When I started this Vlog, I talked about getting to the point where my EntreCourier.com website was starting to get some traction.
How did I get there? What happened?
EntreCourier actually was started in 2018. I posted a few things, never really had any traction, and didn’t feel like it was a good fit for me at the time.
In January of 2019, I resurrected the site. I started posting some things here and there.
Summer of 2019 is when I got serious. I made the commitment to create a podcast. I launched the podcast with a 31 day series of podcast episodes and blog posts. There was a more concerted effort to promote the website, build an email list, and create a social media presence.
All of that and I still didn’t really accomplish much from an earnings standpoint until a month ago.
What was the key?
So what did I do different last month?
See, that’s the thing. It’s not about last month.
It’s about what I’ve been doing for two years. Especially about what I’ve done since July of last year. All those hours, all that work, it’s taken this long.
The thing that made the difference? There are two actually.
Consistency.
Consistency has not been my strong suit when it comes to blogging. I’ve done several blogs, and there’s always be a flurry of activity.
And then radio silence. Nothing. Somewhere I’d try to revive it, then it would fizzle.
I’m going to say that maybe the thing that I did that made more of a difference than anything? Launching my podcast.
I created a sort of accountability in doing that. I built an audience, granted a very small audience. But there are people who listen to that thing consistently.
Every week, I’ve put out an episode. Every week I’ve posted a blog post that’s related to the episode. What I did was force a consistency upon myself.
Some weeks I’ve been able to go crazy with content. Other weeks, life happens. But I’ve always managed to get at least that one post in.
Somewhere along the line, the search engines found the content I was putting up. I think the consistency makes a difference there as well. More stuff, more audience.
Patience
I said consistency isn’t my strong suit?
My personal patience makes consistency look pretty great in comparison.
The two issues probably go hand in hand.
But this is something that was brewing long before I launched EntreCourier. It goes back to some of the plans I started laying out for my Paradigm site. I started reading, listening to folks who are great at building platforms.
And when you get past the language, Gary Veynerchuk always had a way of getting the message through.
Patience.
Build. Create. Build and create some more.
I went into this with an understanding that nothing much was going to happen for awhile. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to happen this quickly. All I wanted to do was provide information that fit what my audience was searching for.
And ask nothing in return.
It works. I’ve watched other content creators and I see the same thing. It works.
There’s no guarantees.
I don’t think there’s a formula.
In some ways I stumbled across some of the stuff that worked with EntreCourier. Part of how I built content was I’d listen for the questions that are out there that I could answer from my business experience.
People ask a question about taxes or insurance on Facebook or in Reddit. I answer. Time and time again I answered the same questions.
At some point I figured I could just write it down somewhere. Then when someone asks a question, I just point them to the article.
It worked great from a search perspective. Because people are Googling those questions. And they’re finding me.
This particular site won’t be able to do that. I don’t come from a background of expertise. I’m just another guy struggling his way through.
Other things may work. This may never get off the ground.
But that’s kinda what I’m doing with starting this series. The same thing that I did when launching my podcast: creating consistency.
And who knows where the patience fits in? Will it be there? How will it work?
That’s what this is all about – documenting the journey as I go.