Progress Report November 2019
Let me ask you a mind-blowing question! What had these two moments in common? First, the day Mark Zuckerberg came up with the Facebook Idea (in his dorm room) and second the World Cup 2014 Semifinal Germany (vs Brazil), dressing room pre-speech. The answer: Both lead to a massive success AND both are not documented for the public. Just imagine you could be there and see how it unfolded. I don't wanna compare my project to this once in a lifetime moments, but it gave me the inspiration to document my journey and inspire others!
What a month I had! Thank you so much for reading this Blog!
The most important lesson I learned this month: To give my project a launch date and announce it publicly. Either for the blog or now for YouTube. There isn’t a backdoor anymore left. You need to pull it off somehow. It doesn’t matter what and where you start. If it’s a Podcast, an Instagram Channel, a Facebook Group. “Taking Action” is all that matters in the beginning!
Blog Launch (17/10/19)
I had this great idea to write all my 600 Facebook friends a private message. I should have predicted that the almighty Facebook doesn’t like this idea. They blocked my messenger after 150 messages, even I didn’t include the Homepage URL anymore. They needed proof that I wasn’t a “bot” which was sending Spam. After 24 hours they allowed me to send 150 more messages and then the struggle started again…
I realized that many people have a Facebook account, which they don’t use anymore (or rarely). Btw, please leave me your mail address in the box on the right side, so I can reach you with my upcoming newsletter.
The initial launch came with three blogposts and the feedback was great! It was the best day ever with views. Currently, the blog gets +/-25 unique visitors daily. My plan to post 1-2 posts every week worked out. It's much more work then I assumed. From researching keywords, finding copyright-free pictures, proofreading, advertising. There’s a lot of small tasks which causing time.
The sad truth: Not everyone is reading Blogs anymore. Unfortunately. Many people are not aware that Blogs are an underappreciated resource. We are now in a day and age of social media, where we getting some bite-sized, pity wisdom, which is easy to absorb. Also, books are really difficult to read as a modern person, because our attention span went to the floor.
(Additional reading: From waiter to millionaire mindset)
Why YouTube now?
The few videos I posted previously are working extremely well on platforms like FB, Pinterest, IG, and LinkedIn. There wasn’t any excuse, not to use my small momentum. From now on I can combine Videos and Blogposts. Basically, I can do a transcribed Blogpost with the video in it and get a better Google ranking. Anyway, I struggle with SEO, it’s a craft you need to master if you wanna get a bit of traction. It’s a never-ending process of learning. Whenever I think I mastered something, there comes three new tasks and information along the way. Most of them I wasn’t even aware of before. For example, I registered for the German amazon affiliate program but when you are in Germany and you click on my link it transfers you to Amazon UK and there is no commission. It takes time to figure this out…
“Success seems to be connected with Action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but don’t quit.” Conrad Hilton
How about social media?
Every Platform needs different content, the consumption and audience is different. For example, I wanted to do a Infographics for Instagram. Shouldn’t be that difficult. Just a bit of research, some numbers, some template and there you go with your infographic….
Me 30 minutes later:
LinkedIn and Pinterest have still a very organic reach. Instagram and Facebook instead are only useful if you want to pay for it. My Instagram Pictures getting seen by not even 1% of my followers.
On the right top hand corner, there are my social media buttons. Just in case you don’t follow me yet …
What’s coming up?
The last weeks, I was mostly working on my Adobe Premier Pro Skills, to edit YouTube Videos. This software is so complex, it took me ages to get the basics. Plus, the scriptwriting, Thumbnails, Tags, End cards. YouTube is a beast when it comes to the actual work. Hopefully, it will work out next Thursday. You can follow me here already (Link)
I bought a lot of hardware and my new best friend is the Canon EOS M50, which requires a lot of attention as well.
My goals for November/December in progress
(Additional reading: How to make the best of 2019)
Streak: 12/20
Facebook: 207/500 likes
TikTok: 1 Video, but coming more
Yt Channel Launch: 28.11.2019
Blogposts: 11/20
Conclusion
It’s not “skyrocketing science” to start your brand. In the last years, I have been carrying mostly chairs and plates for a living. The transition is a bit tough because I am a bit rusty, but like I said everyone has the skills to do it!
Discipline and focus are the most important tools you have. The more you get distracted, the less you get done. I am still struggling a lot, but there is daily progress and I enjoy doing it.
What I learned in the last month:
- implement a system (all the writing and research in the morning, advertisement and study in the evening)
- be more focused (don’t follow whatever comes to your mind)
- optimize time, to get me more productive (in an upcoming article I will go more in detail about this)
Now, I have work to do.
Game On!
Yours,
Dan Draper
You May Also Like
My YouTube Crimes January/February 2021
Announcement
