Last Updated on: February 2nd, 2017
Today’s post is a guest post from “The Blogger” – Dear Blogger’s very own Greg Narayan! I had some technical issues with publishing this post, too. Sorry, folks, sometimes sh** happens when you’re a non-techie like me…so please realize that both this post AND the post announcing the new giveaway were BOTH published today! Make sure you read it and enter!!! Also, be sure to watch the video of Greg, my other special guest for today, and then read his guest post. I’d advise getting to know him; we may have a surprise for you next month! 😉
Take it away, Greg!
Hi everyone! I’m really excited to be here. So excited that I made another video. It’s not perfect; I’m actually working on videos a lot and will more about it soon, but if you missed my first video on beginners WordPress setup make sure to see that. Hope you enjoy!
My Story: Niche-Breaking Tales from the Dear Blogger Study
Note: I could talk about a lot here, like how I’ve guest blogged for ProBlogger, SocialMediaExplorer, PickTheBrain and other niche mammoths. But instead, I figured I’d open with a story…
In the late 90s, I found myself working at an IT consulting firm doing a lot more staring at my desk and playing Tetris than computer programming. Life just seemed meaningless. On a desperate limb, I went to see a doctor – or rather, a hypnotist with a good track record of helping people “snap out of it”. It worked, and literally instantly I was in charge of my life, telling others how I wanted things, roaming the office with my own theme song. Most importantly, I was getting to know a woman I actually had a crush on. Her name? Lorraine Reguly. In the months that would follow, the weather would brighten and we’d both grow rich as we roamed about Suburbia as if it were a foreign island for our enjoyment.
Wait up? Did You Just Say Hypnotist?
Ok, ok. This story isn’t completely true, though before I met blogging I did feel an empty void. I’ve never visited a hypnotist, though I’ll try anything once. This is actually the plot line from Office Space, my favorite comedy that only went viral after hitting VHS. That, and I’ve actually never met Lorraine. We do most of our damage in the blog comments.
When Lorraine found me, I was writing from home about my folks’ decision to move. Coincidentally, I was also making bold promises about 2nd and 3rd Dear Blogger books that would end up taking months to sell their first copies.
Where Did I Come From?
For those of you who’ve been to Dear Blogger or read my posts around the web, you know that I love writing about one thing: blogging. I blog under the pen name “The Blogger” and help up-and-coming bloggers each morning from the comforts of my study (or the Starbucks in Chinatown). By leveraging a lot of early excitement and channeling blogging questions (and my insomnia) into a few pages on the Web, I’ve been able to build something lasting rather quickly. I stick to highly simple ideology:
- One satisfied reader is enough
- Empower them with tools to share
- Blog often, be everywhere
But even for me, pretending to know everything gets lonely sometimes, and when I posted my guest blogging guidelines I half-hoped Lorraine would jump on it. She did! It wasn’t hard tossing out the other résumés. Teamwork!
That’s me one month before I began blogging. Look how happy and naive I was!
Name: Greg Narayan
Occupation: Blogger, deliverer of fine comments
Location: New York City
Pet peeves: Corporate values, anyone a little bit too sure of themselves
Values: Invest heavily in what you do, and when you’re down, find a way to give
Favorite blogging topics: PageRank, writing style, blogging tips [and felines of all shapes and sizes (next major blog?)]
I’m the kind of person who’s driven by people telling me I can’t, and has taken the Red Pill so many times that seeing the world differently has gotten a bit easier. That said, I can be pretty worthless. When Lorraine asked me to guest post I was half-naked, half-conscious and half-way through a Papa Johns pizza on the floor of my study.
I have work ethic that says write as much as you can while in the zone then crash, which has helped me produce some sizable posts for ProBlogger, Social Media Explorer and some big blogs overseas like HongKiat, but also makes me the world’s largest email space cadet.
I really believe in spreading my word, and helping others at their blogs, so that you too can enjoy your own empire. It’s never about the money, ever, but the excitement we can create.
Which brings me back to Lorraine.
One of the biggest reason I wanted to team up with her is her drive. We’re not the same age, same gender, or even in remotely the same locations, but in the one month we’ve worked together we’ve already changed the life-courses of several bloggers and we’ve heard it from them directly. 🙂
What skills do we bring to your blogging?
I bring a total lack of order lifestyle, while Lorraine brings a total lack of techie-ness. Is there anything stopping such a duo, aside from a futuristic robo-blogger? Doubt it.
What’s next? If I told ya, it would ruin half the mystery. In just my one year of Dear Blogger-ing I’ve:
✓ Answered more questions than sanity should allow
✓ Published posts receiving 100+ comments
✓ Made videos people actually pay attention to about the stressful task of starting a blog
✓ Sold ebooks
If you had a time machine to propel forward in our careers, I’d hope it would involve lots of travel and a touch of live speaking events. But we’ll see!
Visit me on Dear Blogger for some blogging tips!
And leave a comment here, and I’ll answer it!
Thanks for having me, Lorraine!
YOUR TURN: Did you enjoy today’s post? Let me know in the comments, please!
Hey Susan 🙂
Glad you enjoyed – what do you blog about? I know it’s the further along we get the more tech problems that pop up!
I don’t think Susan saw this, Greg. But no matter; I see you’ve connected with her already. 🙂
What a great guest post. Sorry you have had some tech problems. I can completely relate myself since I am a novice techie myself. 🙂
Yes, Susan, we are humans and subject to making little mistakes now and then. I’m glad you met Greg!
Hi Lorraine; Thanks for introducing us to greg and deer blogger. He has an unusual but entertaining writing style. But he is obviously successful at blogging and a guide to a lot of new and relatively new bloggers. so i’m glad to have met him through you. i went and read one of his posts and decided to subscribe. I’m looking forward to getting to know him and adding him to the growing list of bloggers who I exchange comments with learn from and help out where possible. Thanks and take care, max
I’m happy that I was able to introduce you to Greg. I saw your comment on his most recent post. I even replied to it! 🙂
Greg is a pretty smart guy who knows a lot about blogging, so I am sure you will get a lot out of his posts on Dear Blogger.
Thanks for commenting, Max!
Hi Max.
Thanks for those awesome words. I think you hit the nail on the head – I’m trying to show new and up and coming bloggers the ins and outs of “making it” in any niche. You can count on me being open and dead honest with any strategy (I get furious when other bloggers aren’t!) So, glad you joined along.
That, and stick around Lorraine’s blog – I expect some powerful blogging stuff on it’s way soon.
Thanks,
Greg aka The Blogger
Hi Lorraine and Greg, you both must be having so much fun. I think you’re going places together even though you live in different countries. It’s a wonderful time to be alive. I wish you both a world of “Blogging Bliss”! You certainly have a good start!
Yes, Donna, Greg and I seem to have hit it off pretty good! Through our mutual love of blogging, a friendship has been formed. I’m looking forward to the future and all it holds! 😀
Just loved this quick but throughout post on Greg, lol 😀
I can see that you, Lorraine, and Greg are a real hardcore team that achieves a hell of a lot more while working together than by just working alone.
Lorraine, I think that it’s time that you post a guest-post on Dear Blogger? 😀
Fedja
Yes, Greg and I make a good team. Even though he denies having a *crush* on me. 😉 I think he’s just in love with me for my editing skills, though. 😉
As for the guest post? I did one already!
Thanks for you comment, Fedja!
Great, thank you once again! 😀
You’re welcome!
😳 I’m blushing. Skype date soon. Thanks Fedja!
Yeah, Greg, you young guys always blush. 😉
See you soon!
Hey, Lorraine!
Just wanted to tell you that I just read Greg’s guest post on your site (I got notification via email and you have set it up so that it displays the whole post, not an excerpt) – and when I attempted to leave a comment – it returned 404 error. I guess you published accidentally instead of scheduling – and then unpublished… But thought you should know – your WordPress subscribers got it! 🙂
Diana
Diana, I had some problems and ended up double-posting! Not sure if you will see this, but try again! Please, and thanks!
Oh, my, Lorraine – this was supposed to be a your-eyes-only type of heads-up email – how did it end up being a comment??? that’s embarrassing LOL – this was NOT the comment i wanted to leave hahahaha
I loved the post when i read it this morning – so down to earth person, you go Greg! 😀 and i loved this – ‘pretending to know everything gets lonely sometimes’ – you started my day with a smile, so thanks 😀
I really enjoy DearBlogger (i found it through Lorraine’s guest post there a couple of weeks ago and i think i’m a loyal reader since then :D) – but i sure enjoy learning more about the mastermind behind it, too.
And hey, what surprise next month? not fair, Lorraine – don’t say there is a surprise when there is soooo much time util it’s time for the surprise – will lose a lot of sleep wondering now LOL
Hey, I can’t show all of my cards all at once, Diana. 😉 I gotta keep you all guessing, and wondering what it could possible be! It will be exciting, I can tell you that!
I know the comment was a heads-up, but I think that showing others that it’s okay to make mistakes – they happen to the best of us – proves that Greg and I real people, honest people, and caring people. Don’t you agree?
Diana are you a tech guru problem solver or what? I think we both need your consulting!
For instance I totally mis cropped image in the laptop above, ha! Suffice to say it means I need After Effects help and that people should “enter their email address” at Lorraine’s blog.
Publishing and unpublishing stinks, it’s like the bloggers worst dilemna, but well played Lorraine and glad folks can get to know me here!
I didn’t realize that I had forgotten to change the date to NEXT Friday, and by the time I went to change it, the post had been published. Then, I saw a retweet on Twitter, about you being a blogging genius (nice compliment!) and the link was to this blog post… so I quickly decided to re-publish it, and let the chips fall where they may.
As for Diana, she’s a pretty smart cookie! 😀
Hehee, thanks for the compliment, Lorraine, no one has called me “smart cookie” before 😉 But, Greg, don’t let Lorraine mislead you – i sure am no techie. Maybe i know a little more than the average user but that’s primarily because i do it all by myself (when it comes to blogging, i mean) – i learn on the go and when i break something, i ask a friend for help BUT: i usually make them show me how to fix it rather than fixing it for me. so next time i break the same thing – i know how to fix it myself 😉 Why did i say this? hm, sorry for off-topic, Lorraine – i get carried away sometimes LOL
Diana, that’s how I learn, too.
And it’s okay to ramble. That’s what commenting is for! I like how comments can turn into public discussions. I like to talk, too. It’s nice to know that we can connect with one another out here in cyberspace and feel close to each other even though we all live in different parts of this world. It still amazes me. I feel like a little kid in a candy store sometimes with a large bill (a twenty, I guess, by today’s standards) in my hand, looking around in awe!