Beginner Blogger

This is the fifth installment of guest interviews where I had the pleasure of interviewing Henri Junttila from WakeUpCloud.com

Here’s the interview:

Firstly could you give a little information about yourself ?

Henri Junttila. 23. Spain, born and raised in Sweden, just moved because I can’t take the cold. Internet entrepreneur extraordinaire.

How did you get into blogging?

I wanted to find a platform where I could express myself and reach as many people as possible, blogging was the best choice. My goals are to connect with as many (right) people as possible and help as many as possible. Simple, powerful and passionate goals are crucial. When I knew what I wanted I joined the Authority Blogging course by Chris Garrett and it has allowed me to progress faster than I could have imagined.

Is wakeupcloud.com your first blog? What would you say the purpose/niche of your blog is?

My first real and serious blog. I do have other blogs, but they are more meant to make money from affiliate marketing, adsense and so on, so there is not the same degree of passion as in the Wake Up Cloud. My purpose is as I said above, connect and help. The niche is self improvement for conscious people.

What made you select the niche that you blog about?

It is what I am deeply passionate about. Without passion you have no chance of succeeding with your soul intact, so make sure you choose something you really love. You hear people say that you have to work your face off, which is true, but it isn’t work when you’re following your passion and that is exactly what I am doing.

How much planning and time did you spend before launching?

There was as much planning as necessary until I felt ready to launch. I used to be an over-analytic perfectionist that planned everything to death. I have changed that and it has allowed me to take action much quicker and get stuff done. Here’s what I did:

1. Uncovered my passion
2. Thought about how I would differentiate myself
3. Bought a domain name
4. Joined a blogging course
5. Took it one step at a time
6. Took massive action

So many people want to know how everything will work out, but I say plan just enough to get going, because when you start taking action, you will be in a much better position to adjust, calibrate and focus your efforts.

Do you make a living online? Currently employed?

I make a living through my niche websites at the moment, but I have some surprises in store for the Wake Up Cloud readers in the coming year, so if you aren’t a reader and want to dramatically transform your life and increase your freedom, you might want to stop by (shameless plug, I know, forgive me).

Is there anyone you look up to in the blogging world that you base yourself on? Anyone you go to for advice? What is your inspiration?

Steve Pavlina’s blog is the only one I have read during the last 3-4 years, so he’s definitely been an inspiration. But his writings have been more of a confirmation, because often I think of something and then he writes it. The synchronicity is amazing. For blogging advice at the moment I go to Chris Garrett from chrisg.com, he has incredible skills.

How well has your blog done? (Stats wise)

My blog is under 4 weeks old. It has almost 200 subscribers (RSS+E-mail). It has averaged just under 100 unique visitors since launch.

What is your main source of traffic?

At the moment I have no main source. My traffic comes from an incredible amount of different sources. I comment, guest post, connect and tweet. I am subscribed to 100+ excellent blogs and try to comment on all of them. That is how I was able to launch and instantly gain traction. I then started guest posting more, which is incredibly effective if you do it right.

What are your main strategies for your blog? (maybe top 5)

1. Content
2. Helping & connecting with my readers and fellow bloggers
3. Guest posting
4. Commenting
5. Twitter

What are typical tasks you perform for your blog, both content and marketing wise? Are you organised with lists or you just take action on what you feel needs to be done?

I believe in the 80/20 rule, the pareto principle, which says that there are 20% of tasks that will give you 80% of the results. I am fairly organized and constantly focus on doing what gives results, but I am by no means someone who writes down every detail. The top 5 things I do can be seen above. Less is more when it comes to success. Focus on a few core tasks and do them over and over again, especially guest posting, writing your own content and connecting with others.

Are you making money with your blog/Plan to make money with your blog in the future? If so – how?

I am not making money with my blog right now, but that is because it is under 1 month old. I plan to launch my own products and perhaps a few other services. I am not sure, so I will not reveal anything yet.

If you could start your blog over again, what are 3 things you would do differently?

Nothing. I feel like I have done everything right and that is (I think) because I am ruthlessly discriminative. What I mean by this is that I do not participate in tasks that I feel do not produce results.

What advice would you give to beginner bloggers?

If I could give you 3 words of advice it would be to:

1. Join a blogging course
2. Love your topic so much that you would do it for free, otherwise you won’t make it
3. Use the 80/20 principle
4. Take action
5. Fail a lot and adjust

What are future plans for your blog?

My plans are to grow it much more in the coming year, build my readership, provide tremendous value and transition to making it my main source of income. I have come to realize that making a living doing what I love is not only possible, but highly probable when I work hard. We are all here for a purpose. Let’s not waste it by chasing something useless, like money. Money is good, but not when it controls your life.

Henri
http://www.wakeupcloud.com
@henrijunttila

I hope you enjoyed this guest post interview with Henri. If you have any questions or comments leave them in the space provided below.

If you would like to be interviewed for Beginner Blogger head on over to the contact section and shoot me an email – I’m sure we can work something out

If you enjoyed this interview you may also enjoy…

1. Guest Post Interview with Derek Jensen

2. Guest Post Interview with Mike CJ

3. Guest Post Interview with Jay Bailey

Popularity: 33% [?]