It used to take me 8 to 10 hours to write a single blog post. I have two kids and a full-time job, which means I can only write for an hour or two early in the morning or late at night. A 10 hour article translates to a week’s worth of work for me.

I started a writing challenge a few weeks ago and have skyrocketed my speed. I’ve been writing, editing, and publishing a 750–1,000 word article almost every day in less than 60 minutes.

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Doing this every…

I trudged through the office at 5:15 pm and leaned my back against the wall. Exhausted and defeated, I slid to the floor.

As my co-workers trickled in one by one, each asked me, “Are you ok?” The answer was obvious. You don’t sit on the floor with your elbows on your knees and your head hanging below your shoulders at a stand up meeting because you’re ok.

“I’m just tired,” I lied, shrugging.

This daily end-of-day meeting had one purpose: to brag about your sales numbers.

Each team member was assigned a booth at various retailers around town —…

Each morning at 6:30am, I click publish.

“This is the one,” my brain tells me. “This one’s going viral.”

I don’t allow myself to look at stats for at least two hours. After all, it’s going to take some time to gain traction.

Finally, around 10am, I take a peak.

“12 reads? There’s no way! That was my best one.”

I tend to think I have a good gauge for what people want to read; that I understand the masses, even though I have no evidence to back my belief. …

It’s 6:26am right now. My 6 week old is sleeping on my chest as I write this.

I got up this morning to do what I’ve been doing every morning at 5:30am to do — write.

I started a little later today because it’s Saturday, so I don’t have to get up as early to get my Kindergartner to school. However, I still have to wake up before the kids do, or this post won’t get published today.

I have an extra blog post in my drafts, just waiting to be edited. I think it’s a really good one. …

My first counseling session was on my 30th birthday.

With a wife, two kids, and a low-paying admin assistant job, I had no idea where I was going in life or how I would provide for my family.

That was two years ago. Today, I’m a full-time SEO copywriter, and I make over 70% more than I made in my previous job.

If you’re interested in starting a career as a web content writer, I want to help you get there. In just 13 months, I went from hearing the term “SEO” for the first time to accepting a full-time…

I used to harass people for a living.

I would put my hand up as if to stop the happy shopper at Sam’s Club.

“Sir! Who is your cable provider?”

When they mentioned anyone other than DirecTV, I said, “Come here, let me show you something.” Then, without looking back to see if they were following me, I about-faced and walked straight to my booth. They always followed because they felt obligated.

I was the worst salesperson who ever worked for that company, I’m sure.

I said all the right things and made all the right gestures, but my heart…

When it comes to content analytics, the ‘pros’ have a term for data that seem impressive but tell you very little about the user experience or the quality of your content.

“Vanity metrics.”

It’s a term that describes things like claps, likes, comments, ‘hits’, and other metrics that don’t provide real insight into the content’s actual value. They say you shouldn’t use these data to understand what actually works and what doesn’t in your writing.

“Amateurs use these metrics to stroke their egos,” they say. “Instead, we should be focused on better data, like read time, subscribes, and sales.”

I’ll…

The biggest fear of every creative person is that they’ll run out of ideas.

Creativity is this strange ethereal thing that seems outside of our control. It seems like something that just happens to us. We have no say in the matter. So when a creative idea shows up, I tend to have two responses.

First, I want to share it. Partially because I long for significance and greatness. But also partially because I believe when you have a gift, it’s your responsibility to share it. If I have a creative idea, I want other people to be inspired, encouraged…