Of course I’m not being overdramatic – ME?! 😉 But yes – shock of shocks I’m still here!
According to a few often quoted statistics (that I can’t seem to source right now…) most blogs give up in the first 6 months. I was worried I’d be one of them. That’s one of the reasons I wrote privately for 3.5 years. I knew blogging was hard work, but I had no idea how hard until I went public.
In addition to actually writing, there seem to be a million things to learn, fix and do at all times and I’ve still only taken a small bite of my long to do list even though it’s been half a year. Phew! But I’ve made it! I kept to my posting schedule and posted every Tuesday without fail. I responded to every comment and email. I made it through what I’m told is the toughest stretch.
Now it’s time to get a little meta. I’ve been reflecting on why most bloggers abandon ship by this point and what I think helped me to push through and survive. Here’s what I think helped me last this past 6 months of awesome madness:
A Set Posting Schedule
Millennial Revolution was the first blog I noticed that mentioned WHEN they post. It was in big black letters on their front page “Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays” (Now Mondays and Fridays with their new book Quit Like A Millionaire coming out). I know a lot of bloggers have set posting days, but I never thought about it or even noticed it. I just read a new post when it popped into my inbox, but seeing in big letters when this blog I love posted got me EXCITED on those days. I looked forward to those days (despite them being weekdays…) because I knew I’d get to read a new awesome post!
I loved the transparency so I took that approach to my own blog. In the sidebar on every page it says “New post every Tuesday.” If I don’t deliver that makes me a liar right? 🙂 Serious motivation right there! Having that information prominent on my blog also helped me have a weekly ‘deadline’. I made a ‘promise’ that I would have a new post on Tuesdays and I will hit it no matter what (I’ve never missed a deadline in my life. Nerd alert!).
Testing A Posting Schedule
Now of course having a ‘promise’ of when to post and being able to do so while maintaining your work, life and sanity are different things. So before I made this declaration of a new post every Tuesday I tested it. My first year writing this blog (privately) I wrote intermittently: in January 2015 I wrote a post a day and some months I wrote nothing (check out the archive to see what I mean).
My second year I wrote a little more frequently and the third year I made a pact to write a post once a week (at least). I hit that goal and then some, so I knew from that one year of experience that a weekly post was plausible. I’m already really protective of my free time so this seemed like a good commitment to make.
Allowing Ample Writing Time
So far I have never written a post the day before it goes up. I usually start about a week out and keep thinking about it, writing, editing, showing it to someone else for their thoughts, more editing, final polishing and finally, posting.
Starting early in the week allows me to still enjoy the process and get back to a post when I feel inspired to do so. If this process was instead rushed and hurried I don’t think I would enjoy it. And I most likely would have a harder time writing a coherent post when I’m ‘under the gun’ as it were, so starting early has worked for me and kept my stress level relatively low 🙂 .
Low Expectations
I didn’t expect anyone to read this blog. Truly. I thought it would be me writing for myself just like before I went public: just me and my thoughts for months or years or forever. Surprisingly that hasn’t been the case, but starting from that low expectation level has caused me to be ECSTATIC at any comment or email that I receive. If you have low expectations it’s pretty hard to be disappointed and give up as a result 🙂 .
Recording Small Accomplishments
It will probably surprise none of you that I love to record things. I have a record of every calorie, carb and alcohol unit I’ve consumed for years. I love data and am a weirdo that enjoys keeping records of these things and later reviewing them to reminisce or see how I can improve my life.
I’ve expanded this meticulous (or some might say crazy…) trend to blogging as well. In the vein of having low expectations and therefore seeing everything that happens as shocking and amazing, I started recording small accomplishments, such as a compliment someone paid me or an unsolicited mention in someone’s newsletter. Now I can look back and see those small acts of kindness and they motivate me to keep going if I’m ever in doubt (which hasn’t happened yet, but who knows what the future will bring?).
Doing Only What I Enjoy
This is a big one. I started this blog to detail my journey to early retirement for my future self. That’s still a main focus, but now my secondary focus is to help others if I can. Keeping those two goals in mind led me to decide to only do things for this blog that I enjoy. I’m not after random eyeballs or traffic. I don’t go out of my way to promote this blog or make it into something it’s not (like a business).
For example, I absolutely love Twitter and Instagram. I think they’re both great places to chat with people and get a glimpse into different people’s lives and perspectives. So I spend a lot of time there – because I enjoy it. On the other hand, I don’t understand or enjoy Pinterest as a sharing platform for blogs (maybe because I have the brain of a grandma…).
For this reason I’ve never made a Pinterest pin to promote my blog and I’m not planning to despite hearing it makes your traffic ‘explode’. I don’t want my traffic to explode 🙂 . I just want to enjoy my life, document it in case it can help others and interact with interesting people. I believe not diving into things I’m not interested in to try and get this blog ‘out there’ has allowed me to focus on what’s important (to me) and persevere.
Waiting To Go Live
So this might be my most controversial suggestion and I’m not sure if it’s actually good advice, but it’s what worked for me. I wrote my blog privately for 3.5 years to catalog my journey for myself. Sometimes I showed a post to my Mom, but that was it. I was writing for me. This allowed me to find my voice and figure out my point of view without any outside influences to sway me.
So when I went public, despite any added pressure I felt since the blog was ‘live’ I still knew what I wanted out of every post: To remind myself of this journey and, now, to help others. I had a clear mission and had honed my tone and perspective over several years (check out my 2015 posts if you dare). I believe figuring out who I am as a blog writer behind closed doors helped me discover an undiluted version of myself that I’m not sure I would have if I were writing with anyone else in mind.
Conclusion
So there you have it! Those are the reasons I think I’ve ‘survived’ 6 months of public blogging. It’s been an absolutely amazing journey. Thank you all so much for your encouragement and kind words over the last 6 months. They have literally made my decade 🙂 .
How about you? Have you started a blog? If so, were you ever tempted to give up? What helped you get over the hump?
Congrats on sticking with it for 3.5 yrs and 6 mos of public flogging. I mean blogging. 🤣 I found a set schedule worked best for me. I also have found having a job worked best for sticking to that schedule. As in, now I don’t have a reason to sit in front of the computer in the morning, or a job to avoid for the first hr or 2 of each day… Since I quit work it’s been harder but I’m slowly getting schedules down and the blog is working it’s way back into the schedule.
Way to keep with it!
Thank you! And oh my – I think public FLOGGING might be a little far from the truth for me lol! I hope it hasn’t felt like flogging to you, but if it has I’m here to listen 🙂 .
Very interesting that the job helped with the set schedule. I can see how retirement, a lack of work/weekday routine and being able to choose how you spend your time would throw a wrench into a schedule. That’s why we retire right – to do whatever we want, when we want. Very good point and something I should make a plan to either combat or give into. I plan to cut way back on computer and social media time in retirement and should decide what that will mean for my ‘set’ schedule. Thank you so much for stopping by!
Congratulations on making it to six months (public!)
I agree completely about naming your posting days, and I guess I’m a fellow nerd that never misses a deadline.
I enjoy reading, and I’m glad you went public. I look forward to reading for a long time!
Thank you! And fellow nerds unite!! I think the fact that I announce it and associate false promises as lies helps too lol 🙂 . So glad you enjoy reading!! As long as you’re here reading I’ll be here writing 🙂 . Thank you for stopping by!
Congrats on hitting that 6-month mark. Iv’e been pretty consistent for the nearly 7 years I’ve been blogging at BATB, but I also never thought about it as a business or something I “had” to do. It was always for me, so if I needed a break, I took one. It’s all about what you want to get out of blogging, so it’s a very personal decision!
Thank you! And wow 7 years that’s AMAZING!!! And that’s a great perspective (and probably one I should employ down the road 🙂 ). I have a hard time giving myself break in every aspect of my life so that’s probably something I should think hard about in general. Completely agree that it’s about what you want to get out of it. I think my ‘mission’ would totally allow breaks. Thanks so much for helping me see a new possibility 🙂 and thank you for stopping by!
i think i’m going on about a year and a half. i just last week promoted it to family and friends and most had no idea i was writing it. like you, i enjoy detailing the journey on a personal level. i’m trying to let the humor in life and finance shine through as best i can. i was just telling someone last night i think i could now write one of those money making blogs with a million lists or “how to” guides but why do that if it’s no fun? i’ve enjoyed reading about your story.
Congratulations on 1.5 years! How did the family and friends promotion go (besides them not realizing you were doing it)? In my life people literally don’t care, which I find hilarious. Some people are really worried about anonymity but in my experience people think about you a lot less than you think and that applies to caring you have a blog with all your numbers on it.
You definitely do let the humor shine through – that’s one of the the things I love most about your blog. And yeah I don’t see the point of those listicle sites – I assume their goal is to make money? And even so that seems like it would be more than a full time job to get started – and not very fun while doing so. But that’s just me (or us 🙂 ). So glad you’ve enjoyed reading about my journey! I’m excited to see what the next year brings for both of us.
Congratulations. I have recently started a new blog to journal my thoughts and journey into retirement. I had a blog previously which I kept up for four years and then when my life became extremely busy and I had a family crisis it petered out.
Now with retirement I feel I should be able to keep up the writing, but I know I need to set a schedule.
Thank you and congratulations on your new blog. Keeping up your previous blog for 4 years is impressive. Just curious: What made you want to start a new one instead of re-igniting the old site? Congratulations on your retirement as well! I’m excited to read your work (schedule or not 🙂 ). Thank you for stopping by!
I’m still amazed that you blogged privately for all that time. It shows that you really were “doing it for yourself.” Anyway, I’m glad that you’re sharing your journey with the rest of us these days.
Personally, I can’t decide whether I want to take a relaxed, irregular approach to my blog (do it ‘on my terms’), or if I should try to introduce some regularity into my posting schedule and be a bit more consistent. I’ll probably end up somewhere in between, whatever that means!
…or it shows that I’m a stone cold weirdo…but I like your narrative better 🙂 . And yeah it took a kick in the pants from an established anon blogger to get me out in public, but I have no regrets. Absolutely loving it. And happy to share with you!
Somewhere in between sounds awesome! I think it just depends on you. Between work, recovering from work and my social life I’m booked up so if I don’t have a set schedule I know my posting would be erratic and rare based on what happened in year 1 and 2 of this blog for those exact reasons. Excited to see you figure out what works for you! And thank you for stopping by.
Happy 6 months of public blogging!!! Love seeing some of the background process in your planning and writing. Also, most importantly , I absolutely enjoy reading your posts!
I definitely need to focus more on doing what I love in all of this. When I first started participating in twitter, I felt overwhelmed with all the talk of “doing pins” and other overhead stuff that I really did not care about (especially having the same objectives as you – documenting my journey, helping others and interacting with inspiring people) but still had a feeling I should maybe learn to do. Thanks for helping put that back into focus :D.
Finally I am also a huge fan of recording everything in my life and I am loving this idea of recording small blogging accomplishments! I’ve mostly emailed myself some milestones but will be adding them in an easy go to spreadsheet for some easy to view inspiration when needed 🙂 ahah fellow nerds unite!
Thank you!! Also that’s so nice to hear that you love reading my posts 🙂 you’re going to make me blush.
And I completely feel you – it can be hard not to get caught up in what people say you “should” do. I struggled with it myself, but for the Pinterest thing in particular I thought “if I don’t like seeing all these ‘ads’ for blog posts everywhere and am annoyed by it, why would I create one?” I also took it a little further and looked at the blogs that tout Pinterest as exploding their traffic – they’re making good money, but most of their posts have no comments at all. They have ‘traffic’ but not the interaction that I absolutely love about having the blog. So I didn’t like the method or the result 🙂 and decided to just do me. Glad to hear we have similar goals and yes let’s keep each other focused on them!
Let me know how you like recording the milestones! I find it really nice to look back on. Mine are in Evernote, but I love the spreadsheet idea even more! Maybe we should look into “Nerds Unite!” t-shirts 😉 .
Thanks for sharing your 6 months of going live! I went live immediately (in June) but I had similar low expectations. I saw lots of people go hard with blogging and dreaming big, and although I was impressed by their goals, I also saw them fall hard and beat themselves up over not earning enough or having enough views. Low expectations help a ton. I even had low expectations about how often I would post and when– I was like you and just checked in on blogs periodically. I’m like you and take deadlines deadly seriously, so I was scared to make any for myself because I didn’t want to make blogging a stressful thing. I also agree with you about Pinterest. I make pins but don’t do anything with them– high five for Grandma brains 🙂
Loving the low expectations! Glad you found that it works for you too. And yeah – seeing bloggers beat themselves up (and then disappear) because they didn’t hit an arbitrary goal that THEY MADE UP 🙂 makes me sad. And I know that since I am very numbers and goal oriented if I did that I’d just follow in their footsteps.
That’s cool you were able to be relaxed with your posting schedule. I worry if I did that the blog would fall by the wayside like it has for me in the past (pre going public). You seem to be killing it even without those set deadlines though 🙂 . And it’s amazing to hear that you also take deadlines ‘deadly’ serious – maybe we should work together in the future if our career paths cross. It’s hard to find people like us in my experience 🙂 .
What do you mean you make pins, but don’t do anything with them? Like don’t use that Tailwind stuff to pin it 50x a day? Just curious about your approach. Thank you so much for stopping by!
It’s so funny. I read blogs for years and years and never noticed that posts would come out on a regular schedule haha. You’d think I would have eventually caught on…
Hahaha you’re a busy lady – I can see how it’s not something your brain would register. I didn’t even really think about it before I started looking into blogging ‘tips’ before launching this site and saw people mentioning their schedule and then I was like more bloggers than Millennial Revolution HAVE a schedule?! Hilarious.
You are still kicking and we are loving it! I can’t believe it’s been 6 months. I think we started Instagram on the same day or something and you were recommended my way. I’ve been impressed ever since and love the way your mind works.
I like that you wrote for a long time before going live. I also like that you write down EVERYTHING (even what you eat). I used to be like that. I wrote daily in a journal and suddenly thought – why not put it on the internet? I still feel like there’s a gap between who I am online and who I am in private, but we’re all learning.
Haha yes indeed! I can’t believe it’s been 6 months either – that passed in a flash! It’s been awesome being Insta buds! And thank you so much – I like how your mind works too 🙂 .
Glad to hear I’m not the only one writing everything down. I used to have a daily journal too – it recorded all my activities during my day for about 5 years including all of college. I need to digitize those before the ink rubs off…Anyway, genius idea to take that and put it on the internet! What kind of gap is there between who you are on and offline? Just curious. I’m going to reflect if that exists for me…And yes we are all learning! Thanks so much for stopping by!
This is awesome and really inspirational. I just started blogging 3 months ago to document our path to FI and really just tell our story. Slowly getting readers! As long as we can help just one person I’m satisfied.
That is awesome that you’ve only been public for six months. Your content is awesome! Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you! That’s wonderful to hear. Congratulations on 3 months! And I totally agree – if this blog can be a net positive I’m happy. And you’re too kind 🙂 – thanks so much for stopping by! I’ll be sure to check out your blog – I’m excited to read about your journey!
Congrats on making it to the half-year mark — of blogging in public. Sounds like you’re an old hand at blogging in general.
I think your goals all sound smart and have been thought out carefully. I envy your ability to think of things to write ahead of time. I’m more a “figure it out the day before (or of) my sitting down to write it.”
Thank you!! And I happen to envy your ability to write a post the day before or day of without having a nervous breakdown 🙂 .
This is great. Awesome insights on what it takes to have a successful blog. I love what you have to say and cant wait to see what the next 12 months have in store! Keep up the good work. 🙂 I know its often thankless work.
Thank you!! And yes – let’s see what the next year brings. Fingers crossed! And your thanks is making all the work worth it 🙂 . Thanks so much for stopping by!
Lots of this that I relate to. The two biggest are to enjoy it and to give enough time to write. I’m kinda relaxed about getting things ‘wrong’ as well (the rules say that I should have been in the first couple of comments on this post but it’s interesting so I want to engage in the conversation even if it’s not the most ‘efficient’ thing to do with my time!).
Your point about low expectations is interesting. For me I have very high expectations but they’re nothing to do with pageviews and monetisation. What I want from my blogging journey is to stay accountable to myself, become a better writer, join a community and to have fun. Let’s see how I do!
Yeah forget the ‘rules’ 🙂 especially for the comments thing – I imagine they’re talking about being the top comment on heavily trafficked blogs so you can clicks back and this is NOT a heavily trafficked blog lol! So glad you stopped by to chat – screw efficiency 😉 .
That’s an interesting take on expectations. Maybe I should edit that to be ‘low blogging metric expectations’ because I agree – I have a lofty goal and high expectations of myself to hit it. I think you’re doing awesome on all of your goals (though I can’t myself confirm the ‘have fun’ part 🙂 ). Thanks so much for stopping by!
Congratulations! Your blog is terrific and I’m so glad you’re going strong.
Low expectations = the key to my longevity, too. Otherwise, I’d get frustrated and quit. I do it for myself – so that I can track our progress – and to show others that getting out of debt can be done, even if it’s a long and tedious slog. Those “why’s” are enough for me.
Like you, I don’t use Pinterest and probably never will. I don’t use Facebook, either, so that’s out as a way to advertise. I stick to Twitter.
Looking forward to all of your future posts!
Thank you so much! That’s wonderful to hear. And yes low expectations and having an actual goal in mind are key. Those are some awesome “whys” you have. Glad I’m not alone in focusing on channels I actually enjoy – I imagine branching out from that and it quickly sounds like ‘work’ to me 😉 . Thanks so much for reading and stopping by!
Wooo, six months consistent is huge! I started blogging recently, burned out because I was trying to do to much, to fast. And then started back up again at a slower, more manageable schedule. Congrats!
Thank you!! And yeah I can see that happening – what did you try to tackle at once (or is the answer ‘everything’ 🙂 )? When I see new bloggers starting up and trying to be on ALL social media AND learn how to fix backend problems AND try to write their own posts 3x/week AND try to guest post AND be on podcasts I get tired just seeing it all lol!
Especially since a lot of us still have full time jobs and family/friends. I’m both impressed and a little scared because those people that tackle everything from the beginning are usually the names that I see come and go the fastest. So awesome you identified what was happening and have tweaked your approach accordingly! Super cool.
Hi! Stumbled across your blog via instagram. I’m 1.5 months into blogging and can definitely relate to having low expectations. I got my first comment from someone who I wasn’t personally connected to a few weeks ago and it felt amazing! I wasn’t expecting anyone other than people I know to actually read it, so the fact that someone I don’t know read it and commented was pretty awesome! Anyway, this whole early retirement thing is super interesting to me… as someone who has a bunch of student loan debt, it’s not something that I necessarily see in my future, but I can envision being debt free! I’ll be following along! Thanks for sharing and congrats on making it past the 6 month marker!
Oh wow – hi! Welcome. Congratulations on 1.5 months! And yeah comments are absolutely amazing 🙂 . If you define early retirement as before social security it can be possible even with student debt – obviously I don’t know your exact situation (though I’m going to check out your blog today!), but I wouldn’t rule it out immediately. Thanks so much for following along and stopping by!
Congrats on your 6 months / 4 years of blogging 🙂
Hahaha – thank you so much!
Your blog has been a warm bowl of chicken soup for the soul!
I’ve left you comments here but I think we’ve interacted more on Instagram and all I want to say is: girl, you’re doing great!
I find your blog inspiring and soothing, I find your journey so interesting and I want to follow along, yet I don’t want you to feel pressured, because I think that’s what robs the fun of a project like this.
Keep doing what feels good to you and here we’ll be reading you dearly!
Oh my goodness – THANK YOU!! Reading your comment felt like being wrapped in a warm blanket 🙂 ! Yes I’m all about that Insta life. Thank you so much for saying that – it really means a lot. “Inspiring and soothing” = that’s better than I ever would have hoped for! No pressure at all. Hearing you say all these things just invigorates me to continue! (Also I bought 3 years of hosting so you at least have me here writing weekly until July 2021 😉 so I don’t ‘waste’ any money lol). Thank you so SO much!!
I gotta say, I think you missed a big opportunity by posting all of your archived content from your 3+ years of private writing. I also wrote for a couple of years privately before launching my blog, although not consistently. Still, it’s amazing how many of those old posts are good or can be re-worked. My post from today is one I wrote a year ago!
Excellent work on making it 6 months and thanks so much for all of your encouragement. It means a lot.
Hahaha fair point. I didn’t even think about that to be honest. All my posts are focused around cataloging what I was thinking about at that moment so I’m not even sure how I would have gone about publishing them now.
Thank you for thinking some of the old stuff is good or re-workable – perhaps I’ll get to that re-work someday 😉 . Super cool approach though – thanks for twisting my mind a little! And thank YOU for stopping by and all you do 🙂 . I’m rooting for you – 72 days and counting!!!
I’m just getting started and this was so helpful to read. Thanks fir sharing! I, too, am worried about burning out or not posting on a consistent basis. But like you, I am looking at this as a way to improve myself, not as a way to make money. I just started the writing process and the blog within the last month although I have had ideas of specific topics I want to write about. I think the most exhausting part for me is trying to understand WordPress, hosting, separate, and on and on and on. The writing is the easier part. Congrats on making it 6 months, and here’s to you keeping it going, because I have really enjoyed a lot of your posts.
Hi! So glad this was helpful. And congratulations on your new blog! I am completely with you on the back end stuff being exhausting. It is definitely not in my wheelhouse. I’ve been really lucky that a few of my friends understand it or I would have pulled my hair out to be honest. So glad you enjoyed other posts as well! I’ll definitely keep it up 🙂
Well I am very glad you went public! Congrats on 6 months! It’s been interesting reading your posts so far, I can’t wait to see what you’ve got planned for us in the next 6 months!
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed them. As for ‘planned’ for the next 6 months…I rarely know what I’m going to write more than a week out, but I will try not to disappoint 🙂 !
This post made me laugh. I have hesitated on starting a blog, because well, hard to know where to start.
Glad you enjoyed it! And I say: just start 🙂 . It’s easy to buy a domain and just start writing for very little money. You can worry about the rest later.
Sorry to be the last one to the party. I didn’t realize you were a new blog because I’m new to the PF Twitter space. When I saw people sharing your posts I checked out your archive and assumed you’d been doing this forever. This makes a ton more sense!!
Thanks for sharing this post. It helps me rethink and refocus on why I started blogging. I wanted to help federal employees get their shit together. Sometimes I freak out about getting more traffic. But that’s dumb. I don’t think I actually care about traffic. I care about helping people. Now obviously I wish I could reach a lot more federal employees. But I have some regular readers now and I feel like I’m helping them and that makes me happy. Sometimes you just lose site of that.
I’m glad I read this post and understand your story better!
No worries – glad you made it 🙂 . And yeah I’m a big weirdo lol – secretly blogging for years and then dumping it all on the net. Glad this cleared up my timeline! And yes refocusing is so important – we can get so caught up in things that (I think) don’t really matter like pageviews and metrics. I love data, but I try to reframe it so I can focus on what truly brings me joy – which is helping others just like you. I’m sure your reach will grow and you’ll start reaching more and more federal employees. It’s awesome you already have regular readers that you’re helping! Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Congratulations! Consistency is definitely worth celebrating! I’ve enjoyed checking out your posts as you’ve published them. I know your posts will always be a great read. 🙂
My publishing schedule is much more random, even though I’d like to be more consistent.
Like you, I love interacting on Twitter. If I spent as much time writing blog posts as I spend on Twitter, I’d probably be publishing weekly on my blog!
Thank you! And that’s so nice to hear!! And less consistency works for you I say keep it up! I just know that without a set schedule I might let months pass before I update and then I’d have more pressure on myself that my latest post after a hiatus must be ‘great’ – not having time to overthink things seems to help me a lot 🙂 . And haha I hear you on Twitter. It’s so fun though and I’ve met a lot of Twitter friends in real life that have become real person friends so I don’t see a current downside or reason to cut back. Thanks so much for stopping by!