Serious bloggers understand that every time you put fingers to keyboard, that you strip away the layers and reveal facets of your inner self. In the process you just may inspire others with your wit and your insight. Through his award-winning sex and relationship blog, Naked With Sock On, Anslem Samuel has expanded the role of the blogger by tackling the sensitive issues of love and sex that pervade our everyday lives.
Samuel began the blog in 2008. One short year later and his weekly erotica series, Wet Wednesdays was recognized as the Best Blog Series by the Black Weblog Awards. Prior to that the veteran journalist served in editorial roles for The Source, The Ave, and XXL magazine. Presently he is the senior producer for BlackEnterprise.com.
Rolling Out got naked, so to speak, with Samuel as he bared all about the power of faith in oneself, how the blogging field has lost some of its integrity, the three elements to any successful relationship and more.
What advice would you give to someone about becoming an entrepreneur for the first time?
The best piece of advice I could offer an entrepreneur is to plan well and have faith in your own vision. In terms of blogging a lot of people fail at building their own site because they just give up because no one is reading. It’s taken me three years of blogging almost every day regardless of whether there were 3 comments or 123. You have to do it for you and not what you think the audience wants. All that matters is that you’re sincere and passionate about what you do so the audience will come eventually.
In your opinion, how has blogging changed since you started out?
When I was doing Naked With Socks On before it even existed as a brand, there really weren’t many guys writing about relationships and the like. Now they’re all over the place. It’s so crowded with everyone trying to make a name for themselves through shock value. So it’s good that I’ve been able to stay true to the art of journalism with real discussions mixed with some humor. There were more like that but the fly by night bloggers began popping up and watering things down. It’s harder to find the gems in the sea of noise.
What is unusual about the way you run your company?
What’s unusual is that considering the amount of content and quality that’s it’s just been me behind the scenes. It’s more than just writing the posts. It’s finding the perfect image(s), socializing each topic on Facebook, Twitter and multiple other platforms, reading every single comment, responding to reader mail, engaging the audience online and a host of other things. There’s a lot of time and effort I put into keeping the site running and growing.
What’s been your most powerful lesson learned when it comes to sex and/or romantic relationships?
Whether it’s a platonic or romantic relationship the three most important things are trust, honesty and communication. Men and women just communicate differently so it’s vital that we take the time to effectively talk things out so that a common ground can be found and arguments can be avoided. Even if things lead to an argument communication skills are what will lead to a resolution.
How do you recharge before you reach the point of burnout?
I leave the country where I have no cell service or laptop and forget what day of the week it is. Aside from that kickboxing classes are a good stress reliever. Otherwise I’m real simple: give me a good movie or a couple hours sitting in a park and I’m good.
