I have toyed with the title to no end on this post. Originally, I was thinking online only, and a ton of the mechanics here are about the online elements. However, the online aspects are predicated on you having a sense of purpose, even if it is a loose sense, and more importantly a willingness to get started.
I mentioned on an earlier post that if we are not cultivating our own brand and tying it out to an established online beachhead – the ability to do so with the current ease of execution we enjoy today – will be largely diminished in the next three years.
The window is closing folks.
So how to get started?
How to keep it going?
What about inspiration?
Let’s take each question head on.
Getting Started
This can be a post unto itself. I’ll start with the most important part with some tips and mechanics to get you equipped with tools to actually execute it right now.
Step 1 – Decide to take action, and then do something.
It can be anything from this list, it could be something more appropriate to your situation. Get going already.
Step 2 – Get a domain name
I firmly believe you must have your own online domain that is a ‘.com’ URL/site. Ideally, you have an unusual name like mine, which can make securing your named site very easy. If you cannot, then you will need to play around with this a bit. Maybe take your full name inclusive of your middle name – such as – www.markangelobadeau.com .
Where to go to get your search on? I’ve switched over to Blue Host, I have used Go Daddy in the past, and I have found that Blue Host is simpler and a bit cheaper. For blogging purposes, they can get you setup with WordPress in less than an hour from the time you secure your domain name.
Search for your domains here.
Step 3 – Start up a WordPress enabled site.
This is a choice you can readily make with Bluehost as you purchase your domain.
You can decide on a particular theme which will apply a global look and feel to your site, along with an initial site structure. If you can use Microsoft Word, you can use WordPress. They have pre-set site structures aimed at certain types of sites you could want – blogs, online portfolios, online shops, etc – they are all in the WordPress catalog. You can also purchase designs and layouts that are less common, there is always time to go upmarket, right?
The point here is this – select a style and layout and move on quickly to getting the content going. You can reskin your entire site with a new theme at a later point.
This site has been reskinned at least three times since I launched it. All of your content remains intact. Gone are the days are paying $$$ for a new design if you are okay purchasing preset designs that you can tailor.
Step 4 – Consider what you would like to say.
It can be about anything that you think you could write about, or talk about, or video about. Can you take a focused half hour on the topic and get it down on paper and out of your head? Pick a couple of topics like this.
Do not worry about correctness or completeness.
You are just picking topics. Once you have 3-5 ideas, you are ready to start writing.
Step 5 – Get writing
Set aside an hour. Or 30 minutes, or whatever you can commit to in terms of a focused, non multitasking window.
Get it down, either on paper or in Evernote (which is where I started writing back in September) or directly within the WordPress site (which is where I write for this blog now).
At the end of the time you set aside, stop writing. Do not edit it. Hard stop the writing.
Tomorrow, I’ll talk about editorial calendars, and voice cultivation as a topic. The point in all of this is operating with an imperative for action. Getting started is more important than anything else.
All of the steps above can be completed within 3 hours, I know because I did so back at the end of September in a night of inspiration after a couple of people very close to me called me out for talking a good game and doing nothing tangible to get my message out…
Closing Thoughts
If you have not spent anytime on establishing a stated mission or goal in terms of your designed life – that’s totally okay. I’m making the argument at the moment that most of us have grand intentions, but limited plans for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is life being lived by the playbook, sometimes we are too busy, many times we are ill equipped to get started – the notion of revisiting fundamentals like this – is daunting and overwhelming.
I’m very much convinced that people would absolutely love to get their vision, mission, goals, and to do’s established if there were a very consumable format for doing so. Perhaps a framework to get it going? This is something I have been and will continue to work on.
In my testing of this adjunct material is this – action is the most important element in all of it. Starting enables motion and momentum, and from there you can course correct. There is no ability to course correct if you are not already in motion.
