A Coach for Life

Welcome to the tenth edition of The Next 30 Blogging Heroes series. Inspired by the book Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers by Michael A. Banks, this series will feature the next group of exceptional bloggers who are making an impact in the blogosphere.

These bloggers are getting their messages out there and having their voices heard. They have long-term goals and are working very each day to reach them. Blogging heroes create quality content and build a loyal, and very large, base of readers.

This series will center on their best blogging practices as well as tips and advice. You will benefit from their helpful tips, advice and insight. The Next 45 Years is proud to welcome author and life coach Tim Brownson of The Discomfort Zone and A Daring Adventure.

What prompted you to start The Discomfort Zone?
The Discomfort Zone was originally the name of a newsletter that I started about 18 months ago. At the time I was getting little traffic to my blog and concentrating more on new material for the newsletter.

Then a few months ago I decided that I preferred working on my blog so I closed my newsletter and decided to use the name for my Blog. The fact is, if we want to make lasting beneficial change we have to pass through a certain level of discomfort en route and that is the discomfort zone.

You also have a website, A Daring Adventure. What is the focus and purpose of this site?
A Daring Adventure is the name of my coaching business and the main website is really my bread and butter when it comes to attracting clients.

People will often come into my site via the Blog, but they will almost always go to the website for more details if they are looking for a coach. I think the site offers a certain amount of credibility that maybe my blog doesn’t. Another thing, whenever I get requests from media or to speak, they pretty much always come through my website.

Are you achieving what you set out to do with your blog and website?
Absolutely, but it has taken me two years to get a handle on it. The first year of writing my blog was for a couple of buddies back home and my dog. Nobody else was reading it, not even the wife.

It was purely to help my organic Google ranking and for me to air my thoughts and have the occasional rant. The blog is a bit ugly at the moment and I’m working on having a new one up and running soon. I got battered with spammers in the early days and turned comments off. That is one thing I want to embrace when the new blog goes live, I like the interactivity sites likes your provide.

You are also an author. Please provide an overview of your book “Don’t Ask Stupid Questions”
The book is a collection of 42 stand alone chapters on ways to improve the quality of your life. It is really aimed at newbies to self-development or people that want a refresher on the basics from time to time.

I like the thought of it sitting in bathrooms and people reading the odd chapter here and there when the need arises. It is written very much in the style of my Blog, so if anybody hates my Blog, they’ll hate my book. The feedback from it has been fantastic and I’m already thinking of a follow up.

What do you find to be the more difficult aspects of blogging?
That’s easy, getting traffic! I rarely have trouble writing because I can just start typing and something usually spews forth, but getting traffic has been a long slog. Some of the younger guys are brilliant at that and I regularly see six month old sites getting way more than I do.

Do you do anything special to increase your readership?
Every now and then I will offer a free e-book or deal on my own book as a thank you to the people that drop by and an incentive to tell others about it. I also frequent Stumble Upon and to a lesser extent Digg and have made some great friends that way. Blogging is such a huge win/win in that respect and I’m so glad that I got into the social networking side.

Do you use SEO? If so, which techniques provide the best results?
I use a company called On Target here in Orlando and they have done a phenomenal job. The owner Tom has got me to #1 on Google for 9 different search terms when coupled with the word ‘Orlando’ from life coach through to stress management.

I use the SEO plugin pack for Wordpress on my blog and I tend to fluctuate between page 1 and 2 on Google for the search string ‘Life Coaching Blog’ or ‘Life Coach Blog’ which is more than adequate.

What do you find gratifying about blogging?
If I read a post after and think I’ve done a good job in explaining the point I wanted to get across, that is enough in its own right. I also like to have fun when I’m posting.

The message is more often than not serious, but there is always humor behind it. This sounds sad, but I often chuckle away to myself when I’m writing posts. I want people to have a laugh when they come to my site even if it’s only at my horrendous grammar and butchering of the English language. We’ll all be dead in 100 years time, let’s enjoy the ride whilst we can.

What are you future plans for both The Discomfort Zone and A Daring Adventure?
Well if you really want to know, they are quite large. I want to sell 1,000,000 copies of my book and earn so much money that I can afford to do 75% pro bono coaching for people that can’t afford it. The other 25% will have to pay me a lot!

I also want to take the Blog to the stage where it’s talked about in the same breath as Seth Godin’s. My number one goal/dream is to be consulted by Government on what we can do to overhaul education in this country and teach kids the basics. Do you know any school that teaches kids how to breathe properly, think positively or communicate effectively, and with the latter I don’t mean just debate? I certainly don’t.

What advice can you offer other bloggers?
Be yourself! Too many new bloggers are copying older sites and not expressing their true personality. I know that some people will hate my sense of humor and think I don’t take things seriously enough.

That’s fine and I understand that, but I can’t let it influence my style because the moment I start trying to appeal to everybody, will be the moment I stop enjoying myself. Look for your own niche and don’t listen to anybody that tells you it has to be done this way or that way. Oh and always, always, always, have fun!

Read interviews conducted with the other Blogging Heroes here.

Recommended Resources

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Helpful Blogging Resources

• Unique Blog Designs: Nate and his team are excellent blog designers. They provided expert design advice as well as much need technical support. If you are ready to take your blog to the next level, I high recommend Unique Blog Designs.

• Michael A. Bank’s book Blogging Heroes is as informative as it is inspirational – a must-have reference book for serious bloggers.