Hello!

Welcome to the monthly update for the Insights, Innovation#6, and Economics blog. This is where I’ll discuss the current progress of running a blog plus some goals and initiatives for next month, ending with a sneak peek at the next blog post.

Blogging is about Time

As you may imagine, blogging takes time. It takes time to research, to write, to edit, to market, etc.

Most of the time, I don’t have enough time. So, that means some well-needed changes are going to be made.

I think the main change will be monthly updates. I’ve realized that these monthly updates aren’t super impactful as after about the first 4 months, there really isn’t a lot to update everyone on. So, instead of doing a monthly update every month, I’m switching to start doing quarterly updates. These updates will have more flushed-out content, analytics, and goals as there will be more time to accomplish these.

Besides blogging, time is a crucial commodity.

A fascinating thought concept that I love is to think about your life with time as the currency, rather than money. That jacket is worth 2.5 hours of your time, that rent payment is worth 40 hours of your time, etc.

Focusing on the time things take really puts everything into perspective. It also helps you realize that you may be wasting more time than you desire.

Arguably, our time is our most valuable asset. Our time is precious and finite, meaning that it is incredibly important to spend it wisely and intentionally.

Once time passes, you can’t get it back. How you invest your hours and days literally shapes the experiences, impacts, and journey that is your life.

I’m a big quote person, so here’s a good one to wrap up this section (and continue our Kardashian+friends theme):

“Every time I start to get worked up over something, I just think to myself, 'Is this really going to matter in my life tomorrow, in an hour, in a year?' You just can't get stressed about the little things 'cause it's just not worth it at the end of the day.”

- Kris Jenner

What’s Happened This Quarter

Survival.

It’s been finals season forever it seems like. But, I made it through to the other side which is really good. Now I can catch up on life and the blog until I maybe disappear this summer for my internship.

The amount of attention I’ve dedicated to the blog has been significantly less than I wish I could have done. But, that’s all changing this month, don’t worry.

There’s always more to be done in relation to the blog, but let’s take a minute to see what’s happened this quarter.

Stats This Quarter

For the first quarter with Reddit performance, this was a stellar quarter. Without having a regular posting schedule, I sometimes forget to post which leads to lower-than-expected numbers. All, in all, however, this is a great quarter and I’ve very excited to see what’s going to happen next.

Twitter continues to plug along. Stats stay relatively constant every month, with each post doing relatively well every time. It seems as though extended fame through Twitter will be a slow process.

The blog continues to reach new heights in viewership. So exciting! Reddit drove most of this traffic this quarter. That word count is large too, equivalent to about 1/3rd to ½ of one of the original Harry Potter books which is crazy.

For the six subscribers that joined us this quarter, thank you!

6 Month Stats

It’s been 6 months with the blog! That’s crazy. I don’t know if you know how crazy that is but feel free to take my word for it. To be honest, I wasn’t totally sure I would get this far. But I did and I’m only going to go further.

So, in honor of our 6 months together (and for every quarterly update going forward), here is a timeline of some stats:

We’ve slowly been gaining subscribers over time, and views have turned around which is nice. The blog will hopefully keep going up and up. I hope that at least one of you is getting some enjoyment every week which is more than enough satisfaction for me.

Twitter stats are full of ups and downs over time, but overall, progress is being made. I’m happy with where we are at here, especially as I’m pretty new to social media marketing.

Overall, it’s been a great 6 months with the blog and I’m excited for many more to come.

Progress on Last Quarter’s Goals

This segment is where I discuss the goals I set for this quarter (in last quarter’s quarterly update) and what progress (or not) I’ve made:

1. Continue having fun writing blog posts and running the blog

Don’t worry, this one happened (and hopefully will always continue to happen). It’s been another fantastic quarter running the blog.

2. Continue to try to figure out the Reddit game

Reddit continues to be a success, but as always, it can be better. This quarter has been a fantastic success for our Reddit marketing and I only hope it continues to be this successful.

3. Continue diving deeply into interesting topics (new and old)

I’ve found some fun new topics to write about and explore this quarter (you’ll see them coming soon). It’s my goal that this continues to happen every single quarter as it’ll keep the content fresh and exciting for both you and me.

4. Continue to produce high-quality blog content

This month you can start to see the efforts that I’ve put forward to better the content I produce. I hope you enjoyed it and thought it was high-quality.

Overall, it was a great quarter for achieving blog goals (like an 9/10), but there are always things to improve:

Goals for Next Quarter

This quarter has seen a continuation of success, and I plan to continue building on this momentum. So, here are the goals for the quarter:

1. Continue having fun writing blog posts and running the blog

This will continue to be the first goal every quarter. It’s a good reminder that this blog is purely for enjoyment and education, not to make money or grow a following (become an influencer). If I can make someone’s week a little bit better by reading my blog that week, that's a successful week for me.

2. Continue diving deeply into interesting topics (new and old)

This goal has persisted since last quarter. As I continue to write about and explore these topics and areas I’m interested in, I always want to take it one layer deeper. A couple of reasons for this: A) It provides a unique lens on content that entices viewers and engagement; B) It keeps it interesting for me to learn and write about, providing a newer perspective on an area that I may not have considered before.

3. Continue to produce high-quality blog content

This goal has persisted since last quarter. I hope that throughout this process of blogging, I continue to teach you, the reader, about these areas that interest me as effectively and efficiently as possible.

A Little Thank You

Thank you for sticking around. For anyone new here: thank you too. I’m excited to see what happens this next quarter! This project continues to grow and develop, astounding me every quarter. Like always, this is purely for fun, and so far it’s been great.

As a little thank you, here’s a tease for the next post:

“Unfortunately, hydropower is very restricted in its capabilities to grow as more and more viable water sources become occupied by existing plants. The lack of growth potential will limit hydropower from dominating future energy production.”

Anywho, that’s all for today.

-Drew Jackson