Interview with Adrienne Smith. Talks Life Changes. Building Community and Being Productive

This is my first interview with someone I believe is doing great things in life and embodies the “get busy living” attitude. I interviewed Adrienne Smith, who is a good friend and have found her to be one of the hardest working, nicest person on the blogosphere.

Can you tell us a little bit about your old career, what you were doing before working full-time online?

I was an executive assistant and I worked for the president/owner of a small commercial real estate company.  I was also in the top 5% of income earners for my profession.

What was the turning point for you when you realized “This is not what I should be doing with my life?”

I guess you could say that the turning point came a few years after the loss of my father.  Three years before he passed away I also lost another dear friend due to a hypertension stroke brought on by stress.  He was my age and left a young son behind.

The loss of my father and remembering what took my friend’s life made me realize just how unhappy I really was and how I could see myself going in that same direction.  Just the stress of the job itself and all the other things I had to deal with on a daily basis were so unhealthy.  I went through therapy for a short time and it helped me put my life into perspective.

There was a time you were into personal development, and it really made you aware of how much potential you really had.

What were some of the important things you learned?

I never realized the power our thoughts really had until I started studying personal development more.  I started looking back on some of the things that have happened to me in my life and it all made sense.  Like the people I attracted into my life and why, or the jobs I got because I knew I deserved them.

Because I had a limited belief that I could do anything I wanted, that was much harder for me.  What I learned was to start thanking God everyday for what I did have.  To just be grateful for my home, a reliable car to drive, family that loved and supported me, friends that stood by me, food to eat every day, things we take for granted.  I then started thanking God for bringing the right people into my life, the right opportunities, for opening my eyes to the right road to take, things like that.  I started with the small things and have been very religious about my gratitude every single day.  It has made all the difference in the world.  This alone has been the biggest lesson I have learned to date!  The power of gratitude is huge.

Do you believe you would have success now if you had not changed your mindset and attitude first?

Absolutely not!  I would have continued to doubt myself and sabotage everything.  I would have gotten frustrated and been one of those 97% that got mad and quit.  I would never have hung in there and been this determined to see this through.

You had been working in the same field for 31 years. You made a decision to not go back. Most people would feel lost. You seem like you’re really thriving and happy now.

What do you attribute to that get busy living attitude to?

The thing about me is that I’ve always been a very happy person.  So coming home from work every day all stressed out, frustrated and upset didn’t work for me.  I’ve always lived each day of my life to the fullest because I’ve lived with my Dad’s health problems my entire life.  I know how short life is, I know that we are blessed to just be able to get up every morning and have another day on this earth, I know that life isn’t guaranteed.

All I know is that when I walked out that door after being let go, I knew that this was the beginning of a new direction for me.  I had watched the movie “The Secret” around December of 2006 and I was so inspired.  I was naive enough to think that I could do anything I wanted so when that fateful day came and I walked out that door, my gut was telling me that was the last time.

I had a few things in mind that I wanted to try before I actually made my way online.  It was several months later before I decided to take that route but all I knew is that I would make it.  No matter what I decided to do, I didn’t have to make a lot of money to survive and whatever direction I took, I would be much happier than what I had been doing for so long.  I knew that I’d rather be broke and happy then miserable and rich.  That I knew for sure.

You started your website, New Super Affiliate Blog, last November 2010. We know that the “make money online” niche is extremely competitive. However I see you’ve got a great community over there.

How did you grow your community in a short period of time?

With a brand new blog and a brand new year, I decided to incorporate blog commenting into the mix of things.  I started by visiting blogs of the other students who were a part of the training community I was involved in.  From there I would follow people to their blog who had left comments on the ones I was on.  I soon started finding some really awesome people who had a lot to share and who helped me learn and grow.

I subscribed to their RSS feeds and started leaving comments every single day.  I also shared their posts with my friends and followers and they started seeing me as someone who is helping them.  I started implementing other things into my business so people could see me as someone who is not in this just for me.

I’ve stayed true to myself which has helped build some amazing relationships with some amazing people, you included.

I see you everywhere online and on Twitter! What is a typical day work day for you like?

I’m very organized so I write everything down I need to accomplish for the day in a notebook I keep on my desk.

I begin my day by adding friends to my YouTube channels (I have 2), my Twitter accounts (I have 2), I invite people to my Facebook Fan page, I comment on 5 blogs a day (I have 2 blogs so that’s actually 10 a day), I also retweet their posts, I spend about 10 minutes on Twitter socializing and I spend about 10 minutes on Facebook socializing.  Those are tasks I do every day.

Then it depends on what I need to accomplish with my other projects as to what I will do the rest of the day.  It may consist of building backlinks to my sites, shooting videos, writing reports, updating or working on my sites, writing ads, writing content, etc.  There is a lot involved in keeping everything going and running smoothly.

You seem to be so productive. Can you share with us how you’re able to get so much done?

Because I’m so organized, when I put my mind to something I don’t waver.  A lot of people have problems working at home because they become very distracted with other things.

I put my phone to voicemail if I’m in the middle of a project where I don’t want to be interrupted or I’ll tell my neighbors that I’m just really busy right now and I’ll have to visit with them another time.

I don’t check my emails all day long and I don’t spend my entire day on Twitter or Facebook.  I do those tasks first thing in the morning and then in the evening but not in between.  I have work to do and I just concentrate on the task at hand.

You’re working so hard now. What is your end goal? What do you hope to accomplish?

I recently started really reevaluating what I’m doing and where I want to go with my business. I love affiliate marketing and I love the direction I’m going so my next step will be to create my own product other than my New Super Affiliate which although is mine, wasn’t created by me. I hope to have something up before the end of this year.

I can’t really see myself sitting in front of a computer 5 to 10 years from now though mainly because I am a little older than most who are just starting this journey. Because of that, I recently got involved with another type of business venture and it’s a totally different direction than affiliate marketing. I will eventually share this with my readers in an upcoming blog post so stay tuned. My future is definitely bright.

What’s one piece of advice that you can share if someone is hesitant to leave the job they hate and go for what they want to do?

Don’t quit your day job thinking that you can come online, start making some money and life will be a breeze from there.  That’s not going to happen.  Stick it out with the job you have but make yourself a goal that you are going to give this your all for at least two years.  I say that because you are going to have to build this part-time and you still need a life.  But remember what the end result will be, saying goodbye to corporate American forever.  Creating your own income and watching it grow year after year.  It’s so rewarding!

Besides being one of the nicest people in the blogosphere, what’s something else we can learn about you away from your computer?

Thank you Benny, that’s very kind of you to say.

What most people don’t know about me is that I’ve been divorced for 21 years and I don’t have any children.  I do live alone with my seven year old Chihuahua named Kayla who I adopted three years ago.  I have lived in the same condo for the past 21 years and it’s all mine.  I’m not a materialistic person and am very budget conscious.  I inherited that from my Mom so I don’t live above my means.

My father had cancer for 42 years of his life so I have seen more death than anyone should.  We were frequent visitors at M.D. Anderson.  You see enough of those children fighting cancer and you will have a reality check quickly.  But because of it, I live life to the fullest every single day and thank God for everything he has blessed me with.  I get up every morning thanking him for what he has given me.  Although I’ve had some hard knocks myself, I know I still have it better than most.

Adrienne is a self proclaimed social media, blogging and affiliate marketing fanatic. Her passion is to live life to its fullest and empower others to do the same. Her blog AdrienneSmith.net is all about helping others achieve success online.

You can find her engaging with others on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.