Build It and They Will Come

A few months ago I read Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. After that, I was convinced that the positives of showing my work publicly were greater than my doubts and fears. I love the idea of writing and sharing as a form of "personal invention".

Over the past few months, I've shared what I've done in my classroom, curated lists of resources, shared goals publicly, and recorded some cringe-worthy YouTube videos. I've shared what I've learned from listening to podcasts and reading books. I've even managed to kick off a newsletter and send it out most weeks.

I've messed up. I learned about affiliates and then neglected to create the correct disclosure, and as a result, I now know it's no fun to go back and have to redo previous work. I even learned to insert code so that one of my pages has a table of contents. The common thread in all of this is that I'm learning. I'm out of my comfort zone, and I'm having fun.

I think when anyone starts sharing their work online they wonder if anyone is looking at it. I figured out how to set up Google Analytics to track visitors. There are also numerous articles you can Google that talk about the Google Sandbox and how long it should take to get "X" number of visitors.

Currently, most of my visitors consist of my wife, mom, and a friend named Randy, but there have been other visitors as well from all over the world. It blows my mind that someone from across the globe checked out something I shared.  Here is a snapshot of recent visitors. We really are interconnected.

Thanks for reading from wherever you are. If you are not my wife, my mom, or Randy, take a moment and subscribe using the button below.