How do I measure up?
Posted by austin under Blogging
It’s been thirty days since my first post on this blog. Since that time I’ve written 27 posts (28 including this one) almost one per day (my frequency has not been that regular since I often post in bursts).
I’ve decided to wait until ninety days before writing my inaugural post since I”m still playing around with finding my voice, choosing which topics I’ll cover and developing my own blogging habits.
I learned to love metrics during the turnaround of Zero-Knowledge Systems into Radialpoint (Thanks to my brother - trust me I tend to charge forward with my heart into new adventures - not with a measuring tape). My new found love of metrics has led me to measure pretty much every aspect I can think of with regards to my blog.
I’ve been measuring various statistics, performance metrics and experimenting with various tools as part of this experience and will do a review of my personal blog dashboard and my metrics after the first 90 days near the end of January.
Instead of waiting until January to solicit feedback though - I thought I’d ask my readers what they think of the blog so far.
Are there topics you are more interested in then others? How do you find my writing?
What questions to you have for me?
While I may have romantic images of writing elegant prose and look to quotes like this from Quebec’s own native son (well kind of) Mr. Jack Kerouac for inspirations like,
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”
Jack Kerouac - On the Road
I understand that to the rest of the world, saying “What do you think of my blog?” evokes images like this.
via Amber Mac
Please feel free to leave comments about this blog below or contact me in private if you have suggestions or wish to start a conversation with me. I love feedback and would love to hear from you.
(This post inspired by the fact that I’ve been reading Visions of Cody lately and found this great clip online. While Steve Allen refers to the book as On the Road it is in fact Visions of Cody that Jack does a reading from.)
YouTube link for the RSS enabled.
Posts (RSS)
November 26th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
Sumimasen, Austin Hill,
Greetings from Nihon..
I blogged your return to the Internet. Here’s some feedback: we need more posts from you - you just don’t post enough. I can relate, you want to blog, but perhaps you haven’t found your voice yet. Having trouble finding things to talk about? Getting into The Conversation is a little tough and requires lots of work. Engaging with other bloggers also helps. While being Austin Hill isn’t enough - it does get some curious readers right away, like me. So write.
And that brings me to my suggestion. Why don’t you tell us about what you’re working on? I know you’re in stealth mode and all that, but you don’t need to tell us details. Talk about the problems you want to solve, from a perspective that is removed just enough that you don’t give it all away. You should have lots to say about that. Or blog about your experiences with ZKS - what a crazy story that must be, I’m sure you could write a book about the experience (but please blog it, too). Talk about that open-source shindig you threw in 514 - planning another? I didn’t make the first one. Talk about doing business in Montreal, the best city in the world. Bill 101, why it sucks, and why it hurts our great city and province. Err, maybe skip that one - it might get you in trouble. At least real estate remains relatively cheap, all things considered.
And one last, important suggestion: don’t blog as though you have an audience - yet. It’s a little presumptuous, especially at first. Just write in a way that is as genuine and intellectually honest as possible. i.e., just write.
This is a little rambly, I know - it’s late here, I’m still mildly jetlagged and I’ve been running around like a crazy man! Goodnight!
Lost in translation,
-W
November 27th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
enjoying. i like the tack you took with the tao, the philosophy of leadership from below. how to build a space, with a vision, where the “leader”’s role is to make sure participants can do things they find interesting, useful, fun…and then watch as an idea blossoms intosomething so much bigger. some guidance is needed, but i guess the gardener is a nice analogy. the flowers do their own thing, you just have to make sure they get the water and sun they need, and that weeds don’t take over the space.
so i’d agree with the previous commenter - more about what you are doing to start your new venture, without details of what you are doing, is of interest to me.
November 27th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
Thanks to both of you guys for some great comments.
I’ll be trying to speak more about what we are working on, raising financing in Canada, and building another startup in Montreal.
I appreciate the feedback.
November 27th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
Hi Austin,
After writing, re-writing and restarting, I have decided to stop thinking and just start typing. If any of my comments don’t make any sense, you will know why. And I will just blame my hands.
You asked, “Are there topics you are more interested in then others?”
Yes, of course. But then I don’t know if it matters. I think the journey is the fun part. As long as you are interested and excited about the topics, I think your excitement and interest will show through and get us interested in them too. For example, I didn’t think I would enjoy “Roman Moroni” but turned out I quite liked the clip. Mind you, I tried ” The Electric Company” and it just didn’t work for me at all. And I say it is important to keep both clips because they mean something to you and probably others too.
Overall, I enjoy your writing style. I find your post easy to read expect a few occasional dense references that I won’t get. But that is part of all of our individual histories and experiences.
Now, I love to hear more about
- your experience with Zero Knowledge System
- Your good and bad experiences with Canadian tech entrepreneurs (names may be disguised to protect those truly guilty ones)
- your new ventures (without giving away the secret sauces)
- and any other things that interest *you*. After all, this is your blog and I am here to listen to what you have to say on things.
Like Willard said, I suppose more blog entries will be nice. I think it is harmful to think blog entries as a perfect thing. It is part of a dialogue. Part of a conversation. And I agree with the “just write” approach. But then I think you should write with an audience in mind. By this, I mean think like Warren Buffett, when he writes his insightful annual report, he pretends that he is talking to his sisters.
Cheers,
Kempton
P.S. FYI: http://www.plainlanguage.gov/whyPL/testimonials/buffet.cfm
P.P.S. From my personal preference, I like to assume my readers are like me in the sense that they are curious about many things and would be interested to wander around in very diverging fields of interest. I am sure there are posts of mine that I have confused, angered, or bored my readers. But I do hope once in a while they will fall in love with something totally unexpected. Something they didn’t think they will like and ended up enjoying. Kinda like your “Roman Moroni” clip in my case.