by AJ
Are we looking to learn from too many people about Squidoo and online marketing?
February 24, 2010 in AJ's musings, Featured by AJ
An email exchange with a Squidpal has AJ thinking about doing too much learning and not enough doing
Last week I posted that I am spreading my wings (finally) beyond Squidoo and today, during the course of a regular email exchange with Alex (Lensmaster Drifter0658), I found my self climbing on my soap box. I thought you might be interested in the gist of what I said as the realisation of what I was thinking hit me like a sledgehammer. Yep, I had one of those “lightbulb” moments!
The last few months have seen a huge metamorphosis as I have evolved from that newby who joined Squidoo in the Summer of 2008 (on Seth Godin’s birthday!) who wanted just to write from the heart and hope that it would earn her some money.
I will be totally honest, but from before Christmas until a couple of weeks ago I was utterly lost as far as my internet activities were concerned. Not just lost, but feeling I was swimming in a sea of treacle AND against the tide. My demons of self doubt were kicking in BIG time and I was in despair, just not knowing what direction to take and yes, I came very close to hitting the delete button on my Squidoo account. When you are depressed, or lacking in self confidence, self harm exists in many forms…..
I had a feeling I was on a threshold of something. BUT there were too many doors to choose from. Too many people I could learn from. And it seemed like some of them were saying: “Open my door, the end of the rainbow and the pot of gold might be here”!
Then, as I realised I just did not know which way to turn, or who to listen to, I had an exchange of views with Alex and he made an offer that I could not refuse. He offered to teach me about Link Wheels. We would set up a niche blog from scratch and use it as a hands on teaching exercise, that we could share with other people in our networks.
Within just a couple of days, the demons were nuked!
I now have my motivation, optimism and AJ vitality back. I think my husband is silently thanking Alex – hubby is a Sagittarius, so articulating what he is feeling comes hard, but I know him well enough to sense what he is thinking 
Because of how I was feeling I did a huuuuge amount of thinking and I have come to realise that in our quest to learn and absorb as much as we can about Squidoo and online marketing, we end up listening to too many teachers and self-labelled experts. We click on so many links to free advice and we end up confused, bewildered and achieving diddly squat – a phrase I use instead of “sweet f a”!
We spend more time reading and creating “to do” and “step by step” lists and less time actually doing. Our outputs reduce as our reading increases. We constantly think
I must just look at this and then I will make a start tomorrow……
Do you identify with the feeling of sometimes being totally terrified?
Scared that if we pass up on the opportunity to subscribe to the latest “must read” blog, or download the latest “must apply these methods” free e-book, we are in danger of missing out discovering the one magic ingredient that we need add to our internet recipe – the one that will make the difference betwen failure and our success? We are so frightened of failing and yet it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, because we are constantly planning and never actually taking action.
So what happens?
We lose so much time, that we end up sticking to the things we know we can do quickly and that will have some positive, even if it is miniscule, effect – we publish a Squidoo lens, or a Hubpages hub or an E-Zine article. Less than half a day, it is easy peasy and we can be happy knowing we have produced an output!
And THAT is what so many of us do – we stick with an activity that we know inside out. We crouch behind the protective fences of our Comfort Zone, too scared to leave.
(Am climbing down off my soapbox now, before I have a dizzy spell and fall off it!)
Last week I left my Comfort Zone!
Last week I did something I have not done before on Squidoo – I made a lens for the sole purpose of promoting a new niche blog. The lens Year of the Tiger Tattoos is in the rim of a Link Wheel and the hub of the wheel is the new blog, called errrr . . . . Year of the Tiger Tattoos.
The thinking behind the Link Wheel is set out in a series of posts in Blogging for Profit on my Always Juggling blog. However the principles can be applied to any micro-niche blog, no matter where it is hosted, including here on Squidlog. I will also be applying what I have learned as I develop my websites, which are hosted by Squidster on SEO Praxis.
I am just wondering who is up for trying out establishing some Link Wheels on here, with your own Squidlog micro-niche blog at the center?
On Tuesday 02 March I will be on Giant Squid Open Mike with Drifter0658 and we will be discussing Link Wheels and taking questions from the GSOM Chat Room. Show is for 30 minutes and starts at 5pm EST, which is 10pm AJT – which is also GMT 
Quoting allthatiscute: Diary of a rabbit owner. Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent, because frankly I don’t care. —
Overheard on twitter...
Oh boy AJ do I hear ya about spinning wheels and those shiny gold things over there
It’s been interesting to read about your flight (even though I’ve not always commented). Keep on keeping on – hope to make it to the show.
Hope to see you in the Chat Room Correen
AJ, your point of spinning wheels is very true, and really applies to any new jump we take outside of a comfort zone. Remember when it was so daunting to create just one lens? It is easy to get caught up in the “right way to do things” and forget that we actually need to do things to see what works best. As fast as things change on the net, there is no possible way to know everything, but our readers generally know way less than we do on any given subject so that is okay. And as we get better at this whole thing, and our earnings increase, we can pat ourselves on the back for doing a good job. Sometimes taking a flying leap is just what we need to do to rev up that confidence level and drive our purpose to the next tier.
You are so right about taking that Flying Leap Paula – I was lucky I had Alex to give me a friendly kick up the ***!
Oh yes, I’ve had many of that kind of moment! I’ve learnt not to listen to all these marketing guru’s etc because they don’t give you anything more than what you could have figured out for yourself.
I’ve now set up a blog here at Squidlog called Queen Wacky and maybe it’ll compliment my Cryptid Sightings over at Crabbysbeach, I’m not quite sure yet. But with regards to my ‘life’ online I think everything is pretty much sorted for now
Great to see you on here Carrie. I know that you have been thinking the same way as I have about what to focus on and what to let go
Glad that you are at the stage where you feel it is all sorted for now.
*BUT there were too many doors to choose from. Too many people I could learn from*
and back @ you, AJ, with the best way to overcome the compulsion, in itself often a form of addiction, to all that appears as must-do/must-have for us, Net Dwellers 
And also too many self-promoters who’s main aim is to suck us right down a their ‘BuyNowGet-a-DiscountB4OfferEnds-orUMissOut” funnel ads.
AJ, your post is such a well-written metaphor that links up directly to spiritual philosophy, my thing, that I hope you won’t mind me hijacking your words as a springboard into the greater business of being alive, here and now – as the people that we are – and as ‘Net Dwellers’.
You: * We click on so many links to free advice and we end up confused, bewildered and achieving diddly squat*
Me: indeed, that is how we lead our lives – from post to pillar, from one must-have item to a must-do idea to another, from one person to another, from one knee jerk or pet-peeve to another – all in search of what eludes us the most; understanding, acceptance, success = something that will TRULY make us feel good inside = love – unconditional from those closest to us.
Yes, often, we are confused and bewildered, just as you say, AJ & at the end of the day, of the month, of the years we have achieved “diddly squat” or @ least not much of any Real Value in the greater scheme of things.
Nothing we can actual bank on though there might be enough/plenty in the bank. Nothing that makes us feel safe inside.
It’s like we’re hell-bent on putting together a little edifice with a beaut view of the ocean & all the modcoms for our creature comforts but this neat little construction is only as sturdy as a cardboard box when a hurricane, ill health or loneliness come a knocking.
You: Scared that if we pass up on the opportunity to subscribe to the latest “must read” blog, or download the latest “must apply these methods” free e-book, we are in danger of missing out discovering the one magic ingredient [ ... ]
Me: Sure, aren’t we all afraid of missing out on *the good things* in life? On fun? On great/once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and best deals, be they of a physical or an emotional nature?
Like there’s this little voice saying, “What if this one is for real? I’d kick myself for not seeing this one through. No matter what … life’s too short. I gotta give myself that one go at it. I owe it to myself, etc. etc.”
That opp might be a shot at love, at success, at feeling good, at freeing ourselves, at striking it rich or at starting from scratch with the conviction that*it* will bring us whatever our emotional life is lacking. But from a philosophical perspective – the only thing we are missing is un-conditional love.
Think about it – of our many current and many relationships, which one would you say is truly not performance-based?
You: We lose so much time, that we end up sticking to the things we know we can do quickly and that will have some positive, even if it is miniscule, effect [ ... ]
Me: oh, isn’t that so true, AJ! I mean, isn’t ‘sticking to what we know’ egg-zak-tlee what we do best?
We do end up repeating our MO because our MO is what we know best. In fact, it’s pretty much the only thing we know and we think our MO, such as it is, is what defines us in this lifetime.
We turn our MO into our security blanket, even if that blanket is way too long trips and makes us stumble again and again.
And, yes, on the surface, at times, it seems like we have generated a little … “effect”, a little sensation, a little buzz. We have a new wriggle in our wiggle. We feel revived and even elated, but for how long and at what expense? And what about the aftermath -the mopping up?
You: we stick with an activity that we know inside out. We crouch behind the protective fences of our Comfort Zone, too scared to leave.
Me: too scared to move. Too scared to think outside of the square. And on we dance the same dance with the ones we love and with the ones we don’t love and with ourselves. The biggest problem that most of us have is that ‘dancing’ is seriously not what we do best.
OK, so … where to from here?
We-ell, nowhere in a hurry. You see, we, little blind mice that we are, have no idea, absolutely none, in regards to where anything we might do, plan or say will lead us – either in the short term or in the long term.
Regardless of how well we plan or worry or go with the flow, we have absolutely no way of foreseeing any of the concrete ramifications that will spin out of any of our moves. At the time of our planning, these ramifications are still in the future. And any notion that we know what to do to control our life according to what we think we *need* to be happy is totally illusory.
So … long story made short-ish … from a purely philosophic perspective, the best thing to do is keep it simple and only formulate a loose framework, a fuzzy goal.
Limiting our plans to mere framework is great. After that, we stop fixating on that plan or idea and the best thing is to do then is nothing – nothing but act in the moment, in the fullness of time.
That means processing our daily activities & responsibilities according to their correct real-time priority – not squooshing them around *that* plan; not processing them according to what we feel like doing or not i.e. not procrastinating on something while buzzing around like a blue-assed fly about something else and acting/reacting seemingly purposefully/logically but … totally randomly when observed from up above with a little 3rd party detachment.
Basically, practicing an inner calmness, while our Heart is engaged in each of the mundane tasks @ hand – that is practicing being in the moment that is under our feet. That is flirting with the power of the moment. That leads to our moment falling into place naturally and flowing.
Look @ it this way, AJ, is there any other moment we can shape/control from the inside out?
When are we ever able to shape the past? Who is ever truly shape the future so that it turns out just as we had dreamt it for ourselves and for our loved ones? When is the only moment in which we can actively be – just be?
Phew! Done
Hijack away!!! Thank you for taking the time to add such a thought provoking addendum to the original post. I was blown away, not just by the depth of your thinking but also that it looks like we think alike about stuff like this!
I love this posting, AJ. I have joined so many groups on NING that I have forgotten most of them. I used to feel guilty when I did not take on every “challenge” each group came up with. I was lost and forgotten! I have been so wrapped up in Squidoo that I have not posted on my blog for a long, long time. I still love to Squidoo and that is where I will probably spend most of my energy. The Squids-in-Charge just make it so very easy for us to make lenses. And they look so good!
I am going to continue to follow what you are doing and will learn from you. Thanks so very much for “spilling your guts.”
Mickie – get back blogging at least a couple of times a week. It is good not to have all your eggs in one basket!