The cost of writing – 4 years into it

I officially began this website in the beginning of 2018. The idea, however, was born many years before. I have an affinity to writing and this platform, more than any other, allows my creativity to flourish. At any given moment I’ve got several articles in draft form, awaiting the decision to publish. This is true of this particular article also; I have had it in the queue for a couple years now but thought it prudent to dust the cobwebs off, update it, and hit that publish button. 

Interesting what you learn when you finally take the step and begin, when you transition from thought to action. You can mull over the process in your mind, all while you never actually do anything. This seems to be where a great number of people find themselves for years on end. At some point though, it’s time to step up, take that first bite of the elephant, and continue on with determination. 

Don’t get overwhelmed and experience paralysis by analysis – start somewhere

It comes at a cost, though; everything does. There is an exchange taking place and you have to weigh it in the balance. Is the exchange equivalent or do the scales tip one way or the other?

How people count that cost varies because each of us prioritize things differently. As such, we place more value on things others do not. It’s subjective but necessary and what often fuels us. It’s what makes us willing to persevere despite the setbacks, the difficulties, and the let downs.

Even so, there are objective standards which are applicable across the board. I intend on writing about the subjective AND the objective – a more thorough cost is obtained for the site this way. Let’s look at some of those costs and see how much weight they really carry.

Time

Time is a merciless master

The first measurable cost, without a doubt, is time. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent behind the screen researching, gathering, writing, and editing. At last count, I had 152,051 words for 69 published articles for an average of 2,203 words per article. That word count makes for a meaty article. It takes substantial research, time, dedication, and effort to produce quality articles and posts.

Sure, I could post a bunch of fast paced articles but I hate clicking on shoddy work, hastily written with the intent to increase visits while content takes a backseat. Not me nor this website. I intend to provide quality work that’s substantive in nature. Perhaps that kind of thinking is against the grain. Oh well, so be it.

The hours spent creating quality content for this website are gone, and as such better yield a good return on investment (ROI). For me, the answer is yes. How we measure the ROI is subjective but the act of measuring itself? Now that’s objective.

Time is, as I’ve written previously, a precious commodity, one we can never get back. It’s our most important and treasured asset and when we exchange it for something we hope it’s worth it. They are a part of The Wealth Series and can be found here and here. 

Time is by far the largest cost I pay. It’s also the most important. With that firmly established, the question normally is, “what takes up the time?”

I have come to discover that while content is king editing is the joker, the wildcard, the unknown. The devil’s in the details, after all. I have always had the content. For reasons I cannot explain, the content flows – sort of like math lovers say they “just get it.”

The content, though, is but one slice of the pie. Editing is taking that rough hewn piece of clay, shaping it and presenting it. It’s the curb appeal for the house, the frosting on the cake, the nice wrapping paper on the present. The presentation of the content is important and aids in selling what you write. Choosing a host, learning how to build a website, picking a theme, layout, pages, tags, getting recognized by search engines…all this takes time. Time I will never get back. And here’s the rub: After all the time I’ve invested, I still haven’t got it all down. I feel inadequate every time I think about it. After almost four years I created my logo (something I’ve meant to do for a while now), getting some more stickers made with that logo, am looking into getting embroidered shirts to advertise my site more (already done), and contemplating ways to not just generate more content and frequency but also ways to build a brand. Sigh; I still have much to learn. 

In an attempt to maximize my time, I began to write the bulk of my content on my cell phone. This gave me a portability I didn’t have before and my productivity increased greatly. When I have a spare moment or two and the writing bug has bit, I capitalize on a few free minutes by developing raw content which will be edited later on my laptop. As a matter of fact, the bulk of this article up until now has been written on my cell. This approach frees up my time in front of my laptop for more editorial work. For me, this has been a tremendous approach.

In any case, time is sacrificed on the altar of a successful website – and sometimes the cost is great. Weigh out your endeavors against the time you lose…and see if they are worth that oh so precious commodity.

Anxiety

Anxiety can be crippling in so many ways

Seems like a strange thing to write but anxiety is there, gnawing away at my confidence. Am I posting enough content? Am I publishing articles too far apart? When should I aggressively market for readership? Should I build up a solid library before marketing it or market and write as I go? Is my theme ok? Although my site is dressed down (on purpose for simplicity), is it too plain? Should I hire someone to build my site or learn as I go? Can I manage to keep a decent pace of publishing articles? Do I have enough time to do all this?

These questions creep up every time I think about this site. I am thankful I enjoy writing because if I didn’t I would have quit a long time ago – which is precisely what many do when trying to establish a website. I don’t want that to be me and it’s a constant battle to be patient and push on.

And this is for a website! I cannot fathom what it must feel like to face crippling anxiety, the kind that keeps you from doing anything productive.

The questions are endless. I’m not one of those writers who work well under pressure; I’d rather write when I want to, when creativity strikes. I can at least reduce some stress by adhering to this simple principle but I’m unsure as to its endurance. Could I actually apply this mindset or am I being facetious? Will I fool myself or actually adhere to this? Yes, anxiety can definitely be a cost in a lot we do.

Money

This one is easy to write about because it’s tangible and objective. It cost me money to set up hosting and to get the domain name. I’ve been looking into getting some items to help me possibly market this site (stickers, maybe shirts, a jacket, hats, etc. with my new logo – nothing fancy at first – I’ve done this and will continue to do more going forward) and yes, it will cost me. Everything has a cost and the more something is worth the higher the cost. Think about it this way: if you value golf you’re likely to spend a lot more money on it than something you don’t, like maybe fishing or hunting. Whatever you don’t value you want to spend as little money as possible on while opening your wallet to that which you really enjoy; there is a direct correlation here.

There is one thing I wanted to touch on regarding money and it’s this: Far too many people view their hobbies as necessities and inadvertently short saving for retirement – which is definitely a necessity. They lull themselves to sleep by sayings like “you only live once” and scores of people can attest to wishing they would have saved more for retirement. When I say weigh the cost that is exactly what I mean: WEIGH THE COST – now and down the line. Since this article is me counting the cost I can say that even though my wife is a stay at home mom and we are a single income household, I have certainly counted the cost. I’ve written elsewhere how we live very minimalist lifestyles, enabling us to do what we do. This is also true of the hobbies, however few of them we have, get done – of which this web site is one.

I’ll say it right out: we still save for retirement – and I dare say it’s more than most of my brethren with two household incomes. Obviously, what you save is depending on various factors, all which are different from family to family. Still, far too many save little to none and it’s a cost not often considered. Fortunately in this case, the money is not too steep – at least for me, anyway. I know people who spend thousands and thousands a year on various hobbies, all while their retirement lags. Be astute and count the cost readers.

*Caveat for readers: this year I have committed to writing about how we save, the various ways, options, and how those in the skilled trades can do the same. This journey is detailed in the 2022 monthly reviews – and you can find January here.*

I now return you to your regularly scheduled article. 

Interests

I have been interested in the Nordic countries and the Northern Lights for years now

Everyone has interests, including me. All of us have many interests we never spend any time on – that’s a testament to how many interests we really have. Those we really like we may turn into hobbies but overall most of our interests we merely dabble in so to speak. Few interests turn into hobbies and when I consider the cost of this website, the loss of interests is one of them. Actually, it isn’t the loss of interests so much as it is the loss of time to spend in interests that is the real cost.

I’m intrigued by quite a bit but I hardly ever spend time trying out my interests. Now, the blame for that can’t be laid solely at the feet of writing this website but a portion can. I’m a busy person and with limited free time it’s slim pickings for my interests. All things considered, that could be a good thing since I’ve taken an interest already – writing – turned it into a hobby and developed it thus far. Still, you don’t want to be one dimensional, doing nothing but one thing without making yourself better and well rounded.

Hobbies

One of our family hobbies is camping – where I took this photo

This site also costs me time for hobbies – which is the same as hobbies themselves; if you don’t have time for them you can’t do/enjoy them. As far as I’m concerned, I lump hobbies in with real friends: there is only so much time to invest in a few. Your interests may be wide and varied but if we’re honest there isn’t enough time to enjoy a lot of hobbies. Instead, we tend to spend a fair amount of time enjoying a few. Some people, in fact, spend their free time honing ONE hobby. Think of those you know who golf or fish for example. I know guys who only focus on that hobby and that’s it. They don’t spend time in varied interests – they really dive in on one thing. Ever heard of the 10,000 hour rule? Essentially, it says it takes 10,000 hours to make someone really good at that subject. Those who golf, fish, play sports, etc. all spent A LOT of time honing their hobby and turning it into their craft.

While there are some studies and research which take exception to the 10,000 rule, I think we can all agree it takes a large amount of time to be really good at our hobbies. I don’t know many who are great at something in the beginning – nor do I know anyone who stays that way without large amounts of time.

Hobbies are a great thing to pass the time and find enjoyment in this life but we should be selective in what they are. There just isn’t enough time to be well versed and rounded; leave that diversity to interests instead. Be narrow, be focused, be intentional.

My hobbies are limited further because this has become a hobby to me, a passion as it were. That’s how these things are; the passionate things in life take up your time. Put another way, you make time for what is important to you. As such, I have spent a lot of time researching, writing, and investing in this hobby of mine. And because of this hobby I’m limited in other hobbies I may wish to engage in. You know what that is? It’s a cost. I pay for writing with less time for hobbies.

Additional costs

The above are the major costs this website demands. There are others but each of them have a common factor throughout: time. If you don’t have time to do something you aren’t going to do it, PERIOD. Want to spend time with friends but don’t have any free? Tough. I’d like to learn guitar. That’s going to be difficult since my time is spoken for. Oh, you want to spend more time reading? laughable – since your time is limited – and it’s partly because of this website.

I could throw every single interest in here to drive home the point but it’s not necessary as you can understand. The point is very simply understood: there isn’t much left when I remove the free time this site takes up.

All in all, though, if we really weighed out just what the cost is for our interests turned hobbies – like this website is for me – then we will learn a few things. We should grasp there actually is a cost to everything. We should know what we are paying. We should discover the high cost those few hobbies have. For me, I’ve been cognizant of the cost for some time now. How about you?

Is the cost worth it?

Weighing the cost is something we all should do

To conclude, the obvious question stands out: is the cost associated worth it? For me, it’s a yes. I wouldn’t continue writing and maintaining this website if it wasn’t. What’s more, I feel like I do a sloppy job sometimes at all this. I really do believe I have a golden opportunity to change the perception of the skilled trades, address things from this specific and unique perspective, and provide a service that is much needed. 

I would love for nothing more than this website and it’s associated content to become much more than it is right now. I have spent some time thinking how to achieve this: partnering up with other well known voices, leveraging LinkedIn, perhaps contributing to other periodicals to get recognized; the ideas are out there and at some point I think The Wealthy Ironworker will grow beyond what I could imagine. It takes time, though, mixed in with patience, strategy, and some good fortune. Oh, and continuous posting. I have done a poor job up until this point of posting on a regular basis – one that is consistent and reliable. I had hoped having articles ready to post would help me here but I have failed up til now. My hope, going forward, is to post at least twice a month from here on out. This not only will increase my presence but also SEO score. IF I can muster up enough tenacity to do this, I will have taken another step in the direction of being a larger voice for the trades, increasing readership, and the possibility of expanding the website overall.

For now, I’ll stick to solid content and stay the course. Here’s to four years and many more to come!