Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

  • Home
  • About
    • About Jim Connolly
    • Jim’s Small Business Marketing Newsletter
    • My top marketing tips for 2025. Yours now, for free!
    • Privacy Policy
    • How I use cookies
    • Contact
    • Disclosure
  • Hire me
    • Let’s Grow Your Business
    • Pick My Brain for the results you need!

When the vision pulls you, you don’t have to be pushed

By Jim Connolly | July 1, 2020

when vision pulls, don't need pushed, Steve Jobs vision

One of the most common questions people ask me, is in relation to blogging. Specifically, they want to know how I manage to push myself, to write and publish content as often as I do.

Here’s the answer.

Push or pull?

This quote from the late Steve Jobs answers that question beautifully:

If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.

– Steve Jobs.

If your vision of blogging is that it’s a necessary evil, you will fail on every metric.

  • You will fail to write as well as you can, because when you work through gritted teeth, it shows.
  • You will fail to show up with new information, often enough.
  • You will fail to engage people.

My blogging vision was different

I saw it as a professional and personal development opportunity. I knew that in order for me to share useful information regularly, I needed to feed my mind with useful information regularly. I quickly found another massive benefit to blogging, which is that writing regularly makes you a better communicator. That’s a huge asset for anyone.

So, even if I failed to attract a commercially valuable reader community, I’d still benefit. Firstly, I’d become far more informed. Secondly, I’d be better able to communicate my ideas than I would have been, had I not written all that content. This made it impossible for me to fail.

If you’re struggling to publish content regularly enough, don’t carry on working through gritted teeth. Change your vision. And then let that vision pull you.

Thankfully, Jobs’ concept works in every area of your life and isn’t limited to content creation.

Tip: If you found this useful, you can get my latest ideas delivered direct to your inbox, for free, right here.

FREE marketing tips & advice

Get my best marketing tips, advice and ideas delivered direct to your inbox. Just add your email below.
I respect your privacy.

Hi! I'm Jim Connolly and I help small business owners to increase sales, boost their profits and build amazing businesses. Read more here.

Featured by

marketing advice, marketing help

Site sponsor

packaging consultancy

Categories

  • Blogging (406)
  • Business development (480)
  • Copywriting (303)
  • Email marketing & mail shots (187)
  • General marketing (1,662)
  • Professional development (535)
  • Social media marketing (355)

Hosting provider

20i hosting

Search

Recent posts

  • You’re better. They’re more successful. Why? September 23, 2025
  • Proof: Your success potential is unlimited September 11, 2025
  • How many is “enough”? September 4, 2025
  • Let your competitors grow YOUR business! August 30, 2025
  • Follow-up: Increase conversion rates up to 80% August 20, 2025
  • This marketing gets opened 100% of the time August 8, 2025
  • How to turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes’! August 6, 2025
  • Higher Fees, Zero Competition, Maximum Profit. Includes 10 Examples! July 30, 2025
  • Tiny tweaks. Huge wins July 29, 2025
  • 10 Reasons your business isn’t growing (And how to fix each one) July 24, 2025
  • Attract new clients: It works better than advertising July 24, 2025
  • Here’s how the best paid service providers earn the highest fees July 21, 2025
  • 12 Quick tips that are great for your business July 15, 2025
  • The power of empathy July 11, 2025
  • Give it away July 8, 2025
  • The false assumptions that destroy your results June 30, 2025
  • Hard work isn’t enough (here’s what is) June 24, 2025
  • Make your marketing totally unmissable. Here’s how! June 19, 2025
  • Discounts: The full cost to your business June 17, 2025
  • Rapid, massive business growth: With MBRs June 9, 2025
  • Home
  • About
  • Hire me

Copyright © 2025 Jim Connolly