My Blog Beginning
Like many others bloggers out there, I started blogging because I wanted to share the techniques that I”ve used to achieve a degree of financial success. I honestly thought that I was going to write so that the average person would get encouraged by read some of my articles and think “Wow, that would work” and give it a try.
I wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that I was perfect, just that I had a better way of approaching finances. While I still believe I have a lot to share, I never took into the account the self-improvement piece that was involved with blogging. I was arrogant enough to believe that I was going to be the teacher, and I would be selflessly helping other, and reinforcing what I’ve learned over time. Lately, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that it’s really a two way street!
The Self-Improvement Surprise
What I didn’t expect was the constant learning and self-improvement aspects of blogging! I’m going to create a short list of ways that I’ve become both more creative and my self-improvements that have and are happening to me.
- The Calm: Since I practically create a blog post every day, I’ve learned that if I slow down and remain calm, I can get a decent post created. Sometime going slower is really moving faster…
- Organization: I now have organization skills thanks to blogging. In my prior life, I would just fly by the seat of my pants… no more! Blogging has done wonders for the way I organize and track things.
- Communication: Compared to where I started, my communication skills now rock, not just in written form either! Since I started blogging, both my written and oral forms of communication has improved. This has been a very welcome and needed surprise in my life!
- Continuous Learning: Since I read other blogs and do research on topics, I learn something everyday. Sometimes its earth shattering, but some times it’s small but interesting (it’s all good). The point is that I’m not longer stagnant and just doing my time in life until I retire.
- Virtual Friends: I now have friends in remote location that I’ve never seen, but that I care about and who I’m rooting for. We can all rise in the blogosphere!
- Engaging in Conversation: Commenting on so many other blog sites has enabled me to engage in verbal conversation in my real life more easily. Whereas I’ve been an introvert for a good part of my life, now I’ll reach out and start the conversation instead of waiting for people to speak to me first. I’ve since learned that prior to blogging, some people thought I was stuck up (to use a high school phrase), but this has never been so! Now that I’m more sociable, they now see my true friendly colors.
- Improved Writing Skills: This is obvious, with practice comes perfection. While I still have a long way to go to achieve perfection, at least I’m heading down the road instead of parking on the side of it.
- Subtle Confidence: While I don’t walk around saying that “I’m the man“, I do have a certain degree of increased confidence knowing that I’ve improved myself because of all the bullet points above. It’s a great feeling!
Why I Recommend Everybody Trying It
Obviously, I recommend it because of the benefits that I listed above!
If you are going the serious route, consider going with a hosted service (hostgator.com, bluehost.com, etc), but if you just want to improve yourself and have don’t have a goal of creating side income from it, then consider one of the free sites like blogger.com or wordpress.org.
Surprisingly, I do make a little bit of money from blogging on the side. While I didn’t start out with that as a goal, it has been a very welcome and pleasant surprise.
Not sure if you want to try blogging or not? Check out some of my previous articles on blogging called: Pros and Cons of Blogging, and the 15 Advantages of Blogging.
Good luck, if you decide to take the blogging plunge!
MR
I like the social aspect of it the best.
I thought I’d like the entrepreneurial side of blogging more than I do. I could do a lot more as far as incorporating affiliate links into articles and stuff, but that doesn’t interest me and that was also a surprise.
I also have learned that I need to blog less when I’m mentally stimulated at work. I’m working on some meaty projects again and my brain is just mushy mush by the end of the day. I seem to have only so much creativity in me in a given day. Good article.
Ah First Gen!
I consider you one of the purer bloggers. By purer, I mean one that blogs from the heart instead of for the SEO benefits.
I think all of your posts are what I (and most other people would) consider great posts. That’s rare, so people keep coming back to see what’s up in your (and Babci’s) world!
I like what you write about Babic, but I also like to read anything you write about. You’re a great writer, and it will be interesting to see where you take your site!
I like the social aspect too! Even though I’ve never talked to you face to face or on the phone, I feel like we are friends especially since I know your history… 🙂
Agreed. FirstGen has a special quality in her posts – I think it’s that every post is an engaging story, so the message doesn’t need to be immediately relevant to me to keep me interested in reading. That and she has some really spot-on observations of life around her.
I like the opportunity to learn from others. Blogging really is a two way street with lots of good information available that will make you think. My communication skills have also improved. I do enjoy the entrepreneurial side and challenge of trying to grow something out of nothing.
For me it’s a continual improvement process! I’m not the same blogger that I was last year in June, that’s for sure.
It seems like every year my eyes open wider and wider with fascination about the entire process
You hit upon something not many realize! Self-improvement and ‘complete’ learning are two of the greatest benefit!
For example, before I started blogging, I knew what a ROTH was, but it wasn’t necessary I dig deeper on the benefits/risks other than what pertains to me.
But now that I blog about finance, it becomes necessary I learn as much as I can before converting that into prose!
Yes, that’s what I was hoping would be my case too! And I have done that to an extent! Plus, it’s wonderful to indirectly bet paid to do research.
I get burnt out sometimes, but always come back for more 😉
Glad to be a virtual friend! 🙂 I feel the same about all of the fellow bloggers I’ve met. I have also noticed that I have much more interesting topics to talk about based on what I’ve read at blogs.
Every now and then I stumble across a gem of interest, but I’ve seen a lot and I work for a financial firm, so from a financial perspective mostly it’s old news for me…
But the virtual friends are nice 🙂
When I started blogging I wanted to save up to buy a house and I needed a way to help me focus on my goal and putting it all out there on line (even if no one was reading it) gave me a sense of accountability.
Then it became more about keeping in touch with friends, kind of like facebook, only more detailed and like an email only not so intrusive. Now I use it to swap recipes, play show and tell, vent, share stories, and just keep tabs on my life.
The most surprising (and awesome) thing about blogging is discovering how quickly you start to care about a complete stranger and how quickly other strangers start to care about you.
Before “blog” became the norm we used to call it “on-line journals”. Man I wish I could still pull up my very first one from over 10 years ago… Then again, maybe it’s a good thing I can’t…!
Yep, I know exactly what you mean. For instance, I’ve been following your journey with your house, and really got in to the changes you implemented. I liked the red man cave, but your touches were better!
It’s more fun than I ever imagined 🙂
excellent article and very valid. English is my fourth language and though i am a better writer than speaker, i feel my communication has definitely improved. i also feel i am able to better communicate (listen and understand). great post.
Hmmm, you are right about listening and understanding! I haven’t though about that aspect, but it’s true. I would even say I have a deeper ability to focus on a task and get it fix or built more efficiently (no fluff)!
Thanks for the add, listening and understanding is another benefit!
Pingback: Yakezie Natsu « Financially Consumed
I want to be able to write more frequently and faster. I think I take way too much time focusing on flow and finding the “right” words and phrasing when I’m writing instead of just typing out what I want to say. I’ll have to try your calm method. 🙂 That’s awesome you write almost every day! I agree with you on the continuous learning and virtual friends points. There is so much support out there, esp. from Yakezie members and challengers. Keep up the great work Money Reasons! -Sydney
Thanks Sydney!
I still struggle with writing. It’s not one of my strengths, but I can tell that I’m slowly improving with time and practice.
Yakezie is a great and powerful concept and group! I find that I really enjoy being a member!
Hope your weekend is a great one!
Pingback: Goals Update and Weekly Round-Up #26 « Life And My FinancesLife And My Finances
Making new online friends is pretty way up there, as well as learning new things. You only know what you know.
Yep, I can say that I feel differently about people interactive with other bloggers and some of the great comments.
I have to agree with all that you’ve written about the benefits of blogging. It’s time consuming, but it opens up a whole new world, much the way you’ve described. The learning something new all the time was a big surprise for me as well. Researching topics is a constant activity.
One of the really pleasant surprises has been finding all the brilliant voices out there, and there are many. Sometimes when we’re living in our own little worlds, we can be trapped by the paradigms we live in. But when you get out there on the web you see that there really are a lot of great minds in the world, even if not all of them are famous.
The other thing is having your own voice out on the web. It’s a chance to tell our story and to advance our ideas in a way that wouldn’t happen otherwise. The web really is a resource!
Excellent way to put it!
I’ve been blow away be the level of quality out there too. I also like that most of the personal finance bloggers are mostly like-minded. It’s very comforting sometimes, to know that I’m not alone.
Blogging is really good for helping me be more aware of my goals and what I’m doing to accomplish them. It’s a way of holding yourself accountable, and really keeping track of what’s going on in your life.
I blogged my way through the CPA exam, and it allowed me to feel like I was helping other people through it as I studied, which gave me some extra motivation to study really well.