Lessons from this blog... (so far)

(map of the audience for my Thriving with Interest! blog)

I've been asked for many years now to start writing, a book, a newsletter, a blog, anything. It took me a while, but about a month ago I started posting some random thoughts that came to me from the news, the markets, or life in general. What I have learned so far is this:

  • expect the unexpected: There are some posts that I think will catch on and have a large number of views and interaction (comments/feedback) while some of the ones that happen to come spur of the moment, with little preplanning might be sent out to the interwebs with little expectations. What has happened is this. It's impossible to predict which ones will be popular and which ones will catch on. Here are the top 5 posts as of May 8. As you can see, quite a cornucopia of topics:

  • It's amazing how easy it is to reach a worldwide audience. Obviously the majority of my readers are located in the US. However I have 43% of the readers are not located in the US. I expected most of the countries that have popped up on the top 10 list below, given that I have friends/acquaintances in many of those countries. However some have certainly surprised. But the key lesson is this, you can sit anywhere and have a global reach pretty quickly. This is a nice follow on to the 1729 post by Srinivasan about Founding vs Inheriting.

  • This effort has been extremely rewarding and I would encourage anyone to do so. It doesn't take too long to do, in my case I am trying to make it a daily exercise which might be overkill. But if one sticks to a less grueling regimen (possibly a few times a week, or only weekdays, or even simply once a week) then it certainly is doable for most people.
  • Graphs help. A picture tells 1,000 words. What is interesting is that the blog really took off with my tax rate post (which is now the 2nd most popular one thus far). That happened to be the first one to include a graph, that of US map with tax rates by state. Since then, I have tried to include some in each post and I feel that this helps add color and depth to my writing. 
  • What can I improve? I am counting on my readers to guide me to some extent. Clearly I have focused on markets, business, economics, and educational content. These are all subjects near and dear to my heart, and where I believe I have something to add. Maybe a bit more focus might be required to expand even further. Or maybe I should keep on with this wide range of subjects. Time will tell, but certainly a question that needs to be answered.
I hope that you have enjoyed this as much as I have and I look forward to hearing from you with any comments, feedback, ideas you might have. Thank you!

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