Why Wayne Gretzky Would Make A Great Blogger

The Great One - Wayne GretzkyOver the last few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with a group of wonderful people via Lynn Terry’s weekly webinars – one of those people in particular is an SEO Expert by the name of Roy Montero – also known as The Twitter Guy.  If you haven’t yet bumped into Roy somewhere online, you’re missing out!  But be warned, although Roy is one of the most sincere and knowledgeable individuals you will ever encounter he is also strongly against get-rich-quick seekers and snake oil salesmen, as he likes to put it – so If you are planning to connect with him make sure you’re ready to step up to the plate.  Roy hosts a weekly mastermind group on Skype, which I am a part of, and two weeks ago he shared a quote that stuck in my mind to this day and ultimately led to the title of this blog post.  It went something like this:

Early in Wayne Gretzky’s hockey career he was coined as “The Great One“, and one night during an interview with the press he was asked “What’s the difference between a good hockey player, and a great hockey player?” and Wayne responded effortlessly, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is.  A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

When Roy shared this quote with us I completely hit the floor. Preparation is the difference between good and great, and spiritually speaking, this Mantra can be applied to every aspect of our lives.

Now let’s insert this Mantra into the blogosphere – I know for a fact that there are thousands of people every day who make the decision to start a blog, and it’s usually for one reason – to make  money online.  Of those thousands, how many individuals take the time to prepare an in-depth business plan with research and marketing strategies?  I think it would be safe to say very few, and taking this into consideration, how many of the “few” actually generate and adequate income from their efforts?

I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

Now brace yourself – If you blog about how to make money from blogging, expecting to make money from your blog, you wont!  One of my Mentors, Alan LeStourgeon from AffiliateConfession.com just laid this out in plain English recently on his blog.  I strongly believe this is one of the primary reasons why most of us fail, and before you hit me with “but don’t you guys blog about how to make money?let me explain.  To be successful in any business you must follow some sort of formula, and ours is pretty simple:

A + B = C

or

Preparation + Opportunity = Success

Before Veronica and I decided to start this blog, I spent months upon end preparing myself by learning everything there is to know about Internet marketing, e-commerce, search engine optimization, domain names, web hosting, FTP, HTTP, CSS, WordPress, Blogger, link building, and keyword research. I got my feet wet using a multitude of techniques such as marketing through classified ads, article marketing, as well as using site builder scripts like Build A Niche Store to experiment in more specific areas.  I’ve built made-for-adsense blogs, Squidoo lenses, and even attempted to spam forums so I could witness and document the outcome first hand.  Are we millionaires yet?  Not even close.  Have we made money online?

Sure, we’ve made a bit.

The point I’m trying to make is everything we’ve done up to this point has prepared us for the opportunities we’re currently being blessed with – this blog being one of them.  If you don’t put yourself out there, scrape your knee’s and get back up, how do you expect to be successful teaching people what to do when they fall down?

If Wayne Gretzky were a blogger, he would blog about hockey because that’s his forte.  My forte is my passion for social empowerment, technology and networking.  Veronica’s passionate about travel, interior design and the idea of working from home – so that’s what we blog about.  Wayne Gretzky was a great hockey player because he spent his entire life practicing, and making the necessary mistakes to insure when he finally made it to the NHL, he would be a well oiled machine.  Think like The Great One.  Put yourself where the puck is going to be.  Get your feet wet and learn from your failures.  You will soon realize that regardless of the niche or task at hand, if you’re passionate about what you do – opportunity will arise and success will follow.

Cheers,

Elijah

5 thoughts on “Why Wayne Gretzky Would Make A Great Blogger”

  1. What an awesome post, E. Everything you said mirrors my EXACT thoughts on preparation, timeliness, and networking. You and V will no doubt become two of the internet marketing “Great Ones” and I can’t wait to see you there.

    Well done, my friend.

    T

  2. Indeed dude! So many see the success of other bloggers, and think “hey, I’ll start a blog and get rich” lol…not knowing the WORK it takes to do so. And if you start a blog about something you’re not very interested in…well…it’s gonna show!

    Having a plan of some sort is the only way to measure your progress…are you closer to that goal? Hmmm…let us see….what have you done to bring yourself closer? These are the questions we can ask ourselves ONLY if we have a plan.

    If there is no plan…then what to you measure? Sure…you can see growth…but growth towards what?

    Great post bro.

    Normal Joes last blog post..24 Hour Site Flipping Contest. Crackhead Style.

  3. Elijah- fantastic post —one that all people starting online should read mediate and follow this advice.
    I couldn’t have put it all into better words myself.
    I also am the kind of person who studies and evaluates before doing things- I never fell for the hype of making money fast or easily. I know it’s possible to make money fast but will that be passive income? Will it be recurring?
    That’s the whole question and vantage point if you ask me.
    We need to work intelligently with an aim- a purpose.
    Good job:-)

    Grow your business- Erens last blog post..Grow Your Business by NOT Missing Out on Huge Opportunities Through Social Networking

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