Numbers are everywhere.
Of course they are, Penny. You’re a personal finance blogger. It’s hard to talk about money without mentioning numbers.
Touche, friend.
Touche.
But we’ve already established that your bank account is a poor measure of you as a person. In case you need me to say it again, though, I will.
You are not your debt. You are not your money.
In addition to talking dollars and cents, years and days, there are lots of other numbers floating around in personal finance. Instead of only talking page views and bounce rates, let me challenge you to answer the question differently.
What is your why?
Beware the Vanity Metric
This might come as a shock to you.
Or it might not.
It might actually be all the confirmation you need that I am a Bad Blogger. I don’t have Google Analytics installed on this site, and I’m not sure I ever will.
I know. I know. I know.
When I first started blogging, I was obsessed with my blog traffic. Or lack of traffic. To be honest, the interwebs path to my blog looked like a long stretch of dusty highway.
The day I broke 50 views, I was ecstatic. When I broke 100, I thought I was the Best Blogger Ever. (Little did I realize, my husband snuck down into the basement and clicked on my site four times to get me over the three-figure threshold that day.)
But the excitement quickly turned to something else. I would check my dashboard analytics in the morning. And again at lunch. And then more times after work and into the evening (OK, FINE, even in the middle of the night) than I care to admit.
I was obsessed.
I was also really unhappy.
I had be blogging for about a year by the time traffic reports were really in vogue. I contemplated shuttering my blog. Not because I wasn’t proud of what I was writing. But because I didn’t think what I was doing mattered. I didn’t have the traffic to show for it.
But what do those numbers really mean to a blogger like me?
I don’t monetize my site. My readers mean the world to me. (Truly. Sometimes, I contemplate sending thank-you emails when people leave comments. But I’m pretty sure that would violate the GDPR and push me from adorably awkward into just straight up uncomfortable territory.)
So of course, I want more readers. I want the kind that stick around. The kind the share pieces of themselves in the comments or even in follow-up emails. The kind that give me advice when I so desperately need it.
(All of the time. I need advice ALL OF THE TIME.)
It’s not that all blog traffic is a vanity measure. But for someone who isn’t inclined or savvy enough to monetize, obsessing over my dashboard amounted to navel gazing and not much else. So I stopped watching my traffic and doubled down on my commitment to engage with the readers I do have.
And this isn’t just about blogging or money. It’s about life.
There are so many metrics that mean a lot less than we think they do. For decades, virtually every decision that I’ve made around fueling my body and entertaining (as well going out for entertainment) was dictated by one thing: calories. Because my life was ruled by numbers on a scale and clothing sizes.
These are terrible metrics, friends. Not only do they not have much, if any, correlation with how healthy someone is, they also don’t make me feel any better about myself. Not really.
Why? Because the metric fades. And when it does, we’re left with the realization that maybe it never mattered. At least not as much as we thought. It truly was just a number.
Metrics That Matter
Maybe it’s combination of winning a Plutus Award (throws virtual confetti for self, egotist that I am!) and having just blown everything I thought I knew about dieting and scale numbers and clothing sizes out of the water to have a baby. Maybe I’m just a bit wiser. But I’ve decided that there are a whole bunch of metrics that matter more.
And it’s time to talk about those instead.
So what are the metrics that matter? It depends on the person. Just like blog traffic amounts to nothing more than a vanity metric to me, my idea of a meaningful metric might be totally pointless to someone else.
I know. Here I am closing in on 1400 words just to arrive at the conclusion that this, too, is personal.
That One Email
It was late summer, and I was checking my blog email. Usually it’s spammy offers of guest posts (“Dear She” is a dead giveaway) and newsletters connected to other blogs I follow…and not much else.
That day, I saw an email from Cait Flanders. To be honest, I thought maybe it was another newsletter. Excited to read about her summer adventures, I clicked.
Instead, what I found was a short note. She had been following my blog all summer and was hoping to subscribe to it.
Cait is an incredible writer who even narrated her own audiobook (not an affiliate link, just a reminder that you MUST listen to it even if you already read the book). I followed her blog for years. She inspired me to think hard about the life I wanted to live, not just with finances but with everything. And here she was asking to follow my blog.
Don’t worry. This isn’t going to get too sappy.
Instead, it ends in true Penny fashion. With the awkward truth. Once the shock of her email wore off, I got to troubleshooting.
After about an half an hour of cursing myself for not setting up an actual email list and relying on the WordPress default instead, I sent a reply.
It was a whole bunch of nonsensical thanks and gibberish. And the grand finale was the last line that was akin to “I really tried, but I don’t know why your email doesn’t work either.”
Readers Who Get It
I know that metric is the equivalent of my beloved Cubbies winning the World Series. It’ll never happen again (insert: soft weeping). But there are so many other ways that I measure success with my blog.
There are my regular readers who routinely comment weekly or monthly with advice for me or updates on their own lives. There are blogger buddies who I travel across the country to see (You didn’t think I went to FinCon just for the sessions, did you?). There are people who send emails to say thanks or to contribute to my Money Wins series. These metrics matter.
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These things don’t happen every day. But they mean a lot more to me; they measure my success and my happiness infinitely better than generic numbers on a screen. They keep me going.
What is Your Why?
In teaching, it is easy to find these other metrics. In a field where there are no merit-based raises or yearly bonuses, the people who stay in the field are pretty quick at finding things to keep them going.
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A decade ago, I decided to dedicate a box to all of the letters and cards and drawings and photos that students gifted me. That box has been in two different school districts and five different classrooms. It’s nearly full.
I quickly replicated that box with an email folder. It’s simply titled Smile. When work gets overwhelming or I’m wondering if I’m really doing what I’m meant to be doing, I dig through my box and click through that folder.
Those metrics matter.
I can’t tell you how many students I’ve taught. I haven’t memorized their testing data. I don’t know the school report card off the top of my head. Why? Those aren’t the metrics that keep me doing what I love. The cards from students, the emails from parents, those are what matter most to me.
The challenge for me now is to move this out into my life as a whole. I have a handle on blogging, and I know what works for my profession. But life as a whole? I’m stuck. I know this is going to be a messy process that might even be lifelong. So that is why, dear reader, I’m asking for your help once again. What is your why?
At the beginning of the year, I was trying to figure out my “why” and by summer I had given up on the answer. Honestly… I really needed this post today!
I’m glad, Sylvia. I needed it too!
Mine always comes down to my family. I’m still struggling a bit with how to use *my unique gifts* (ordering people around? my love of travel?) to craft a beautiful why that will help me serve humankind in some way (hardy hat). But lately, through my struggles with purpose, I’m leaning on that Mother Teresa quote more, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”
I needed that quote a lot, Laurie. Thank you!
My why for the blog is to help other people from my experience (which doesn’t stop me from obsessively watching my stats). My why for financial responsibility is to have security for myself and my family when something goes wrong. But my why for life could use a little work. Great post today.
Thank you, Gary! I always appreciate your feedback. I think another why, if I may be so bold, to add to you and blogging is to build community. I am always so impressed with how much time you give to other blogs and bloggers. I don’t say it enough. Thank you!
I recently decided I should make a deal with myself to have to post to Pinterest every time I check my metrics. Since I hate posting to Pinterest I figured this would be a good deterrent. ?Great reminder to keep the focus on what really matters to you.
HA! Oh, Pinterest. I created an account and dropped it real fast. I think figuring out why I blog and what I want from it has been helpful. I imagine the why is dramatically different for everyone.
Wow. Your post really brought me up short….as in mouth agape, brow furrowed, glazed eyes as your question tumbled about in my brain searching for an answer. Why was/is my why? It was making my head ache until it hit me…..the answer was so simple. My why was someone to share my life and love with, to build a home and a family with, to raise children who were always secure in the fact that they were wanted and loved. It’s still my why.
Well, you just made me cry. Thanks, Kim. And in case it wasn’t abundantly clear to you, you are one of the reasons why I still write.
When I read this yesterday, I refrained from commenting because I was afraid to post my answer of “IDK”. I don’t have a wife or kids, and I don’t work a job I LOVE that I feel like helps people everyday. But I am loath to do anything to change these circumstances, as I deal with the Ultimate Imposter Syndrome of not knowing who I am and my why. Paralyzed.
It is so fascinating (and if I’m being frank, frustrating) to watch you type and say this over and over again. You are one of the most remarkable humans. Not just online but in person. I know we only chatted for a few days in person, but that time coupled with all of the years online…I am better for that time, Josh. And I know so many, many people feel that way too. <3
This one also stopped me in my tracks. I know I am pursuing FI so that I have more options. And I’m pretty sure I am going to be the one who (unfortunately?!) has to pony up for the parents if and when the can no longer work as they have not been the most dilagent in their own retirement planning. But I don’t know otherwise what my “why” is. So you have left me with some pondering to do, so thanks for that. I can say I’ve been so focused on finishing my schooling and getting my designation cuz it will lead to a much healthier paycheque (Canadian we spell it funny I know!), but I should start thinking about what I want to do with my time once this gigantic time suck is finished.
I think by funny you actually mean properly?! 😉
I agree that it’s wise to start thinking about your time. Congrats on getting closer!
(And if you couldn’t tell, you’re totally one of those readers who makes me feel like I have a real purpose here!)
thank you so much for posting this, I really needed to read this. As a new blogger, I’ve fallen into the trap of obsessively checking my analytics, as if it the numbers will tell me some secret that was hidden deep within my soul. but you are right, those metrics don’t matter. It’s meeting amazing people, engaging with an uplifting and inspiring community, inspiring or resonating with at least one person, letting at least one person know they are not alone in navigating this crazy world of personal finance – I think that is part of my why, but I’m still figuring it out. Thank you for sharing your why, and inspiring me to keep thinking about mine 🙂
Hey, AK! I’m swinging by your site. If you need traffic metrics for brand partnerships, go for it. But know two things: you don’t have to want brand partnerships to be a KA blogger aaaaaand you can land sponsorships without tons of traffic. You do you!
This! I have watched my blog stats boom (when the NYT picked it up) and bust (most of the rest of the time). Watching it was fun but obsessing was not so much.
At the end of the day, the reason I, like you, have not monetized and why I, unlike you, don’t even write on a schedule is because blogging is fun for me, and because I know it has helped a few people in my life, even if it’s just my IRL friends reading the blog. And it’s honestly enough for me.
Your blog makes me happy, and so I am glad you measure yours with the metrics that I think matter more, too. :p
Thanks, Ms. Steward! I am so glad that we connected. And holy moly the NYT! EKKKKKKK!
Just clicked over from Angela’s roundup. I think you’re truly chasing happiness and more bloggers should seek to be more like you :). This makes me feel like a sellout every time I optimize for SEO or make a Pinterest pin lol.
Awww, man. I’m sorry about that, Olivia! You’re not a sellout. You have a great message. You are just making sure it gets found!
Great post! I’ve been struggling with this as well. I stopped posting regularly from this struggle. I’m not looking to monetize the blog, the page view numbers are low, and quite honestly, there are a ton of finance blogs out there.
So I wondered, am I just adding to the white noise without anything remarkable or worthwhile? Still trying to find my way out of this.. Perhaps changed perspective is all that’s needed
Yup. I think changing your perspective is key. At least it is for me. I really want to connect with the readers that I do I have, so I tell my story for myself and for them. Anything extra that happens is just gravy. It requires A LOT of effort on my part to ignore the conversations about other metrics, though.