Interview with Paul: Author of Inspired Money Maker

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another interview hosted here at Insight Writer. This is part of a bi-weekly interview series where we interview our fellow bloggers on the net and find out what is great about them and their websites. You can find previous interviews by clicking the Interview link at the top.

Today we will be interviewing Paul Piotrowski from Inspired Money Maker.

Paul primarily talks about entrepreneurship, personal development, and blogging.

He is a very active member of the blogging community and has had the pleasure of meeting many well known bloggers such as Yaro Starak, Darren Rowse, John Chow, and Tyler Cruz.

So without further adieu, here is Paul…

When & Why did you originally decide to start blogging? And how did you decide to quit your previous work?

I decided to start Blogging back in March of 2006. I actually stumbled across Steve Pavlina’s Blog and began reading all the content he had on there. Shortly thereafter I learned that he was making a few thousand dollars per month from his Blog which seemed completely amazing to me. I couldn’t believe people could actually make money by Blogging. So, I decided to launch my own Blog at that time which was SelfHelpWisdom.com, which I don’t really update anymore since launching InspiredMoneyMaker.com.

I decided to leave my “previous work” because I was very quickly realizing that it really wasn’t me anymore. I felt inspired to help people in other ways than my previous work would allow, so I started working towards transitioning from my “previous work” towards what I like to call my “Inspired” work.

Steve was a big inspiration for me to start blogging as well. Who or what inspires you to blog?

My inspiration comes from within, but a big part of continuing to Blog is the comments, emails and feedback I get from people who enjoy my writing. Without readers, it’s not easy to keep writing.

I would say that without readers, it is almost pointless to write unless you are doing it for yourself. There has been a lot of talk about the Blogging Lifestyle. Paul, what do you enjoy most about the things you do today?

Without a shadow of doubt, the freedom of time and expression. My brain just doesn’t work during regular business hours. Some of my most productive time is from 10pm and 2am, so I truly enjoy being able to work when I’m inspired to work, instead of following a corporate schedule of 9-5. When I’m inspired, I can work 12 hours straight on a project one day and then take the next day off.

Who is your current audience and why should they visit your site/s?

My audience is very varied. They come from all walks of life and according to my Analytics stats, they come from all over the world. They should continue to visit my site if it inspires them to learn from my example.

What made you take the leap into “professional” blogging?

I got tired of being undecided. That’s the toughest place to be, in between two worlds. I got tired of being undecided and forced myself to either totally go after it, or to shut down my Blog completely. I decided to go for it.

What do you think is the biggest benefit of blogging for society as a whole?

Self understanding. Blogging really helps me to clarify my thinking and teaches me a lot about myself. If someone else out there gets any benefit from it, that’s cool too.

What are your top 5 tips for new bloggers?

(1) Make sure you use WordPress on a self hosted plan (I use Hostgator) with your own domain.

(2) Don’t try to make everything perfect before starting. Just start writing content right away.

(3) Your first Blog might not be your last, so don’t spend a year picking a topic. Just pick something and go with it. Your long-term Blog might be your third or fifth.

(4) Get clear on why you’re doing this in the first place. Have a goal besides trying to make money. Don’t expect big money to show up right away.

(5) Study and understand the exponential growth associated with big Blogs. Read my eBook on that. That single concept makes a giant difference in the early days.

Who are your favorite bloggers that you read often and why?

StevePavlina.com – I love his forums especially.

TylerCruz.com – Tyler and I have become pretty good friends lately. He’s a good kid, I love reading his Blog.

JohnChow.com – I study what John does a lot. There are a lot of “secrets” in his ways. He doesn’t write about his secrets, but he does DO them on his Blog so if you watch what he does you can learn a lot. Very smart guy in my opinion.

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com – Yaro rocks. His Blog Mastermind program is amazing for anyone starting out in Blogging. I wrote a review of it on my Blog for anyone interested.

ProBlogger.net – Darren Rowse. The original Pro Blogger. Belongs on every Bloggers RSS list. His book is really good too. I met him at Blog World. Seems like a really nice guy.

QshifterHobbies.com – My younger brother’s Blog. I got him addicted to Blogging. He writes about all his hobbies.

There are a few others, but these are the main ones I read daily.

You have had the opportunity to meet other famous bloggers like Yaro Starak and John Chow. What did you take away from those meetings?

Bloggers like Yaro Starak, John Chow, Darren Rowse, and Tyler Cruz are all people I’ve had the privilege of meeting in person. I say “privilege” because they are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet out there.

One thing to never forget though is that they are just “regular” people like you and I, and there is nothing so special about them that anyone else couldn’t have the same success they are having. They are simply DOING what most people dream about or spend all their time talking about.

How many hours a day do you spend blogging? (Give us a day in the life of Paul.)

Yesterday I woke up at around 10:40am when my dog came up to my bed and licked my ear because he wanted his food. I got up and felt inspired to write. I jumped onto my InspiredMoneyMaker.com Blog and wrote an article for that site and then I jumped onto InspiredAffiliate.com (one of my other Blogs) and wrote an article for that. Then I was hungry so I went upstairs to have some food and then I played Fable 2 for most of the day. Of course it was Sunday yesterday so it was kind of a “slack” day, but I would say that at most I spend 2-4 hours writing for my Blog in a day. I’m also doing a whole bunch of other things besides my Blogs too though, like my Affiliate Marketing business. There really is no “regular” day for me, except to say that it’s a pretty good bet that if at all possible I stay up till 2-4am in the morning and then sleep in until 10 or 11am on most days if I can help it. I hate mornings. I have no clue how people get up at like 5am in the morning. It makes me sick to even think about waking up that early. Half the time the sun isn’t even up that early! If the sun thinks it’s too early to get up, I’m not getting up.

Some people think I’m lazy because I sleep in so late, but 90% of the time I only sleep about 6hours/night. I get up late not because I’m lazy, but because I go to bed at like 3am. I don’t know why, but this seems to bother a lot of people. My dog is the lazy one, he sleeps like 16 hours a day, and then he has the nerve to wake me up at 10:30am because he wants food. J

That is great Paul. A lot of people, including myself, like to write or do research in the wee hours of the morning when it is actually quiet. I think you have to train yourself to be a morning person. 😉 Do you happen to have any mentors?

Yes. I work with coaches and mentors all the time. However, I don’t just have one mentor. I seek out and find mentors to teach me the things I want to learn. For example, when I was first starting out in Blogging and Internet Marketing I joined the Blog Mastermind program so that I could get mentoring from Yaro, and I also joined Joe Vitale’s “Executive Mentoring” program and was mentored by a coach on Nitro Marketing’s “Nitro Blueprint System”. Currently I’m working on and off with a spiritual/life coach as well and another person who specializes in helping people develop their intuitive abilities. I’ve probably worked with 6-10 coaches/mentors in my life so far, not counting all the personal development books and courses I’ve taken which are also like little mini-mentors in book or audio format.

It’s great to have coaches and mentors. It can speed up your progress from “Snailspeed” to “Lightspeed”. The trick is to attract the right coaches and mentors that can help you with your life situation right now where you’re at.

What do you credit your initial success to?

My connection to my “True Self”. Learning to listen to my “True Self” above what I refer to as my “Ego Mind” has opened up the doors to “success” for me. I’m convinced it’s the same for everyone else. You have to find your “True Self” because it is the source of all your power.

What do you think will help you to succeed even more in the future?

Working on further clearing the blocks I may still have about sharing my “Authentic True Self” with people. For example, I’m currently taking courses to help me more closely connect to and develop my Intuitive abilities, but I’m not sure if I want to share that with people yet. I guess I just did. In short, continuing to just be myself and not giving a shit what people think about me.

What is one personal growth tip you can give our readers?

Subscribe to my RSS Feed. Besides that though, I’d say daily Journaling is an awesome place to start. About 12 years ago I was told by someone that if your life is worth living, it’s worth journaling. This person told me that if I go through a 24 hour period of time in my life and can’t even jot down a few lines in a journal about what I’ve learned that day, then I need to get a life, learn to pay attention to what’s happening in my life more, or make some serious changes. It was a brutal statement, but I’ve been journaling a lot since then, on an almost daily basis. Most people that I know who are totally into personal growth attribute a lot of their success to their journal. Most people are too lazy to do it, but it has amazing benefits that you probably won’t discover until after you’ve been doing it for over 6 months.

Thank you Paul for participating and thank you all for reading. Check back again in two weeks for another great interview with another great blogger. Ciao!