Assessing the Success of a Small Business Project
Toni and I were challenged the other day by a post on on Darren Rowse’s blog, Problogger
The post was a reflection by Darren on the way Problogger had gone for him during 2005 and I’m sure it will give you some food for thought too.
Problogger is just one of Darren’s blogs. The others earn him a six figure sum each year but Problogger earns him hardly anything. To make matters worse it is the blog that takes up most of his time.
Now you and I might think that a project like Problogger would deliver a very poor return on our investment of time and effort and we would probably kill it fairly quickly but Darren is not like the rest of us.
Instead he sees Problogger as an investment in the future because, through Problogger, he has managed to establish himself as a person who is obviously very talented in his chosen field. By establishing that he has been able to open up some great opportunities that he sees as being very lucrative in the year ahead.
I wonder how many of us are prepared to think that far ahead?
January 2nd, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Hey Stuart and Toni,
Firstly, Happy New Year
Gotta say Darren is right on the mark - success is not all about the direct ROI - I believe that’s where most bloggers will get the most “real” ROI with their blogging, ie: building up their credibility and name recognition in their field.
btw, I sort of followed the to-and-fros you had late last year with Australia’s Greatest Internet Marketer
I wanted so much to get in the ring so to speak but I held my tounge … it just smelled of a no-win situation especially seeing all those comments at BlogHerald.
Anyways, all the best in the new year…
January 3rd, 2006 at 6:48 am
G’day Martin
Compliments of the season to you and yours too mate - from reading your blog this year looks like it’s gearing up to be an exciting time for you.
It’s certainly shaping up to be that way for us too.
You were wise to stay out of that debate - actually ‘debate’ is not the right word because our friend’s idea of a debate is to shout down the opposition and ignore anything that doesn’t quite fit with his view of the world.
I’ve met some unpleasant people doing business on the Net over the years but he is in a class all by himself and it seems that it’s more important to try and bludgeon the opposition into submission than it is to learn or make money.
But then I half expected that because anyone who tries to impress others by the amount of money he claims to make has a serious problem with his own self image.
I tried debating with him via email but in the end gave up when his only defence was personal insults