Tuesday night i had the privileged of speaking with a big blogging inspiration of mine: Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome.com. For some time now, I’ve been peeping Pat from afar, studying his style, and observing how he’s been crushing it with killer content on his blog.
In fact, i actually got the idea of stepping into new territory and documenting the entire Gary Vaynerchuk challenge process from something i saw Pat pursuing. I’ve followed Pat’s blog as a guiding star for rocketing me into unknown cyberspace.
I was so super-hyped up after our conversation that i had to capture and share some of the excitement. Here you have it homey…
A couple of cool things that struck me about Pat prior to the call were:
- He went from being laid off 2 years ago to making over $200,000 last year through blogging. Bonkers!
- Dude is 27 years old – he’s got fresh meat written all over his forehead.
- Pat doesn’t claim to be some super genius but simply shares what he’s learning about creating an extraordinary blog and life. Kinda’ like me.
- He is ultra-transparent on his blog. Whether it’s pictures of him and his puppy or detailed monthly income reports, what you see is what you get. Got it? Good, good.
- A personal phenomenon of mine is how captivating i find his site to be. Although there isn’t one particular thing that screams to my soul on his blog, i really enjoy browsing around and engaging in his articles. It feels kinda’ homey-ish.
“Success Leaves Clues”
Tony Robbins’ mentor Jim Rohn used to say “success leaves clues.” That being said, I’m a HUGE fan of studying successful people. Whether its Gary Vaynerchuk, Brian Johnson, or even my old boss turned friend and mentor – finding someone who has been successful in what you’re looking to do is *key*!
Pat has definitely accomplished some amazing things that i too plan on doing. Since the Jets game with Gary is coming in less than 3 weeks, i decided to really refine Sensophy’s purpose. I wanted to get even more clarity on how i can make the most positive impact in people lives while continuing to grow mine.
I felt a deep calling to reach out to Pat and chat with him. Although i’ve been following Pat for some time now, we’ve had very little communication and he had no knowledge of who i was.
I shot him an email which was not as bold as the Gary Vee email but definitely had the same characteristics. If the formula works well, well, why change it? As you can tell, the email got threw to him!
You may be wondering what some of the major conclusions that we came to were. Besides a ridiculously generous overview of my site design and how i can improve it, Pat assisted with his expertise in these areas:
1. What is my niche and who is my audience?
Pat categorized Sensophy as being in the “personal development” niche. An interesting observation of his was that my style is very “balls to the walls” while other sites in the personal development department lean more toward “taking out the garbage”. An example that Pat gave of the common laid back style was to look at Leo from ZenHabits.net. However obvious it was, I found this to be a really cool observation on his part.
I’m going to continue to play with ways where i can differentiate myself from the crowd using this trait positively. I admit that a lot of the excitement i express comes from the nerves of cracking my comfort zone but i believe that i’ve found a way to alchemize those nerves into gold.
2. When and what is the best way to monetize?
The purpose of monetizing Sensophy is to support and grow my current lifestyle. Pat and I both came to the same conclusion here: don’t rush it! I’m currently collecting unemployment which is enabling me to dedicate my days to Sensophy. I trust that as i keep creating value with my time, financial freedom will slowly start to trickle into my life. Maybe it’s a little “balls to the walls unrealistic” to trust in the spiritual side of finance, but i whole heartedly believe this. In fact, i believe it to the point where i would bet my life on it – oh wait, i am doing that!
So why wait? Why not just start putting affiliate links and products on Sensophy now? Well, simply because i don’t want the content to start to slack because my mind is focused on building my bankroll prematurely. So for now, i’ll continue to grow the Sensophy community and listen to what you guys say you’re looking for. When the time is right, i’ll figure out how i can create a nice (ok, really nice!) income doing this.
With that being said…
All in all, it was really reassuring to hear that i was on the right path. Especially since this came from someone who traveled a similar path in such a noble manner. It seems Pat and I have some similar personal philosophies about the way we conduct our lives. I mean, the dude gave me (a “no-name” to him) 40 freaking minutes of his time for free! If that doesn’t exemplify serving people, what does?!
One thing to note is the opportunity to have this chat with Pat (and the bat in the hat) wouldn’t have presented itself if i didn’t do the Gary Vee challenge. That is a perfect example of not being able to “connect the dots” looking forward but truly trusting that they will somehow connect looking backwards.
Boo ya ka sha baby!!
(possibly my new signature)