“If you do really like what you are doing – it doesn’t really matter what it is – you can eventually become a master of it. It’s the only way of becoming the master of something, to be really with it. And then you will be able to get a good fee for whatever it is. So don’t worry too much, somebody is interested in everything. Anything you can be interested in, you’ll find others who are.”

– Alan Watts, What if Money Was No Object

Should young men work hard?

Summer’s over and a lot of people are returning to school or getting their first real jobs.

It’s a stressful time.

Men everywhere are staying up until the wee hours of the morning as they try to meet deadlines and appease their corporate, and academic, masters.

Many of them are starting to wonder whether all of this stress and effort is really worth it.

The answer is “No”

In college I had some milquetoast male feminist professor who spent every English Literature class trying to find cases of sexism where none were present.

Sitting through that class was a pain.

So I didn’t go.

I still passed, and got an “A,” but I only showed up on the required days.

When I should have been listening to my teacher’s leftist drivel I was in the library reading Conrad and Hemingway.

You can spend a lifetime trying to satisfy your indifferent superiors.

They don’t care.

There are plenty of men who showed up early to work and did everything they were supposed to only for some robot or unpaid intern to replace them.

When I worked in a warehouse there were several employees who always went the extra mile.

What did they get in return?

An executive showed up and told everybody that they would not be getting a raise for the next five years.

Some reward.

Those types of situations are fairly common all over the world.

However, young men shouldn’t throw in the towel and give up on life.

The huge mistake that I see a lot of guys making

Numerous young men confuse being lazy with fighting authority or investing in themselves.

“F*ck college. I’m just going to play video games,” is loser talk.

Guys who are avoiding responsibility in order to goof off and delay adulthood are idiots.

Dropping out of school and refusing to get a job so that you can become a YouTube star or professional video game player isn’t a good idea.

If you are going to take an alternative path, you need to be willing to sweat and work hard.

Treat a hobby like your job

It’s 1:44 am as I type these words.

Earlier in the day I was making a free eBook to give you guys. It’s roughly 25 pages of original content and I didn’t have time to write a post.

Instead of falling asleep I’m going to stay up and see my project to the end.

This month I’ve dedicated all my time towards this site. As a result 30 Days To X has become huge. Readership would have never grown if I hadn’t geared up.

Focus on what you’re passionate about. Someone will eventually need your expertise.

If you like fixing motorcycles do that.

There are a million ways to make money. And most of them don’t involve wearing khakis and a cheap tie.

Start investing some time into the things you actually like.

Happiness has to do with where you live

Do you know what I had never seen before moving out west?

Fake boobs.

Guess what happened the first time I was walking down the street and spotted a girl with breast implants?

I spent the next 15 minutes smiling like a fool.

The worst day on the coast is better than the best day in Iowa.

When I lived in the Midwest I was angry and depressed all the time.

It’s an empty place without much for young men.

There are no museums or city parks and nothing is ever going on.

I have more friends, and fun, now than I did during the entire time that I lived in Iowa.

Where you live makes all the difference in the world. Staying in a place that doesn’t inspire you is pointless.

In the grand scheme of things you aren’t going to live very long. There are trees and tortoises with more longevity than you. Wasting 10, or 25, years of your 70-year lifespan on something that makes you miserable is just insane.

Conclusion

You should never risk your health and sanity to make someone else rich.

But you shouldn’t be a lazy slacker either.

Finding something that you love and dedicating yourself to it might sound a little silly and feel-good, but it’s true.

I’m living off thoughts that I posted to the Internet. That’s about as abstract and bizarre as you can get.

Work is always going to be work. I don’t want to sugar-coat anything. But when you’re working on something you love it doesn’t feel nearly as tedious and soul-sucking.

I’d rather do what I want and live where I want than waste my life trying to validate some uncaring corporate entity.

How about you?

“Character is much easier kept than recovered.”

– Thomas Paine

5 mistakes that cost me $15,000

Sitting around and talking about how awesome you are might be fun, but it doesn’t add any value to the lives of others.

That’s why I’ve decided to tell you about five mistakes I made that cost me, at least, $15,000.

I probably lost out on way more but $15,000 was the physical number that I calculated. Missed opportunities and “What ifs” would have made the number significantly higher.

You don’t want to make the same mistakes that I did.

Spare yourself a lot of sleepless nights and low bank accounts by avoiding these pitfalls:

Mistake #1 – Having a big ego

I grew up in Iowa. It’s a state where anyone who doesn’t screw up their life can basically be in the top 25% of all residents.

As long as you don’t get addicted to meth or knock up some girl you’re a winner.

Doing something like lifting weights, reading hard books, traveling to other countries, or working for yourself will pretty much make you king.

In the real world you’re still a nobody, but in Iowa that stuff is almost unheard of.

My ego skyrocketed. I became incredibly cocky and didn’t think that I had to listen to advice from anyone else. In my mind, and compared to most of the people my age, I was king of the world.

But being president of the losers club doesn’t mean much.

Instead of listening to wiser men and taking notes, I was off partying and acting like I actually mattered.

Learning to park my ego is something that’s taken a lot of time, but has allowed me to grow as a person and discover a host of new opportunities.

Most people are smarter than you’ll initially think. And they’ll have something to teach you. Keeping an open mind and trying new things is a major key to success.

If you aren’t growing you’re dying.

Mistake #2 – Failing to control my mental state

In February I had a mini-meltdown and only made $400.

My Fiverr business imploded and I felt defeated.

Instead of taking action, I sat around in my sweatpants and played video games.

Not only did I lose out on an entire month’s worth of earnings, but I also had to start from the bottom once March rolled around.

If you work for yourself you have to control your emotions.

Being unable to do this can lead to financial ruin. You can’t take a personal day, or go cry in the break room. You have to get back in the game as soon as possible.

Mistake #3 – Never saying “No”

“Entrepreneurs should never say ‘no’ to a job” is something that you’ll frequently hear.

This is bull.

Entrepreneurs should never say “yes” to a job they aren’t comfortable with or passionate about, unless it pays great.

There are thousands of shady businessmen who make a living by exploiting talented but naive go-getters.

If you fall into the trap of doing lousy jobs “for the experience,” you are wasting your time.

Whenever someone tries to trick you into doing a job for slave wages you should give them a two-word response. It should start with the letter “F” and end with the word “you.”

Unfortunately I didn’t know that when I was starting out. I ended up doing all kinds of horrible jobs that paid less than minimum wage. They weren’t fun and taught me absolutely nothing.

Mistake #4 – Selling myself short

Gurus like Tim Ferriss love to promote stupid get rich quick schemes.

“Steal content from other blogs and put it into a 2,500 word eBook! Then retire to Jamaica with all your profits!”

If this strategy worked so well, why doesn’t Tim Ferriss use it to promote his own books?

He’s written several and they are all advertised with words like “revolutionary” and “one of a kind.”

I’ve tried writing junk eBooks. They didn’t sell.

I’ve made rip-off websites. Nobody visited them.

Don’t sell yourself short. Strive for excellence and originality. Don’t stoop to the bottom just because you think it will be profitable.

Mistake #5 – Not having enough fun

I once read an article about how Japanese businessmen pretend to fall asleep on the job. This is somehow meant to show that they are hard workers and incredibly loyal to the company.

“What idiots,” I thought.

Then I realized that being miserable and overworked is a badge of honor in America too.

Men actively boast about how much stress their job creates.

And I was in the same boat as all those beaten down dudes.

Writing mountains of content for other websites was killing me. I was on call at all hours and had to work for huge stretches of time. It wasn’t enjoyable.

Being overburdened made it hard for me to meet any of my own goals. Even leaving the house became stressful because it meant that I’d return home and find all kinds of emails from clients. When I was out and trying to have fun my mind was still focused on work. It was like the job went everywhere with me.

This burned me out and I’d end up making stupid decisions.

It also robbed me of time that I should have been using to invest in myself.

What have we learned?

There’s a quote that I recently read: “The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”

It’s true.

Guys like to email me asking how they can make the perfect blog in one week, or how they can earn a million dollars a year off of freelance writing.

They want some secret formula that bypasses hardship and only delivers victory.

Every single time I tell them the exact same thing: “You’re going to fail, and that’s okay.”

You just read an entire 1,000 word blog post about how to avoid my mistakes. You might have taken some notes and thought “That won’t happen to me,” but it will.

You’ll make every single error that I did.

And that’s okay.

Because you’ll pick yourself up and start all over again.

And this time you’ll know what doesn’t work.

And that knowledge will carry you one step closer to success.

“How much do you make from your site?”

– Question I always get asked

How to make a blog that pays for your vacation

Other men frequently send me emails asking how much I make from blogging. Although this is a little rude, I’m happy to answer.

Enough that I don’t have to worry about extra spending money.

I’m not Pat Flynn or Stefan Pylarinos, where I claim to make $50,000 a month of “one weird trick.” But I do well enough that I can go out to eat and see a movie if I want.

Right now I’m living in Lima, Peru and could survive for the rest of my stay off blog money alone. This is a place where a full meal costs $5.

To put this another way, blogging paid for my entire trip abroad (sans airfare and rent).

Was it hard to do?

Not really.

My site gets a lot less traffic than most of the big guys.

I’ve never had a million visitors a month and I don’t actively promote my work. Aside from writing posts I don’t do a whole lot with the site.

Why you could build a site that’s more profitable

One of my most popular posts is titled Not drinking won’t affect your sex life. If you were smarter than me you’d turn this idea into a whole blog on its own. Personally I don’t go to clubs any more, and picking up girls isn’t that big a priority.

But, if you’re a guy who doesn’t drink and likes to go out, this would be a great niche for you.

There are millions of creative things you could do for your site. That’s just one of them.

You could do something else like buy a self-help or fitness book and blog about your progress with it. This isn’t the most original idea, but it could still work.

Is running a blog worth the effort?

After picking my brain about all kinds of technical stuff that I know nothing about, aspiring bloggers almost always ask, “Is it worth it?”

If you’re only in it for the money the answer is no. Getting a part-time job at the mall would probably pay more than your first year of blogging.

Anyone with a passion for their subject matter will do fine. Running 30 Days To X paid peanuts for my first year, but I loved every second of it.

Money grows

Your small earnings get bigger and bigger over time. $10 a month, which would be on the low end of the spectrum, is still an extra $120 a year. $100 or $200 a month, which is pretty easy, will make you enough for a nice vacation anywhere in Latina America or Asia.

Two ways to turn a profit

Another question that I always get asked is, “How can I make money online?”

There are two really easy methods:

• Affiliate marketing

You’re going to buy a lot of stuff throughout the year. Books, movies, video games, soap, this list goes on and on.

A normal person would see this as a burden. You know it’s an opportunity. Programs like Amazon Affiliates let you link products and earn a commission off of every one of them that you sell. You probably won’t make a killing, but you can earn enough to offset your expenses.

I bought a copy of The Boron Letters and really enjoyed it. Posting a review of what I learned from the book allowed me recuperate some of the money I had spent.

• Offer a service

Most of my income comes from the Internet. Copywriting and authoring articles has paid for almost everything I currently own.

If you have a skill there’s no reason that you can’t monetize it online.

You don’t have to do article writing either. You could offer to make artwork, do web design, or provide consultations.

Tons of bloggers have been successful with this.

Two ways to build more traffic

The third most frequently asked question that I get is, “How do I get more pageviews?”

Two of the most effective tactics are as follows:

• Publish daily

Since the start of the month I’ve been posting new content twice a day. This might be a little excessive, but it has driven traffic up considerably. Readers want something new. If you don’t publish they don’t show up. It’s that simple.

• Link to others

I wrote an article about James Altucher’s great college advice. Once it was up I Tweeted the article to him. He shared it with his 114 ,000 followers. My readership increased.

You can’t be annoying or spammy, but doing something like this can improve your traffic.

If you see something you like share it. And don’t be a afraid to credit the author.

Where to store your profits

All my blogging money goes into a special savings account. This makes it easy for me to keep track of my earnings. You could put it with the rest of your cash, but I really wouldn’t recommend this.

Depending on where you live you can declare your site to be a side business. This means that any expenditures you have, like buying a domain name or ordering books to review, can be used as tax write-offs.

I’m not an expert on this subject, but it’s something that anyone with a blog should look into. Being able to keep track of expenses and revenues can lead to some major savings during tax season.

“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.”

– Abraham Lincoln

You don’t have to be creative to make money

If you run a blog most of your content is going to be unoriginal.

This doesn’t mean that you went out and stole from someone else.

You might not even know you did it.

Your unoriginal content might even be hailed as “revolutionary” and “unique.” It’s happened before.

The 4-Hour Workweek doesn’t have a single fresh idea in it. People have been outsourcing jobs to others since the dawn of time. Anyone who has ever eaten at a restaurant or hired a plumber has “outsourced” a task.

Despite this the book managed to expose people to ideas they had never considered before and changed plenty of lives.

How to find interesting information

Unless you choose to blog about a super obscure niche, like the best harmonicas for cat owners, you will be facing some stiff competition.

Lifting weights, making money, politics, and traveling are all over-saturated markets. A guru would probably tell you to avoid these at all costs.

And that would be a huge mistake.

You might have a lot of competition, but how many of your rivals actually have good content?

Men’s Health is one of the big guns in the fitness/dating/fashion genre. They have millions of dollars to spend on content and marketing. Big-name celebrities show up to do interviews with them and they have all kinds of “exclusive” content from exercise gurus.

Do I read them?

Of course not.

That site sucks. The content might, theoretically, be useful, but it’s presented horribly. There are plenty of one man operations that can run circles around this giant.

The overall tone and delivery is too politically correct and generic, making it impossible to stick around. Articles like “Why you need to take gym advice from your girlfriend” disengages guys like myself and keeps us from coming back.

Being a big name isn’t all that

30 Days To X is in the top 300,000 websites worldwide. I’m closer in popularity to Facebook than I am some obscure niche site.

With that said, there are a ton of great blogs and writers that are bigger than me. 30 day challenges aren’t that unique and plenty of bigger guns have done them. Yet there are a lot of people who prefer this site’s tone and content.

With zero marketing and almost no knowledge of how SEO works, I’ve still cultivated a great group of readers.

Writing about a topic in a saturated market isn’t always a death sentence. Blogging about something that has been done to death won’t ruin you either.

As long as you have a unique voice and deliver interesting content you’ll be fine. People have favorite authors for a reason. They like their style and they like their personality.

Stephen King wasn’t the first guy to ever write horror stories. A skeptic might have said that the market was too crowded, people have been scaring each other for fun for as long as humanity has existed, but King eventually grew and became the horror icon. By injecting stories with his own personality he was able to give himself a unique angle in the genre.

Even when King tackled “generic” stuff like vampires or swamp monsters, he let his voice and style transform the subject into something new and one of a kind.

If you like exercise, or movies, or giving dating advice, there’s no reason not to start a blog about it. You might not have the marketing team and bankroll of a major corporate website, but you can still win fans with your personality.

“When you stop growing you start dying.”

– William S. Burroughs, Junky

What I did to double site traffic

I had a problem. Readership was falling on my site. While I was getting more traffic than the previous year, things were drying up pretty quickly.

It would have been easy for me to make up excuses and brush this off but I decided that some changes were in order.

Instead of being content with defeat I was going to gear up and strike back.

Once I put my foot down and decided to take action a funny thing happened, readership increased 156% in less than a week.

This happened without me spending a dime or even actively promoting anything. I didn’t hire an SEO firm or buy backlinks. I just made a few changes to my own blogging style and watched the traffic skyrocket.

5 factors that grew my readership

The are a few things that really helped me to grow. While I’m probably forgetting something, I’ve listed five of the biggest components below:

1. Better headlines

Creating headlines used to be something that I was horrible at. I always tried to write them like they were song titles. Vague and not too descriptive. While a musician like Lana Del Rey or The Weeknd can get away with one word titles, a blogger cannot.

People want to know what they are getting into when they click a link. If you want to expand your readership you shouldn’t act like you are too cool to write a descriptive headline. “What I did to double site traffic (and how this can help you)” might not be as artistic as something like “Seeing doubles,” but it lets the reader know what the article is going to be about.

2. Deeper posts

Some of the newer posts that I’ve written are longer than a lot of eBooks.

This is great because it allows readers to have something useful. It would be easy for me to simply pump out a 500 word article about something generic, but I’ve been making sure that each post gives you plenty of information on whatever topic is being discussed.

In blogging, and I know this from my experience as a freelance writer, there’s a huge debate as to whether you should write short posts or long ones. A lot of companies prefer fewer words and more pictures due to the fact that their readerships aren’t particularly intelligent.

30 Days To X readers are go-getters and smart people. Making a 300 word post with lots of pictures and animations isn’t something you’d want to see here. I took a risk and made my posts longer. It paid off.

3. Varied content

Not everyone wants to read about blogging. Likewise, there are people who don’t care about stuff like fitness. In order to appeal to more people I added a lot of variety to my content.

Having posts about fitness, strategies for socially awkward entrepreneurs, and tips for staying motivated all appeal to different types of people.

Someone who might not necessarily like one article can find two or three others that interest them.

4. Providing value

Every new article gives the reader something useful.

Instead of just posting content for the sake of having something new, all articles have a purpose.

There’s nothing wrong with entertainment, but giving back is much more important.

If you want more people to read your work you have to give them a reason to visit your site. “Entertainment” might work well for a major place like BuzzFeed, which has hundreds of employees to ensure that people see their content, but it won’t work well for an independent writer.

You have to create something that’s actually worth reading.

5. Timely articles

The second I heard about Lindy West’s “resignation,” $100 says that she was actually forced to quit, I jumped online and wrote an article about it.

If I wrote that a week from now it would be a non-story. Right now its hot news.

When you see an opportunity you have to take it. Waiting around isn’t going to bring you anything.

How you can apply this to your own blog

Blogging and making money online are two subjects that are surrounded with misinformation and lies. There are all kinds of snake-oil salesmen out there who loves separating you from your wallet. Spending $19.99 for a lame eBook, or $40 for some lousy seminar, isn’t going to help you. I know because I’ve fallen victim to these scams on several occasions.

Instead of getting duped into purchasing some shoddy products, try to use the tactics that I’ve listed above. Even something as simple as writing good headlines or penning longer posts can really help to improve your readership.

Little changes like these can have a huge impact on traffic.