Blogs are sometimes presented as a way to passive income. Let’s dispense with the income part and just consider the “passive” part. I can’t imagine any way that a blog can be thought of as being a passive endeavor in the long run.

A blog is like a steam locomotive and the job of the blogger is to stoke the engine. Like a locomotive a blog certainly has inertia. I estimate that my blog can go for just about one week before the locomotive starts losing steam. If I slack on my stoking for just a single month, it may take 2-3 months to regain speed.

I don’t write a “professional” blog by which I mean I don’t write text which is “content free” or “disconnected. I don’t intentionally write about subjects I have written about before or subjects that have been covered hundreds of times on other blogs. As such, my writings take something out of me. This is alright; most of the time, “there is more where that came from”; I can’t help myself from writing.

Conversely, I have periods where no inspiration is forthcoming. This sucks. In particular when such periods last longer than a week. By that time I already know I’m losing steam. I know I just lost a week at traffic dropped by 10%. After two weeks, I know it’s down by another 10%.

The problem is the one of the goose and the golden egg; with a twist. In particular, anyone who is engaged in creative work much balance two aspects. Production and inspiration. Anyone who just concentrate on generic products can dispense with inspiration. For creativity though, if production is overemphasized, inspiration dies and with that creativity dies. If the primary purpose is creativity, production eventually dies. The problem is not mirrored. There simply is an upper limit to creativity much like there is an upper limit to intelligence. It can be developed over time, but it is a sloooow process.

Blogging actually has a third dimension: promotion. Promotion brings eyeballs, but if there is no production, the eyeballs don’t stick. I have focused a lot more on creativity than promotion. This is why a) people wonder how it took them so long to find it, and b) people stick around after finding it. At least that’s what I think. I prefer blue ocean strategies when it comes to competition. Besides, promotion comes with it’s own kind of fatigue.


Daily Yakezie Short Carnival: Household Finance and Gender Roles: Women Budget, Men Invest? @ Well-Heeled Blog, 7 Reasons for (and Against) Tracking Net Worth @ Watson Inc, & 5 Lessons Learned from My Encounter with a Financial Advisor @ Personal Finance Journey