Giving the finger to the naysayers. Free mentoring for a year.

I’m feeling a little low at the moment. I keep stumbling across more and more negative stuff on various websites. Stuff that’s criticizing Third Tribe or whatever program or book is in the news this week, posts that seem to serve no purpose other than to complain about other (usually much more successful) bloggers, and  most recently, a whole post telling the world it’s impossible to create an income based on a blog. I guess I should be strong enough to realize that it’s small men (and it always seems to be men) with small minds who are writing this kind of thing. But it has got to me recently.

So I’ve decided to do something about it.

I’m going to spend a year proving the naysayers wrong.

I’d like to take four bloggers, and give them the benefit my own experience in taking a travel blog from zero to a full time income in one year. I’m going to help them as much as I can, and more importantly, I’m going to leverage my much smarter friends to help as well. We’re going to work together using all the latest tools, wherever we are in the world. We’ll talk, we’ll chat, we’ll Wave. We’ll do whatever it takes to help the four bloggers to achieve whatever they want to achieve with their blogs.

And it’s not going to cost them a penny. No program, no membership. Just solid, free mentoring. This is about giving back to the community, helping some people who deserve it, and giving the finger to all those who say it can’t be done.

How you can help

For most readers of this blog, I have one question. Will you help? Many of you have skills I lack. Will you throw them into the ring and let me call on your services from time to time? Will you publicize this, so we can select the most deserving, most appropriate recipients? Finally, can some of you creative types come up with a name for this project?

Want to apply?

Some of you may want to apply for one of the four places. I’m going to try to get as many of the people who were featured in Beyond Blogging, together with my co-author Nathan Hangen to help me choose the winners.

Here’s the criteria:

1/ Your blog should be six months old or less.

2/ It can be in any niche.

3/ One objective of the blog should be to either create a direct income or to act as a platform for a business that creates an income.

4/ You should have some clearly defined objectives for the next year.

5/ You need to be able to consistently devote time to the blog. (Even if it’s only a couple of hours a day).

And here are my promises:

1/ You won’t get rich quick.

2/ You’ll work very hard for a year.

3/ It will be fun.

4/ You will create a long term sustainable income, either from the blog, or for another business, through the blog.

The program will start on 1st March. Entries will close on 21st February and the four winners will be announced within a week of that date.

If you’d like to apply, please state clearly in comments that you want to. I’ll send you an email with a questionnaire for you to fill out. I’ll then use your answers to create a shortlist, and the judges will select the final four from that list.

I’m really looking forward to working with some of you.