This isn't a post about my currently-in-progress lifestyle transition. It could be, but it isn't.
This is a post about how I'm making decisions to reorganize my online presence. One of my goals for this year is to revamp this website and turn it into what personal branding gurus like to call my "home base".
Over the next few years, I will be doing a lot more writing and networking as I travel around the world with only the stuff on my back (there I go; talking about my lifestyle transition again) and I've been trying to decide where I should blog about all this stuff: here on raamdev.com or somewhere else -- an entirely new blog.
Part of this has to do with personal branding -- deciding how to best represent myself online -- and part of it has to do with figuring out who my audience will be so that I can write with focus and not be all over the place.
After consulting with a friend, I've decided to launch a new blog where I can focus on various topics -- nomadic adventures, lifestyle design, life hacking, personal development, and fitness & health to name a few -- and then use raamdev.com as my "home base", with more personal-type posts and perhaps more detailed updates with where I currently am during my travels. I will also be writing a lot more about Personal Branding and Blogging.
But in the words of Charlie Gilkey in his excellent post about Becoming Yourself and Growing Your Blog, "you don’t grow a blog by thinking about growing a blog or trying to figure out what you should be writing about -- you grow a blog by writing, posting, receiving feedback, integrating feedback... and writing, publishing, posting, integrating feedback... and writing, publishing, and integrating feedback".
So it's time for me to stop talking and start doing.
You will see this blog change a bit as I reorganize things, but if you're most interested in my new nomadic blog, fear not. I will announce everything both here and on Twitter.
Hey Raam:
How goes it? Hope you are fine and moving ahead with your life.
Recently, I came across your blog: I had the good fortune of reading your latest post.
I want to take this opportunity to say “thank you” for your pioneering spirit. It seems to me you want to pursue a life of adventure and that is a worthy goal. Keep up the good work.
We look forward to reading your posts about your sojourns all over the world. Feel free to share your adventures. You are going out on a limb and venturing into unknown territory.
How many of us out there can say that about our lives? May the force be with you.
Hello Archan!
I will be sharing my nomadic adventures and I encouraging everyone to follow their dreams; to go out on a limb and venture into unknown territory! Thank you for your comment!
wow! a few years!
And Charlie Gilkey is right. As soon as you focus on latter, “…you grow a blog by writing, posting, receiving feedback, integrating feedback… and writing, publishing, posting, integrating feedback… and writing, publishing, and integrating feedback” you will notice your blog grows.
Anyone can find writers on personal lifestyle development, but people follow because they are interested in your personal journey. And when you focus what you believe in then it makes it all that much more special and unique. Nice post. 🙂
I think expressing the personal journey and connecting with readers on that level is key, but I reckon that it’s easier said than done.
Focusing on what we believe in makes the entire process smoother, but I’m sure there must be a delicate balance between discovering what we believe in and stating what we believe. But we can’t be afraid of being wrong either, since that’s part of the process. 🙂
Hey Raam – I recently re-focused my own blog and I decided that instead of trying to figure out what my writers wanted, I was going to write what I wanted and what I know about best and then work to get interested readers as part of the community. There is no sense in writing anything if you’re not enjoying it or it is not exactly what you want to be writing…
Anyway, I’ll be following along and looking forward to whatever it is you write about!
Hey Earl! I read your post about refocusing your blog and I think we’re on the same path. I’m also going to write more about what I want and worry less about writing towards a specific niche.
Your adventures over the past few years still amaze me and I look forward to your future posts! 🙂
I believe that starting to make an action is the best way to prompt us to moving ahead. This is what I did with my blog. I just write, connect, comment and write and write. It’s effective. 🙂
Hey Walter! Action is absolutely the best way to move ahead! Thinking about action, planning action, or talking about action are the best ways to avoid moving ahead. Spending all our visions and ideas that way is like being hooked on brain crack!
Thanks for the mention, Raam, and I wanted to celebrate your transition. The path less wandered is wonderful and terrifying all at once, but, man, is it living!
I don’t know a lot of the details of your decision to split and create another blog, but I’d ask you to think about the raison d’etre of both blogs – it sometimes makes it harder to maintain two blogs because, while you’re trying to find yourself and your voice, you’re trying to tell your story to two audiences. Who knows what? Who cares about what? What goes where?
Those questions can introduce enough inertia to stall the sharing process. Sometimes it’s better to integrate everything, especially when you can’t separate who you are from what you’re doing from what you’re thinking. (I got this hit because you couldn’t help but talk about the transition.)
One last thing: if you’re splitting because you don’t know if we’ll care about you as a person, reconsider that. As your blog grows, you’ll see that people do care.
You’re welcome, Charlie!
The points you listed as reasons not to split the blog up are the very ones that have been eating away at me, especially your point about not being able to separate myself as a person; that seems to be the most important reason for not starting a separate blog, especially if the second blog is going to revolve around my own interests and passions.
My reasons for wanting to start a separate blog seemed so strong to me, but I’m finding it harder and harder to justify directing my focus in two places. In fact, as I write this comment and attempt to recall those reasons, I can’t come up with any points even worth mentioning.
I’m going to put some more thought into it, but I think I’ll focus on finding my voice through this blog instead of starting a separate one. Thanks so much for the advice!
Hi Raam,
I like the quote by Charlie Gilkey.
One of my favorite aspects of blogging is how you can build your blog and brand over time. Little changes here and there to design, SEO, and monetization can add up as long as you stick with it.
Like the saying, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Hey Dave,
That’s definitely one of my favorite aspects of a blog: the fact that it’s like a little empire or a little island that you build up over time. Right now I’m at the point where I’m trying to figure out what exactly I’m building. Perhaps it’s too early to figure that out and I shouldn’t spend too much time thinking about it.
Focusing on the entire thousand mile journey won’t get me to end, but focusing on and completing the very next step will. I just need to make sure I’m focusing on the next step and not several hundred steps down the road. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!