Another Brick in The Wall
Hello, friends!
This week, I focused on answering as many Quora questions as possible. I’ve become more confident and gotten quicker at doing so. I’m getting better at finding questions to answer. What I’m doing is typing “affiliate” in the Quora search box. That brings a menu of six affiliate marketing profiles in a drop-down menu. I pick one. Then under the profile description are three buttons: Read, Answer, and Most Viewed Writers. I click on “Answer”. Then I scroll through the questions until I find a question I can answer well.
I must give a shout-out to Grammarly. It has been a great deal of help when writing the answers. First, I write a sketch of my answer, then press the Grammarly button to get tips on writing more clearly. It saves me time. I may have been an English teacher, but my rough drafts are rough! I feel better about putting my answers “out there” much faster than I would otherwise.
So, here’s the tricky part. This week has required faith. I know eventually, I will build traffic. Finally, I will make my first dollar. I’ve had to narrow my focus to answering one question at a time. I’ve had to “put the blinders on” (similar to race horses) so I don’t get overwhelmed by my hopes of success. It is daunting to put so much work and effort into a task that has shown no reward as yet. But, I am so eager to make a substantial income on my own again that I am excited. I put pressure on myself, too; I want to succeed already! But that’s not helpful.
My mentor told me a story this week that he attributed to Will Smith. Will’s father (Dean didn’t remember if this is a true story or if it happened in a movie) told him success is like laying a brick wall. You don’t set out to build a perfect wall. You would fail. You focus on laying one perfect brick. Then you lay the next perfect brick. Then you lay the next perfect brick. In time, you’ve laid out the bricks for a perfect wall.
I realized my efforts on Quora will be cumulative. It will be rare for someone to read one answer I’ve written and go to my blog. People will likely read multiple answers I gave and get curious before they click on my profile. So I’ll repeatedly provide the most helpful answer I can, over and over again. That makes me feel better. It takes some of the pressure I feel off.
What advice would you give to someone working toward that first dollar? Have you made yours, yet or are you still working towards it? If you have had that first taste of success, how did it feel to prove to yourself that you could make money online?
Thanks for sharing in my journey,
Nakina