Where’s All The Gravy?

Darren Rowse at Problogger, for the second time in a fortnight, is calling for another group writing project. This time the topic of discussion regards blogs and what goals we have for them.

I almost brushed this one off, as it seemed too easy answer at first. “Well, yeah, I’d like absolutely disgusting amounts of money. That’ll do.”

But two problems presented themselves immediately:

1. It would have been way too short a post,
2. It was only partially true.

When I thought about it a moment I realized that I don’t have just one goal, but many of them. To make matters even worse my goals are spread out across a broad gamut of importances and desirabilities.

Some I consider absolute necessities for both the near and distant future. Others, while definitely of great desire, were not necessities to me. So, I did what I could and ended up splitting my goals up into 3 categories:

The Musts: these are goals that I simply must achieve, some of them even on a daily or post-by-post basis.

The “Sure, Why Not?” section: These are medium-ground sort of goals I could attain or not, and either way probably not lose any sleep over it..

The “Gravy”: These are the miracles, the pots at the end of the rainbow, and perhaps just as elusive. I want these, sure, but won’t sacrifice myself or quality to get there.

All in all, I’m pretty surprised with how it all turned out. In fact, from when I started and when I finished there was a complete flip-flop of some of the goals. Maybe you’ll be surprised too. Check ‘em out if you’d like. You’ll learn why Blargy is here and what you may come to expect of me over the years.

The Musts -

• To Help -

Every comment a visitor leaves along the lines of “I never looked at it that way before” is cause for massive celebration, or possibly just a blink depending on my mood. This blog is centered around copywriting and marketing strategies and if I can help someone make more money, well, that’s great.

• To Learn -

One thing that became painfully obvious to me very quickly after I started blogging was that if I didn’t keep learning I was very soon going to run out of things to say. One of the best parts of being a blogger is the learning process. Whether it’s taming Wordpress or learning some viable marketing techniques to pass on, I’m very happy when I’m learning.

• To Have Fun -

I love to write and I love to communicate. The day this stops being fun is the day I hang up my keyboard.

• To Listen -

There is a lot of strife and disagreement in this world, but it makes me very happy that none of it will ever be found on this site. One of the beliefs that I hold to is that it’s pretty hard to have problems with a person if simply let him talk. And while he talks you listen. When he’s finished, it’s your turn and hopefully he’ll listen too. It’s polite and it grants the other fellow some importance. Try it sometime. You’ll find he likes you better and, more surprisingly, you’ll find you like him better too.

Sure, Why Not? -

• Build Community -

I had trouble placing this on my list. Part of me really wants a big community built around the topics I discuss. But another part of me, the Little-Red-Guy-On-My-Shoulder-With-A-Pitchfork part, doesn’t really care. To me, community means a big network of communication lines going from each member to each other member. It is simply more important to me that I communicate to individual members, but if the members find they work and play well with one another, that’s fine by me.

• To Hone My Writing Chops -

As I said earlier, I love to write. While Blargy is not, shall we say, cloaked in the brilliance of Victorian verse, it is damn good practice to simply write. Crafting words into sentences which become the paragraphs that can tell stories…that is magic. That said, however, I know how to get my point across, so whether I actually get any better at this art is secondary.

The Gravy – (Optional, but damn wouldn’t they be nice!)

• Money -

Not a lot. I’m a thrifty fellow to begin with. But it’d be great to earn my stamp among the ranks of the self-employed. But let me say this in my own defense of this greedy selfish goal: you don’t get money without doing good work. I believe money is an indicator. It’s a sign that you’re doing something right and that people think you’re offering them something of value. Even if you’re making money on ads alone, it’s still based on traffic which you’re only going to get if you’re doing something others consider valuable.

• Book deal -

Why not? I don’t even know what the book would be about, but it sure would be fun. And Mom and Dad would sure like to see me on their bookshelves.

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