Best ‘o The Rest: I Finally Met a Blogger In Real Life Edition!

by Darwin on December 23, 2010

After years of blogging and essentially starting from scratch with no skills, no knowledge, no network and no talent, I toiled away for hours on end learning about blogging, platforms, networking, SEO and content.  I used to be envious of other bloggers whose success seemed to be second nature since they worked in Silicon Valley where everyone who’s anyone has a blog, or their relative or buddy got them into blogging or whatever.  I had found it odd that for years, even in 2010, I had never, ever met a single person in my personal life or worklife who had a blog.  Finally, as luck would have it, right under my nose at our neighborhood Christmas party, there was a small crowd of guys hanging around talking about the state of affairs in the US.  Inevitably, the conversation moved to one gentleman’s blog.  As we got to talking, I couldn’t believe the similarities in our beliefs and concerns over the deficit, fiat currency collapse, hyperinflation, the impending collapse of municipalities, more bailouts to come – you know, doom and gloom that goes great with a holiday party.  While our wives were singing carols in the next room, we were talking economics.  So, I outed myself as well in front of my neighbors since I don’t publicize my moonlighting, and we were talking about our blogs a bit.  As it turns out, he runs a great blog, very well-followed (much more-so than me) with lots of funny commentors and he puts a TON of effort into each post.  If you like my writing here, stuff like ZeroHedge, The Mish, Roubini, Taleb and others, then you’ll love The Burning Platform – go check him out and comment, subscribe to his RSS and enjoy the misery!  Happy Festivus!

Here are some of my favorite reads from the week:

The Burning PlatformThe Bernie Who Stole Christmas

The MishAlabama Town Defaults and Stops Paying Pensions – The Future of America

Zero HedgeIs the Government Rigging US Equities Returns?

Oblivious Investor2011 Tax Brackets

Financial HighwayYour Thoughts – Gold Bubble?

Five Cent Nickel10 Year End Tax Moves

The Yakezie:

Financial Samurai2010 Year in Review

Early Retirement Extreme Lifestyle Design Robust?

Consumerism CommentaryIt’s Festivus!

Wealth PilgrimHow a Mortgage Works

Canadian Finance Blog10 Free Personal Finance Sites

My Journey to Millions – Tax Law Changes Summary for 2011

Invest it Wisely Gold Profits…

KNS Financial6 Free Ways to Reward Your Employees

Len Penzo12 Days of Christmas

PF FirewallFree Shipping Day Bad for Savers?

NarrowBridge Financial – The Case for Walmart

Some Stuff I Wrote:

Carnivals that Featured My Content:

Wealth Builder Carnival

Best of Credit Cards and Saving Money

Carnival of Personal Finance

Yakezie Carnival

Canadian Finance Carnival

Carnival of Traders of Investors

Carnival of Personal Finance

Canadian Finance

{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }

Financial Samurai December 23, 2010 at 11:39 pm

Did you tell him your blog?

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Darwin December 23, 2010 at 11:44 pm

Yeah, he linked to me and sent mad traffic. Good guy.

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Invest It Wisely December 24, 2010 at 6:02 pm

I’m heading over to check The Burning Platform right now. That’s pretty interesting; I don’t generally share my blogging life with people I know personally, but I do know another blogger in person, and it’s good to be able to bounce ideas off of each other.

Thanks for the mention, and happy holidays! 🙂

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Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog December 24, 2010 at 6:17 pm

Thanks for the mention! I know what you mean, sometimes I feel like a lonely blogger in the “real world”. 😉

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Kellen December 26, 2010 at 7:32 pm

It’s amazing how many people are out there blogging, and yet I feel like the people I know out in the real world have never even heard of blogging. And they’d probably all think I’m crazy and gossip about it at work if I mentioned it there, haha.

You know what’s weird though? I recently started blogging about my crafts, because I’m trying to start selling some, so I have been looking around trying to comment on other craft blogs, etc, all the stuff you do to generate that first traffic. And it’s amazing how many crafters are out there on the web that are totally oblivious to how to use their blog effectively. I guess personal finance bloggers are just way more in tune with how to network and drive traffic!

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JimQ December 26, 2010 at 8:21 pm

Hi Darwin

I was stunned to meet another blogger in our little neighborhood. I’m encouraged that there seems to be more people out there who get it than I originally thought. Hopefully, we can team up and help each other and the public to see what is going on. After talking at the party, it is clear you are much more savvy than me about the website business. I’m sure you could teach me a few things.

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Darwin December 26, 2010 at 9:38 pm

Hi Jim,
Sure, we should definitely catch up. You have a huge following judging by the traffic you sent me the other day! :> I’m sure we can compliment each others’ blogs; I’ll shoot you a note now that I have your email!

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Khaleef @ KNS Financial December 27, 2010 at 5:48 pm

That’s great! I’ve actually tried to get more people that I know into blogging, I may have 1 or 2 takers! Thanks for including my link.

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