lot cleaning business. Anything and everything I could to get paid legally. I figured out what pays and what is a total waste of time.

This lead me to finding out people would pay me to write for them. I loved writing and the idea people would pay me to do it was icing on the cake.

I turned my ability to write into a full-time income. This income has allowed me to earn money while traveling the world.

Lesson 3) Consistency is the Key

One of the final 3 lessons I’ve learned from 7 years of blogging is the key to making all of this work.

Consistency, consistency, consistency.

If I could tell you one thing it would be you need to be in the game daily. You brainwash yourself to seek achievement.

Because when you’re not creating, you are busy living. Whether that’s building relationships, hitting the gym, traveling. You are always busy doing something.

Without consistency, you’ve got nothing but a pipe dream. It’s your job to show up every day with a plan. Every day you need to be working on something.

If it’s a blog, you need to be writing daily. If you’re a freelancer you need to be doing outreach and client fulfillment. The key to whatever you want in life is consistency.

It’s not some magic pill tactic.

Achievement comes from being in the trenches daily. As you can see I’m nothing special. I’m just someone who refused to settle another day with my life.

In my heart, I knew there was more to life than what I’d experienced up to that point. You know it too. The truth is, most people are unhappy but keep on living how they always have.

You’re better than that. You’ve got the opportunity today to change this. Right now you’ve got this very moment to start being different.

Not worrying about what you should’ve done yesterday. Not wondering what you should do tomorrow. Put all of your focus on the simple actions you can take today.

If it’s getting in shape, focus on only eating good healthy portions of food for the rest of the day. Hit the gym or do some pushups as well.

If you’re tired of being broke, don’t spend your money mindlessly. Also, find a way to make an extra $10 today.

This is the secret to consistency. Anyone would get overwhelmed thinking about yesterday and tomorrow. Even worse if you’re thinking years in advance.

Start with today and move forward step by step

Do everything within your power to ensure today is the most productive day you’ve had. In time, you will wake up to years of concentrated effort put into living the life you once thought was “just a dream”.

Next read: The Dream is Free, But the Hustle is Sold Separately

Your friend,

Dylan MoneyBag Madden