Post Number 300

It’s kind of a milestone, and one I am a little proud of. When I started The Buck List in September of 2008 I really had no idea what I was doing. I have learned a few things along the way, but nothing to brag about. Blogging is a pretty simple thing to try and easy to begin, but if you stick with it for a while the sky can cloud up. You get discouraged because your traffic is not increasing, you are not making much of any kind of money and nobody is leaving comments. What I decided to do when that happened to me was to keep on writing and consider the possibility that I was providing my few readers with something of value. Slowly it grew, and continues to grow. Last month I had more visitors than any previous month. It is fun to watch something grow that I created out of nothing but an idea and the internet, and it’s amazing to realize that anyone else can do it, too. In this way the internet sort of levels the creative playing field without taking anything away from anyone.

There are a few personal finance topics I have not written about, such as credit cards and investing. Credit cards bore me to tears, and while I have money invested in a 401k, Roth IRA’s and nonretirement mutual funds I guess I prefer writing about more tangible, everyday topics such as frugal tips and how to make some side cash. I enjoy investing; I’m just not interested in writing about it.

Picking a niche can self-limit a blogger. While sometimes I long to write about a good movie I just watched or something funny my dog did, it’s not why you are here. So I try to stay on topic and keep plugging away. I have a couple of pages of ideas to write about in the future, maybe enough to get me to post number 400. If I get there I hope you will still be with me. You make the trip worth the while.