It’s time to reflect. It’s been four weeks since I launched SourcesOfInsight.com. It feels like a blur and forever at the same time.
What Have I Learned …
I’ve learned a lot, but here’s the gist:
- It’s tough starting from scratch. A body of content is one thing. A platform and arena is another.
- The more you can narrow the gap between the awesome vision in your head and what shows up … the better.
- These aren’t mistakes … they’re just my lessons in how not to do things.
- The value of the blog gets built one post at a time.
- The sum is more than the parts.
- Learn from others. There’s lessons everywhere. Success leaves clues.
- The vision and the mission really help make it through those days when I ask, “… tell me again why I’m doing this?”
- My blog is like a bonsai tree. It’s not static. It needs to be tuned and pruned over time.
- Pace yourself for the long haul. It’s a marathon with a bunch of little sprints inside.
- There’s more time ahead of me than behind me.
- I get by with a little help from my friends.
From Blogspot to WordPress …
I know many others blazed a trail before me, but for whatever reason, I just wasn’t sure about the move. I posed the following question on Barbara’s Four Day Open Mic – 8/21 to 8/24/08:
“… is it worth moving from blogger to WordPress?”
I got some good tips from Barbara Swafford, Cath Lawson, John Hoff, and hyrcan. It was Cath’s words that moved me to action:
“… I moved to my own domain. I didn’t want to put myself in a position where Google or WordPress owned my blog and could delete it if they wanted to.”
And so I made my move.
The Move
I imported my posts. Multiple times. For whatever reason, the import process failed along the way. Eventually though, I got my posts to their new pad. Some posts felt right at home. Others were fish out of water. Others were a sharp reminder of what it’s like to be human, where mistakes are inevitable.
My First Post on Sources of Insight
My first post on Sources of Insight was …
Posts so Far
Here’s my posts for the first month:
- Fear of Weaknesses, Fear of Failure, and Fear of Who You Are
- 3 Revealing Questions for Myth Busting
- 3 Myths About Strengths and Weaknesses
- I Like You Because You Like Me
- Social Loafing
- SIGN – The 4 Signs of a Strength
- Use Stress to Be Your Best
Tag Line
My working tag line is:
Stand on the shoulders of giants.
I think this captures the heart of this blog. By using great mentors of our past and present, I want to lift people up in life. I want to share the best insights from the best people and books. Together, we’ll stand on the shoulders of giants.
Vision, Mission, Values
When it feels like I’m against the odds, here’s what keeps me going:
- Vision – World’s best insight for work and life.
- Mission – Improve the quality of life for as many people as I can, as long as I can.
- Values – Continuous improvement, learn and move on, success is a journey, not a destination …
… Actually, you’ll get a better perspective on this blog if you read my About page.
Unique Value
I’m still figuring this out. Some of my readers have told me that while they’ve seen some of the information before, it’s like an old song sung a new way and they suddenly get it and it makes sense.
One thing I’ve noticed is that it’s easier for me to connect the dots between many great bodies of knowledge. I can’t believe I hadn’t connected some of the dots before, but now I can really see many timeless principles, patterns, and practices spread over many great works.
At the end of the day, the fact that I can send an URL right to the exact nugget of insight I need to share with a friend, family member or mentee really helps a bunch.
Results so Far
On the upside …
- I made it 😉
- Some people like the look and feel better and say posts are easier to read.
- I removed the glass ceiling (real or imagined) I had on blogspot. Well, that’s what I tell myself.
- Traffic continues to grow. I don’t remember what to call the exact rate, but snail’s pace comes to mind. I exceeded 200 visits in a day, so maybe there’s potential.
On the downside …
- I lost the bulk of my subscribers from thebookshare. A friend told me I was supposed to redirect my feedburner to bring everybody with me, but since I changed the site name, I didn’t like the inconsistency.
- A lot of my posts broke during the import. I didn’t expect this. This was a surprise. I’m still fixing.
- Fixing cross-references between posts is a manual exercise (and very time consuming)
- I like everybody else’s blogs better than mine. I think blog eny is healthy to a point. It’s certainly humbling. I have a constant appreciation for what others do so well.
- I couldn’t have picked a worse time. I underestimated the growth curve on one of my projects. Life happens.
- It doesn’t feel right yet. Something’s off. There’s a mismatch between what’s in my head and the actual blog. I’ll fix it. I want it more like a sunset where it’s intense and you feel good, but it’s not overbearing. The picture in Use Stress to Be Your Best and When It’s Cold Shiver, When It’s Hot Sweat tell me that sunsets, sunburst or a southwestern theme would feel right.
The Road Ahead
I have a lot to learn, so expect lots of mistakes along the way. I also have lots of plans but I won’t list them out (we all know plans are lists of things that will never happen). Actually, I do have ideas and I do have plans but my main focus will continue to be creating content that helps improve your life, one nugget at a time. Join me in standing on the shoulders of giants.
How To Use Stress to Be Your Best