New Year's Eve

It hasn't been one of my customs to pay much attention to these New Year celebrations.  For me, it has always been just another day.  That must seem rather drab, and maybe it is.   So, I will try something a little different this year.  I will pay attention to it.  I'm paying attention to it now by writing about it.

So, what do I write?  I can write about my own year.  What kind of year did I have?  In terms of making money, which is one way of keeping score, this year wasn't good.  That's two bad years in a row.  Now, that's a positive thing right there.  By paying attention to this, I can keep score better.  What do you know about that?  This New Years' stuff may be useful after all.  Let's take it a little further then.  Why did this year not go so well?

I could blame it on the rotten economy, but this area is doing better than a lot of the rest of the country. Somehow, this doesn't seem to reflect well upon my efforts.  I need to understand why this is so.

I have spent most of the last 4 months working on this blog.  I want to make it a money making proposition. So far this isn't even close to being realized.  It is generating a little revenue, but not much.  Certainly not commensurate with the work I'm putting into it.

I guess I can use this as an opportunity to explain my business model for this blog.  I may have done this already, but at the risk of repeating myself, here goes:  The business model is the media model.  The media model depends upon attracting an audience for advertisers.  Once the audience is attracted, this is a selling opportunity for them.  This is what they are paying me for:  my ability to attract an audience.  If I can't do that, I won't get an audience and I can't sell what I don't have.

Well, actually you can sell short in the financial markets, and I have done that and made some money by it. But when you sell short, what you are really selling is your hunch that something will go the way you think it will go. It ain't the thing itself, it is some knowledge that you are putting to the test.  But I digress.  Let's move on.

Some folks may wince at the idea that I am selling my audience.  Some may say, don't do that.  People may not like the idea that they are being used that way.  But I look at it this way.  You use me, I use you.  It is a fair trade.  I give away my product, which is my time, in exchange for your being here.  I entertain and inform you at no cost to you except your time.  In exchange, you will allow me to sell something to you (through the advertisers).  But people don't like commercials.  Yet nothing comes for free.  There is a cost for everything. Economics 101: there's no such thing as a free lunch.  You gotta expect to give something if you want to get something.  Putting together a blog like this takes a lot of time and energy.   Why else would anyone do this if it weren't for some type of reward?

And so, I don't mind telling my small audience these facts.  That's because this blog is about truth.  Or truth as close as I can come to it.  I am not trying to BS anybody here.  Everything that I am trying to do here is on the level.  No tricks, no gimmicks, no BS.  If I can't attract an audience, this blog will fail.  That's the bottom line. Secondly, the blog has to get action.  An audience by itself isn't enough.  People actually have to be sold on something.  Again, there is no free lunch.  My advertisers don't pay me for nothing.  If they don't get something out of this, they'll stop doing it.  And then I am out of business.

I look at my blog now and it ain't bad.  Would I read it if I wasn't me?  In order to answer that, I would have to come up with some possible motivations for me to come to a blog like this.  As you may figure, one reason I may have is to figure out a way to make money.  Well, I do a bit of financial stuff here.  Is my info good enough that people would find it useful to come here?  I'd like to think so, but frankly, there may be better sources of information than this blog.  Another motivation is entertainment.  Maybe I'm not so good at making these videos, but Wishbone-T is getting good at it.  I've got him as a contributor here.  That's two motivations, what else?  That's an X factor because it is unknown.  There's an X factor here.  Who knows what makes something successful v unsuccessful.  It is often an intangible thing.  Something you can't put your finger on exactly, but you know it is there.  I hope I have that in my favor.

But so far, no cigar.  I'm working on it.  But I have worked on many projects before, all ending in failures. Again, maybe that is not so good to talk about here.  But again, there no BS'ing going on here.  I'm laying it out on the level.  There's no guarantee of anything.  Frankly, I like it that way.  I'm not asking for guarantees, just the opportunity.  I can live with the outcome no matter what it is.  After all, this isn't a job.  It is a business.  A businessman takes his chances and has no guarantees.  It's the freedom baby.  ( A little Austin Powers lingo there.)

So far, it looks like another bad year.  But if a successful little ol' blog like this can be born in it, it would be a good year indeed.  And I don't like to lose.  We'll see.

BTW, I have watched the Power of Intention on PBS a few times.  I find it fascinating. But why buy it if you can get it for free by watching PBS's fundraisers?  I've given money to PBS before.  What the heck?  I know it isn't "conservative", but I like the programs.

You can buy it or watch if for nothing.  But if you buy it, you can watch it anytime you want, instead of waiting for it to come on.

I don't have to buy this because I have so many books of this type.  I have already paid my dues.  Yet, I may buy it anyway one of these days.  But I don't have it now.