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At first I thought heck yeah! I would love to disconnect for a few months and earn a cool $3 Million in peace and quiet. Then my blogging side screamed at me: WHAT?! How are you supposed to keep up your blog? Connect with people? Make your readers happy? My mind instantly snapped back to reality and remembered how much we all rely on technology and social media to stay connected. Once I was able to get my thoughts collected and together, I figured out how I could accomplish this AND keep up my blog... Now only if this challenge were real.. I'd have that money by Christmas!
First problem: No Cellphone. This one could be tough because I only have a cellphone as a telephone option. I also use my cellphone to connect to the internet to use social media. Only when you stop and think about this, do you realize how much you really are using your phone.
My solution: Sign up for a home phone. In emergencies this probably is a good thing to have on hand. My current internet provider has a phone number all set up for me already, and once I decide to go that route, the cost really isn't that much.
Second problem: No Facebook. This one is easy for me. I only really use facebook to look at other peoples photos and upload my own. My blog's Facebook has not had much success and with all the changes Facebook keeps throwing at us. I may stop using it anyways! Twitter is the way to go for my blog's sake!
My solution: Pick up the phone. Yeah that real phone that you have (Or have to hook up). Call the people you want to stay in touch with. Want to share photos? Write letters! I love to write and receive letters! It is much more personal and something better in your mailbox than JUNK! If you are interested in becoming pen pals, email me! (Serious inquiries only!)
Third problem: No Computer Access. This one is another tough one, especially as a blogger. We need our computers to bring content to the interwebs. We use our computers to interact with people which includes commenting and messaging other bloggers. We do research. All kinds of stuff just to bring you, the reader great content.
My solution:
This solution has 2 parts because I feel this one is the hardest to give up as a blogger.
Part 1
Lets assume you have a start date that is at minimum a week away. Lets also assume you have been blogging for more than 90 days. You now have 90 days where you will not be able to access your computer. This is where you get stealthy. Check your stats. See which posts could use some lovin'. Get yourself set up with a program like Hootsuite or Twuffer. Pre-schedule your tweets and Facebook posts through the 90 days you will be absent. All of those posts will now be getting exposure while you are sitting around relaxing with a cocktail. Next write as many blog posts as you can and pre-schedule those posts and social media mentions. Now for me, I only blog 3 days a week so I only need about 36 posts to share. That seems like a lot, but once you get your archives out there you may cut down your new posts by half.
Part 2
As bloggers we need to interact with our readers and other bloggers. You can still interact with your readers by posting questions in your blog posts. You will also have to post a disclaimer that you will be away and ALL of their questions and comments will be answers as soon as you are back. Now as far as commenting on other bloggers pages, this is where you ask for forgiveness ahead of time. I would lead off with a post explaining the challenge you are taking as well as your plan for the next 90 days. People will see how much work and effort you put into scheduling content so your blog doesn't end up stagnant. If they can't appreciate it, maybe they weren't really that great a blogger friend to begin with!
Fourth Problem: No WiFi, This would not be a problem at all being you are already giving up your cellphone and computer access.
Solution: None. You have already solved all of the problems that would need WiFi in the previous problems.
Now I understand this sounds completely ridiculous, but think about how much money you would get at the end. You would put the work in, and be rewarded 3 Million big ones at the end. The least you can do is comment and reply to everyone who left messages while you were away :)
*Quick Tip* You can also use some of these solutions if you are going to be away on a vacation or extended holiday. I pre-schedule tweets a lot when this happens, as well as posts. It helps take away the stress of doing it last minute before you go away.
So what do you think? Could you give up all of these things for 3 months? What would your solutions be for this? If you write about it please come back and share with me!
