Quite an interesting title, isn’t it? But this is the scenario today where thousands of individuals raise money for their businesses only to get bullied by their very own investors at the end because just that, idea didn’t work but I can understand you perfectly well, as an entrepreneur there are lots of ups and downs till you reach your final destination. A funded start up is always demanding from its deepest core since the time of inception to the growing process and the final delivery process, as much as investors are looking for profits from the venture, you try to achieve to the fullest that is possible from your end but what if the idea itself doesn’t work. This may happen because there was no proper marketing mix, probably the idea was out dated, or may be your customers were finding it costly, there can be N number of reasons you can state for your failure.

Some people think that if they rake in good number of investors in their company either from joint venture or selling the stakes in the companies, it is good sign of success. Then I think, they are highly mistaken for the fact, that most of take over happen because company is facing turbulent times, now there are again 2 possibilities, investor may come in due to his personal interest or simply want to help the company but the profit motive always remains. A person’s hard earned money is always the biggest risk individuals take while investing in risky businesses especially when it has no profits or shown downward spiral.

Sometimes, when you get investments coming to your company, you are easily excited about getting money and starting with few more ventures but you really miss to know, that it can really become hard for you in the future as most of the times even when its your idea of a particular business or marketing tactics to be used for product, there are investors who make major decisions of the company and that really bites your nerves. You have to do as per their wish only because they are the investors! Now that may or may not get consumed by many individuals, though you can always proceed towards achieving your goals tactfully even when they are against your decisions.

I had been attending so many conferences and workshops about entrepreneurship, take over, joint ventures and many more, the end point that they discussed was are investors really be allowed to take company decisions when they really don’t know anything of the process they have invested in, let some things be left to the individuals who are actually experts in it. The idea here is not to get bullied by your own people may it be your investors, your colleagues, your partners. If you are wrong, they can surely pin point anything. My advice to you is, use your ideas in a more receptive manner and make them understand if they don’t agree with you. Sometimes even the majority decision taken in a company fails due to improper project report or lack of judgment matter or due to peer pressure – juniors follow their seniors blindly without thinking logically.

An idea comes to a person only when he can think rationally, logically and practically. Although it fails sometimes but not always as, “Failures are stepping stone to success”, no one gets success without facing the failure and as time moves on you tend to learn by your own mistakes, you made as a young entrepreneur. Experience is all it wants, make proper study reports, presentations, market research, individual customer data and company financial data of a company – after analyzing all of these you can proceed ahead to fetch in investors and this will make sure that no investors ever bullies or surround you next time. Prepare yourself for all types of possible questions, give them the answers in a very quiet and dignified manner and you will never miss to win their hearts!

The world of Internet has bought about a complete change in the way we did business, now you can do business with someone who is miles away from you, it doesn’t matter what business you are doing, you feel connected, and this is the magic! First came Internet era, then came websites, messengers, chatting, networking and now latest, the blogging craze. As much as blogging is popular today, with blogging there are lots of other perks too, you can advertise in your blogs, you can become popular, increase your networks of friends and so on. Blogging is just not a business today, it’s an unlimited business with unlimited money, yes, you heard it right, you can earn money just like having some currency printing machine at home. It’s finally all about the market credits for a blogger, today credibility doesn’t come easy to anyone, you have to be credible by putting in right inputs. Credibility had always played a big role in making your blogs popular, the more people come to your blogs, the more popular you become and the more they like reading or following you, you will be more creditable, it’s like a cycle which is never ending. Even while the blogging business is becoming huge these days, making money through blogs is even bigger a choice people are making because it has lots of perks attached to it.

We can well match the word blogging with “cashing”, people are cashing in great money by writing blogs, once you start your blogs you can put adsense banners which will get you income. People are coming with new innovative ideas to make their blogs look attractive and at the same time earning money too. The earlier blogging networks had nothing more than just few ads and written posts, today the scenario has changed, the simple look has been replaced by more smarter and sophisticated look with Adsense advertisements placed all over, dominating the headers, sidebars, footers, etc. its been now a long time I am into blogging, I have seen many ups and downs, issues, allegations, misconceptions relating to blogging industry, I wonder sometimes whether sponsorships really matters in blogging world? And that whether it really mattered in blogosphere?

There have been loads of debates raging over companies like ReviewMe and PayPerPost which allowed bloggers to generate income from blogging about company services and products. While these companies paying to bloggers was never an issue, it threatened the credibility of blogs relating to problems like transparency, disclosure, claims, etc. people insisted on having sponsored posts marked so that they don’t mislead the readers. In the world of blogging, you have to be a crowd puller, you don’t become credible in just one day, people like to follow leaders and read what they have to say so generate ideas and put them in a creative way that will attract traffic.

So if you want to earn few extra dollars than put in all those efforts today to become credible in blogging market. Once you have credibility with good market reputation, you will attract sponsors who will finance your projects. Be faithful to the blogs you are writing, if ever you come across writing such a stuff which will have conflict of interest, its best suggested to disclose everything. Once you disclose everything, there is no fear and so you can fully accept the sponsorships without sacrificing your credibility, the thumb rule you should follow is to write great content which are pleasing to read and do not offend anyone from whichever industry they belong to. Based on your content you will have good ranking in blogging networks.

After years of blogging I am at that stand point from where I don’t plan to come back, I enjoy my work, I enjoy my blogging, and I just love interacting with my readers. You can say blogging was always my passion, while I have seen some people disappear from networks suddenly, what is killing them? I think, may be due to high expectations of earning money, not getting expected response, or simply were they here for some time pass? There are so many things today people can take to like videocasting, lifestreaming, social messaging, networking, etc. the list is just endless, Internet and search engines have opened up great avenues for us and vast field of knowledge and entertainment.

Till recently, everything was fine when suddenly I started getting emails from my networks of friend whether they should quit blogging and take up some other serious job, I thought for a while,  was that a joke, they have been doing all this time? Well some might say no, whatever it may be but that question digged deeper in my heart and that is why I have come up with this blog today, for all the people who have had great misconceptions about blogging industry, I had advice you:

1. To stick to your blogging for its your passion and there are ups and downs, but you need not fear.
2. Certainly blogging is not dead, its an evolving concept, thousands of people are getting hooked to it each day for making money, should you be left out?
3. Evolve yourself out of your daily routine, like reading other’s blogs, getting ideas, interacting with users, etc.
4. By useful to someone through your blogs, make needs meet and solve people’s problem by showing some sympathy and giving helping hand by supporting someone in their cause.
5. Producing content is your mantra, excel ahead in that. Its just not networking and book marking, millions of people search web each day for content.
6. Experiment different mediums for your blogging, you can use best of abilities to achieve your targets by hook or by crook by gathering people over your blogs.
7. People often jump around different mediums and at the end they achieve nothing to call of their own, I want you to build your home base which you can call your own.
8. Build a brand of your own, mediums are not forever they will come and go, a successful entrepreneur is the one who thinks beyond the present that will last forever that is “Brand”.
9. Don’t get too possessive about your blogs, be open to ideas or comments given by people on your blogs, have full RSS feeds on the site. You should know what you want to achieve and blend everything towards that direction.
10. Success doesn’t come in just one day, so don’t abandon your blog if you don’t see any results, it’s an evolving process so let it take its own sweet time. You have given your best so you expect best results which will follow, build more creative contents, and evolve through it and leverage that is the best technique to follow for all the bloggers.

For some, blogging is just not the only profession, people from different industries are taking up blogging not just to make extra money but because they like this job and want to engage some of their time in talking to people, although they might not have full time to write, writing few blogs per week isn’t that big deal. I have few of my friends, some are in to medicine, some are engineers, doctors, etc. they feel that they being left behind, especially when there is so much happening over networks each day because they are partial bloggers they feel that its just hopeless to keep blogging, if you are facing this dilemma, no worries, stick to both of your profession, even when I am a professional blogger I don’t have much time on my hands to engage in what is latest in blogging technology, things will evolve and emerge each working day that doesn’t mean you should stop doing your work. Even I get such overwhelming feelings some times, but see today where I stand, I see beyond present, the best thing you should be thinking, is “that although you don’t follow latest things you at least know what is happening”, from my view point this is more than enough.

There are so many people rushing from one end to another, achieving nothing, is this their final goal? These are mostly the people who are diverted or distracted from their jobs and they are experimenting new things, its not wrong to take up new things but not always there should be some place at the last you can call your own, as I mentioned earlier, something that you can call your “homebase”, the industry which you belong to. I know, I have good hands on writing and I know I have the ability to pull in audience, so I am making maximum advantage of my talent. Lastly my advice to all is keep blogging, your niche is blogging, if you have started off, don’t let it stop in middle and “Blogging Is Not Dead”, for God’s sake keep that fear out of your minds.