Getting The Life You Want By Blogging

Posted in Blogging

Late last year I made a decision to get out of my office every day.   Too often I attach myself to a keyboard and refuse to go anywhere.   This is not healthy.  It’s also not the lifestyle that I wanted when I decided to venture into internet marketing.  I imagined, a day of yoga, coffee, a spot of shopping and maybe a little work slotted in between :)

It’s not what I ended up with and it’s my fault.   It’s my fault, because I didn’t design a business around what I want my lifestyle to be.   The good news is that it’s not too late to change :)

When I’m not in mad hyped up product creation mode there are two things that I force myself to do every day to get myself out of the office.   Fist of all, I go for a walk in the morning, (sometimes I even remember to take the dog with me!) and I usually stop off at a cafe and enjoy my first frothy fix of the day.   The second thing I do is go to the gym at night.   It’s not really much of a life – work and exercise,  so that’s when I thought about what can I do to have more of the blogging lifestyle that I dreamed of.

Then the lightbulb went off!
What I need is a site that forces me out of the office each day that I can still call “work”.  Even better, the site should revolve around something that I enjoy doing that was part of my “internet marketing dream lifestyle” plan and it should be possible to do every day (or at least enough to generate great content).

For example, a cafe review site in my area would force me to venture out for a frothy coffee each day (something I love doing) but can still call work.    Best of all I can update the site via my iphone from the cafe and be done for the day.   Because it’s a “business” my coffee is also a tax deduction (this is not accounting advice – speak to your own professionals!).   Perfect.  I get frothy fix and create site while looking at newspaper with trusty iphone by my side.
That’s just one thing that I could do but there are loads of ways that you can enjoy blogging or updating a site without being attached to your computer and making it part of your lifestyle.

Livin’ the dream

One person that always make me envious of his lifestyle is Mark Whitby from Sunrise Over Water.    Every day he wakes up, walks to the beach and takes a snap of the sunrise which is then uploaded to his site.    More often than not that’s followed by a big breakfast at a local cafe (obviously he has worked up an appetite with all that WORK! lol)

A site that I love for its simplicity is  GalahCam.    A simple concept has evolved into a worldwide hit from just feeding the galahs that come to the owner’s property each day.    All the webmaster does is feed the galahs and the 24 hour web cam beams the galahs out to the world for all too watch.    This site has grown from a simple web cam and a packet of bird seed operation to a forum, merchandising centre and allowed the owners to quit the day job.

If you want a site that has taken lifestyle blogging to a new level it has to be Aquabumps.   Aquabumps started out as a photography blog taking photos of the surf in Sydney’s East each day as well as some more exotic locations.   The site has over 100,000 visitors per month who tune in for surf reports, swimmer cam and the beautiful photography.    It has been so successful that the owner has been able to open an additional art gallery for his photography, release a coffee table book and sell prints of his photographs online.    Not bad for doing something you love!

Who would have thought that cooking up a storm on one of the plainest blogs about could have led to the success that the Julia and Julie Project blog did?    Not only did Julie develop a cult following her as she blogged about cooking her way through the Julia Childs cookbook, she also got a book deal, quit the soul destroying day job and it was made into the movie Julia and Julie.    She turned the daily task of cooking dinner into a lifestyle blog and changed her life in the process.

What is your dream lifestyle?

First of all, you need to have a clear idea about what your dream lifestyle really is.   What is it that you would love to do every day that would be of value to cyberspace?    I make no qualms about the fact that I love chocolate ..but could I talk about chocolate every day..probably not.   The thought makes me a little queasy and would, no doubt, send the Gym Police straight to my  door!

Only you can decide what you would have in your dream lifestyle.   Make some notes and come back to this later when you’ve thought it through.  Oddly enough, when I talk about dream lifestyles with most people the things that they want are pretty simple, time to read a book, go horseriding, enjoy coffee with friends.      There’s nothing stopping you from living the dream lifestyle right now.   People like Tim Ferris have spread the word on dream lifestyles and made blogging a part of that.

But, But, But I don’t know what I could do

Yeah, I hear you ….maybe you aren’t blessed like me with a tree full of lorikeets each day, or maybe you can’t take a photo to save yourself but there are things that you can do that incorporate your internet marketing lifestyle dream with a blog.

Here’s some ideas

Like eating out?

Start a restaurant/cafe/takeaway review blog for your area.   People in the community will appreciate your point of view on best places to go.    Sadly most of the restaurant review sites are lacking real human reviewers so this is a great opportunity to make a difference.

Like a night in with a good bottle?

Although the wine and alcohol  market is very competitive there is still room for smaller players if you drill down into niches.   Start a review site, introduce tastings and be imaginative, interview the winemakers, visit the vineyards (it’s work right?)
Just Want To Escape?

Start a blog on short breaks, weekends away, or mid week trips.    You can make relaxing into a work art form and deliver great content at the same time to your niche market.

Want to Natter?

If you really just like being in the know in what’s going on in your area then start a  community news site.   It’s a great way  of spreading the word and providing valuable information to your local area.
Grab A Bargain

Some people just adore bargain shopping and there’s been many successful websites on this theme but they focus mainly on the capital cities and the adult shopper.    Find a niche and a great area and make shopping into a sport!

I’m sure you can think of loads more ideas than what I’ve brainstormed here.    The point is whatever you do, make sure that it is something that is part of your dream lifestyle, gets you out from your computer and gives enjoyment to both yourself and others.

Have fun with WP :)