The Final (and most crucial) Single Step to Profiting from Your Blog (hint: it has nothing to do with the web)

07 Feb The Final (and most crucial) Single Step to Profiting from Your Blog (hint: it has nothing to do with the web)

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

― E. James Rohn (Jim Rohn)

*Note: This week marks the final part to our “Monetizing Your Passion Online” series.

I can’t believe how much fun feedback I’ve gotten on these few posts. Glad it’s been helpful! And keep an eye out because later this week I’m going to share my full checklist that lead to a $31k product launch. It will be a free PDF download for you all 😉

Now it’s time to talk about the most fundamental and game-changing step of all…

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The one practice that makes all the difference.

Last week the Live Your Legend community hit a pretty exciting milestone.

It reminds me that when it comes to building anything, there is one thing that matters more than any other. But first a little recap of what happened:

I gave an incredibly fun talk to LoveSpring, a group started by the founders of TEDxSF that consists of a bunch of passionate entrepreneurs and world-changers in SF. The topic was on Making the Impossible Your New Normal. I hope to have the audio of it for you all soon. It was a true honor. Anyone in SF has got to check this group out. Thanks Taylor and Christine for the opportunity!

It all comes back to the people around you.

This event ended up highlighting one thing above all others that allows us operate on a level higher than we could ever imagine.

We’ve covered a ton in the past weeks. Everything from how this site makes money, to how to build a blog that actually matters, and then how to convert that passion into an online business. The combined length of those posts has been nearly 10,000 words – some people sell eBooks book that are that long. I’ve tried to give you everything I could.

I really want you to be successful – I want you to Live Your Legend.

But there’s one thing I left out. One thing that made all the difference.

It’s the one and only reason this site is what it is.

As I mentioned last month, for four years this site had zero growth. It stayed at 111 followers with dismal traffic, zero comments and everythig else that would make a wannabe web entrepreneur throw in the towel (and maybe even vomit on it).

Then I had a breakthrough.

One single thing happend just under two years ago that changed everything.

Since then, this site has grown by 160x, has turned into a business that comfortably supports my wife and me, had a product launch that sold over $30k in the first month (more on that later this week) and now has a community of tens of thousands of followers that come by to support our revolution every month.

Ready for the one thing responsible for it all?

The. People. Make. All. The. Difference.

If you take nothing else from this site, from the tens of thousands of words I share with you each month totally for free, please take this one concept to heart…

The people, the relationships, the network, the connections, are what did it.

It was my constant desire, interest and borderline obsession to surround myself with the most passionate and inspirational people I could find.

For those 4 years when I had zero traction, I also happened to know exactly zero people online.

I knew no one who was doing what I had dreamed about doing. I didn’t have discussions or trade ideas with anyone. In fact many of the friends and people I did hang around didn’t get why I spent so much of my time on this website that wasn’t going anywhere (little did they know I wasn’t doing it for the money – I was doing it to come alive, but that’s another discussion).

A number of them even made fun of me. So I talked about what I did even less.

Then two years ago something interesting happened. 

I moved to San Francisco and started to meet dozens of people who had these simple websites (I later found out they were called blogs) that supported not only them but their families and incredible lifestyles. Three stand-outs, who have since become good friends, are Corbett Barr, Jonathan Fields and Leo Babauta.

My mind was blown, and I was inspired.

So I spent as much time as I could around dozens these people – they also happend to be really good ladies and gents whom I enjoyed having as friends.

Every week I’d meet some of them for beers, dinner, online chats or skype sessions.

I also joined the A List Blogging Club and spent hours upon hours meeting people in the online forums.

I was building meaningful and inspiring relationships as fast as possible – both online and off.

I constantly traded ideas with all these folks.

Then something really crazy happened. 

The more I heard their stories of success, adventure and possibility, the more I wanted it for myself.

Suddenly almost everyone around me had successful and passionate online businesses.

Before meeting this new community I used to ask myself “how could I possibly build a business out of this little website.”

But after hanging out with them, my question changed…

I suddenly began asking “How could I not build this into a successful business?”

It not only seemed possible, it seemed likely. That’s when magic starts to happen.

Within 6 months of meeting my new friends, this site grew by 10x. Within two years it’s now grown over 160x.

None of it would have happened without the people. None of it. 

You must brainwash the impossible.

The fastest way to start doing something you don’t think can be done, is to start hanging out with people already doing it.

That was the only difference between those stagnant four years and the utterly amazing last too.

There is nothing more importnat. Nothing!

You MUST surround yourself with passionate and inspiring people who believe the impossible is not only possible, but a way of life.

That is the fastest and most likely route to long-term success.

Find them in person, at work, at school or at your gym. Any and everywhere.

Start with one.

Many people neglect this step and for that reason don’t know where to start (and likely never get anywhere). But there’s seriously nothing more importnat. Get this right and the rest falls into place.

It’s simple. Start with one person.

Who in your life inspires you? Who do you admire? Who have you always looked up to or secretly been envious of what they have? Seek them out. Spend time with them.

Passion people hang out with other passionate people so as soon as you meet one I guarantee you’ll start to meet more. Ask them who else they know and watch the snowball form.

Nothing meaningful ever happens on it’s own. Get out from behind your computer and start brainwashing the impossible.

Everything was impossible until someone did it.

Think Nikola Tesla & Thomas Edison and what’s lighting your room right now. The Wright Brothers and how you got to your last vacation destination. Or Roger Banister and the 4-minute mile.

Or how about that crazy guy who wanted to put our whole world into a phone like the planet had never seen. The chip makers said it was physically impossible to create a chip with that much power that was small enough to fit in the phone he was imagining. It needed to be 1/4 the size. Steve Jobs said do it anyway.

Many of us now carry one of those ‘impossible’ chips around in our pocket every day.

Or on the more personal side:

• I thought swimming from Alcatraz couldn’t be done until I saw a group of 67 twelve-year old kids do it, then I couldn’t say no.
• I thought running a barefoot ultra marathon at elevation would cause my legs and feet to fall off (at the very least), until I hung around a bunch of people who did the stuff all the time. Then I crossed the finish line.
• I thought it’d be impossible to hike with a 50-lb pack for more than a few days in a row until my parents signed me up for a 14-day Outward Bound trekking adventure at 13 years old.
• I thought work was supposed to be prioritized over happiness right up until I spent a year living and working in Sevilla, Spain, and discovered the opposite might be a more useful strategy.
• And I of course thought having a web business, that supported my lifestyle and also helped the world in the exact way I felt I was meant to help, was a joke. At least until all my friends started doing it. Then it seemed obvious.

Surround yourself with so much evidence and proof that failure becomes nearly impossible. 

That single practice will absolutely change your world.

We need a community to make the impossible our new normal.

And that’s why we’ve poured our heart and soul into creating our flagship How to Connect with Anyone course and community as well as our totally free Live Your Legend LOCAL meetup groups that now has monthly meetups in over 150 cities in 48 countries around the world. Find one near you!

Everything was impossible until someone did it. Everything.

Everything you thought you could not do, changed the moment you crossed that line.

Surround yourself with the people who are living squarely in their dreams and you’ll start to live in yours.

No equation is more simple. No equation is more powerful.

Look around you.

Do the people you see inspire you?

Perhaps it’s time for a change.

We’re here to help.

-Scott

Click here for a list of our best articles on Building Genuine Connections & Surrounding Yourself with the People Who Refuse to Let You Fail.

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Images courtesy of  tropicaLiving & foxspain