This has been a very special weekend indeed. A trip to London, my Birthday, and the milestone of 500 Blog posts
The above picture was taken 7 years ago on our Honeymoon in Madeira. It was a time a celebration, of course, but also one to relax and contemplate the future. Now that I’d met the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, I suppose that cleared the way for thinking about what happens next, what do we do now?
I remember it vividly, like yesterday. I knew I wanted to do something more than just the day job, some sort of side hustle, something I could learn to be good at and love doing. As a musician, I knew there were limited possibilities in that domain. Gigging didn’t pay well and I didn’t own my own destiny, so I considered teaching guitar, which also seemed like far too much hard work.
No, I needed to think smart, outside the box, and right there, looking out over the beautiful scenery on the balcony of the Pestana Casino Park Hotel, champagne in hand. I think I cracked it, that lightbulb moment.
500 Blog Posts – What’s the big deal?
Well, 500 is the magic number, as they say in the world of blogging. When I returned home, I immersed myself in preparing for my exciting new venture. The research revealed you could make a success of blogging in two ways, either by driving a LOT of traffic to a small (or single) number of articles or by playing the numbers game and publishing a lot of blog posts, 500 and over to be exact.
And 7 years later, I’ve now reached the magic 500! (with some decent traffic along the way to boot).
Didn’t I mention London and Birthdays?
How could I forget? London will get its very own blog (or even perhaps a series of blogs), but for now, all I’ll say is it’s always been one of my favourite places, and the above pic represents the fulfillment of a long-held dream of mine. To take my (by now expanded) family there, and to do it on my birthday/blog milestone weekend only made it more special.
More on London soon, I promise.
Reaching the 500 Blog post milestone.
I know that the blog can’t take all the credit. But this weekend in London felt like I’d reached the end of a long struggle. All the cliches really. I got my mojo back, weight off my shoulders, etc. It felt like I’d executed and achieved what I single-mindedly set out to do. I’ve been my own boss, learned along the way, and not always chosen the right path, but I got there in the end.
In a nutshell. I felt like I’d, for the first time in a long time, actually succeeded at something.
500 Blog posts – What happens next?
The most exciting aspect of 7 years of blogging is, that you simply don’t know what’s around the corner. Just one visit, one email, could change everything and occasionally has, with collaborations with Line 6 and Donner Music, not to mention the amazing 30+ Contributors. So from here on in, now that I’ve reached the only target I set myself, I’m going to at least try to enjoy it a lot more, and see where it takes me. I’ve got a much greater insight into what works and what doesn’t work nowadays, so hopefully, it’ll simply be a matter of more writing and less time on the mechanics of it all.
Other than that? Let’s see where the road takes me.
Thank you to all my Readers.
This is extremely hard to articulate, as this goes so much deeper than simply thanking you for reading this and the other 499 blogs. The fact is, without someone taking their time to read my blog, there wouldn’t be a blog. The plan I was so passionate about on that balcony 7 years ago would have failed, and I wouldn’t have bothered renewing my hosting account or even subscribing to one in the first place. I would’ve had to think of something else a lot less exciting and fun.
But, thanks to all of you, I got to stick to my plan A, which became so much more than a mere side hustle.
It’s thanks to you, that I get to express my passion for guitars, songwriting, music production, etc, which, (again thanks to you) gets me on the first page of Google.
It’s thanks to you, that I gained the confidence to write and publish two books Goa: A Lesson in Life and Prague: The Musical City.
It’s thanks to you, that I got the chance to better myself and fulfill my dream.
It’s thanks to you, that I got to take my family to London.