What I Learned in 2019 – Starting a Blog Edition

If you don’t care about blogging then you can probably skip this post.  But if you’re on the fence, or have even an inkling desire swimming somewhere deep in the depths of your uncharted soul, then buckle up tight and push on.  This one’s for you… 

So you want to start a blog? 

Or maybe you’re still just questioning if it might be a good idea or not.  Well, I have an answer for you:  

Go fucking do it right now! 

Get on it buddy boy, or sista gal (I have no fucking clue what the politically correct feminine version of buddy boy should be, but hey, I tried).  Get on it pronto!  Because you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. 

Worried you suck at writing?  Worried people might disagree with you?  Worried your opinions are shit?  Good.  Because that’s how we all started.  And all your questions are probably true… hahahahaha.  I’m joking.  But only a little… or am I? 

And don’t let those jokers/blogger trolls get you down – not another FIRE blog!  We don’t need that shit!  There are too many blogs out there now! Everyone’s blogging!  The internet’s being ruined! – boo fucking hoo and wah-wah-wah!  Fuck those wannabes and gutless keyboard warriors cause they don’t get it at all.  You’re not writing for everyone else. 

You’re writing for you. 

And if after a few months you can’t hang, you don’t like it, or posting consistently is too hard.  Fine.  At least now you know it wasn’t for you and you scratched that itch.  Check it off the list and move on to bigger and better things. 

But for those who just might give it a try and ride on to the greener pastures of purifying reveries, this is what I learned from starting a blog three months ago: 

#1 Damn, I forgot how cathartic writing can be: 

I used to write creatively… what that means is a long story… very, long, long, long story.  I was writing a fantasy series, back in the day, a seven-book epic.  Oh Yeah, My Quiet FI was the next GRRM!  Hahahaha.  I did a bunch of writing but never finished book one.  For some reason I thought that was a good idea while balancing a 60-hour work week and doing an MBA at night (that’s the Alpha in me coming out).  And, well, a shitload of drugs didn’t help the matter either.  Hmmmm.  Maybe someday I’ll resurrect that project and it was probably all crap but boy, oh boy.  Writing it was fun! 

So when I first started writing again, I had forgotten how cathartic it can be.  It felt like this had been a missing necessary emotional outlet in my life; something creative to split up the doldrums of corporate life.  It’s been great writing on FI topics and what interests me, but for me personally, being able to write about addiction has had a healing effect that I had not envisioned. 

My point is, if you like writing, then do it.  You never know what positive outlet the writing process might trigger in you.  And if you don’t like writing but want to start a blog, the challenge of improving those linguistic chops will be good for you.  Becoming a better writer is a skill that will always be marketable in our economy (trust me, after doing my MBA, I was amazed at how many brilliant numbers people had the equivalent writing level of a kindergartner).  Learning to condense your thoughts and communicate them succinctly and concisely on paper will only benefit you in the future. 

#2 Having a Consistent schedule, holds you accountable: 

Probably some of the most-offered advice for starting a blog out there is: be consistent.  Publicize your schedule and then stick with it. 

I think a lot of bloggers start out with a basic schedule like posting once a week.  It’s a nice, safe way to get your material out there on a consistent basis and alleviates the pressure/stress of setting a deadline you won’t make or feeling you need to put crappy material out there because you didn’t have enough time to refine your craft. 

I think this is great advice.  However, for me, I’m not your normal blogger.  Hahaha.  I suffer from I’m-unique-syndrome every day, so I needed something more to drive me.  I decided to start posting twice a week for two main reasons.  One, I have a lot of shit in my head and figured I’d never run out of material to post about.  And two, the aggressive schedule would force me to write more so I could improve faster.  Plus, if it proved to be too much, I could always switch to once a week.  So far, I’ve posted twice a week like clockwork and haven’t missed one day yet.  It definitely has not been easy to keep this schedule up, but I plan to do this for an entire year and then see how I feel about adjusting my schedule. 

Yet of course, the real reason is the fans… Ahaha!  How can I let down all of my readers and limit them to only one post a week of my mesmerizingly, mind-blowing, life-altering material?  Hahahaha.  I had to throw that one in there.  Some of these blogs just take themselves way too seriously. 

#3 Spend the extra money if it’s worth it to you – what I have spent on the blog (YTD): 

In today’s day and age, you can start a blog for very cheap.  We’re talking free or only a few dollars a month. 

To do it, just go on to any decent sized FIRE blog and they’ll have their affiliate links and ‘how to start a blog post’ all set-up for you.  There are a zillion posts on this so it really doesn’t matter who or what you use.  The important part, is that you just start. 

I have an addictive personality and figured I’d be writing a lot, so I went the route of spending a little money.  If you’re curios, below are my year-to-date costs: 

• Bluehost (three years of webhosting and domain registration; you only need one year but I went overboard):  $110.88 
• Studio Press – Genesis Framework (overkill and unnecessary for starting a blog; I read some popular blogs and they recommended this framework so I bought it.  Then my web design buddy came over to help me out and he said I had no need for such a robust framework.  I basically just lined someone’s pockets with an affiliate link for something I didn’t need at all):  $59.95 
• Bluehost (upgraded plan for better security and email storage for three years; at first I had the basic, but it didn’t have that much storage so I upgraded after a month; this one is totally discretionary):  $85.69 
• Bluehost (domain name purchase for years 2 and 3; like all of the above, I went all in for a three-year commitment):  $35.98 
• Studio Press – Maker Theme (having fun upgrading to a new look; since I had already bought the genesis framework, it was only a little bit more money to buy a nicer theme layout; regardless of what anyone says, bloggers take pride in how their site looks):  $33.71 

Total for starting my blog for the next three years:  $326.21 or $108.74 a year. 

Not a bad purchase in my mind for keeping me busy and having fun. 

#4 Learning WordPress is a valuable skill: 

The one thing bloggers may not mention about starting a blog, is that you will learn quickly.  And for me, I love that.  I consider myself a computer savvy guy, but I’m no software engineer.  Coding is beyond me, but the challenge of learning blog structures and playing with the interface has taught me a ton about WordPress in a very short amount of time. 

In the future I’d like to take basic classes on WordPress, coding and graphic design.  I find this stuff pretty interesting and although I don’t use any of these skills in my day job (mergers and acquisitions) the skill set is highly desirable in today’s job market.  And who knows, maybe these skills will lead to another side hustle some day? 

What I plan for the future: 

As I mentioned above, I’d love to start some online/community college classes when my time permits.  My schedule is pretty time consuming at the moment, the day job is extremely demanding with a lot of travel but I’ll look into how I might swing this in the future. 

I’ve also heard a lot about FinCon which seems like a very cool thing to do as a new blogger.  This year it is in Long Beach, CA which is just down the road from me in LA, so this will definitely be something else I will be looking into doing in 2020. 

My last question for myself and the blog is: would I ever monetize it?  And the two-fold answer is not right now, but I don’t know.  I think at some point I would contemplate a few affiliate links for products or services that I use and believe in.  Or maybe playing with some simple advertising if it wasn’t too intrusive, but we’re talking way down the road.  You actually need a bunch of readers to ever justify anything like that.  And in the current state, Q-FI Nation has not reached cult status. 

Now on the other hand, if your goal is to make money, then I’d recommend reading blogs that are focused on marketing themselves and bringing in those affiliate link and advertising dollars.  If you’re focused and determined, I think there is definitely money to be made if that’s your goal.  But for me, that’s just not the case right now.  I’m having too much fun writing indiscreetly with few readers.  But who knows, anything can change on a dime in this world. 

So get out there and be somebody! 

Stop wasting your time reading this right now!  Get up, get out there and get going on your next adventure.  And when, not if, you start that blog, send me a line so I can follow you and support you on your journey. 

Let’s have some fun and change this world while we’re at it, one reader at a time… 

All the best my compadres. 

-Q-FI (proud chief of the Q-FI nation… location and flag TBD… )