Earlier this month I spent a lot of time thinking about why I like to write. I really like sharing information. I have a lot of technical knowledge about WooCommerce so if I can explain how to do something complex in a step by step process I like doing that. I like knowing that people use the information I have to make their business better.
A Podcast On Happiness
Helping someone build a business is just one way people can improve their lives and I wish I could contribute in other ways. As a culture we don't have enough discussion around building relationships, work/life balance, achieving goals, financial responsibility, and generally getting your life together so you can be happy. We have this outdated view that being happy is what happens when there's nothing crappy left and that's not the case. You can have plenty of crap in your life and still be happy and on the flip side you can be crap-free and still be miserable. Being happy is something that takes more than being not-sad. And all of this… that's something that I'd like to talk about.
So i've seriously been thinking about a podcast about happiness. But I'm not just thinking about the podcast itself. I'm thinking about how, if at all, it will fit into my schedule. I'm a busy guy. I have a lot of side projects and they all take time away from friends & family. Now sometimes these side projects are worth it. Projects like this blog don't bring in much money but I love knowing that I'm helping people.
Side Projects Take Effort
I've been thinking a lot about all of my little side-projects I have going on. Some of them are doing quite well and some have slipped away from me. The really successful projects like my blog or my Ninja Forms plugins are successful because I care a lot about them and/or being I'm paid to care about them. With my blog I post as often as I like, I can delete mean comments, and if someone asks me questions I can ignore them until I have time. My Ninja Forms plugins are a bit different. Because people pay for them I can't ignore them. I have to fix bugs ASAP and I have to pay attention to feature requests.
Neither approach is bad but you do need to decide which one you want to use on a per project basis. On one hand we all need to eat. On the other it's nice to have some wiggle room to not have people paying you so you can take a break when you need.
So I breath any more life into my podcast idea it's probably a good idea to do a bit of investigation and see how podcasts can make money. I'll be doing a bit of research and posting my results tomorrow.
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