I’ve been blogging for close to two and a half years now, and the personal finance community (and this blog) have become an integral part of my life. I couldn’t imagine when I got started that a blog could possibly have such an impact on my whole life, but it absolutely has been. And a huge part of that is due to the community surrounding this blog and the personal finance community at large.
Unsurprisingly, I hear a lot from the other bloggers in this community, as well as friends I’ve made at in person events like Cents Positive. Beyond that, though, I rarely hear from all of YOU – the silent readers following along with my story.
I know that experience well – I was a silent lurker of blogs for seven years before I started my own. And I never left a single comment or sent a single email; it honestly never occurred to me to do more than read and follow along with the stories that I loved. That all changed once I started writing my blog, and I became involved in the community at such a deeper level than I realized existed.
And at FinCon this past September, I got to meet One Frugal Girl in person, a blogger I had been following since I started reading personal finance blogs back in 2010. As much as I’ve always loved reading her words and following along with her story, we now have a true friendship rather than a one sided story of her life. And my life is so much richer for having her in my life in a real way.
I understand that leaning in to the community does take an extra level of commitment than simply reading stories as they are published, and sometimes life is enough to just follow along. But if you’re up for it, I would love to hear more from all of you – your stories, your hopes and dreams, what brought you to my little corner of the Internet. And if you’re up for sharing, I’d love to hear what you’d like to see more from me in the future.
Fo you want more sustainability and zero waste content? Money post with concrete numbers? Garden updates? Personal stories? Something else? Weigh in! I write this blog for me – but I also write it for you. High traffic numbers are great for vanity, but it’s my regular readers who are invested in my story that I cherish above the rest. I’d rather have 100 people really interested in my story than 10,000 passing through. Quantity is great, but quality and community is what ultimately matters to me.
So please! Share your stories and your thoughts with me. I so love to hear them. And if you don’t feel comfortable sharing a comment publicly, you can always send me an email at treadlightly.retireearly@gmail.com. And if you aren’t up for that and all you want to do at this time is silently follow along, then welcome, I am so glad you’re here.