Adrijus Guscia, the author of the popular bodybuilding blog 36pounds.com (for skinny guys), joined me for a wonderful interview. His thoughts range from his uses of social media to ways we can become healthier bloggers.
1. How did you get involved in bodybuilding and blogging?
I got into bodybuilding because I’m a skinny guy and I don’t like that. I have my vision of what a dream Man is and I’m going after it I love being at the gym and lifting weights. Been doing it for almost two years with pauses. Gained 30+lbs of muscle but unfortunately made a lot of mistakes with nutrition and I still look skinny. I will fix it though.
And blogging is a tool for me to express myself and help people (fellow skinny guys). I found it accidentally on internet marketing forums and decided to do it. Now I’m a blogger for more than half of year. My original plan was to create a popular blog and then sell an eBook about training which would change lives for 1000’s of skinny guys. But as things change I’m just gonna make 36Pounds a popular blog for skinny guys and just give away my eBook for free. I have another project starting currently so my attention is shifted towards it mostly now. I gotta find myself a nice balance between the two.
2. How long have you been involved with computers & the online experience?
I guess about 4 years. Mostly just browsing randomly and reading stuff about training or other things I like.
3. How do you use social media & why?
Actually I just recently opened a Facebook account and have had Twitter for a few months for my 36Pounds blog. Twitter is nice but I might not use it anymore, after getting into Facebook, I prefer it because I feel more free to express myself and my personality, and connect with new and old friends. It’s also a good way to build your network of people that can help you with any project so I’m joining groups of interests I like and being active there to meet new people.
4. What major changes do you see the in future of social networking & blogging?
Facebook can go even bigger and become an online passport of sorts. You can already log onto some sites using FB so this could happen with eCommerce sites when you can use FB.
Social networking in general will also just grow, almost 3 billion people are on the internet and some of them don’t know about it yet, some just use local services or different Social Networks. I also think Social Networks will go niche more and more and will connect small groups of people with similar interests. World is niching out as more and more people get freedom and express themselves more.
Blogs… well, I think video will be bigger and bloggers will make bigger impact in the future. They will be like amateur-professional journalists, some will go on to form internet TV networks or maybe online magazines, etc. If you wonder about internet and it’s future you should check Gary Vaynerchuk (btw, video blogging and having internet TV show is why he got 7-figure book deal), Clay Shirky, Chris Anderson and sites like TED.com or For a.tv and just keep your mind open.
5. What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses as a blogger?
Biggest strength? I guess passion. If I’m passionate about something I express it. And if you are passionate, people will like it and see it (not everyone, but you don’t need everyone to thrive). Weakness? Writing and paying little attention to details. I think video is better in that regard and it has bigger impact emotionally on people (more transparency for one).
6. What tips would you give bloggers for becoming healthier?
Hit the gym!!!! It certainly is one of the best things to happen for me. It’s a chance to improve yourself and get to know yourself and your body.
7. Besides computers & your profession – what hobbies & activities do you pursue?
I love music, movies, I read a ton about internet, business, self-improvement and psychology. I also love those little nice creatures called girls too…
8. For the beginning blogger or affiliate marketer – what advice would you give?
Practice, practice, practice!!!! Yes reading is good, but you will learn more from doing and failing. I will repeat..FAILING! Be brave and go fail, then read a good book or forum advice and see where you made a mistake, tweak your approach next time you do something and now you have learned something. Without practice you don’t learn anything. You just masturbate mentally if you read and don’t do anything.
Also don’t expect things to be fast and easy. Things don’t go as planned but if you persist and adapt then you can overcome and win.
And, of course, choose a niche you are passionate about and know stuff about, not a wide wide one because there is money there. This might sound contradictory since I own blog in fitness niche, but I am a part of it since I train myself and I just share opinion. Plus I love the gym and will do stuff to improve quality of fitness information online.
Oh, and if you want to make money off of blogging, then have the product or service as you start your blog, don’t go “I will build a blog and then figure something out to monetize”. I did it… not good…
9. What business ventures are you currently involved in?
My blog at 36Pounds.com (but I wouldn’t say it’s business) and I have just started a big project in fitness niche also which will help clean up the internet from bad sites, trainers and other BS stuff. Currently I’m networking and looking for partners to get things off the ground.
10. What’s your favorite social networking community & why?
Facebook and forums. FB to express myself and forums to learn stuff from people who have been there done that and who want to share it.
11. In your opinion – what’s the best way to build quality traffic?
Have a good product! Then write good content and share it. Give something for free (free report etc). Also guest posting is great and forums in your niche are good too
More About Adrijus
Adrijus Guscia is a guy interested in living a life freely, enjoying it! Aspires to be a successful businessman with a variety of online projects that help people and improve their lives.
