Healthy Blogging in 2008, Ok?
Hi, everyone. It has been a much needed hiatus from blogging, hanging on my PC, and just generally thinking about business, deals and staying current much of the time. Not that I didn’t check my Blackberry, take some calls, and read the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times on occasion, but I was operating at about 20% of my normal fevered pitch. I thought it might kill me. But it didn’t. All that quality time with my family and friends, reading non-business books (The Alchemist and The Blind Side were both enjoyable reads) and both running and playing endless games of football with my boys kept me well-occupied and in fine spirits. Oh, and let’s not forget Michigan’s stirring victory against the Florida Gators on New Year’s Day. That didn’t hurt my psyche, either. Did I miss the deals, the writing, the intensity? Sure. But this was far outweighed by my intense need - not just the desire, but the need - to chill out. Ahhh.
Then I open today’s NYT and see a story about the pressure of blogging and Om’s (thankfully) early and self-detected heart attack. My friend and uber-blogger Paul Kedrosky was also quoted in the article. He talked about the stress of blogging in fairly stark terms:
“The trouble with a personal brand is, you’re yoked to a machine,”
said Paul Kedrosky, a friend of Mr. Malik’s who runs the Infectious
Greed blog. “You feel huge pressure to not just do a lot, but to do a
lot with your name on it. You have pressure to not just be the C.E.O.,
but at the same time to write, and to do it all on a shoestring. Put it
all together, and it’s a recipe for stress through the roof.”Mr.
Malik has 12 employees, including a chief operating officer, and
editors run some of his blogs, Yet, “It’s his name on the door,” Mr.
Kedrosky said. “People want to know what Om Malik thinks. People want
to see posts with Om Malik’s byline.”
Now this is the nice thing about not being as prolific as Messrs. Malik or Kedrosky, and not having the expectations to match. Fact is, I do sometimes feel pressure to write. I like to post 4-5 times a week. If I had the time and the mental bandwidth I would write more frequently, but this is simply impossible given my other interests and obligations. Sometimes 4-5 times is impossible as well, and this is when I feel stressed. Why? Because I like to read blogs that post 4-5 times a week, and I like to write stuff that is fairly substantial. That is my idea of a blog. The 1-2 sentence “thought-let” isn’t really my gig. Post less, you get stale. Post more, then the pressure is unacceptable, at least to me. And if I feel pressure with my own puny output, I can’t imagine what either Om or Paul must feel. Now Om, though a terribly nice and deeply talented person, admittedly hasn’t been the cleanest living fellow (though he seems to be turning over a new leaf based upon the NYT article), while Mr. Kedrosky is a lean, mean, running machine. Running on trails, through airports, onto and off of stages, etc. If he doesn’t slow down I just may have to confiscate his Macbook just as he has threatened Om.
Om is a brand. Paul is a brand. I’ll admit it, I like being respected and somewhat known for my blog, but my blog brand is not something upon which my business life is built. I have the utmost respect and admiration for those whose blogs and business lives are inextricably linked, because let me tell you: it’s serious business. My one hope for those who are regularly under this kind of stress, the kind that eats at your gut and makes you feel down, is to take a step back. A big step back. And to look at the big picture. You’re good, you know you are, but you can only do what you can do. And if those people in the blogosphere get a little pissy that you’re not posting more, I have just two words for you: f*ck them.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Felix
EMAIL: felix@felixsalmon.com
DATE: 01/07/2008 11:21:18 PM
Roger, I’ve been blogging, and reading a LOT of other blogs, and talking to a lot of bloggers, since 2000. The number of times I’ve ever heard or read someone get a little pissy that some other blogger isn’t posting more is exactly zero. Posting frequently does increase your traffic, and that’s the main reason why many bloggers are mildly obsessed with posting frequently. But they do it for themselves, not to please anybody else. Especially now that we live in a world of RSS, there’s NO reason to blog more than you want to. Hell, at felixsalmon.com I’m averaging about a post a month right now. No biggie.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Roger
EMAIL: roger@informationarbitrage.com
URL: http://www.informationarbitrage.com
DATE: 01/07/2008 11:27:57 PM
Felix, I respectfully disagree. For quite a few bloggers either the ad revenues (fewer) or the business reputation and branding (more) are a key driver of posting volume, not simply what makes one happy. I think it starts harmlessly enough, but if someone morphs into a popular blogger and they build reputation and credibility through their blog, the pressure to perform is not much different than a flow trader needing to make money (via thin margins) in all markets. At that point you could say sure, they are blogging for themselves, but I don’t call it that. I call it a job at that point. If you are blogging for either fun or self-actualization, that is blogging for yourself. That is not what I am talking about.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Trader Mike
EMAIL: michael@tradermike.net
DATE: 01/08/2008 09:58:23 AM
First, welcome back Roger & happy new year.
I think your post & spot on. I used to get stressed about posting but I realized long ago that missing some days just really didn’t matter than much in the grand scheme of things. It’s more important for me to preserve my mental health than to try to post 15 times per week.
The major difference for some of these other guys, like Om, is that (I think) blogging is their primary business. In that respect they’re no different than any other entrepreneur. The stress will probably always be there and they’ll just have to deal. Staying healthy (and not smoking like a damn chimney) would be wise if you’re under that kind of stress.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Thomas Pindelski
EMAIL: Thomas@pindelski.com
URL:
DATE: 01/08/2008 11:07:24 AM
Quality beats quantity every day. I used to read the two you refer to. I still read yours.
Good thinking.
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2 years ago
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