Dieting and online branding are quite similar.  Both take persistence, discipline, and repetition.  I just had to post this entry as I have been embarking on something called the “Slow Carb Diet.”  I read about it on the four hour work week official blog, one that I check in with on occasion as I believe author Tim Ferriss has life figured out and does a great job of helping other people optimize their schedules, travel plans, and ambitions.  I’m giving this much hyped diet a try in November as I will be seeing family members I haven’t seen in a while over the Holidays.

If you diet, you must find things that work.  For the slow carb diet, that means a lot of legumes, proteins, and water.  Sure, it’s boring, but so is link building.  See the comparison?

Online marketing takes time – so does dieting.  You can’t judge anything on a day, a week, or a month.  However, you can look back on days, weeks, and months and point to efforts you’ve made to do things in the right manner.  For example, I document every type of update I do to my massive blog network and of course, for sites that I promote for clients.  Directory submission being a first step in a lot of campaigns, it’s important to know just when and where the submissions went.

Same thing goes for a diet – you should log your meals, your fitness routines, and of course, any “cheating” you do.  You need to know “how you got there” or you will never get to where you want to be.  I am not a diet expert, but I used to be in insane shape.  That was back in college, when all free time was spent in varsity and intramural sports or down at the rec center. Sure, we drank a lot of beer and ate pizza – what college kid didn’t?  But point being, I had free time to burn off all those calories I consumed.  These days, I’m doing a lot of Internet work and being in front of a computer does nothing for my body – although I’d argue my fingers are “ripped.”

The similarities in the two tasks are uncanny, but with hard work, dedication, and desire, they are very rewarding.  Keep tabs on this blog and find out how November treats me on the slow carb diet!