Why did I feel like starting this new blog

I had decided a blog would be a great way to get the word out about my passion, and what I do for a living.

After reading some books about how good content will help your customers get to know and understand you, along with building trust between us, it made complete sense to me.

I mean, really, how hard can it be….right?

This comes from a guy who hated school and did not pay any attention to subjects like English, grammar, etc. I just wanted out of school to get started making money.

You know the time wasted in school could be equaling money on the job… right?

So, I started doing some research on how to get a blog up and running.  How hard can it be to write up some articles, throw them on a page, and… Wala… good to go!

Years ago, I started a blog on WordPress, and never did anything with it. I’m not even sure where it is anymore. But, in my research, WordPress is the choice of any serious bloggers, so I will start here.

I signed up for the WordPress site and started watching “how-to” videos. I found one that seemed to be one I could follow along with. I started putting content articles on the site.

How come the videos that you watch when they do their instructions, makes it look so easy! Then I try to do the same thing, and some weird screen pops up that was not on their video! Now I am like a deer in the headlights – froze up and I can’t seem to get past the first minute of the training video.

After finally deciding to do or enter something, it looks like I get back to where the video left off, always wondering what is going to happen differently with what decision I just made on the last entry.

Finally, after getting it to become somewhat of a blog, I am looking at the dashboard of WordPress, and again the deer in the headlights scenario keeps happening. I just know that something I will push is going to wipe out all the progress I have made up to this point.

Let me tell you, I am excited to start the blog, so there is plenty of enthusiasm right now. But, after my first 2 hours trying to get something together that even resembles a blog, excitement is starting to turn to frustration. I’m angry at times and realize how little I know about any of this.

It is time to start looking for some sort, of course, I can take to make this blog work, and at least think it will be done the best that I can do.

A ha moment!

I find create and go and the videos and training they are doing look like something that makes sense, let alone that they are making money with their blog.

I didn’t even know you could do that – this blog was just being set up to drive traffic to my other website utvservice.com

Great Alex & Lauren have a free 7 – day course on how to start a blog for beginners – this is the way for me! I sign up right away and start getting my free course, start taking notes and working a little on my blog site.

After about four days I decide I am going to make an investment on their second course, How to Make Your First $1,000.00 Blogging, so I purchase the course, get ready to do some serious blog building and make some $$!

I am excited to get going again! This time it is going to be done right, and I’m getting ready for some cash to flow and tell the world my story.

I was in the very first part of the course and knew immediately that this was way past and over my head. There must have been some important stuff in their first course on setting up your damn blog.

Feeling now:

• Tired – you get tired staring at a screen for hours not having a clue what you are doing

• Frustrated that this is not going to be easy

• Mad at myself that I just paid money for something that, now in order to make it useful, I need to spend more money and go backward.
• Feeling kind of dumb about how much I do not have a clue of what is going on with this website.

Suck it up and go find the “Build and Launch Your Blog” the first course and start from the beginning – just like I am a beginner.

Week 1 – let’s get started! I am planning on taking the week off of my regular business and concentrate on the Build the Blog class – ready, set, go.

I start working on the course, watching the videos and reading the training material. Now, what I am starting to realize is the cost of a blog will not be free. Not if you want it to look nice and start functioning correctly.

After the first four days of working on the course and all the added “plugins” and “how-to” videos, my feelings are getting carried away…

• I am completely overwhelmed at the end of the week.
• I probably am never going to be able to spend any more time with my friends and family.
• It will be more like a year to get this blog up and running instead of the month they say on the course.
• Why is there such a learning curve on everything I go to do!
• I am telling my wife, Jackie, that I am not sure that this is going to happen…

Well, after the first week, I had made some progress. It was starting to look like a blog page.

I was completely exhausted and more than a little bit overwhelmed at the amount of learning that these bloggers have to do.

I am on week two, and things are going along smoother than week one.

Jackie is not hearing as much complaining from me this week, and I am making progress!

When you attempt these new things in life, it can be so frustrating!  But, that is what makes us all grow and try to be a better and happier person.

I hope my discipline will stay for the long haul because this is going to be a journey and not a finished product!