TBMOBIM: Thank Being My Own Boss It’s Monday

Whew, quite the mouthful there.

I’m suffering from a horrendous case of writers block at the moment. It’s funny, because I know exactly why it is happening too.

Usually, I write what I want, when I want. It’s one of the benefits we all have of “being our own boss”. We get to do what we want. If we don’t feel like something, we can put it off without any “higher ups” objecting to it.

However I’ve started writing for the IGB Affiliate Blog, on a monthly basis. That’s all it is – one 400-600 word article per month. Nothing bad at all. And the crew over there are very friendly. If I don’t feel like writing then no problem at all – there’s no pressure or anything.

Subconsciously, it’s a whole other matter.

In my mind, I’m “forced to write”, and I “have a deadline”. Two thoughts that somehow kill all the motivation and creativity in me. It’s funny because I haven’t suffered from writers block in years – yet as soon as I have some sort of an obligation to write something, I end up hitting a brick wall.

Even this simple article for Affiliate Bible, I’ve been battling with. I was up at 5am, and I’ve had MS Word opened since then. I’ve had my brain churning, yet it was a battle to write anything at all. I’d start writing something, not “feel” it and erase it. Hell it took me 4 hours just to come up with the title of the article.

However – that’s what is great about being my own boss, and why everyone needs to strive to that. When you’re your own boss with no-one to answer to, you don’t need to worry about things like this. I don’t have to sit here, worrying about writing articles otherwise I’m going to let people down. I can work on something else entirely, or take the day off and relax.

It’s something to always strive to. If you’re a part-time affiliate while working another job – do what I did, and work like crazy so you can become a full-time affiliate.

It’s days like this, where I can say “screw work” and go relax in a bath and finish reading the latest Mitch Rapp novel, that you can really appreciate it.

Dealing With It:

Whenever you encounter a problem, you need to figure out a way to deal with it.

In this situation, I am aware that the problem will never go away. Next month, I’ll be writing another blog entry. Then another. And another. It’s a monthly thing, and the last thing I need is suffering writers block every month.

So when you have a problem, you analyze it and then you deal with it.

The Problem: I don’t work well when I am “forced” or “obligated” to write something.

There’s a lot of things I could do to resolve this. The obvious one is just quit writing for their blog. Yet I enjoy writing, and reaching a new audience that don’t read Affiliate Bible. To me, that’s a negative solution too. It’s like running away from a problem. It’s much better to try and resolve a problem in a positive manner. Because otherwise, that issue is going to crop up again in the future.

In this case, the solution is obvious. I just need to be more aware that I have to write the article. I’ve got a whole month to write the next article. Rather than leaving it until the last minute, I’ll get it done this week sometime.

Not only is the problem dealt with then, but it’s yet another positive mind trick. You’re “ahead of the game” etc. And you’ve handled and overcame an obstacle, which only helps to motivate you.

The Article in Question:

$10,000 reasons to fight writers block

I decided to go “real” with the article. I find the reader can relate to you much more that way, and it’s a lot more interesting to read than some generic article you can read on a thousand other blogs.

I’d love to see someone write an affiliate website that way. I mean imagine a Pokerstars review starting off with something like this:

It’s my job as the writer for this website, to play at and review Pokerstars. Then, I write a review of Pokerstars and either sell the poker room to you, or tell you why you should play at another poker room instead.

It’s the easiest poker room review simply because I don’t need to “think hard” to try and sell Pokerstars to you. Pokerstars does the job itself.

Then you go on about how Pokerstars don’t need to market themselves or need people to market for them – everything about the poker room speaks for itself, bla bla bla.

Always aim towards honesty, and being very open towards the reader. You’ll find it hooks them a lot more, rather then their eyes glossing over yet another generic poker room review out there.

Another Blog Article:

Here’s an article I wrote for the Clicktale blog:

The Konami Code for Internet Marketing

I touched on that subject in a previous T_IM article, and wanted to expand on it for Clicktale.

I’m Done:

Time to take a few hours off, relax and appreciate what I’ve got.

Have a good one, and I hope to have a couple of articles written this week once my mojo is going again. Plus the new design of Affiliate Bible is approximately 20 days away!

Dealer Dan

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This article, as are all articles on AffiliateBible.com, was written by Graeme aka "Dealer Dan". Graeme currently resides in Kingston, Ontario and has been running his own internet marketing business since 1996.

This article was written on February 13, 2012 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.

If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.