Anyone can write tips for success. I mean srsly. Don’t pee into the wind, don’t eat yellow snow. Just look at the blogosphere there is 923123 experts writing about how to be successful. The difference in my opinion is showing people how it can apply directly to them or even better yet how it directly applied from you (if you want to take that chance).
When you write tips for success don’t force anything. That is one thing I have learned. I only planned on writing the TFS series for 5 days but I got so much positive response that I thought I would continue. The major issue there was I never thought I would have enough tips so I was like well when they start to get lame then I will stop. The wild thing is like ones I think are lame and common sense (to me) I get some of the best response from.
So if you write tips for success write from your experience and what you want to share. Not what you think others want to hear just so it will bring you glory. Todays tip for success for today – How to write tips for success.
June 5, 2007 at 8:29 am
The reason they are so succesful is because your readers have the same problems/situations as you. If I was reading a single mother’s interpetations about TFS I would be off the page in 10 seconds. Yours are printed out and put in the take to the bathroom pile.
Keep em coming!
June 5, 2007 at 8:46 am
amen
June 5, 2007 at 8:48 am
Here I thought TFS was your acronym for Tuff F*cking Sh*t. I learn something here everyday!
June 5, 2007 at 9:17 am
Even if you have heard/read them before it’s good to be reminded every so often. Sometimes you have to be “ready” before you can hear them
June 5, 2007 at 9:18 am
uh oh… has TSF jumped the shark?
June 5, 2007 at 9:20 am
just kidding… oh, yea, that was meant to be tfs not “tips success for”
June 5, 2007 at 9:35 am
We’ve always put common sense and humor above the way some writers pound their message into people.
example: Fireworks safety tips
June 5, 2007 at 9:48 am
Just curious–how did you get 923123 experts? A search with quotes for “tips for success” gives me about 8642 results. Still, that’s quite a few!
June 5, 2007 at 9:54 am
I think if they come from your past experiences they are also more credible!
June 5, 2007 at 9:58 am
just a made up astronomical number
June 5, 2007 at 10:08 am
Experience is definitely the best teacher. I am all for your TFS series, Shoe, keep ‘em coming! =)
June 5, 2007 at 10:46 am
With so many people posting tips, you are bound to find a writer and style that resonates with you.
I think having so much choice is a good thing.
Cheers,
Shane
June 5, 2007 at 11:10 am
Shoe, here is good a tip for success. I think you actually wrote about this back in January! http://www.doitfuckingnow.com
June 5, 2007 at 11:23 am
I have enjoyed your previous 12 TFS but this one just doesn’t do it for me. Don’t get me wrong Shoe, I like your blog and what you have to say but at the same time if the content is not up to par it is my responsibility as your visitor to let you know what I think. I personally don’t plan on writing TFS so to me this is not useful but what would be useful to me would be to hear TFS on a particular niche market like Bodybuilding Supplements. I realize this is a flooded market but even so, lets hear how you would approach such a project from start to finish and what strategies you would utilize to make it successful with one condition, you only have $500/month you can invest.
June 5, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Great domain name. =)
June 5, 2007 at 12:48 pm
keep this series going, i’m a fan of it
June 5, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Really if you’re giving out any advice on your blog at all you’re in a sense giving out tips for success. While you might not structure it the same way Shoe does, you’re still only going to provide value to your readers if they can apply it to their life. For example, if you’re site is about Bodybuilding Supplements, you’re likely going to have to provide tips on how to best leverage the supplements to gain the desired results right?
Basically the heart of the post (write from what you know and what you find helpful) applies across all sorts of niches.
Can you tell I enjoyed the post? At the risk of sounding like a brown nose, I say keep em comin!
June 5, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Sure, but if you were looking for tips on how to be a single mother, she’d be just the one to ask.
June 5, 2007 at 12:56 pm
That’s awesome. I was already in the middle of writing a humorous post about these same tip-givers. I don’t have a title yet, but it’ll be something like
“13,001 Great writing tips for illiterates”
“How to become a billion, no, TRILLION dollar writer”
“How to moon your editor & get a promotion”
June 5, 2007 at 1:52 pm
It’s already been said, but your TFS are largely viewed with wide-eyes because you are and have been so successful. People like you that are successful are watched their every move, so we can learn everything we can and hope to be even 10% as successful ourselves!
June 5, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I think the biggest this is to start doing and ultimately be yourself. Don’t let Advertisers, networks etc.. mold you into one of their peons standout and the people (usually the money too
) will come running.
June 5, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Thanks for (ahem) “disclosing” that.
Actually, if you think about it, 8642 people talking about successful tips is an astronomical number anyway.
June 5, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Hi Shoe. Great post. As someone else posted, tips for success can a huge variety of things. I’ve read some dubious, short ebooks on internet success tips, and I’m pretty certain that the authors have not been very successful at doing anything much other than marketing their own ebooks. Then again, many of the business paperback books have been the same. I am writing some tips for success in business at the moment, for later release, and I have to say, a lot of the stuff I have to communicate comes from the mistakes I’ve made. I think you learn a whole heap more about business by making serious mistakes. That’s why you can spot a phoney book a mile off, as the author’s never admit to making any, or advise on how to avoid them.
June 5, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I agree. And, btw – how is this called? Self-referential posting? I love the genre tips on tips
June 5, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I hope you have at least another weeks worth of TFS! I wasn’t a big fan at first, but something kept me coming back and reading them. Now I look forward to them every day.
Don
June 5, 2007 at 3:49 pm
“Actually, if you think about it, 8642 people talking about successful tips is an astronomical number anyway.”
Now that you mentioned it, it is odd how the numbers came out after Shoes 923123. Hmmm
Don
June 5, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Duly noted.
I still think writing about what you know and find helpful is common sense so if you’re going to provide me with TFS then tell me something I don’t know. But I guess there is one thing I can extract from this post and that is to say what you think (no matter the glory factor) not what others want to hear… How cliche right.. ha.
June 6, 2007 at 8:04 am
I agree with Mubin. I enjoy reading the TFS because I find myself in many of the same situations that you have found yourself in earlier.
June 6, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Another reason they are successful is because you dont talk over people’s heads. You talk in everyday language, not like a college professor who just bought a new dictionary. Your clear and easy to understand, and that goes a long way.
June 6, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Tips from you, definitely mean more than something coming from someone that isn’t making money. We know you make it.
June 6, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Love the name, but would hate to hit it from my day job.
June 6, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Tips On Tips! TOT for short! A new genre! (giggle!)
What you’re really saying, of course, is that within every tip is the seed of another tip … and another … and another.
Their charm lies in the fact that, while one’s experience is nearly impossible to describe, it can usually be summed up into a sentence or two of what I will call “good advice” that others can carry around with them and try on for size from time to time to see how it fits.
For example, here’s a “tip for success” or “good advice” from a teenager of my acquaintance:
“Don’t bite the hand that has your allowance in it!”
Or this one from President Roosevelt:
“Start where you stand, with the tools that you have. Better tools will be found as you go along.”
Or this one:
“If they ask you if you can do a thing, tell them, ‘Certainly I can!’, and then get busy and learn how to do it.”
You could write a book about any one of these and still have more to say, so I don’t think we’re in danger of Shoe running out of tips any time soon.
Of course, he could always start a “Tips Box” and collect “Suggestions for Tips for Success”.
Better still, he could start a “Tips Jar” and charge a nickel a tip and make a fortune!
Warmest regards …
Elizabeth
June 6, 2007 at 10:55 pm
eeek! I just realized there’s no little “subscribe box” to check to get updates to this thread by email. Is that on purpose, or have you just not gotten around to installing that particular plugin?
Also, what’s the name of the plugin you’re using that lets people use some simple html formatting in their comments? The one that starts out by saying “You may use … ? I’ve been looking all over for it!
Thanks in advance …
Elizabeth
June 10, 2007 at 1:37 am
I love the way you write those tips there shoe, ive tried once or twice, and people tend to hold you responsible if they screw up your techniques.
Im sure you know that feeling.
June 11, 2007 at 5:20 am
I couldnt hold this responsibility… can I borrow your someone else tips to transfer the responsibility?
June 12, 2007 at 4:32 am
I agree – his writing seems honest and humble, but it’s clear if you can ignore some basic grammar rules
June 12, 2007 at 4:34 am
That’s interesting – it would really piss me off. I would just have to ignore them.
June 21, 2007 at 1:02 pm
You know I really didn’t know what TFS stood for until one. LOL Idiot!