The End of the Road

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This is my last blog.  There, I've said it.

 

It's been a blast writing one each week since the spring of 2016.  At times. At other times it's been a challenge and writing a blog and promoting it so it can be read by more people is a lengthy process.

This week's blog looks at my decision to make this my final blog and why it wasn't an easy one to make, but also was the right one.

It Started With a Challenge

I went to a meeting of the Edmonton Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) in January 2016. Hugh Culver of Kelowna, a friend and mentor was the guest speaker that night and challenged speakers to do things differently in 2016 to market themselves.

One of his suggestions was starting a blog. Hugh talked about why so many entrepreneurs and businesses were producing blogs and I remember Hugh saying that blogs are a great way for speakers and trainers to let people know about their expertise.

I was already doing a newsletter every other week that was getting a lot of positive comments, so I decided to take up Hugh’s challenge, because he's one of the smartest guys I know, and start a weekly blog. How much extra work could it be right?

My website company, Mediashaker created a great template layout for me to use and I was off to the races. I wrote my first blog on May 24, 2016. It was called What is News and Why Doesn’t it Like My Story? I did one every week since then, other than for two weeks over the Christmas holidays.

The top five blogs that got the most reads over the years are listed on the right with number one at the top.

But this is my last blog. The reasons are simple – it’s a lot of work and I need to spend more time on other aspects of my business.

Trust the Process

Each blog takes around four hours a week. That’s four hours I believe I can use much more effectively to find training and speaking engagements. If I don’t work I don’t get paid.

Don’t get me wrong – business has been very good. So good in fact, I don’t have as much time as I used to, so something has to go and I’ve decided it’ll be this blog.

Just so you understand, here’s the process to get the blog done and promoted each week. I write and edit the blog in a Word document. Then I select a photo to use and crop it to the right size.  I then load the blog onto my website, put in tags and keywords so people can find it on the internet, add links and related blogs and then check everything over a time or two to make sure it’s as error free as possible.  That’s only the start.

I also need to load a lead into Mail Chimp, so everyone on my mailing list receives it on Wednesday morning. When I make the blog live on my website, I add links to the Mail Chimp lead in and get it ready to send.

That’s not all though. Each Wednesday, I do several posts on social media to bring readers to the blog who aren’t on my mailing list and finally, I track and measure results.

I could pay for some help, but I have pretty high standards. I could also do a blog once every other week, but I know on the weeks I need to get the blog done, I’ll still be busy with something else.

I'll Be Back

This isn’t the end though for people on my mailing list. I plan to work with Mediashaker early in the new year to make changes to my website and will add a section that’ll provide media and communications tips.  They’ll be sent to you on a weekly basis around the start of March, just like the blog is now, so there’s no need to unsubscribe from my mailing list.

They won’t be as long as the blog posts are and they won’t contain as much editorial writing or opinion, but they’ll still be informative. The info will be more bite-sized, but the content will be just as valuable.

Since this is the last blog, I want to thank you for reading them over the last two and a half years or so. It was always gratifying to see so many people read them within minutes of them arriving in their inboxes.

I’ve tried to keep most of them topical. I’ve also tried very hard to communicate information and knowledge I’ve acquired over the years and add opinion to make you think. You haven’t always agreed with me (and let me know) but that’s ok. It’s based on opinions and we all have them.

Last week I was at a client’s Christmas event and two of the first people who I talked to said they read my blog that day. I felt like I was letting them down when I told them this one will be my last, but I know it’s the right decision for my business.

Look at it this way, you’ll have an extra couple of minutes each week now.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the holidays with your friends and family.