Hope for your financial life and beyond

My A – Z List of Blog Related Things I’m Thankful For

November 20, 2022 by 37 Comments

Yes, I know. What a strange thing to write about during the week of Thanksgiving. There are so many more important things to be thankful for. Certainly family, friends, freedom and prosperity, health and faith all rank near the top of thankfulness for me.

thankfulBut over the past ten years of writing, I have managed to carve out this tiny space of the web for myself. My intent was never to become THE place for finance advice and make a living from this site. Others are doing that much better than I ever could.

Rather, I’ve used this site as a dumping place for my journey with finances and my faith. It’s helped me more than probably anyone else to clarify my worldview about finances and how that worldview works itself out in my life. I owe who I am today to the writing and research I’ve done over the past decade.

But along the way, I know I’ve also helped others. There is great encouragement in that. It’s one of the things that gives me purpose to keep the site active and updated as much as my busy life allows.

So, I’m taking a different route today with this Thanksgiving week post. I’m sharing my A-Z list of blogging related things I’ve come to be most thankful for over the past 10 years. Some have relevance in the past as things that got me through the early years. Others continue to drive me to this day to bring the best content I can to this platform.

Wherever you are today, you have so much to be thankful for. Here’s what I’m thankful for as I continue to bring hope for people’s financial life and beyond.

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Thank You, For One Million Page Views at Luke1428.com

October 19, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Rarely do I draw attention to the metrics of this blog. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever done it like this (and probably never will again). But I have fun moment that I couldn’t shy away from. Yesterday, some unknown user found their way to my site and triggered the one millionth page view at Luke1428.com. Thank you, mystery reader – I wish I had a prize for you.

Look, I know. In the grand scheme of the web, one million-page views isn’t a lot. Some personal finance sites get that in weeks. Still, it’s a big deal for me, especially when I consider my intentions for this blog.

This site has never been about making me money. I’ve never tried to make it my living as some other personal finance bloggers have successfully done. I basically generate enough revenue here to keep the site running and have a little left over for fun projects.

For the most part, I work on posts and site maintenance in my spare time. Early mornings, at night or on Sunday afternoon while watching football. It’s a part-time deal for me. And at this point, I’m doing two to three posts a month.

Despite my approach, the blog continues to grow beyond what I could have imagined when I first started. In fact, at current pace of growth, I should reach my 2-million-page view mark in the next two years. From there, who knows what happens.

So, if it’s not for a living, why devote effort to a blog in the first place? I’m glad you asked.

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So It’s Been Awhile but I’m Back from My Blogging Break

August 14, 2017 by 4 Comments

Yeah, so it’s been awhile since I wrote an article on this blog. Judging by the date of the last post it’s been three months. That’s a long time in the blogging world to let your site lie dormant with no action.

But the decision not to post was intentional. Why you may ask? Well there were several personal reasons that drew my attention away from writing. In the past few months my family has experienced a change in my career, the school my kids go to and the church we attend. And the most time consuming of all our family events is that we moved to a new home. And, if you’ve ever sold a home and bought a new one, you know the time required for that.

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Audience Alert: An Evolution Occurring at Luke1428

March 28, 2016 by 9 Comments

Six months ago, I shared about going back to work to take on an administrative pastor role at my church. I was already the youth pastor there (still am), so I didn’t know how the time commitment for the new role would impact other areas of my life. I wasn’t sure I’d have the time or desire to keep writing for this blog.

evolutionI emailed quite a few bloggers to share the news and ask for their advice on what to do. Should I keep writing at my current frequency, scale back or consider selling the site? I really was at a loss as to what to do.

Amidst the great responses I received came a noteworthy piece of advice from a very experienced and successful blogger. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Think about whether you want to hold on to the blog as a means of expression and connection. Even if you have to scale back it may be worth it to keep it.”

The meaning I took from his statement was this, “Hey, you never know where a blog can lead or how it may evolve.”

Since then I’ve thought a lot about that statement in relation to my writing, my career and my goals in life. What I’ve discovered is going to cause a minor evolution at Luke1428.

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Personal Update: A Stay At Home Dad Goes Back to Work

October 19, 2015 by 21 Comments

Some things you simply don’t see coming.

That passing car in your blind spot.

The identity thief who messes with your life.

A certain reality star/business man being a leading candidate for President.

binocularsEighteen months ago I decided to quit my job in education. The reason was so that I could stay at home and manage our household. In addition to my home duties I’d continue to grow this blog and venture into freelance writing, both of which have happened to varying degrees in 2015.

With my freed up time, I was able to accept a part-time youth pastor position at our church in September of 2014. Having been around teens all through my years in education, this seemed a good fit for a way in which I could give my time and energy to the church.

Now, after a year of interaction with the group, my team of leaders and I are seeing great enthusiasm from the young people for the program we’ve put in place. It’s exciting to see them engaged with each other and growing in their faith.

This past summer when we took our high school youth to summer camp, I developed a distinct feeling inside that I could (and should) be more involved and engaged with our church. What happened when I returned and talked with our pastor was nothing short of extraordinary…and completely unexpected.

I Didn’t See This Coming…Ever

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5 Important Life Lessons From My Freelance Writing

April 29, 2015 by 19 Comments

Yes, you could take that headline as an announcement. I’ve officially entered the world of personal finance freelance writing. Is anyone out there looking to hire?

writing in a notepad My blogging journey to this point has been an interesting one. As long time readers here know, last summer I quit my job in education to become a stay at home dad. It was a big step but one that I don’t regret. The added time has allowed me to better manage our family activities and devote myself more to blogging.

The results in our family life have been tremendous.

Less stress. More downtime. More kid time. More moments for enriching activities.

Additionally, the extra time devoted to blogging is causing Luke1428 to take off. I already have more page views than I did all of last year. It really is amazing what some additional time, effort and connection building can do.

As great as that is, I’ve felt I could still do more with my time. So I was intrigued when contacted several months ago about writing for a new website. I’d never done that for money before and thought it would be a good experience if only for me to understand the world of freelance writing.

It’s been quite the experience.

Life Lessons Realized From Freelancing

To date I’ve written seven articles for SafeBee.com, a website devoted to making the world a safer place. I’ve really enjoyed it but writing for someone else is not like writing for your own blog. However, it’s reminding me of some valuable lessons that can be applied to any life situation. Here are my initial thoughts about what I’m dealing with:

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Finding Inspiration and Overcoming Mental Obstacles

March 30, 2015 by 2 Comments

You can find me today guest posting about my blogging journey and finding inspiration at ThePlutusAwards.com.

ideaEveryone has a different journey that led them to start blogging. I’ve found many personal finance blogs were born because the owner had come through or was still wading neck deep through a financial hardship. The blog became their outlet to share their story and/or maintain accountability as they worked through the financial struggles.

I think that’s admirable and greatly needed. We want to hear compelling stories about people who have paid off $100,000 in debt and are now killing it financially. It’s inspiring and offers hope to the millions of readers who haven’t quite reached that level of success but desire to do so.

But what if you don’t have a story like that? Where does one find the inspiration to not only start a blog but also…

Click here to continue reading…

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This Is the Best Reason Every Blogger Needs a Reader Survey

February 4, 2015 by 33 Comments

Someone I’ve been listening to quite a bit recently is Michael Hyatt. Michael is one of the leading voices in helping individuals and companies understand principles about leadership, social media and growing their platform. A few months ago I listened to a podcast where Michael detailed his own experience with a reader survey.

reader survey He described in detail about what a valuable tool they had become for him. He felt strongly that every person with a platform (blogger, business website, social media outlets, etc.) should do one.

Well, I’m obviously a blogger and I certainly fit into the “every” category so I decided to give it a shot. I really wasn’t expecting much with my small audience but figured it might be worth the effort.

What I found after conducting a three-week reader survey astonished me. It changed the perception I had towards my audience and made me reconsider what I’m sharing with them.

And if you choose to do one, there will be one question you HAVE to ask your readers. It blew me away and is the absolute best reason, in my opinion, every blogger needs a reader survey.

Here’s what I learned from and about my readers.

Reader Survey Demographic Information

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Sharing the Results of a 4-Month Blog Commenting System Experiment

December 4, 2014 by 8 Comments

Today I’m guest posting over at the Yakezie network about my four-month blog commenting system experiment.

As long-time followers know, I started this blog using the third-party commenting system DISQUS to manage all reader comments. In response to an article written by Sam (of Yakezie and Financial Samurai) I discontinued using DISQUS in favor of the standard WordPress commenting system. I did so to conduct a four-month experiment to see how or if it would improve my reader engagement. My experiment is now over and my post at Yakezie today shares what I found.

Click the following link to read my post at Yakezie: “My 4-Month Experiment Not Using a Comment System – Was It Effective?”

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Blogging Mistakes I Made That You Can Avoid

November 19, 2014 by 37 Comments

I’ve been at this blogging gig for over two years now and boy, have I produced my share of small and whopping blogging mistakes. They weren’t all in the beginning either. I just made another one last month that has really got me frustrated.

blogging mistakesNone of these have or will cause me long-term damage. Most have just created more work for me. Some happened out of ignorance and some because I just wasn’t thinking.

The worst part is that all could have been avoided if I’d read more or asked for help. As I shared Monday, I’ve had a real problem with asking for help and am slowly learning to overcome it.

Common Blogging Mistakes to Avoid

Here is a list of blogging mistakes I’ve committed that you should avoid. If you are looking at starting a successful blog to make money or just to have fun, don’t fall into these traps.

Not understanding keywords

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I Need Help But Don’t Want to Ask

November 17, 2014 by 29 Comments

i need help“I can do it myself.” It’s a familiar refrain I often recite in my head. Even though it may seem obvious to everyone around me that I need help, I choose not to seek it. For some reason, my human nature resists reaching out and asking for assistance.

Why is that? What keeps me from admitting I need help? Why can’t I see the circumstances for what they are and then choose to rely on others to help me power through them?

Logically I should always ask for help when I need it. It would make my life run with greater efficiency and reduce much of the stress I place on myself. However, I’ve come to know this…I’m often an illogical person. I can rationalize away the greatest problem and convince myself I can handle it.

Sadly that’s a recipe for a stagnant life.

Why I Don’t Seek Help

From my life, I can quickly identify six reasons why I’ve refused to ask for help. What could you add to this list?

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