When he does something, he does it for a concrete reason. And when he finds something that works, he does more of it. I know that sounds simplistic, but those are two habits that can create truly massive results. (Just a guess, but I bet Darren has also cultivated those habits.)

There are lots and lots of resources for those who want to learn to do this yourselves. You can quickly find many books and Web sites on developing a more entrepreneurial frame of mind. (Start by reading “The E-Myth” if you have no idea where to begin.)

Once you have that very effective, action-oriented entrepreneur mindset, then “deciding to do it” really can produce those amazing results. I know it feels like “it can’t be that easy.” It isn’t easy at all. But it’s simple. Big difference.

I was of course very excited to start writing for Copyblogger regularly, but I’m even happier to have the chance to interact more with Brian and see how he does things. He’s one sharp dude. :)

By the way when I set goals I set max. medium and min., no matter what,… I hit something.
Anyone has thoughts on the subject?

Congratulations on great success Brian…

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In terms of the tipping point with the /audience/, I’d say it happened sometime around April 2006 when Brian started really pushing his landmark “Copywriting 101″ series. The FeedBurner subscriber chicklet only appeared then in May, as I assume the readership grew quite quickly in April..

Before April, a lot of the posts were vague and very.. normal. At some point Brian seemed to recognize how well his January 2006 (I think?) “How to write headlines that work” post was attracting visitors, and began writing a lot more like it. The social bookmarking sites, Digg, and a ton of bloggers caught up with his very powerful, well “headlined” articles did the rest.

Perhaps there’s more to it than that, but in CopyBlogger, more than in any other blog, I saw a strategy going on, and it played out really well. That’s why I admire it so.

“In 2007 Copyblogger tripled in traffic and subscribers, and it was all because I changed my mindset and decided to just do it. It was a lot of fun, and it demonstrates that more than half the battle goes on inside our own heads.”

On the usefulness scale of 1 to 10, this gets about a negative 37.

Success starts with the power of pure intent, something that I’ve similarly observed in a lot other blogs and successful entrepreneurs. Congratulations!

This tipping point reminds me of something I read at confidentwriting.com where Joanna discusses Stephen King’s book on writing. She has this awesome excerpt from his book, and the last line is powerful for whether you apply it to writing, blogging, or life:

“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair – the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”

Self-belief and a desire to succeed are important for someone who wants to be a successful blogger.

You can’t just put a site up, tweak the template a bit, post every couple of days, and expect to be a success.

Believe in yourself, work hard, learn from others, and go out and make it happen.