I'd Rather Be Writing

This innovate podcast with Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, provides an interesting look into entrepreneurship. Arrington says blogging can be like a treadmill rather than a train — the treadmill (blog) just requires more and more content without really going anywhere. He actually says blogging is not a good business. Each day you have to generate new, interesting content for your blog to keep readers coming back.

The best kinds of businesses are network-related, such as Digg.com, where users generate the content. In this model, each new user who comes to your site adds value. Because the content is user-generated, it frees up your time to begin other startups or to grow your business in other ways.

For those wanting to be mentioned on Tech Crunch, he says your product or service should be so good that it speaks for itself. If you have to spend a lot of time marketing it, the product probably isn’t that good. News of killers apps and services travels fast and doesn’t require extensive marketing.

When choosing a vocation, Arrington says to pursue something you’re passionate about. If you want to be successful, it’s going to require a lot of time and energy — perhaps 15-hour days. If you’re not passionate about the endeavor, you’ll have a hard time spending a lot of time doing it.

Because Michael Arrington is a big-name blogger (he has nearly 500K subscribers to his Tech Crunch), he receives a lot of criticism from readers — approximately 30-40 criticisms a day. Some are merited, he says, while many others are nasty. Receiving one or two of these messages isn’t the same as receiving 30-40 daily. The effect of 30-40 criticisms a day is magnifying, and it has hardened him. Now he looks past criticism and it doesn’t bother him as much, but it did change his personality.

In addition to Tech Crunch, Arrington also has a podcast called TalkCrunch.

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Tags: Blogging

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