Skip to main content

Post #50: What I've Learned So Far

A little over two months ago, I started this blog not knowing what to expect. There were times when I worried about not being able to produce enough content, unsure if anybody would ever read the blog, or if I would even have any interest in maintaining this blog. In a little over two months, here we are at post #50. (Well, #62 if you technically count my other blogs.) Here are a couple interesting highlights that have occurred in the past two months:
  • Just this past week, I hit my 1000th view. (Granted, I bet a third of them are from me.)
  • I now average about 12 views per post whereas I averaged about 3 per post in the beginning. (We all have to start somewhere!)
  • I started a second blog focused on art called Engedi Artistry, which is quickly out surpassing the readership of this blog. (Even though I genuinely love both blogs equally.)
  • My last album review of The Dear Hunter's album was liked by two of the actual bandmates from The Dear Hunter. (Neat!)
While most of these are very small milestones in the grand scheme of things, I am encouraged to continue producing quality content for not only my benefit but for you all, too.

That said, I want to share some of the big lessons I have learned so far.


1. Make sure your blog titles are clear. Earlier posts in this blog have somewhat ambiguous titles that I thought would attract viewership because of its cleverness. Very, very wrong. Those blog posts by far had the least readers. I suppose people like to know what they are getting themselves into. In any case, I've heard y'all loud and clear and seek to make the titles of my post as clear as possible.

2. Don't be afraid to use social media. Toward the very beginning, I really didn't use social media at all, but now I use it far more often. Granted, I purposefully throttle myself on given platforms. Whereas the floodgates are open on Twitter, I choose to limit how much I post to LinkedIn. I guess its because I'm currently of this mindset that not everybody on LinkedIn is interested in reading this stuff but... I don't know. Maybe that will change someday.

3. Know your audience. I split my content into a second blog for a reason: I use different tones across the blogs. While I am certainly not a robot on LYEATT, I purposefully choose a more serious and formal tone, whereas I choose to be more free on Engedi Artistry. This is because the content on each blog is geared to a different audience, and because I want LYEATT to be taken seriously as a business blog, I choose a serious tone.

4. People appreciate the use of media. Pictures, videos, and more, people just like consuming media beyond reading. I think this is partially why the readership of Engedi Artistry is taking off far more quickly than LYEATT. It's not that I purposefully tamp down using consumable content on LYEATT, I just don't find it appropriate to use as often. If I do find it appropriate, like in my post featuring the Nintendo Switch, I do use it.

5. You will never be able to maintain a blog if you are not interested in the content yourself. This one is probably the biggest on this list. In other words, if you're not having fun, then blogging becomes a job just like everything else. This is why I am pushing out content more frequently than ever. I have actively chosen to curb some things in my life like playing video games because I genuinely enjoy producing this content more than gaming. (Don't get me wrong, I'm a gamer for life!)

Thank you all for joining me on this journey so far! I am eager to see how this blog continues to unfold in the near future. Please share this blog with your friends. My hope is that I am able to help you in each of your own respective journeys, and I especially hope that the content I'll be coming out with in the next few days will be particularly impactful for you.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Five Albums to Listen to This Autumn

There's no doubt in my mind that autumn is my favorite season. I love everything about it. Of course, there are the things like cooler weather and pumpkin-flavored treats, but it goes beyond that for me. Falling at the end of the year (pun not intended), autumn signals an end of sorts in a number of ways. The year is coming to a close, so I find it as a time of reflection. Nostalgia is a very appropriate word here. Anyway, music is something very important to me, and I purposefully don't latch onto a single genre of music since I since there is a time and place for everything. The fall is no exception, so I wanted to share five albums you should give a listen to this autumn. I'll even take it a step further and recommend a specific song from each album, too. Without further ado, let's get into it.

"Money Only Makes You More of Who You Are"

On Christmas Day of 2002, 55-year-old Jack Whittaker was lucky enough to pick the winning numbers of the Powerball, earning him a whopping $314.9 million, the largest ever lottery win at the time. Jack was already doing pretty well for himself as the president of a construction company, so this windfall had pretty much set Jack for life. Shortly after his win, Jack seemed to have his life on track. He donated a good chunk of money to philanthropic efforts. But this lifestyle wasn't to last. Things quickly took a turn for the worse. Foolish with his money, Jack carried around enormous sums of cash in briefcases just because. Because of his reputation of carrying around this cash, he was robbed multiple times. Jack also lost a ton of money literally gambling it away. And if that isn't bad, it gets worse. Jack's granddaughter, only 17 years old, was found dead (presumably murdered), wrapped in a tarp and dumped behind a van, reportedly with many drugs in her system....

Thinking Big

Steve Jobs is often cited as one of the greatest influencers in modern business, and rightfully so. He not only helped to establish one of the largest companies in the world but helped to resurrect that same company from almost certain death in the late 1990s. Time and time again, Jobs helped usher in a new idea via a new product that would ultimately revolutionize the industry again and again. Those familiar with the popular biography by Walter Isaacson will know that Jobs's sustained success had a lot to do with what people called a "reality distortion field". Under this "reality distortion field," Jobs had an almost magical influence to make people truly believe in anything Jobs had to say, regardless of how wacky it seemed at the time . Where some people looked at Jobs as insane because of this, history has proved in favor of Jobs with the success things like the original Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and even the Pixar Animated Studios. So, what was it ...

Who Do You Think You Are?

Worldview.  Religion.  Outlook.  Passion. Whatever word you choose, we all have some sort of identity. Some people are able to put a finger on that more easily, labeling themselves as Christian or Muslim. Some have a general sense of who they are, noting that they promote family values and being a good person. And then there's another category of people altogether. These people may not admit it to themselves, but there is a particular person, object, or idea that drives their entire lives.  This last group makes me nervous, especially when a person's identity becomes wrapped up in their job.

The Problem with Hierarchical Hiring

I browse LinkedIn pretty often, and the category of things that appears most on that main feed are inspirational quotes by inspirational leaders. Folks like Richard Branson and Simon Sinek appear most often. More specifically, the quotes have a central theme to them: companies need to hire good people.  For example, one of the latest quotes I've seen on my feed include this one from Tina Fey: "In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and getting out of their way." That's a great sentiment, but is that really reinforced in reality?