GirlPaint here. I’m taking a momentary break from beauty to focus on success and inspiration. Here goes…

Posted by girlpaint | Filed under DIY, education, self-improvement

Image by Svilen Mushkatov What is success? What is marketing? How do you make money on the internet?

All good questions (thanks, I thought so). I’ve been attempting to answer these questions for myself. And there are plenty of “experts” out there, both real and not-so-much. In fact, my yahoo reader is littered with lists of posts from top bloggers who write about these very topics every day. And, damn them, they make it all seem so easy.

Who are my favorites bloggers, you ask? Okay, well, you didn’t ask, but I’m going to tell you ‘cuz that’s just the kind of blogger I am.

One of my all-time favorites is Naomi Dunford over at Ittybiz. She’s my favorite writer. Her common-sense, plain-spoken approach to marketing and business is refreshing. Her personal story is compelling, and I wish I had her a fraction of her expertise (I’ll get there). Also, she writes in explicatives (sometimes). I like that.

Clay Collins, another fave, started The Growing Life, became blog-famous overnight then shifted directions with Finance Your Freedom. Clay speaks to me with his “quit your day job, get up late and work when you’re at your peak” message. Bless you, Clay, for giving me permission to sleep in. One of the most important things I’ve learned about myself is that I am NOT a morning person—I’ve accepted it, I’m okay with it, and it’s largely because of Clay. He’s the epitome of success in my book. He found something he’s REALLY good at, something that no one else has figured out nearly as well as him, and he actually likes what he does. He works for the clients he wants to and pretty much works the hours he wants. Plus, he makes a good living. He’s left himself plenty of breathing (and sleeping) room. I admire that.

Copyblogger (where incidentally Clay and Naomi have both contributed) is another favorite. I do a lot of things well, but writing copy isn’t one of them. I’ve been a top sales person, winning awards in every industry I’ve worked, but I’ve come to find out that sales success doesn’t necessarily translate into marketing and writing success. Granted, I have a few blogs and I enjoy writing posts well enough, but I struggle. Coming up with ideas for posts, writing them succinctly without a lot of sales jargon, and sounding like a human being when I write …frankly, it doesn’t come easy to a former sales goddess like me. So I turn to the best blog writers on Copyblogger for help. Their expert contributors give sound advice and tried-and-true techniques, and they do it all in a consistently smart and simple language I hope to emulate in my own writing. I want that.

Finally, there’s my husband and life-partner, Joe Ed White. He’s been an artist his entire life. And over the past five years, he’s become a screenwriter. Fact is he’s a born storyteller. His writing is fun to read, exciting…his screenplays are page-turners. He knows how to keep the action moving, develop character arcs — and his stories always contain an unexpected twist. I love that.

I could go on about writers and bloggers I enjoy, but there’s still those nagging questions I posed at the beginning of this post. Guess what? I still don’t have those answers. What I do know is that there are many answers. Reading blogs has yet to make me rich, successful or a marketer a la Donnie Deutsch (dammit). But, what it does do is give me encouragement through stories, information, writing styles and advice. And someday I will find my success… my favorite blogs and writers keep me inspired to keep digging for the answers to those nagging questions.

Image by Svilen Mushkatov http://www.sxc.hu/profile/svilen001