by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |

This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Deep. paralyzing self-doubt cripples almost all newbie bloggers from time to time.
Left unchecked, self-doubt destroys your blogging campaign. Why blog if no one will read your blog anyway? Why would anyone read your blog? Why would anyone eventually hire you or buy your stuff when you monetize your blog? Each thought-feeling races through the mind of every new blogger a few times. If you do not face, feel and release self-doubt you will fail because blogging from a doubting energy guarantees self-sabotaging ways.
For example, if you fear no one will read your blog because you are a newbie you tend not to write and publish posts persistently. Other self-sabotaging ways involve playing small, not networking, resisting monetizing your blog and surrounding yourself only with fellow new, struggling bloggers who offer failing advice.
One way exists to overcome newbie blogging self-doubt; wade into the energies and walk through the energies by feeling self-doubt.
No elegant, seamless way exists to overcome self-doubt suffered by newbies. Meditating helps to expand your awareness to observe your deep doubts but sitting to watch your thoughts and feelings does not overcome self-doubt for you. You need to face fears, feel fears and release fears to conquer self-doubts. Few human beings enjoy feeling tender, vulnerable and open but conquering lack of belief in self involves hugging these bad-feeling energies to leave doubts in the rear-view window.
Face self-doubt.
Stare the energy in the eyes. Feel self-doubt. Sit with the discomfort of questioning yourself, invalidating your blog and devaluing your blogging abilities. Every new blogger doubts themselves but few wade into the highly uncomfortable emotions of feeling like a:
New bloggers usually see themselves as unqualified, unprepared frauds on some level because you have no experience and skills to call upon to build your credibility. Every beginner blogger has a similar experience because all new bloggers lack skills, experience and exposure enough to gain reader trust. Write and publish your first 5 blog posts even if you fear nobody will read the posts.
What happens if nobody readers your first 5 blog posts? What happens if your deepest fears come true to fully confirm your doubts? Nothing! Join the club.
Nobody read my blog for a long time. I tortured myself with deep doubts concerning myself and my blogging abilities. I persistently blogged through my self-doubts. I felt these terrible-feeling emotions. Eventually, after feeling my self-doubts persistently enough I cleared many doubts and replaced the energies with clarity and belief in myself. I continued blogging. Great blogging success followed.
Nudging into doubt allows you to face, feel and release doubt. Increased confidence and clarity expand in your being. Clearer, more confident bloggers create and connect through thick and thin.
Be comfortable with being uncomfortable as a new blogger.
I sometimes cringe at my first few blog posts because my high level of self-doubt reflected through my work. I lacked writing confidence and clarity during my newbie blogging days because *all* newbie bloggers lack confidence and clarity. Who lacking skills, exposure and credibility feels clear and confident? Bloggers develop clarity and confidence by increasing your skills, exposure and credibility through persistent creating and connecting.
Never overwhelm yourself with self-doubt until you retreat into a cyber cave. Feel the fear of not being good enough. Hug the fear of not being skilled enough. Embrace the routine self-questioning habit pattern each time you write and publish a blog post as a new blogger.
Get used to doubting yourself as a newbie blogger but don’t trust your doubts. Feel fears fueling self-doubts, keep creating and connecting and position yourself to succeed online by wading through uncomfortable but freeing emotions.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |

This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Blogging is a skill.
Skills require 1000s of practice hours to master any skill.
Becoming a professional blogger requires thousands of:
- learning
- studying
- practicing
hours in order to become skilled enough to be a pro blogger. Becoming a pro blogger demands you blog for 1000s of hours spanning years, well before you earn a professional blogger income. Most bloggers struggle, fail and quit when times get tough versus seeing the journey through. How can you develop any skill if you quit before you put in real time?
Imagine that you want to become a doctor. After spending 6 months in college – studying biology – you become frustrated at not earning one cent of income as a doctor. Does this sound insane? You bet it does. No college student with 6 months of experience as a bio major has enough skills to become a doctor running a thriving practice. Expect to give 10 to 15 years of your life to become a highly prospering doctor with no debts to pay off because being that skilled requires ample practice.
But aspiring bloggers exhibit a similar level of delusion after being upset about not making a dime as newbies. Why would someone hire you to coach them if you have only 3 months of blogging skills under your belt? You can only give what you have. Bloggers have nowhere near the skill set to develop as doctors do, yet we need to spend 1000s upon 1000s of hours writing, creating, connecting and monetizing our way to professional blogging careers. Shortcuts do not exist.
Amateur bloggers often look for blogging shortcuts.
Aspiring pros sometimes foolishly believe one can take shortcuts to a pro career but no one can skip skills development. Even if you had a time machine you cannot fast forward to succeed because you would miss the 1000s of work hours required to become highly skilled, clear and confident. No one skips skills development and goes pro because the skills make you a professional blogger. Sans skills, you do not go pro.
Blogging is a serious skill because one needs to develop various skill sets in order to become a professional. Become a skilled writer to gain credibility. Learn how to network with influential bloggers to move higher in blogging circles. Monetizing is yet another skill to learn, practice and master in order to increase your blogging income effectively. No one learns and masters these skills overnight because each requires 1000s of study and practice hours in order to become highly proficient in each area.
Do you understand why few bloggers seem to go pro?
Most think being a pro blogger is:
- sitting down to your laptop
- writing whatever comes to mind
- hitting the publish button
- plastering a few ads along your sidebar
- counting sweet pro blogger money
In reality, being a pro blogger involves:
- careful study of how to become a pro blogger by investing money in courses and eBooks from pros, consuming resources voraciously and putting their knowledge into action
- listening to reader needs
- solving their problems with your content
- networking by promoting fellow bloggers in your niche
- monetizing your blog through resonant channels
- spending 5000 to 7000 plus hours doing these things through thick, thin, fun, fears and everything in between
Being free is worth it. Circling the globe as a pro or simply blogging in your hometown as a professional is a fun, freeing, fulfilling way to live but getting in your skill work challenges you mightily at times. No one tastes the blogging sweet unless you down the less palatable blogging sour at times.
Blogging is a skill with many moving parts.
Remember this as you dive headfirst into your blogging campaign going forward.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |

This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
I have unfollowed 1000s of people over the past few days.
Why?
I am doubling down on tip #3. I do not follow the news. But my social media streams became news sources; allegedly. Attempting to find helpful content amid this wave of news wasted too much of my time for me to tolerate. Spending less time on social media lets me spend more time blogging and guest posting.
Being a professional blogger requires you to follow three basic tips for a sustained period of time.
1: Spend Most Energy and Time
on Your Blog and Buddy Blogs
Spend most of your time and energy on your self-hosted blog and on buddy self-hosted blogs.
Create on your owned real estate. Create on real estate owned by your blogging buddies.
You do not own social media or likely, forums. But you do own your blog. Ditto for blogging buddies of yours who own their blogs. Creating and connecting through owned blogs ensures whatever happens with:
- Google
- Facebook
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- forums
your business will thrive, grow and expand exponentially over the long haul. Blogs are your business hub, the content engine driving increasing traffic and profits, 24-7, 365, if you spend 1000s of hours generously creating and connecting on real estate you own and owned by your buddies.
2: Sell through Trusted Digital Storefronts
Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest person in history. Doesn’t it make sense to capitalize on his:
- business genius?
- elite digital storefront?
- massive, loyal audience?
versus the nightmarish headache of trying to set up a shopping cart on your blog? Pay a prosperity tax by allowing Amazon to collect their decent-sized commissions. Allow Bezos’ billions of dollars worth of:
- infrastructure
- support
- staff expertise
to handle all the backend stuff while you sell and profit as Amazon takes a cut. No brainer.
Sell through any trusted digital platform to leverage by using the power of the platform network, staff and overall branding. Think long and hard about setting up a shopping cart to buy through your blog unless you have a massive, targeted audience.
Even then, be prepared to invest substantial money and time in coordinating development for the endeavor. What happens when your digital storefront crashes? Unlike Amazon with their army of developers, your one-man-band may be sleeping. Ouch.
3: Spend Little Time on Social Media
Spend little time on social media because other people own those platforms.
See social media as a tool to share value, to build bonds and to tap into your targeted audience with light usage.
Every extra hour you spend on social is an hour you could use to create content for:
- your blog
- your brand
- your business
Pop in to engage on social for a few times daily. Time your sessions in minutes, not hours. See social media as a secondary or tertiary channel through which to share value and to forge bonds with people who love your blog. Make your blog home base to build a rock solid business.
Conclusion
Most bloggers never go pro because they do the exact opposite of tips #1 and #3. Bloggers usually spend way too little time on their blog and way too much time on social media and forums.
Turn around these trends. Publish helpful content frequently. Engage a little bit on social media to strengthen bonds but do the majority of work through your blog and through buddies’ blogs.
Have posture. Build your blogging business like a pro.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging, Guest Posts |

This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Or what you do “allow” to disturb your blogging campaign?
Observe elections. Pay close attention to politics. Assess the news headlines. How about trivial family matters? What – or who – do you allow to disturb your blogging campaign? What triggers agitation in you leading to you shirking your blogging duties?
I am hardly a blogging cyborg. I feel agitated in moments. Some rare peeks at news headlines on Twitter annoy me here and there. But I choose to blog versus detouring to focus my attention and energy on:
- politics
- elections
- news headlines
- trivial family stuff
- any stuff other than blogging
Even though I am no mindless blogging robot I have it in my power to choose to blog versus choosing to follow the news or to opine about the elections. I prefer blogging, fun and freedom over everything else. I appear to be like clockwork because I value blogging, fun and freedom over everything else in terms of potential disturbances, distractions and attention black holes.
Nobody “gets” distracted because bloggers have a free will.
Bloggers choose what bloggers decide to do. But most bloggers blog for fear-based drivers like money or popularity. Fear-based drivers influence you to backburner blogging at a moment’s notice; news, politics, elections, family matters and other events take precedence over blogging because you value each more than you value blogging for money and/or fame.

No thing disturbs you although the appearance seems real. You choose to give your attention and energy to people or events based on what you value. Humans who value blogging more than virtually all else in terms of distractions blog no matter what.
People who blog for fun, freedom and fulfillment value blogging over everything else. Note; I do not suggest valuing blogging over your family, of course.
Never make blogging some god or sole focal point of your life. But do blog generously, persistently and consistently no matter what because committing fully to blogging allows blogging to commit fully to you.
Blogging gives you what you give blogging.
But giving blogging your all feels uncomfortable in moments because the common disturbances of politics, news, elections and small family issues feel too enticing, too tempting and too irresistible to turn down. Why? Suffering from the fear of missing out scares you into putting blogging on the backburner in favor of giving your attention and energy to these disturbances.
Bloggers whose minds seem dominated by fear allow fear-illusion to poison and weaken their mind. Weak-minded bloggers – or bloggers suffering through a weak-minded moment – seem disturbed by everything.

How do you commit to blogging in the appearance of politically chaotic times, wild elections, manipulative news headlines and seeming family drama?
Take control of your mind to become aware of fears triggered by disturbances.
I suggest spending 30-60 minutes or more daily managing your energy to expand your awareness.
I meditate, do Kriya yoga, do yin yoga and power walk to:
- expand my awareness
- see my mind as it really is
- observe, face, feel and release my fears
- develop the habit of maintaining serenity, calm and poise amid the
appearance of disturbances.
Blogging – and life – becomes easier if you take control of your mind, face your fears and dissolve illusory disturbances because you get the blogging job done and walk around the minefield of chaos crippling weaker minded individuals whose minds seem dominated by fear.
See through the illusion of disturbances to commit fully to your blogging campaign.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging, Guest Posts |

This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
The old me absolutely believed I needed positive reviews to become a successful blogger.
Think for one moment the dangerous precedent I set for myself. I believed I could only succeed if people posted positive, public reviews after reading my eBooks, listening to my audio books and receiving my coaching services. What happens if you deeply believe you cannot succeed on your own blogging steam? You do not succeed on your own blogging steam. Even worse; you base your blogging confidence, clarity and ability to sell on the opinions of other human beings.
Yet a high percentage of bloggers still teach that you need to get positive reviews, glowing endorsements or dazzling testimonials from either influencers or happy customers in order to build a thriving business. Why? Parrot-speak. One top blogger explains how you need positive reviews to succeed online. Followers profess how you need positive reviews to prosper. The cycle continues until a blogger like me tells you how obsessing over scoring positive reviews damages your blogging campaign.
Some people only buy stuff or hire people based on positive reviews. Many people buy stuff or hire people based on needing the product or service. If I see something I need I simply buy it without scanning reviews because I could care less about people’s opinions; I have clarity enough to purchase what I need. Knowing this, many humans buy what they need based on their need and not based on feedback from other human beings.
Customers and clients often grow to trust you through your valuable, free content.
Do any of my long time readers need to see a positive eBook review to buy one of my eBooks? No. Why? My long time readers know my:
- style
- delivery
- presentation
- worth
and simply buy what I offer because my loyal readers trust me and trust my content. People buy from trusted people. People hire trusted people. My blog, guest posts, videos and podcasts earn me credibility in the eyes of loyal readers who purchase my stuff without giving thought to positive reviews.
I covered a few reasons why people buy your stuff or hire you without scanning reviews. Humans do not need to be convinced or swayed to purchase something needed because people already bought in the moment they needed that thing.
But on a deeper level, the most damaging aspect of obsessing over gaining positive reviews is the belief that you are only:
- worthy
- skilled
- good at what you do
- credible
based on someone’s positive opinion of your work posted in a public setting.
How far will you go as a blogger if you believe you need positive praise in order to sell something? Not too far. What happens when you receive no positive reviews for a valued eBook or service? You automatically de-value something valuable, helpful, beneficial and inspiring. A high percentage of bloggers quit promoting genuinely helpful products and services because they believe the lack of positive reviews suggests a low quality offering which leads to scant sales. If the blogger simply got clear on selling the offering more people would buy it without the product receiving a single positive review.
Positive reviewers are simply big fans eager enough to speak up in a public setting.
For every positive reviewer fan, 10 to 20 or more lurkers buy your stuff, boost your profits and grow your bottom line without you ever knowing who they are or what they think about your work.
Every highly successful, confident, pro blogger believes deeply in themselves over the opinions of other people. Why would you need vetting if you believe in yourself? Why would anyone believe in you unless you believed in yourself? Basing your worth and the worth of your products and services on the opinion of an influencer or a lower profile reader is foolish because their opinion is none of your business. Making matters worse, believing that you need positive reviews to sell something adds layers of work, limiting beliefs and energetic anchors to your blogging campaign.
My name and skills speak for themselves.
Why would I need someone else to publicly review my blog, eBooks or services favorably before I could possibly generate a sale? Who needs positive reviews to buy something? Skeptics. I sell to people already onboard, not skeptics, because I do not convince, manipulate or influence through public opinion. Here is my content, eBooks and courses. Take ’em or leave ’em.
I deeply appreciate my loving readers and their positive reviews but never base my confidence, clarity and ability to sell anything on another human being’s opinion. Negative reviews trigger deep doubts in people pleasers. Negative reviews lower sales in the minds of bloggers who fear negative reviews lower sales. As you believe, it is so.
Negative and positive reviews do not stir clear, confident, skilled bloggers because clarity, confidence, posture and skills drive sales, not another human being publicly saying you are clear, confident, skilled and posturing.
You never need positive reviews to sell anything if you are clear, confident, skilled and armed with a loyal tribe because their endorsement comes in the form of purchases and/or hires.
Build your tribe to generate a built-in source of return customers and clients who pay little if any attention to positive reviews. Trusting members of your blogging community do not need to be told what they already know; you are credible, trustworthy and skilled.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging, Guest Posts |

This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Freedom has been my prime intent for much of my 10 year blogging career.
I lost my way at times.
But I eventually observed the error of my ways and changed course.
I had to adopt the quality of having blogging posture to live a life of freedom through blogging by making freeing but sometimes highly uncomfortable decisions.
Examples include:
- saying “no” to opportunities eating into my freedom, including time and energy intensive coaching and freelance work
- keeping all interactions online genuine, warm but brief
- opening solely passive income streams
- building my day around personal development first then blogging second
- completely ignoring anyone online non-resonant with my values and core intent
I felt quite scared to make these decisions initially because I feared:
- being criticized for being rude, short, curt or not responding to all messages, chats or comments
- letting go active income streams
- building my business solely on passive income streams
- not putting in enough blogging work since I devoted 3-4 hours to personal development daily
but my love of freedom became stronger than these fears.
Pier Guard Job
I became disgusted working 6 days weeks and more than enough 16 to 18 hour days as a pier guard some 15 years ago. Trading time for money equated to trading my life just to cover the bills and to save a few extra bucks. I feel grateful because this employee experience gave me contrast leading into my professional blogging career. Gaining clarity influenced me to schedule a decent chunk of my entrepreneurial day:
- enjoying travel activities with my wife Kelli
- meditating
- doing Kriya yoga
- doing yin yoga
- sleeping and napping
Re-read the prior bullet points. Even established, pro bloggers sometimes email me inquiring into how I engineered a life of fun, freedom and travel as a pro blogger who circles the globe. Some pros attach themselves to unfailing internet connections, home offices and environments of order, precision and comfort. Meanwhile, many of these folks envy my digital nomad life of circling the globe, internet connections of varying quality, different home offices and regular schedule, routine and time zone changes. I am largely free. Many pros – and a majority of amateurs – are bound.
How do I do it?
I developed posture to live a life of freedom. I never intended to be held captive by an internet connection, client base, home office, blogging routine or NYC Eastern time zone because I observed how such attachments bind, confine and flat out hold most bloggers captive. I put in my time online then get the heck offline to enjoy circling the globe, napping, working on my mindset and spending time with my wife.
Freedom Appears Different to All Bloggers
Some bloggers feel absolutely free rendering service to clients through freelancing or coaching. Follow that path if it feels freeing, fun and fulfilling to you.
But beware when your heart tells you:
“I need to start releasing clients to enjoy a few more hours offline daily. I also need to downsize my client base to enjoy a 1 week vacation without worrying about the 15 hour days I need to put in to keep up with my freelancing or coaching demand the following week.”
At this point, opening more passive income channels or simply tightening your belt by cutting costs are two clear options. I prefer opening passive income channels like:
- writing and self-publishing eBooks
- converting the eBooks to audio books and paperbacks
- creating online courses
- engaging in affiliate marketing
to expand my freedom by not trading time for money.
I still work-blog quite a bit daily but always on my terms. Minus the rare interview I accept I simply never use my alarm, nor do I always remember the day of the week. Time is less of an object to me every day because I chose to do everything blogging-wise to promote my freedom.
Do you need to make the same blanket decision?