I’ve wanted to start a blog for a very long time. I’ve purchased no less than 5 URL’s and began a blogging project only to shut it down. Why?

I was listening to the “experts” who told me to niche down. From among my interests, I chose a niche and began.

The next thing I knew I was bored.

If you read my Freedom post, you know my life mission statement says that I like to explore opportunities. Being stuck in one niche felt very limiting.

Then I came across Dan Koe (you can check him out here). His advice was quite different. He has built his blogging success by combining fitness, business, and spirituality.

How do those things even fit together? Read his blog.

Your Interests Are What Make You Interesting

His interests are what make him interesting. His blog header literally states “Explore Your Curiosity” and that is what he does.

His advice? Write about whatever interests you. If it’s not working for you don’t quit, pivot.

I clicked into one of his posts in my feed because it had something to do with blogging, but then I stayed because, in a very casual way, he had included a reference to the law of attraction.

That was different. He referenced another area that I am interested in.

Dan and I are different people. He’s very young, drops the “f” bomb freely, and is at the start of his earning years. Whereas I’m middle age, rarely see the need to swear, and near the end of my earning years.

Although we have very little in common at first glace his advice resonated with me. He was authentic.

The more I learned about him, the more I respected his approach to blogging, business, and life.

He is a great example of doing life (and blogging) your own way. He shares his business journey which is a lot like my journey to simplicity.

He didn’t want to do life the way his peers were. He had different ideas.

And, just like my journey to simplicity, it worked out for him. Really well.

He started building an online business while still in university and, by following his own path, has build himself a business he loves.

I started to simplify my life after the end of a 20 year relationship and, by doing so, have build a life I love.

Be a Real Life Example

Dan is a real life example of what I wanted to be/have/do.

All my other blogging attempts failed because I’m not just interested in one thing. Look how varied some of the URL’s that I have owned have been:

• • exploretinyliving.com
  • bebravebeauthentic.com
  • sidegigchallenge.com
  • buckleuplist.com
  • canadianscholarshipsmadeeasy.com

That is not the list of a gal who is only interested in one thing!

Trying to stick to topics that held me to only one interest was NEVER going to work for me.

Every “how to pick a blog topic” post that I ever read talks about choosing your niche and niching down.

Those posts will even tell you which niche to pick. Health & fitness, finances & investing, dating & relationships seem to be among the top 3 – none of which interest me much.

Today I’m interested in simple living and (because of my work in a nursing home) aging well and what retirement could look like.

Tomorrow? Who knows what I will be interested in.

Dan has shown me how being interested in all the things can work and that you don’t have to niche down.

Simple living is like this too, as is aging well, and retirement.

There isn’t one right way to do it. This applies to everything.

The Only Way to Success?

Too often in life we get a preconceived notion from the experts (whoever they are – parents, teachers, employers, co-workers, friends, marketing influencers, etc.) about how to do life.

We become convinced there is only one way to do anything right.

We can feel like we are lacking what is really needed to be successful at anything.

What utter nonsense.

• • To begin blogging I felt like I had to pick the perfectly niched blog topic.
  • To simply my life I felt like I had to live off-grid, in a tiny house, and own 33 items.
  • To have a successful career I felt like my car, home, and vacation location choices had to reflect my salary level.

I’ll say it again. What utter nonsense.

The idea that there is one right way to do anything is a myth.

I’m not saying that you should feel badly if your idea of success is a nice car and a nice home. Of course not!

What I am saying is that it is important to make sure that it is your idea of success and not one that was handed to you.

It is so easy to fall into the mind-trap that there is only one way to success.

I had figured this out for simple living.

I stopped living life like most of my peers and started living in a way that felt successful and meaningful to me.

Yet here I am back at the beginning when starting a blog thinking the only way to get there is to follow the experts and niche down when (5 attempts later) that clearly wasn’t working for me!

The Real Way to Success

For some reason I need to keep re-learning my life lessons.

Am I the only one?

I have learned in life that the best way to be successful at anything is to just begin.

This is, in fact, the title of my very first blog post: Just Begin.

• • The circumstances don’t need to be perfect.
  • You don’t need to be an expert.
  • You don’t need all the gear/tools/apps before you start.
  • Your skills are transferrable.
  • You can learn to do while doing (my rural friends may recognize this as the 4-H motto).
  • The focus should be on the journey, not the outcome. It’s okay to fail.

I have repeatedly applied this to my life; starting a new job, learning skills, trying a new hobby, or starting out on any new adventure like simplifying my life or starting a blog.

The stars do not have to be perfectly aligned.

All you really need to do to be successful at anything is to forget about how everyone else is doing it and give yourself permission to begin.

Permission Granted.

The doing matters. It doesn’t matter what you are doing.

If you don’t start, you can’t be successful at it.

If you don’t start, the outcome is guaranteed failure.

By starting you will make mistakes. Your mistakes are how you learn more.

By starting you will begin to see what is and isn’t working.

By starting your ideas will grow, informed by real-life feedback.

By starting, your ideas are validated – or not.

Thanks, Dan, for being a real-life example of ignoring what everyone else was doing, following your own interests, and reminding us that there are many pathways to success if we stop holding ourselves back with our pre-conceived notions.

Cheers to success my friends!