“Pay yourself first” and “One thing leads to another”

Categories: Career, RuminationsPosted on July 6th, 2007

I often get asked “How to you publish so much content on your blog?” or “Do you ever sleep?” Here’s some of my tips that I do.

Pay yourself first
I pay myself first. What does that mean? It means before I get bogged down in email hell, and feedreader hell, I focus my priorities on the tools that will maximize my time. A blog is a broadcast tool (with community features) that let’s me communicate to many people at once. It’s the most efficient use of my time, and it saves me time. For every email you write, you’re likely to get more in in return, and that’s not efficient. I look for efficient communication tools, and a blog is right for me, (A social network may be right for you) but that’s how I pay myself first. I hope Tim Ferris sees this.

This isn’t a new concept, many financial advisers will suggest that you invest in the future (funds, roth, 401) before paying down your debt, because in the long run, you’ll survive with debt, but to retire you’ll need quite an egg in today’s modern world.

I think about my focus area Web Strategy all the time. I want to be a resource to people that are making decisions on websites, or are responsible for what happens on the site. I keep a notepad on my (moleskine) near me most of the time, and write down ideas for posts whenever I can. These often go into my drafts area on wordpress. I currently have 131 drafts that I’m working on. Some will never make it, and that’s ok with me. If you check out my blog birthday stats, I’ve done an average of three posts a day, with a return of 4 comments per post on average.

[Every morning, for about 2 hours, I pay myself first by researching, reading, and writing blog posts...before I dive into email hell]

One things leads to another
The last thing I wanted to share is that one thing leads to another. I had a great time in Singapore, I was a speaker, met a lot of people, and blogged the hell out of the event. When I got back home, I now have three invites to go overseas to speak, one thing leads to another. So remember that even the smallest thing will lead to something bigger, and it will snowball.

Overtime, paying yourself first will add up. Whether it’s on Myspace, Facebook, a Videoblog or your blog, all kinds of interesting things will happen. As it ends up, by paying myself first on my blog, it actually pays me employer, as they reap the rewards of my network, increased knowledge, and thought leadership. I’ve done some quantification on my ROI for my employer, and it’s a positive number.

So pay yourself first, and remember that one thing leads to another.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 3:11 am and is filed under Career, Ruminations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

How wonderfully insightful; would you mind me cribbing and crediting from this at my next Business NetworkBreakfast ?

Nik

Posted by Nik Butler on July 6th, 2007 at 4:01 am

Help yourself, a simple reference to me is all I ask.

Posted by Jeremiah Owyang on July 6th, 2007 at 4:23 am

Absolutely, credit where credit is due. I have been trying to squeeze blogging and writing into my activities when clearly it should be a priority because the effort results in more paying the bill type activities. Some days it takes someone else to state the plainly obvious. Cheers

Posted by Nik Butler on July 6th, 2007 at 9:47 am

Smart strategy. My personal blog tends to suffer because I start every day jumping right into email and the things that pay the bills and never look back. I’m going to try the “pay myself first” and notepad next to desk strategy next week

Posted by Adam Ostrow on July 6th, 2007 at 11:46 am

Make it a sticky pad on your monitor.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on July 6th, 2007 at 2:19 pm

[...] In a recent post, I shared some of my personal secrets in career growth, focused for the web professional. [...]

Posted by Web Strategy by Jeremiah » Daniela pays herself first on July 9th, 2007 at 6:32 am

[...] I’m really sorry, but to let you know, I’m falling behind on my personal email. I guess this is partly my doing, as I make my email address public on this blog. It’s overwhelming, I’m getting over 200 emails during each weekday, a lot of requests to interview companies, or requesting information, or introductions from PR firms. I’m a big believer in paying yourself first (that’s why I get up extra early to blog at 3-4am), work email comes second, followed by personal email. [...]

Posted by Web Strategy by Jeremiah » Falling behind on personal email, patience required. on July 13th, 2007 at 6:02 am

[...] One of the great giveaways to all attendees was Tim Ferris’s book, the Four Hour workweek. While I still think it’s impossible, the concepts are great, that’s why I pay myself first. [...]

Posted by Web Strategy by Jeremiah » CommunityNext Viral: Find out who the hard core community folks are on July 14th, 2007 at 11:27 am

[...] part, contribute and interact. However it was not until I read this article by Jeremiah Owyang; “Paying yourself and one thing leads to another” that the lightbulb went on in my head and I realised how much you can get back from a community by [...]

Posted by The Opinions of a Loud Mouth Man :: Paying Me, Paying you. on July 15th, 2007 at 1:59 am

nice. i really need to think like this more often.

thanks

Posted by dave mcclure on July 15th, 2007 at 9:06 pm

[...] been a bunch of conversation in the blogosphere about “Paying yourself first.” As a total devotee of time-management gurus like David Allen, I was a little surprised to [...]

Posted by LaunchSquad : Blogs : Exclamation on July 17th, 2007 at 11:15 am

Hi Jeremiah,

Great, great points.

“Paying yourself first” is strategic in the most literal sense. Good tactics are often born of good strategy, but the opposite is damn hard (trying to drink from the fire hydrant of e-mail and find prioritization through that, for example).

The “one thing leads to another” is sooooo important. People often ask me how I pitched bloggers, what the secret is to pitching bloggers, etc. My answer should just be: I had a bunch of drinks with cool folks at SXSW (note: not all bloggers are cool) and “one thing led to another”…

Keep up the good fight, J,

Tim

Posted by Tim Ferriss on July 18th, 2007 at 11:41 pm

[...] his post, Alex says that he’s almost back to blogging, and I want to encourage him to continue paying himself first. I suggest (and have argued) that blogging can lead towards the road of [...]

Posted by Web Strategy by Jeremiah » For the Community Managers on July 21st, 2007 at 7:34 am

[...] Thanks for crediting me Mark, be sure to check out my other Industry Indexe lists for future market analysis. Friends, here’s a living example of paying yourself first, and one thing leads to another. [...]

Posted by Web Strategy by Jeremiah » Techcrunch profiles 9 (out of 60+) White Label Social Networks on July 24th, 2007 at 9:09 pm

[...] Pay yourself first: I rarely check email before I start reading and blogging, it’s an endless spiral, the more [...]

Posted by Tips to save time from the Web Strategist on August 16th, 2007 at 8:41 am

[...] right time, and blogged just about every day and reached out to others. A few months back I wrote why you should pay yourself first, and why one thing leads to another, I encourage you to follow this principle [...]

Posted by The ROI of Blogging? Intangible on September 4th, 2007 at 7:15 pm

Great post, thanks Jeremiah.

It’s too easy to get bogged down in the urgent and neglect the important. It’s a reminder for me to refresh my priority list.

Cheers,
Chris

Posted by Chris Goward on September 4th, 2007 at 8:13 pm

[...] Continue to learn, and absorb everything you can, be open to feedback, and follow your passions, one thing leads to another. As a designer, you may want to expand out and start to do some user experience research projects. [...]

Posted by Letters to the Editor: Career Pathing to a Web Strategy role on September 29th, 2007 at 5:49 am

[...] in the morning (I sleep in 2 three hour shifts at night, and am up right now at 3am to blog) as I really believe in paying myself first. Learning how to manage all the input and output time (and time spent writing reports) around [...]

Posted by 6 things i’ve learned since becoming an analyst on October 31st, 2007 at 3:07 am

[...] 1, 2007 by BethDunn I’ve been thinking about Jeremiah’s recent Utter, his post on paying yourself first and about how we get where we eventually [...]

Posted by thirst for knowledge, apetite for change « small dots on December 1st, 2007 at 12:17 pm

[...] to yourself - Jeremiah has a great post on paying yourself forward. Put things in this [...]

Posted by » Milestones, Momentum & Social Media Connie Bensen: My Conversations on April 22nd, 2008 at 8:00 pm

[...] Connie Benson reminded me to post up my mantra of “pay yourself first” and “Manage your time as you do [...]

Posted by Six Career Tips on May 8th, 2008 at 8:05 am

[...] Related: Pay yourself first, one thing leads to another [...]

Posted by Career Tips: How I stay organized on May 22nd, 2008 at 5:41 am

Hi Jeremy,

I’m impressed at your approach in your blog and the commitment you’ve made to yourself.

I’ve recently started a blog on eGovernment within Australia, making a similar long-term commitment to a high level of activity in a relevant and useful manner.

I’m referring to you as a role model for this approach and keeping a close eye on your approach.

I wish you continuing happiness and success in equal measure.

Posted by Craig Thomler on June 19th, 2008 at 8:21 am

So true…

Posted by Shrinidhi Hande on June 26th, 2008 at 10:34 pm

Great thoughts Jeremiah….Thanks for this wonderful post. “One things leads to another” -> I very well know how true is this. When I started as a novice blogger last year, I’ve no idea about how can I bring in some goos posts. Now when I go back and browse through my older posts, I can see how much time and effort I’ve spend in writing them, learnings happened, friends I got….yes “One thing leads to another”…and that’s what is “Butterfly Effect”

Posted by Anbusivam on June 26th, 2008 at 11:30 pm

[...] (I’ve over 100 of them sitting in wordpress) and I’d budget my time in the morning to pay myself first. (It’s 430 AM when I write [...]

Posted by Happy 2nd Blog Anniversary: Web Strategy Blog on June 27th, 2008 at 4:58 am

[...] blog post by Jeremiah Owyang reopened my eyes to blogging. For a long time, I’ve left this blog [...]

Posted by Technology Talk! » Blog Archive » Waking Up to Blogging Again! on June 28th, 2008 at 12:45 am

[...] also a firm believer in what Jeremiah Owyang refers to as “paying yourself first,” although I think I have a slightly different spin on it. His priorities are to his blog and [...]

Posted by blogcampaigning » Blog Archive » “Why haven’t you been blogging as much lately?” on July 4th, 2008 at 8:53 am

[...] amount of time each day to generate quality content, or as one of my favorite Internet strategists Jeremiah Owyang calls it, “paying yourself first”. This is where I have failed myself lately and more importantly, failed my growing base of loyal [...]

Posted by Getting Back on the Field and Accepting the Challenge | Jcyreus dot Com :: [J-seer-ee-uhs] on August 13th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

Paying Yourself First - Starting the day with blogging… …

A few weeks back I found myself on a Friday realizing that in the entire week: I had not published a single blog post. Not one. Not on any of my blogs. Now, just to put this in context, please…

Posted by Disruptive Conversations on September 25th, 2008 at 4:39 am

That is a great concept - thanks!

Posted by Gina Kay Landis on November 10th, 2008 at 8:01 am

Hey Jeremiah,

Great post. I have also been checking emails and other social networks before concentrating on my blog post. I have only been able to post to my blog 2 times a week. I need to step that up to at least 1 time a day. Thank again for your insight.

Posted by Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite on November 10th, 2008 at 8:47 am

[...] and ask them to show you something or teach you something new in your career. What am I doing? I spend two hours each morning reading and blogging before I look at email, and I just started Guy’s latest [...]

Posted by Growing your Career: Do at GUT Check on November 15th, 2008 at 7:24 am

[...] Pay Yourself First Article [...]

Posted by Online Resources from Totally Her’s Business Advice Day : kimworld.com on January 20th, 2009 at 10:34 pm

[...] a few other things to consider during these lean times. Have you paid yourself first during the high times? Did you build your network before you needed them? You don’t want to be classified as a [...]

Posted by The Dangers of Being Under –and Over– Qualified During a Recession on February 4th, 2009 at 7:31 am

[...] changing industry has its tolls, so I’ve figured out a system that keeps me half way sane. I pay myself first every morning by reading and sharing (you’ll see me tweet out interesting links as early as [...]

Posted by How Do I Keep Up? « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing on May 8th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

[...] the secret? Pay yourself first. I put in a lot of passion, and read and blog nearly every morning (It’s 3:51am right now) [...]

Posted by Three Years « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing on June 19th, 2009 at 4:00 am

[...] worked for me? Pay yourself first. I put in a lot of passion, and read and blog nearly every morning (It’s 3:51am right now) before [...]

Posted by Three Years. | GAby Menta on June 23rd, 2009 at 6:10 am

small typo…

As it ends up, by paying myself first on my blog, it actually pays **me** employer, as they reap the rewards of my network, increased knowledge, and thought leadership.