Two years ago this week I started The Challenge Dividend blog. It is pretty amazing how fast time flies. I can remember sitting at my home office and thinking about my very first post and where it could take me.
Last year I embraced the Challenge Dividend religion that I preach here by setting some very public goals for myself. So let's compare my goals to how I performed:
- Write another 150 posts - I've fallen short here, with 111 posts in the past year
- Build out a model for applying the Challenge Dividend - nope, missed this one
- Double my daily visitors/readers - I've met or exceed this goal, with 50 subscribers and growing daily visitor list. Not off the charts yet, but improving.
The big reason I have missed my first two goals is that a little over 6 months ago I began another book project. I will share more about this soon, but it is related to my day job and the future of marketing. I am actually very proud of myself for keeping this blog going with two posts per week while spend huge chunks of time researching and writing another book (and keeping up with my regular job, family, and Guitar Hero play).
There were a few other highlights from the past year I'd love to share:
- The agent I'm working for on my work-related book saw this blog and fell in love with it. She compared it to Freakonomics and The Tipping Point. That sure made my month.
- My buddy Jonathan Richman helped me get some major digg attention to a couple of my posts. I hit one-day records of 150 and 300 visits for two of them.
- I've made a few friends and contacts through people that have read my blog. That feels great.
In terms of the year to come, I'm going to set more modest goals due to my heavy work on the other book project. Seth Godin says that the best time to start marketing a book is three years before it comes out; it might be 4-5 years for me, which is fine. I'll aim for 100 posts (2 per week), and continue to expand my traffic and readership.
I am more confident than ever that this blog will lead to success one day. And when I say success, I don't mean just getting it published - but rather developing a theory that can "make a dent in the universe," as Steve Jobs likes to say. Keep reading!
Bob,
Congrats on 2 years of thought provoking blogs. I enjoy reading your work and look forward to what you have to say in the future.
-Jeff
P.S. You can call me Axegrind
Posted by: Jeff Ekback | March 28, 2008 at 07:16 PM
"Axegrind"...that name sounds familiar... :)
Thanks for the support! See you on the Old Dudes board.
Posted by: Bob G | April 02, 2008 at 01:46 PM