The Secret to a Successful Writing Career (Is Not What You Think) http://ift.tt/1Dut8Gr @jeffgoins #blogging

Do you want to know what the secret to a successful career in just about any field is? It’s failure.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com.

As a writer, I’ve had to learn this first hand. What I discovered through the process is that we often misinterpret the message of failure.

Most of us treat failure like it’s an enemy, an obstacle to be avoided. But that’s missing the point. Failure is a friend dressed up like an enemy.

We think that when we fail, we are moving away from success, but we’re actually moving toward it — that is, if you fail in the right way. So what’s the right way to fail?

I love telling people my current blog was my ninth attempt at blogging. What happened to the other eight, you ask? Well, they were total flops. That’s right — I had to fail eight different times before succeeding once. Turns out, this isn’t as rare as you might think.

Einstein worked in the patent office for the greater part of a decade before creating his first breakthrough success. Steve Jobs was fired from the company he started, launched a failed startup, and drifted from one project to the next for ten years before returning to Apple to rescue it from bankruptcy.

But of course, these men weren’t just biding their time. They weren’t waiting for the world to notice them. They were practicing. And that’s the secret to using failure to ultimately succeed.

What failure taught me about writing

It took me seven years to learn a simple lesson that made a world of difference. After years of frustration, I finally figured out why those other attempts at making it weren’t working. Now, I see others making this same costly mistake.

We think getting your work noticed is about chasing trends or finding the right topic. I certainly did. A slave to the whims of the masses, I would pursue any idea or approach to writing that would win me some eyeballs. But the more I did this, the more I felt like I was dying inside.

I wasn’t writing from the heart, and it showed. Virtually nobody read my stuff, and even fewer people liked it. Feeling like a fake, I was about to give up when I discovered an important truth, something I had been overlooking since I began writing.

One day, I was sharing my struggles and frustrations with another writer, complaining about why nobody was noticing me. I kept switching topics, starting and stopping blogs every few months, hoping for a breakthrough.

And my friend finally put me in my place, telling me, “Jeff, good writing is about finding the right topic. It’s about finding the right voice.”

Good writing isn't about finding the right topic. It's about finding the right voice.

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This simple realization brought passion back to every word I wrote. It helped me tap into the power of my own unique voice and gave me confidence to share it. Suddenly, I didn’t have to be like anyone else. I could be myself and trust that someone would read it.

And it wasn’t long before people did just that.

Connecting your work with an audience

The truth about failure is that when if you are learning, you aren’t really failing. This was especially true for both Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs.

During his years of working in the patent office when the world failed to recognize his genius, Einstein would routinely meet with an intellectual group of peers who challenged him in his thinking and helped him mature in his theories.

After he was fired from Apple, Steve Jobs led a small animation company called Pixar and launched NeXT Computer, which created the operating system that runs every Apple device today.

Both men were revolutionaries in their own right and succeeded because of how they not only approached failure, seeing it as an opportunity, but also in how they used it to their advantage.

Sadly, most writers don’t do this. They try to imitate someone else’s success, copying the strategies of someone they admire. They neglect the opportunities failure provides and chase after the dream of tomorrow instead of doing the work of today.

But what if you did something different? What if instead of waiting to be noticed, you used whatever opportunity you have today to make an impact? What if, like Einstein, you created your own network so that you could start honing your skills today — regardless of how bad your luck might be?

What if, like Jobs, you used failure as competitive advantage, and spent some time finding your voice, figuring out what you wanted to say, and how to serve someone else with your skills? What if you started doing the kind of work you could be proud of?

Well, then you just might be on your way to finding your tribe.

Three lessons on finding your tribe

A tribe of dedicated followers and fans is a powerful thing.

This is what allows you to publish a book or start a business. It’s what can lead to that career change or the distinctive that makes your work stand out. As Seth Godin has written many times, people are banding together in tribe all around the world. And in today’s world, you can’t succeed without one.

There are three lessons I learned from my failure as a writer the ultimately helped me succeed. Maybe they’ll help you, too.

1. Don’t chase trends. Write what you want to read. What resonates with you just might resonate with an audience. This is a far more secure way to approach your craft than just doing the popular thing.
2. Don’t try to find the right topic. Find the right voice, and let the rest of the work come. This is the secret to doing sustainable work you can be proud of that allows you to shift your focus over time (if you so desire).
3. Don’t follow passion alone. Find your tribe by making your work matter to others. Do the hard work of serving your audience and trust the readers will come (because they will).

The secret behind the world’s most successful and creative communicators is they all have a worldview: a perspective that makes them unique, and therefore, worth following.

Getting people to care about your work is tough. It really is. But it isn’t impossible. There is a way out of this rat race, one that allows you to not feel like a fake while still getting the attention your message deserves. And it starts with you finding your tribe.

Start here

As you may know, my online course Tribe Writers (where we teach you how to get your writing noticed) opened this week for registration. This only happens a couple times a year, so if you’re looking to become a better writer, build an audience, and get your work published, check it out.

If you join before midnight tomorrow (August 6), you’ll get three exclusive bonuses AND save hundreds of dollars. Here’s what we have:

Bonus #1: The Book Launch Crash Course by Tim Grahl (a $50 value)

In this course, you’ll learn everything from Tim Grahl who has helped launched numerous #1 New York Times best-selling books about what it takes to launch your book the right way.

The Rapid List-Building Course by Bryan Harris (a $225 value)

In this online membership site, you’ll get the basics on what it takes to go from 0 to 100 subscribers quickly. Bryan Harris is my go-to guy on list-building, and you won’t be disappointed with the value here.

Learn Scrivener Fast Student Level by Joe Nicoletti (a $127 value)

It’s no surprise I’m a big Scrivener fan. And I know of no one who is a greater expert at it than Joe Nicoletti. In this online membership program, you’ll get all the basic videos on how to get started with Scrivener and use it to create blog content, write screenplays, or work on your next book.

This is in addition to the hundreds of dollars in other bonuses you can see at tribewriters.com. Check it out and don’t miss these!

Also, if you join Tribe Writers Premium, you’ll get one free ticket voucher to the Tribe Conference and save $200 if you sign up before midnight on Thursday, August 6, 2015. After that deadline, the price goes up.

So what’re you waiting for?

Learn More About Tribe Writers

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