7 Years of The Wealthy Ironworker

 

 

Milestone – 7 Years

 

 

Welcome to The Wealthy Ironworker, where, as of this month (February 2025), this website has been live for 7 years. Talk about a milestone!

Now, I haven’t always been consistent; indeed, the first few years, I was sporadic, and things were hit or miss. Plus, I didn’t have the same direction I did when I started this back in 2018 – things change, and that’s alright. To that end – and in keeping with the numbers theme, I’d like to highlight 7 things I’ve learned/implemented/evolved since launching The Wealthy Ironworker.

 

1. At Some Point, You Just Have to Just Get Started

Just start somewhere and adjust along the way

 

I bring this point up first because there are so many who fall victim to the “I would like to” mindset without ever really taking the plunge.

You can read, research, ask questions, listen to/watch podcast episodes all you want, but at some point, you HAVE TO jump in and get started. Otherwise, you run the risk of overanalyzing and never making the decision to actually start somewhere.

And you know what? This is precisely where millions of people find themselves with just about everything. We think we need to be experts. We believe we must have all the latest gadgets. We must, then, be professionals who have everything BEFORE we start something.

So we never start.

Admit it – it’s happened to you before. It’s happened to me, too.

This is why at some point, you just have to get started. Despite the equipment (or lack thereof), the lack of “expertise,” and even the feeling of being a novice. EVERY individual – expert, professional, and specialist – ALL started as a beginner.

To that end, keep that in mind: Do not allow your lack of experience to prevent you from beginning. I didn’t – and 7 years later, The Wealthy Ironworker has grown – and evolved.

 

2. Things Will Evolve/Change Over Time – and That’s Alright

Everything changes over time – embrace and adapt

 

After 7 years, The Wealthy Ironworker has changed quite a bit. From just the website: A new theme, dark mode (easier on the eyes), adding yearly goals evaluated monthly, the addition of Series (multiple articles grouped together – Book Reviews, Leadership, Principles, etc.), the creation of Musings (shorter form content for more engagement), the increase of what I research and write about, and many other smaller, seemingly insignificant changes that have culminated into what I post today.

Just as significant is the addition of The Wealthy Ironworker Podcast. Started in December 2023, the intention was to augment the website – to be an extension of it, as it were.

That is STILL true to this day. No matter how much popularity the podcast may achieve, I will NEVER stop writing on the website; it is important to me.

No matter the changes – and I have some pretty interesting ones planned for 2025 – however small or large they are, one thing is true: THINGS WILL CHANGE, and that’s ok.

 

 

3. You Can Ignore Much of What “Experts” Say

Much of what the so-called “experts” have written is obsolete. Photo by Rita Morais on Unsplash

 

With regard to a blog/website, things change rapidly. Google does an update or two, and Reddit is full of people whose website traffic has dropped precipitously. There are reasons why this is: many relied on “strategies” to get views, attempted to build up their backlink network (backlinks are where others link to your website and content), relied on clickbait due to sly use of keywords; Google has shifted to using AI providing the top answers, they have deals in place to have Reddit a top link – these and more have decimated many blogs.

Why do I bring this up? Simple: because much of what “experts” say/write is no longer applicable nor worth the time to read/listen to and enact.

Most strategies are a waste of time. Backlinks can be beneficial, but attempting to rig the game by offering to write for another website when there’s no real connection is sketchy. Clickbait is all but dead – and I applaud that. Google’s use of AI is annoying to me, and the elevation of Reddit on the search I can scroll past.

In the end, much of what so-called “experts” tell you to do is outdated advice.

Do you need to post several times a week? How long should your posts be? Does AI have a place in your writing?

From the beginning, I have written EVERY SINGLE WORD MYSELF – and I highly doubt that’ll change. I maintain tight control over the creative quality, and AI has absolutely no place at The Wealthy Ironworker. I post at least three times a month, and I plan on some changes that will help me take things to the next level.

In the end, so-called “experts” have capitalized on growth in the blog segment, and their time is up. What’s really important is whether you write well, and have content others find interesting.

THAT”S IT. The rest can – and sometimes does – come with time. But in case it doesn’t…

 

4. Write for the Sake of Writing (or Create Content for the Sake of Content)

Do you write for the sake of writing – because you enjoy it?

 

Write for the sake of writing. Or, if you prefer, I write because I have something to say. I’m not trying to get “wealthy” (in the conventional sense, anyway); otherwise, I would have done things differently. I enjoy writing, keeping track of how many articles and musings I have published, and the cumulative word count for each, precisely because I enjoy writing.

And that’s my advice to ANYONE who is looking to start a blog, website, or start creating content (which, for me, is the podcast): write or create for the sake of the medium – NOT to make money.

Why? Because statistically speaking, if your motives are wrong, you’ll fizzle out. You won’t have staying power; you won’t see results as fat as you’d like (if you even see them at all), and you hang it up. It happens all the time.

I’ve made it 7 years now because I enjoy writing and have something to say.

 

***Just so I’m clear: I would LOVE to make money from this website and the associated podcast. In fact, I’m hopeful of it. BUT, it isn’t the motivation for why I started or continue to write, publish, and podcast. ***

 

5. Be Authentic and Genuine

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

 

I highlight this in The Leadership Series also; there are TONS of people who are fake, pretend, and “act” their way through life – including website/podcast creation.

Listen, people have a BS meter, and most can detect when someone isn’t genuine or authentic. For my part, those in the trades have theirs dialed to 11, and they are QUICK to voice their opinion. I may not like what you have to say or even how you say it, but I respect you for having the courage to say it. Most people don’t.

The articles I’ve written and, to a lesser degree, the Musings I’ve published are words that are genuine, despite what others think. To me, that’s the only way to write. A person is free to do this when they write (or create) for the sake of writing (or creating).

 

6. Develop Consistency

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

 

A lot of “so-called” experts tell people they need to post several times a week. If you have the content, the drive, time, and intentionality, post away. For the vast majority, however, that schedule is unrealistic. Moreover, this advice is usually given to those whose motivation is money and not the art of writing (or creating); they aren’t building on bedrock.

If people like your content, take, opinion, creativity, and – just as important – your writing, then they will read it. In fact, they will do it despite your consistency.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive for consistency – the opposite, in fact. You should strive to establish consistency to overcome obscurity and build reliability.

Always seeking to improve, I have some ideas to explore this year I hope will take The Wealthy Ironworker to the next level.

 

7. Stay the Course

Continue on despite setbacks, mistakes, and failure

 

Rounding out the 7, stay the course. Also known as discipline, you cannot achieve or maintain success if you do not do this.

I haven’t been doing this for 7 years now because I continually stumble into things; rather, I have been intentional about setting goals, checking them, and making adjustments along the way. Moreover, as time passes, the amount of content built on this website increases. Deciding to compartmentalize content into one of four ways – Musings, Articles, Series, and Podcast – creates a bevy of content that is both timely and timeless.

It will be interesting to see how things evolve, change, and adapt in the coming years, but one thing is for certain: I want to be writing and podcasting at The Wealthy Ironworker.

 

Conclusion

 

If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to subscribe to this website so you don’t miss any content. What I have planned for 2025, if implemented, should see a significant increase in Musings – which was the reason for its creation in the first place.