There is one thing you need to know about me. I never wanted to work for somebody else, I’ve always wanted to be my own boss and since I was little boy everyday before going to sleep, I was thinking — What can I do about that, how can I become my own boss? What will I do when I graduate from school? And then a simple idea came to my mind about creating a social media website. In the end that idea was why I started my own blog — MotivationGrid.

So few things about my blog — It’s medium sized. Around 100 000 unique visitors monthly ~ mostly from USA. It’s about practical tips and ideas on life, motivation, productivity, aspirations, health, work, success and general self improvement.

So what I’ve learned since I started doing that?

1. I’ve learned that new adventures lead to personal growth

What do I mean by that? Since starting the blog, I’ve become a reader. I started reading a lot of books. Something I never did before. I prefered movies. And now when I look back, I can’t understand how I liked movies more than books. And not just reading. It was about me starting to think differently. I became a better version of me. I started seeing things differently, from many point of views, not just mine. I became a better writer, I expanded my vocabulary. If you compare my first articles to the ones I am writing now — I thik you would see the change yourself.

2. I’ve learned that hard work pays of more than anything else

When I started my blog I thought it would be easy. I thought my facebook page will grow in matter of days to 100 000 likes and that everybody would like my website and share it. And then suddenly I realized I can’t even get to 500 likes even with the help of all my “facebook” friends nor I can get more then 200 views daily on my website. So I started trying hard. I went into Hulk Mode. I made account in every possible social media — Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Youtube, Tribber. Quora, Yahoo answers and much more. I started writing guest posts, I started building backlinks from every place I could. I started commenting on blogs, I started participating in a lot of forums.

I started reaching out to bloggers for SEO help( for those who don’t know, SEO means Search Engine Optimization, which helps you getting on top of google and bing and other search engines.) I started working hard toward my goal. And it started paying off little by little, now my facebook page grows with 400-500 likes every week. I’ve gotten on top of google for 4 keywords with 30-40 000 monthly searches. And I keep getting more keywords on the first page of google. And in the end what happened? I got a page rank 4 from Google on a website that was just 3 months old, also got approved for Adsense. About Adsense I got rejected the first time, but who cares I didn’t stop. I tried again and in the end they approved me. So my tip for everybody that’s trying to succeed in life — Try harder then your competition, be more creative and results will come. You see right now I am getting atleast 2 500 unique visitors per day. And the last 7 days I’ve gotten an average of 20 000 ~ people.

3. I’ve learned that I wasn’t doing it for money.

When I started my blog I thought I would instantly start making money. And when the website became 2 months old, I still had no ads on site. Absolutely no income. But I was determined that I would make it happen. I learned that I wasn’t doing this so much for money as much it was for pure joy. But my family didn’t see it like that. They started doubting that it will work out. But I didn’t care, I wasn’t doing it for them. I was doing it for me. And after 3 months hard work, I started earning money ; 80$ per month. I became rich.

4. I’ve learned that it’s the journey that matters not the destination

It’s not about the end. If you are not enjoying the journey, there is something wrong. You need to be passionate about what you do or you will give up when things get hard, when you see no results, when things don’t go the way you thought they were supposed to go. I love to do what I do right now. I love to write articles. That’s why I do it and I will continue to write, simply because I enjoy doing it.

5. I’ve learned that you need to risk in order to succeed

I risked dropping out of college, because I wasn’t able to study as much as others. Safety isn’t always the best option and just 7 days ago I moved to a better hosting provider because my old one was limiting me. But I could barely pay it with what I was earning from the blog. Yet I decided to move, guess what happened when my hosting provider wasn’t limiting me anymore. I earned more the first 5 days of february than I earned in January because one of my post went viral on StumbleUpon and nothing was limiting the traffic. Did I know a post will go viral when I switch hosting service? Of course not. But the risk paid off.

6. I’ve learned that nothing is impossible

If a youngster like me — 19 years old from a small country like Bulgaria can make a decent blog in 4 months with no knowledge about blogging, with no support from friends (they all laughed at me and some of them still continue to do when I tell them what I do) or family members(they didn’t believe I can make it) then you can do it too. You can’t use excuses, you just do it. No matter who supports you and who doesn’t, you are on your own. No one will make it for you. You gotta do it on your own. We can’t change the situation we were born into, but what we can change is the future and it’s up to us to do it. If you want something, you go get it, period!

Right now I am earning as much as the average Bulgarian worker around 450$ and I am just starting out. I am blogging since 4 months.

So my advice to all people out there that are trying something new for them, don’t give up! Work hard. Risk. Fail. Learn. Grow and you can have everything you’ve ever wanted.

My website: Motivationgrid.com
My facebook page: MotivationGrid

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