Jan Udlock: Getting over the Blogathon daily blogging fear factor

The 6th annual WordCount Blogathon takes place June 1-30. The Blogathon is a free, fun event that challenges participants to post every day for a month.  Every Tuesday leading up to the event, blogathon veterans are sharing their success stories. In this installment, Jan Udlock explains how to she overcame the fear of daily blogging and used last year’s event to launch her virtual assistant business. Register or read more about the event here: 2013 WordCount Blogathon. —Michelle Rafter

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“Just do it, Jan.”

Those crisp words startled me, but I knew I needed to take my colleague’s advice. Two years ago, I needed to learn Twitter because I’d signed up for the Blogathon and there was going to be a Twitter chat – whatever THAT was – and I needed to be part of it. But how could I participate in the Twitter chat if I didn’t know what a hashtag was and what did RT mean? And where do you put the @ sign?

I didn’t want to be left out because I was scared to learn something new. I needed to suck it up. I wanted to be part of the party.

Well…fast forward the clock and my pride. I learned how to use Twitter, I did the chat, and now I love it!

I signed up for the Blogathon again last year, and even helped run it. I didn’t know it at the time, but the 2012 Blogathon was also the beginning of my virtual assistant business. I’ve been running Udlock Virtual ever since. Today, I use Twitter and other social media platforms for myself and my clients. I use HootSuite to schedule tweets. I even coach my clients about how to use Twitter — talking about coming full circle.

If you are scared to sign up for the Blogathon because there too many unknowns, or you don’t know how to use the software, Twitter or other social media tools, don’t freak out.

Face Your Daily Blogging Fears

Here’s how the Blogathon can help you face your fears:

1.  Have a plan.

For last year’s Blogathon, I chose to write about my fear of entertaining friends. It gave me a chance to look at the nit-picking demons in my head. I knew that if I faced my fear of entertaining publicly, I could overcome it or at least recognize my powerless thoughts of doubt. It also gave me a theme for my posts for the month. I wrote about planning and organizing. I shared pictures of the party I spent the month planning.

When the end of the month rolled around, my triumphant feelings of success were worth every bit of the hard work it took to scratch out the words in my posts.

There’s something about putting words in print that clarifies unspoken thoughts and brings life to your dreams. You can think about things forever but when you put your words down in print and take action, life seems to change.

2.  Give yourself space to learn.

If you’re blogging for a month straight, I guarantee you will be frustrated more than once. But it’s okay. If you don’t know how to load the Blogathon badge onto your blog’s front page, you’ll learn. If it takes you a few extra times, it’s okay. Been there, done that.

You’ll also learn to laugh at yourself a bit more as you realize you’re not the only one on the same journey during this adventure.

3.  Have fun.

It’s hard work to come up with different posts every day but there are some tricks that you’ll learn along the way. Brainstorm ideas. Put the various subjects you want to write about on a calendar – if you use the WordPress editorial calendar plug in, you can schedule posts right in your blog. You can also pre-write many of your posts to make it easier on yourself during the Blogathon.

4. Make friends.

As you read about successes and failures of other people in the Blogathon, leave comments on their posts and interact with them online, you’ll start to bond. I have a few online buds I met during the Blogathon who I feel close to even though we’ve never met in person

5. Use it to start something.

Thanks to the nagger who three years ago told me to learn to use Twitter, I now offer a wide variety of services to small businesses through my virtual assistant business. For this year’s Blogathon, I’ll be posting about the world of virtual assistants, offering information and hints about how I help small businesses with social media and email marketing and much more.

Are you still a bit scared? Take it from an old friend of mine, just do it!

Portland virtual assistant Jan Udlock is skilled in InfusionSoft, anal about “the details” and loves collaborating with small business owners to help them grow their businesses. Find out more at JanUdlock.com.