Five things a blogger can learn from the life of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was an impressive man, changing Apple from a company near bankruptcy to one of the biggest companies in the world (and was even the biggest company for a short time this year). So what can bloggers learn from his impressive life?

Anything is possible

Steve Jobs certainly wasn’t poor but also wasn’t very rich. He started Apple at the age of 19 with the help of a friend Steve Wozniak. He started out with not very much and was worth $7 billion in September 2011. He climbed the economic ladder quickly. Blogging is the same; don’t be downtrodden by negativity, persevere and you shall succeed.

You don’t need a degree to succeed

In today’s world people commonly think the only way to be successful is to have a degree and thus go to college and get in significant debt. Steve Jobs started collage but then dropped out. He defied all stereotypes of a dropout (lazy, unsuccessful and will end up poor) and instead became much more successful than any of his classmates. He wouldn’t have got hired by many big companies simply because of his lack of a degree. But the lack of a degree certainly shouldn’t be a barrier to anyone. Bloggers should not feel like they have to take a course in blogging or something crazy like that. Be yourself and learn from your mistakes. That’s what makes a successful person. Not a piece of paper stating you have an A1 in insert subject here.

Take risks

If you play it safe you probably won’t make it far. Look at the iPhone for example. Before it came along web-browsing was typically reserved for computers and touch screens were slow and frustrating. The iPhone changed that. If Apple had played it safe it might have never released it and the phone world would probably look quite different now. The same can be said for bloggers. If you try and agree with people all the time and never try a risky strategy you become background noise. Say something controversial and speak your mind. People ultimately will respect you.

Don’t copy others

Apple takes pride in its innovation. Although most products aren’t radically different, they do offer an alternative view on things. Again I refer back the idea of the iPhone. Before it there wasn’t much interest in mobile internet and the only games were overpriced java games from your Phone Company or bad demos preloaded. And now there is over 300,000 apps for iOS alone and mobile browsing is responsible for 5% of internet browsing globally and rises to 8.2% in the US.

 Connect with the right people

Steve Jobs made valuable connections early on such as Steve Wozniak, the brains behind the computing skill. As much as your quality of writing and opinions matter, you need to connect with the right people. For example you may want to connect with a successful blog owner in the same niche as you in hope of a mention or a backlink. Another thing is to connect with others who have different skills than you. Steve Jobs was more of a sales pitch/marketing kind of guy who saw the potential but didn’t know how to make the hardware. Steve Wozniak worked alongside him to do the computer side of things. Likewise, you may be great at writing but dreadful at design or SEO. Don’t be a jack of all trades, be a master of one.