7 Business Lessons You’ll Learn from Blogging
When it comes to blogging for money you’ll get a wide range of opinions on the subject of whether a blog is a business in itself. Personally, I feel that a blog can be a business on its own (without any other services or products being sold) because I see plenty of them every day that are making money. Of course, a blog can also be used very effectively to promote and improve an already existing business. Either way, running a blog with the intent to make money either directly or indirectly will help you to learn a number of valuable business lessons.
My blogging experience started with the intent to blog for the purpose of promoting a service (web design); however, over the past year I’ve taken an interest in learning more about blogging to earn a direct income as well. During that time I’ve learned more about business than I could have by reading or studying without actually putting anything into practice.
Blogging is an excellent proactive learning experience for anyone interested in business and entrepreneurship, and I’d like to take a look at 7 lessons that you’ll learn from blogging. While you may or may not have already had a textbook knowledge of these lessons, blogging will give you a first-hand, real-world knowledge that is always superior to anything you can read in a book.
1 – Networking is Critical
When I started blogging I had no idea how important a network is to a blogger (in fact, I didn’t know much or anything about blogging). I quickly realized that every successful blogger has a strong network of friends and colleagues online.
Building a popular and profitable blog without a network is just about impossible. Likewise, in the business world a network can be the difference between an average career and finding exciting and challenging opportunities.
For any entrepreneur, regardless of what type of business you are building, a strong network will be one of your most valuable assets. Take the time to meet others in your field and find some ways to work together or to help each other.
2 – Businesses Need a Plan
When starting a new blog it can be tempting to jump into things and just start blogging. Modern blogging platforms make it extremely easy to get started quickly, but the need for planning still exists. If you hope to run a successful blog you’ll need to have a plan to get there. Most likely this plan will evolve somewhat over a period of time, but you should always have some direction in mind to keep yourself on track.
In the business world a lack of planning will lead to almost certain failure. While a blogging plan and a traditional business plan or marketing plan may be very different, blogging will at least teach you the value of taking the time to plan and the results of ineffective planning.
3 – Making Money Online is Realistic, but Not Easy
Many people start new blogs every day with the hope of quitting their day job in a month. After all, people like John Chow and Darren Rowse make a significant amount of money with their blogs, so why can’t you? Well, I believe that anyone can earn a substantial income blogging, realistically only a very small percentage will earn that type of income. The biggest thing holding most online entrepreneurs back, in my opinion, is effort. Yes, it is realistic, but it won’t come easy.
Aside from blogging there are plenty of other ways to make money online. Running an e-commerce site, affiliate marketing, keyword sniping, all of these approaches will take real effort, but all are realistic. The problem is that most people see making money online as an easy way out, but they don’t want to put in the time that it takes to be successful (which is almost always less than the time it would take to build a traditional business).
4 – A Great Idea without Consistent Effort will Only Go So Far
Having a great idea is just the start. In order to take that idea and actually profit from it you’ll need to put it into action. Throughout my time as a blogger I’ve seen others that have had plenty of potential, but it seems like the consistent effort just wasn’t there.
Regardless of what type of business you are running, the necessary action is critical. If you have a great idea don’t wait around while someone else beats you to it.
5 – Integrity Counts
Blogging is very personal in nature. Many of us follow particular blogs because we connect with the writer. Because of this, integrity is a major issue in blogging. I know personally I tend to really respect bloggers that are transparent and seem to have honest intentions.
In the business world there are always going to be temptations to take short cuts, but in the end integrity does count. In most cases those short cuts might help you temporarily, but they’ll usually come back to haunt you. Whatever type of business you are working in, make it a priority to be seen as reputable and trusted.
6 – Not All Expenses Are Bad
A few weeks a go I wrote Expenses are Part of Doing Business Online. One of the main reasons that I wrote that post is because it seems like a large percentage of online entrepreneurs see all expenses as negatives, and they tend to feel that doing business online makes expenses unnecessary. While it’s true that most online business have expenses that are far less than traditional businesses, there are certainly some expenses that are more than justified.
If you’re a blogger you may learn the value of quality hosting when one of your posts gets to the front page of Digg. Or you may learn that paying freelance bloggers is a cost-effective way to build quality content for your blog that generates even more money in advertising revenue. There are plenty of expenses that can make your business more profitable, the key is minimizing the unnecessary expenses and being willing to spend on those that will help you grow the business.
7 – Building a Business is a Long-Term Experience, Not a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme
Most bloggers tend to give up very quickly when they find that they are not making money as early as they had hoped. Blogging is like any other business in that it can take some time to be successful. Sure, there are a few examples of blogs that are profitable very quickly, but they are the exception, not the rule. If more bloggers took a long-term approach to making money there would be a lot less that give up along the way.
If you are building a business, remember that you are building an asset. With a long-term, asset-building approach your business will have a much better chance of success.
What Business Lessons Have You Learned from Blogging?
I’d love to hear some of your personal experiences from blogging that have taught you valuable lessons about business and entrepreneurship.
This post was written by Steven Snell.
