Guest Post: The First Step To Riding a Wave is Getting Up on Your Board

A while back Srini talked about the magical, deep meaning that surfing brings to his life and it really resonated with me. I started thinking that a similar kind of feeling can be felt by bloggers if they are as passionate about writing, creating and connecting as he is about surfing.

As I thought about it more, I noticed there were correlations between surfing and blogging that I wanted to point out and hopefully allow up and coming bloggers to benefit from the power of catching their first “wave”.

So without further ado, here is my 6 step guide for getting up on your board. Enjoy!

1. Get a basic grasp of what you want to do. If it’s surfing, you need to learn how to paddle out, how to pop up and where to place your feet. For bloggers and internet marketers you would need a basic Wordpress set up, a mind full of content on a passionate topic and the patience to build a community slowly. Too many people spend too much time learning the theory of how to do something. Knowledge is not knowledge if it cannot be applied. Stop wasting time with theory and focus instead on application.
2. Practice out of the water. When you first learn to surf, a lot of coaches will have you practice “the pop” on the beach first before you get anywhere near the water. This is to train your body and mind to do the right thing when you are in the water. The same can be applied to blogging. You have to practice your writing, your networking, your design and HTML skills before you can begin to be successful and sell products. Practice makes perfect, so don’t get frustrated if you think you are falling behind others. Baz Luhrmann said, “The race is long. And in the end, it is only with yourself.“
3. Take it slowly. Once you’re out into the open water you don’t head straight for the pipe unless you want your head to be bashed against the reef again and again and again. You start slowly over in the small waves with all the other rookie surfers. Don’t try and crack into the big crowd of “authorities” in your niche. You’ll get overwhelmed, ignored and will feel like you can’t do this. Learn and grow with other newcomers and you’ll find a sense of camaraderie that is rarely found in the self flagulating, back slapping and ego boosting world of “big names” in your market.
4. Fall with confidence. You won’t be able to stand up on your board right away. Balance, nerves and the occasional gust of wind will be enough to knock you off your path. Take the wipeouts proudly. Fall with the confidence of a person who knows that they will get back up and succeed eventually. In blogging, you will publish new posts that receive minimal views, no comments and don’t seem to excite anybody – including yourself. Have the confidence to know that your true vision will become more clear and focused every time you fall.
5. Hone your skills. In order to become a more proficient surfer you will need to hone your skills. You can do this by finding a mentor, a friend, a hired coach or simply by learning for yourself. I am a huge advocate of learning yourself. I have paid thousands of dollars from internet marketing courses, ebooks and membership forums and you know what? The information is all the same. It’s just written in a different way. Let someone teach you the basics, but tread your own path and learn to surf on your own.
6. Ride the wave. Once you have the basics covered, you have practiced, gone slowly, fallen and honed your skills – stand up on your board. When you start to receive traffic to your blog, get subscribers and contributors giving you feedback and you begin to see trickles of affiliate income: savor the moment. Feel the cool spray splash against your face and inhale the fresh, chilled air. Take in the beauty and power that comes with achieving something you’re passionate about. Congratulations – you’re surfing.

Will you get up on your board and ride the wave today?

Ian Nuttall is the author of Leash Optional, a blog dedicated to small ideas that get you up on the board and deliver big results in love, life, and business. Subscribe to the feed and add him on Twitter.

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