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25 June 2007

What is the Long Term Goal of My Blog

Posted by Darrell under: Rantings Of An Outdoorsman; Blogging About The Outdoors .

Last week in the wake of my Attention All Hunters post, Kevin Paulson sent me an email with a great question. “What is your long term goal of your blog?  What is it that you are trying to accomplish besides being heard in the outdoor market?  Are you doing this for fun, are you doing this for money?” Wow, talk about food for thought. This is a deep question and I’ve been chewing on it ever since. I’ll admit that I admire Kevin. He has what sounds like a clear cut plan and when he successfully pulls it off; he’ll make all hunters’ lives easier and probably make some money in the process.

I’m a hunter, but I’m also an entrepreneur. I can’t shut either of these qualities off. Both traits have gotten me in to plenty of trouble, to be sure. But, I’m digressing. So, back to the question at hand “What is the long term goal of my blog?” I think I have an answer. My goal is to help, enlighten, amuse, and inspire my readers. Ok, I agree – it sounds like a lame canned answer. So, I’ll just spell it out. 

I would love to make enough money from my blog to offset some of the expenses of my hunting and fishing lifestyle. Wouldn’t it be cool to pay for a trip with blog money! Or to have a manufacturer send you some neat new product to ‘try’ out (hey manufacturers, I’m completely open to this if you can handle a candid review). But, honestly, I don’t feel like this blog will ever make large amounts of money. I doubt seriously that I’ll be able to fund my retirement with it. Nor is money, by any means, my primary goal for this blog. If money was my solitary objective, I’d probably spend my time doing something else – just to be honest.

My wife summed up her goal for my blog just a few days ago. I was talking about the size of some fish or another, and she asked “hey, did you blog about that fish and say what size it was?…..because….if you did, we’ll be able to look it up in five years and see how much it’s grown! Nothing like a written record to keep you honest, huh hon?” Her point, while facetious in nature, was well received. I believe that we are the sum of our experiences. This blog will ensure that I always remember mine (and accurately). If I don’t remember something correctly, or at all, I can always look it up (complete with pictures). How cool is that?

There are so many outdoor related things that limited written information exists for, so many things that people don’t ever write about, so many questions that are unanswered. My goal is to answer some of those questions. Hopefully, it will help some fellow hunters. I’ll probably step on some toes along the way and might make a few people mad. Overall, though, I hope that what I write is ultimately helpful to my audience. I hope, and I sincerely mean this, that I can add to someone else’s enjoyment of the outdoors. I hope that I can be the spark of encouragement that motivates some father to take his son to Alaska for a trip. Maybe, I can help someone go hunting for the first time or catch their first fish. If you’ve ever done this, you’ll understand the reward.

Because I’m an entrepreneur by nature, I just might discover some unfulfilled needs of the hunting community. What these needs are, I can only guess, now. Well, that’s not quite true. I’ve already realized some huge needs and am already busy contemplating how to best fill those needs. Whereas, I don’t envision ever making vast sums of money off my blog, I can see it leading me down other paths. What those paths are remains to be seen.

Finally, I see myself meeting some interesting people along the way. My blog is really just an infant, and yet I’ve already met some of these interesting people. Many are fellow bloggers and most are as passionate (and maybe more so) about the outdoors as I am. Most are better writers. Some have a better sense of humor. I have no idea what their individual motivations are. I do know that they are each interesting and unique in their own way. And best of all, the collective wisdom of this group is being shared with anyone willing to read it. Awesome!

I still don’t know if I’ve answered Kevin’s original question. But, I am willing to step out on a limb and make a promise to all. I promise to ‘keep it real’. I’m confident that you will let me know if I ever break that pledge.

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