I’ve known John Paul Aguiar for a while now and I consider him a good friend of mine and someone that I have learnt a lot from. That’s why I’m so excited that he agreed to do this interview for OnlineIncomeTeacher!

John does a great job of helping people to build a successful blogging business via his very successful website: ‘John Paul Aguiar – The Money Dummy Blog‘. John manages to bring a no nonsense, keep it simple approach to his writing, that a lot of people find useful. That’s part of the reason why he has over 100,000 followers!

So let’s hand over to John…

John Paul Aguiar Interview

How Did You Get Started?

You say on your ‘about’ page that it all started back in 2001 when you were told that you needed a kidney transplant. Could you expand on this and talk about how you got into blogging.

Yea, that’s right. When you get a transplant, like a kidney, the first year you have to be extra cautious as far as getting sick or infections that can hurt the new kidney. You are told to not go anywhere with lots of people, like malls or big stores. I also was limited to the amount of weight I could lift and the things I could do that first year.

Knowing all that, I started spending time online and quickly was looking at ways to make money.

I really got going when I joined an MLM company. For me it was great, I could put work into it when I could and I could do it all from home with a phone and a computer.

As I started having success with that, I started looking into affiliate marketing and began having success with that.

Since I didn’t have the money to spend on marketing, I had to be creative and find free ways to get the word out about what I was doing. That’s when I got into MySpace marketing and doing social media BEFORE they called it social media. haha

I started the blog as a way to share what I was doing and share how I was having success without spending much money on marketing or advertising. Since no other blog at the time was talking about all this. I knew I could help people and stand out from other bloggers by sharing what I knew and share it in a simple to understand way.

Who/What Inspires You?

Man, there were so many at the time. Some smaller guys and some big names.

But for the big guys it was…

• Chris Brogan
• Darren Rowse
• Jeremy Shoemaker
• Dan Schawbel

At the time these were the guys that were killing it in all the things I was good at and was learning from.

What Motivates You To Continue To Be Successful?

The main thing that motivates me is FEAR! Fear that one day my health won’t be great, so having a solid foundation online that will carry me through the time I am not at 100% is very important!

Also helping people see that anyone with the drive and work ethic can and will kill it online.

If a disabled college drop-out like me can do it, then anyone one can.

Also being great at something. I think every entrepreneurial minded person wants to just be AWESOEME at something that people take notice… that motivates me.

What’s The Most Important Part Of Your Business?

In your opinion, what is the most important part? i.e. being helpful, social media, writing style, connecting with people, advertising, etc. Maybe it’s more than one?

If you want real long term success as a blogger today Matt, you will need to be “Good” at all the above.

You don’t need to be great at it all, but you need to at least be good at everything.

There are so many great bloggers out here now that to stand above them it’s not enough to just be a good writer, or being really helpful. You need to hit all the things you mentioned and more.

Build a great brand that stands out, learn to treat your blog as a business, develop your own products or services, connect with quality people for collaboration projects and much more.

How Did You Grow Your Followers So Rapidly?

Getting 100,000 followers takes work every day. That’s the first step, then you need to keep the followers you have by sharing great stuff, from you and from other people.

Once you have a solid following and you are sharing helpful, informative, targeted stuff, then it becomes easier for you to grow your following even faster.

That is how I build a following on any social site. Every social site at its foundation works the same way.

People like to read great stuff that they care about, people like to connect with like minded people and people like to learn stuff.

What Makes You The Most Money?

As a blogger, I first started making good money with my Twitter Dummy eBook and affiliate marketing. As my blog and social media success grew, then it was my blog consulting and social media management services that made me the most money and they still do today.

Affiliate marketing and advertising are my next biggest money makers.

What’s Your Typical Work Day Like?

My day is all over the place and each day is different haha But that’s why I like working for myself, it’s not the same boring routine each day.

But the only real structure each day is in the morning. I get up and get online and find my stuff I want to share across social sites. Get it all scheduled in Hootsuite for the next few hours. Once I do that, I go thru social sites and respond to anything that happened while I was asleep, then I hit emails.

Once I do all that then I take my “coffee ride” and grab some coffee then home for breakfast.

After this, the rest of the day depends on what I need to do, work on a post, or work on a new site or work on a product. I will say that no matter what, there is always something I can be doing lol As you know Matt, a bloggers work is never done man.

As my day goes on, I keep my eyes on the social sites to interact with people and anything that came at me from any of my shares thru the day.

Now this is important. There are days where I get up and I’m just not feelign anything, and if I’m not feeling it, I’m not at 100% then I don’t bother doing anything. I just walk away from the computer and get out of the house.

To be successful as a blogger you need to know when to work hard but you also need to know when to just walk away for a little while and re-fresh.

What Do You Think Makes You Successful?

Is it your attitude, approach to work, approach to life, writing style, etc.? What do you personally think has made you successful and stand out from other bloggers?

I think it’s all the above Matt. I think since I write like I talk, my personality comes through my writing pretty well and the fact that I’m straight to the point and write in a style that is easy to understand and take action from.

Also ONLY writing about things I actually know and have success in is another reason I have done well.

As a blogger I have two main writing rules I have always followed that have done well for me.

1. I only write about things I have success in.
2. I only review products or services I have actually used.

These 2 things are a great foundation if you plan to sell your own service or product in the future.

If you review quality products that will help people, this will build trust.

If you share only things you have success in then your readers will have success in it too, building trust.

If You Could Go Back In Time 5-10 Years, What Advice Would You Give Yourself?

I don’t live in the past man… I look forward and enjoy the process. But if I was to give my young self advice it would probably be to WAKE UP sooner and stop f***ing off! lol

The only real regret is not starting my business sooner and not starting my blog sooner.

Blogging 8 years ago was so much easier to gain an audience and success compared to today.

What Would Be Your Best Piece Of Advice To Any Newbie Blogger Out There Reading This?

My advice to new bloggers or wanna-be bloggers is to first do it now. Having a blog is a great way to express your thoughts or experience and connect with people all over the world.

But knowing that you need to get your head around a few things before you start.

Do NOT chase the money, the harder you chase it the longer it will take to get it.

Blogging as a business is hard work. Hard work every day. Hard work with not much to show for it in the beginning.

Develop a blog idea and brand that has not been done before. Copying other bloggers is a good way to fail fast.

And finally, you probably won’t see much success or money in your first year.

Now if you can handle all that… then get your blog up now and get to work.

John Paul Aguiar is a Social Blogging Entrepreneur helping you build a blogging business thru Blogging, Social Media and Marketing. Learn more about John Paul and get his free course on his Money Dummy Blog.