Happy blogiversary! One year ago today, the Money Boss website went live. In the past twelve months, I’ve written almost seventy articles for the blog and about twenty more for email subscribers. (Folks who sign up for the email list receive bonus articles every now and then.)
During the first six months of the site’s history, while Kim and I were living and working in Savannah, Georgia, I focused on establishing and sharing the core Money Boss philosophy. Before I began, I sat down and drafted a road map containing everything I wanted readers to know about mastering their money — and their lives. I massaged this rough outline so that one topic flowed naturally to another.
After several months of writing and publishing this “crash course”, I collected everything into a free downloadable guide that serves as a summary of my financial philosophy. (I call this guide The Money Boss Manual, but I’ll soon change its name to The Money Boss Manifesto.) I also took time to compile everything I’ve written over the years about fighting fear and finding happiness, consolidating these ideas into two mammoth articles. (Someday I hope to massage this material into a second free ebook.)
The second six months at Money Boss were less focused. I’m still proud of the material I produced, and I really enjoyed diving deep into a couple of topics, but I haven’t had the time I want to write on a regular basis. First we were on the road for three months, driving the RV from Savannah back to Portland, Oregon. Then, when we got home, I allowed myself to get overwhelmed and distracted by “real life”. As a result, my publication schedule has been irregular.
My goal for the second year at this site is to establish a regular rhythm for my writing. To that, I plan to change the pace.
Instead of fretting over long pieces that all kick ass, I’m going to temper my expectations. Long, dense pieces are great, and I still plan to work on them. But I’m more excited about moving to a daily exploration of personal finance — sort of like what I used to do.
A decade ago, I built Get Rich Slowly by publishing often. For a long time, I was churning out a dozen articles per week. There’s no way I can maintain that pace at Money Boss (nor would I want to), but I can certainly move from one article per week to three. Or five. As I say, not all of these need to be world-killers. Many (most?) can be simple things like yesterday’s summary of my reduced driving experiment or last January’s advice about how to handle hysterical stock-market news. Plus, it’s time to start bringing back reader stories and reader questions.
Do you have a story or question you’d like to share with Money Boss readers? Drop me a line. I’ll work with you to massage the material so it’s right for the audience. One of the best parts of Get Rich Slowly was the community interaction generated by these features. I’m eager to have that happen again.
Meanwhile, I have a handful of long-term projects I’d like to pursue. Among others, I hope to:
- Track my personal spending in 2017 and share what I learn along the way.
- Document the process of starting a website to generate side income.
- Produce a series of Money Boss courses.
- Begin reviewing books on a regular basis.
Yes, I know these goals are ambitious. I’m okay with that. I may not accomplish all of them, or it might take longer to achieve them that I had intended, but they’re all worth working on.
To make these things happen, I’ve made some changes behind the scenes. As much as I want to do everything myself, I’m bringing in help.
Because Money Boss isn’t yet profitable — it only generates about $250 per month in revenue — I’ve been reluctant to spend on the site. My friend Paula Pant (from Afford Anything) recently pointed out that I’m being dumb. “It’s not an expense, J.D., it’s an investment,” she told me. “You can afford to invest in the future of your site.” She’s right. So, for instance, I’ve hired somebody to do some background technical stuff and help me manage marketing in the future. That’ll allow me to do what I like best: write.
Through all of this, I want to pay attention to the needs of you, the Money Boss readers. Sure, I have an agenda to push — find your purpose! save half your income! use your money to build a rich life! — but it’s possible to do that in the context of addressing your concerns and your needs. In fact, if I don’t tackle the topics you folks want, this blog won’t have a very long life. It’s the meeting of our minds that will make this an interesting and useful site.
After writing here for a year, it seems to me that the Money Boss audience falls into three camps.
- First, there are the folks who are already retired. They’ve either achieved financial independence at an early age, or they followed a traditional path and retired at a traditional age. These people are in the “thriving” stages on the road map to financial freedom.
- From what I can tell, most Money Boss readers are in the “surviving” stages on the road to financial freedom. Many are close to having screw-you money, and some have even reached the wide gap between surviving and thriving. These folks get the concepts and are working to apply them to their lives, but there hasn’t yet been enough time for their choices to produce results.
- Finally, there’s a small group of folks reading Money Boss who are just getting started. These people have come to the realization that what they’ve been doing doesn’t work and they’re ready to make a change. They’re still in debt (and may even be taking on more debt), but they’re ready to break free. These people, who were my primary audience when I ran Get Rich Slowly, need occasional updates on the basics.
Each of these groups has different needs. The people who are still in debt need inspiration and information to help them improve their cash flow and begin marching down the road to financial freedom. But those who have already reached financial independence need tips on how to stay there, on what to do now.
Maybe a smarter man would try to narrow his focus. Maybe he’d make Money Boss serve the needs of only one of these groups. I’m not that smarter man. I’m going to do my best to serve the needs of all three groups, all within the context of managing your life as if you were managing a business.
My goal at Money Boss is to help as many people as I can adopt the mindset that they are in charge of their own lives, that they are the ones responsible for improving their finances — and everything else.
If you have suggestions or requests, please let me know.
from Money Boss http://ift.tt/2eCiA1d
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