Austin Iuliano — November 26, 2016 Follow @austiniuliano
How I Went From Failure to Fantastic Writer
Here is one indisputable fact of life, we all play by different rules in life. These rules are predicated on many factors but a major one is “the environment” in which you grow up in. If you grow up in an environment that values academic achievement over everything else, chances are you will excel in academia. If you grow up in an environment that values empathy, chances are you will be empathetic.
When I was in the 3rd grade my parents had a nasty custody battle. The hatred between my mother and father was akin to Hilary and Trump. The grand prize of this epic showdown between two titans was not the nuclear launch codes and global supremacy. It was much more dire to my 7-year-old brain: it was who would I love.
Without getting into the details let’s just say that my parents used every nasty trick in the book to influence me to choose them. If I said, I wanted to live with my mother or father, the judge would have to award custody to that parent.
What ended up happening though this entire process is a lot of neglect. I didn’t have a solid home life as it was constantly in turmoil. I didn’t have the structure a young Austin needed and I became emotionally distant. I just couldn’t cope with what was going on.
I started failing in my school duties and turning to video games to block out the world. I couldn’t read until the 6th grade and never could I write very well. I missed the fundamentals of a child education and was pushed through the school system.
Throughout my years, I failed at academia even falling so low that I was placed in remedial English.
Have you ever watched the clip of Bart Simpson being placed in remedial classes? That is exactly the thought process I had.
I used to spend my days crying at the kitchen counter trying to do my homework. I used to think I was a stupid failure.
Eventually, I made it out of school and started my business with my partner.
My digital marketing agency, d.science was growing and I was in charge of blogging. This was one of the tasks I hated with the passion of 1,000 dying suns. I was terrible at writing, I hated editing and could never see my mistakes.
I literally had every bad writing habit. Some of the biggest ones where capitalizing random words, run-on sentences, and missing transition words.
My business partner who minored in English is our blog editor. She used to get so angry at my terrible writing. At times if Bruce Banner were to walk by, he would have told her to chill out.
But I persisted, and luckily my partner didn’t let me skirt my duties.
Eventually, I made progress. I wrote one article that went viral! I woke up to see over 2,000 social shares and 18,000 views on my story. If you wish to read the full article here is the link.
I was elated, there was hope for me.
From there I continued to work on my writing and like anything else in life, there were successes and failures.
What I Have Learned on How to go From Failure to Fantastic Writer
Write Every Day
Consistency is key. I personally couldn’t expect to be a top contributor my very first article. I knew that it was going to be a long journey if I wanted it. I never had any doubt due to my poor education and lack of basic grammar skills.
Through persistence and patience with myself, I slowly got better. Also, patience from my partner and editor—without whom I would never have been able to achieve success.
Hit Publish
So many people are afraid to hit that publish button. They compare themselves to everyone else and start to doubt themselves. Hit publish and push out more content. The only way to get better is to keep practicing and keep trying.
Perfection is the enemy of progress – Winston Churchill
Don’t Hit Publish
Wait… you just said hit publish!
I know, and here is the other end of the spectrum. Make better content! Don’t hit publish because you have too, but also don’t sit and work out of fear. If you want to be a fantastic writer, you have to push yourself to be better. At times this means setting down an article and coming back to it. Maybe you set it down for an hour and take a walk, or a few days.
If you normally write 500-word blog articles once a week, increase your game 10 fold. Write an epic piece, 5,000 words long. Cover a subject so well taking people step by step.
ABL: Always Be Learning
Everything in life is merely a skill set. You can learn anything if you put your mind to it. I hate to break it to you, most writers are not willing to learn other subjects. In particular to be a more effective writer you need a bigger audience.
You can not know if your content is fantastic if your audience never reads it.
Learn one of the many ways to drive traffic to your website. You can become a do-it-yourself SEO expert and drive tons of organic google traffic.
You can become a Youtube Tycoon mastering Youtube SEO and driving blog traffic from the world’s second largest search engine. You could learn all about social media’s like Snapchat, Instagram, Periscope, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. They all can drive traffic and grow your brand.
Your only goal is to keep pushing yourself to learn more. I recommend religiously consuming content from the university of Youtube, Audible, and online courses. No matter what your mechanism for consuming content, keep learning new skillsets.
This is the story all about how…my life got twisted turned upside down. Sorry, forgot I am not the fresh prince, haha.
This is the story how I went from a failure to a fantastic writer and a few tips I learned from that experience.
Have you had a similar experience, I would love to hear about it! Let us know in the comments!
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