I’ve just been reading a guest post on davidrisley.com (Article link.)  by TheInfoPreneur.net.

This post speaks loads to me; so I’d like to share it with you here, along with my commentary on it: –

“I joined the military when I was 16 years old. I served all over the world in a variety of roles. I have served along side some of the bravest, funniest and toughest people (men and women) in the world. Those 10 years have given me 10 lifetimes of memories. Some bad, some good and some downright scary.

Every event I have been involved in has taught me a valuable lesson. Sometimes I didn’t realize that straight away, but it taught me the fundamentals of success in any walk of life.

Loyalty

Loyalty doesn’t mean supporting your favorite team whether they win or lose. It doesn’t even mean going to see them even if they are playing away. Loyalty means having some one’s back even if it means sacrificing something you want to do. Loyalty is the ability to drop everything when someone needs you.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Common sense plays a factor in this. For instance, loyalty doesn’t mean if your friend asks you for money and you don’t have it, you rob a bank. But what it does mean, if they need something, you are their first port of call and you do everything you can to do right by them. Making sure they get what’s right for them at that time is loyalty.

Are you loyal to your readers or customers? Do you give back as much as you take? Being loyal to my readers is everything to me. It creates an unbreakable bond. Loyalty is for life.”

My commentary: Yes, loyalty is a most important thing, in all areas of life. – It’s a part of true friendship.

Personally I see it this way in a non-military perspective applied to other aspects of life:

In regard to personal relationships, if a close friend makes a decision with regard to their life, whether or not I consider it to be the right decision, I respect that person’s decision and will support them in it even though I may subtly advise them to reconsider their options. I see that as true friendship, because I love and trust that person, and respect them for their right and ability to make their own decisions.

With regard to my readers and customers; well I don’t know many of them personally, (Hopefully that may change in the future – ?) and therefore I see the relationship as somewhat different. Also I see a difference in relationship between readers who are just readers, readers who are customers, and customers who are not readers.

readers who are just readers

You see; readers who are just readers and nothing else are taking what I’m offering in the way of written material, (Which anyone is always welcome to do without charge.) and are generally giving very little if anything in return. Maybe one or two of them comment on an article, but on the whole that’s about it.

Now in view of that, my reaction is not so much to exclaim “Oh the tight selfish freeloaders!”, but to continue to issue even more free content, of an increasing quality. – Why? Because if the readers who are not customers can see that I know what I’m on about, then they’re going to come back for more – and every time they come back they increase the chance of themselves becoming a customer of mine.

readers who are customers

With respect to readers who are customers, I want to continue to deliver material, both free material and paid-for material, that they can always return to this site and benefit from. – However I’m only a single person, one individual, therefore I can’t constantly provide both free and paid-for material, combined with special offers on great products, consistently on a daily basis. Although I try to provide at least something daily, I’m not running a big-budget operation here with a number of staff. – It’s just me and 2 computers – that’s all at present. – So I continue to produce content when I can basically, and every now and then I provide product or product information some days, in the hope that more of my readers will become my customers also.

Yes it’s a more selfish perspective, granted; but to survive I need to run this blog as a business, in addition to it being a social commodity of whatever sort.

customers who are not readers

How on earth did I manage to swing that one?! – Well in short this blog, whilst being the hub of my online “empire” as it were, is not the only place on the internet where I write and promote product. (Want to learn more? Put your name down for Blog Masters Club so that you can do so next time the doors open.)

I want my customers who are not readers to become readers; so naturally I produce free content so that my customers who are not readers can continue to see that I know what I’m on about and start reading my blog. – Easy really.

Back to the article that I’m commentating on: -

Integrity

A lot of people think about integrity in different ways. To me, it’s having the bravery to stand up for what you believe in and stick to it, no matter what the crowd is telling you to think.

I was a Physical Training Instructor in the military and I once failed the Commanding Officer of the camp in front of 1,500 soldiers on an annual fitness test. I failed other soldiers too, but the focus and heat was on me because I was the one who decided to take on the highest rank in the barracks by failing him.

Weeks went by where I was faced with jail and extra duties, even demoted because I had ‘embarrassed’ a Colonel. In those weeks, a different Physical Training Instructor re-tested him and he passed (which was a dubious pass). I stuck to my ground and in the end all the other officers, new and old, were training like mad to make sure I didn’t fail them, too. After the C.O realized I was the only one who would stand up to him and say ‘The rules are the rules, no matter who you are’, he was cool with me. He even gave me a bottle of champagne ‘for having the biggest balls in the regiment’.

Believe in what you write. Sell and promote. If you don’t believe in it, no one else will.”

I’ve had people opting out of my mailing list because they don’t think that everything I say is 100% correct, or they disagree with my stance on some issue. – That’s their choice: I’m not 100% right 100% of the time; I guess it’s just something to do with being human.

On another level I’ve taken abuse in the chat room I’m currently working with too; at times over a misunderstanding, other times because people actually object to my stance on a certain issue.

But yeah, just as the writer says; believe in what you’re doing and saying: Stick up for yourself and what you have logically deducted to be correct.

“Dedication

Dedication comes in two different strands. Dedication to what you do and to your readers or customers. Whether it means you writing consistently so people can rely on you for content or advice or making sure you engage with your visitors, make sure you do it.

Some people are dedicated gym users. They go to the same gym at 0630hrs every day before work without fail. I’m dedicated to publishing fresh daily content to the site and to replying and helping every visitor who takes the time to read my site. They are the very people who put me in this position. So they are the very people I’m dedicated to.”

The way I see the matter of dedication is: Yes, dedication is important; but once again I’m just one single me, a human being, with all the trimmings: physical and emotional issues included. Sometimes I just can’t. Usually I do, but there are times when it all gets too much. Male bloggers probably see it differently; but I have my own physical and emotional wellbeing to consider, in addition to this blog and all its issues.

- So no I don’t promise you fresh content every day without fail: Sometimes, rarely but sometimes, I just can’t do it, maybe due to health matters or maybe due to emotional issues.

Yes I’ll reply to and help anyone who interacts with me and/or the blog. yes I’ll strive to  maintain things to the greatest extent possible. But I don’t intend to put my own wellbeing at risk. Without me there is no Kkomp.com – Beyond; so balancing the two needs is a priority, and I see this blog as an endeavour rather than a duty.

“Tactics

I have a military approach to everything I do. It’s no surprise, since I joined as a boy and spent 10 years doing it. Tactics are vital, but don’t have to be complicated. I’ve employed a mission statement since I started my site 10 weeks ago: ‘The route to success is write and promote, write and promote’.

I’m over the moon about where the site is at the minute in terms of popularity, but I’ve still got a long way to go. Tactics keep you on the straight path and stop you from getting distracted. I employ the same tactic today as I did on my very first day:

1. Write new content for the site (every day at least once a day)
2. Comment on a lot of different sites, but only if I can add value to the post.
3. Help everyone I can and guest post a lot. “

Simple plan’s are often the most effective. “

In summary, then, there’s a lot to be gained from a well-disciplined approach. – That pertains to everything, not just blogging.

Self discipline can be taken too far, though, and becomes at that point detrimental to one’s own welfare. I’m not a machine, not a T1000, and nor is anyone else. Whilst I fully agree that competitiveness, enhanced content production, determination, enthusiasm, ambition, and resilience, are important; if there’s no you then there’s no blog anyway. – So doing it is great, doing it well is even better. – But overdoing it is going to end up with just one outcome eventually: –

FAIL.

What do you think? ‘Agree, or not?