Category Archives: Blogging

Financial Blogger Conference 2011, Behind the Words

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Most of what I heard at the Financial Blogger Conference I knew or supposed to some degree, so instead I thought I would talk about the energy behind the words of the speakers.  It’s not necessarily what the speakers told you that matters, it’s the energy you apply to move those words that matters!

Originally, I was going to write about my takeaways from the event!  But Hunter from Financially Consumed did such a great job, I thought I’d just reference his site: Ten Takeaways – Financial Blogger Conference.  Check out his article, it’s spot on as to what the primary takeaways were (check out the Ramit video too, it’s great)!

So I was watching Ramit and Adam Baker speak, I heard their words, but I also wanted to try to get a feeling for what makes them different from most of the other blogger (and really everybody) in the world.  And what I noticed was a driven kamikaze style to their behavior.  Ramit moved like a lion pacing in a zoo cage, ready to pounce on his next meal.  He spent more energy in his hour presentation that I typically do all day!  The same is true with Man vs Debt, massive amounts of energy was spent during his presentation too.

I think that those guys are very competitive and driven more than most of the people in life.

As I watched Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome.com, the style was different.  He wasn’t near as aggressive, but he seemed very quick and smart about things.  I think he has learned to be very clever about matters and has the ability to go a different route, or even make his own route in what he persues.  If there was a style to emulate, he would be the one to be like.

J.D. Roth was too polished for me to read.  I’m sure he give a lot of speeches and was great with this one.  Mostly, from J.D. I saw a focused, passionate individual, but beyond that I wasn’t able to guess how he functions.

Honestly, all the speakers that I saw did a great job.  The conference was well worth the price!  I would do it again in a heartbeat!

MR

A Quick Take on The 1st Financial Blogger Conference

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financial blogger conference

financial blogger conference

Since I came late to the Financial Blogger Conference, I ended up starting my first day at the conference by going to the refreshments area and having a few drinks with fellow bloggers.

Basic Observations:

At first I wondered if it the entire trip would be worth it, but right after getting there and meeting all of the bloggers I read

daily and seeing some of the largest pf blogs on the internet, I knew right then and there that the price of the ticket was worth it!

Thinking outside of the basic cost/benefit equation, there is value in knowing that I attended the first really large financial blogger conference meeting!  That in itself adds some additional privilege value.  Tomorrow, I will have to take some more pictures to remember the trip.

Another hidden value is that actually get to stand in front of some of the biggest bloggers in the industry and experience the various nuances of their personality and mannerism that come out.  There is something about seeing a person in real life that a camera picture just can’t portray.

Discoveries

J. D. Roth was giving the opening speech when he took out a little red notebook from his back pocket.  He then goes on to explain that he is constantly writing ideas down to use in his blog.  I was mostly impressed by the incredible small notebook.

I discovered that Ramit Sethi hates me and a lot of people who isn’t his market segment.  He also doesn’t want me to visit his blog, and I also learned that’s he a pretty guy and probably his some great information on his blog.

How difference the physical appearance of everybody looks!  Almost everybody looks better than I imagined!

Ryan from Cash Money Life, had a great presentation on how to optimize your blog engine that was awesome, and that I will use in the near future.

There are so many great blogger here, and all of the ones that I met have been very nice and intelligent.  I can honestly say that I’m both proud to be part of pf group, and humbled by the sheer talent at the conference.

Wish everybody could experience this piece of pf blogger nirvana!

MR

Thoughts on Other Bloggers and Blogging

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My Initial Belief:

Where I started blogging, I wasn’t entirely sure in what company I was going to mingle with.  After all, we see a lot of phishing and identity theft running ramped on the internet.  I assumed that the blogging community might be composed of charlatans and con artists too.   So I approached blogging with an extreme air of caution.  I didn’t socialize, and I didn’t even set up my site for RSS initially.  To me, I felt like I was a sole beacon of light alone in the dark!  I was wrong…

Reality Of Blogging:

In the past I read blogs like “Frugal Dad” and “The Simple Dollar” and they seemed great, but I thought they were the exceptions to the rules.  I limited my exposure to those two blogs (and occasionally “Growing Rich Slowly”) and went through the blogging world with tunnel vision.  But then I started noticing the comments from the “Financial Samurai”, and I started reading his blog too.  Shortly thereafter, the “Financial Samurai” become the first blog that I read every day.  Now I read many other blogs because I’ve discovered that each one is unique in their own way.

I see other bloggers as just people like me trying to get their story out to benefit society and you, the reader.  We come from different backgrounds, but we have made many similar and different discoveries throughout our life that we want to share.

Blogging as been a big positive in my life and I’m proud to call myself a blogger…

Normally, I would have a list of links this week, but I’m already late for a Dad and Daughter Day, that should have begun 30 minutes ago.

Hope you had a great week,

MR

My daughter wants this put up too:

Daughter’s Halloween Painting

Blogging To Travel More

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After reading blogs various blogs like Young and Thrifty and the Financial Samurai, I’ve decided that I would like to travel more.

Gulf of Mexico Sunset

Captiva Sunset

 

My problem is I have some pretty tight financial goals as is, so taking the extra money from my regular paycheck just won’t fly.  So instead, I’ve decided to use the money I make from blogging to start traveling to more exotic locations during the times that my family go on vacation.

Unfortunately, my blog currently doesn’t generate that kind of money.  After all, for the first five months, I only made $5.00 via Adsense.  Fortunately, every now and then I actually make $5 off of my site (not always, but occasionally).  It’s a far cry from when I first started, that’s for sure.

During my last vacation, I did a little blogging experiment where I would try to blog everyday while I was on vacation.  While I did fairly well, I did miss a few days.  Even with the few days that I missed, I would call the experiment a success.  It was a success because I was able to squeeze the articles in during slow times back a the house we were renting.

The nice thing about blogging is it’s not really location specific!  So I could be in Japan or some other far away place and nobody would know it as long as I kept publishing my articles.  From that sense blogging is the perfect job because it’s so mobile.

The first baby step that I’m going to tack towards my goal is to get passports at the end of next year for the entire family.  I hope to go to Hawaii next year, so I figured I would start the “acquiring the passport process” for the year following our Hawaii vacation.

After 2012, I would like to try traveling at least once a year to a different location in the world.  I hope I can generate enough income from this blog to fulfill that dream.

Time will tell,

MR