Two Thousand Three Hundred Sixty

About a month ago I hired a virtual assistant to help me out with things here at NYAM.

She completely overhauled my Pinterest page, and she totally manages that for me now.

I also have her scheduling previously written posts to Facebook.

Facebook is the biggest source of traffic to my website, and traffic to my website is how I generate the majority of my revenue, whether it’s from advertising or people who find my online courses there or whatever.

We have only been working together a short time, so we are still figuring out what works and how to best set up systems.

I am working on a webinar for my upcoming course, Maintain Through The Holidays, so I have been really busy. And to be honest, I haven’t really checked to see what posts my VA has scheduled.

But I have checked the traffic to my website, and in the six days she’s been scheduling old blog posts to the Facebook page, my advertising revenue has more than doubled, and traffic to my site is up by 100%.

From October 10th to October 15th my site had 6,298 pageviews.

On October 17th she started scheduling posts to Facebook for me.

From October 17 to October 22nd I had 15,862 pageviews.

It’s more than doubled.

That’s good.

So I’ve been checking the traffic analytics to see if what I have her doing has been worthwhile.

Today there was a pretty big spike in traffic which means something that was posted was getting a decent response.

I checked the Facebook page, and I saw a post I wrote a while ago entitled, My Party. My Rules.

I had no recollection of what I had written, but there were lots of comments on FB this morning saying things like “What did I miss?” and “PREACH!” and “OWN IT!” and I was like, Whoa. 😯 What did I write?

So I read it.

I was on fire the day I wrote that one.

ON FIRE.

There were parts of the post I really liked but parts of it made me cringe a little.

Okay. A lot.

When I first started Not Your Average Mom, I was not the person I am today.

And I am the person I am today largely because of Not Your Average Mom.

In the last seven and a half years, I have published 2,359 blog posts.

TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE.

That’s a buttload of blog posts.

When I go back and read the earlier ones sometimes I throw up in my mouth a little bit.

Some of them were poorly written.

Some were a little bit judgmental.

Some were REALLY judgmental.

Some were written purposely to get a rise out of people. Just to be a troublemaker.

Some were a little ignorant.

Some were written when I subscribed to a different parenting philosophy.

I have done a lot of growing in the last seven and a half years.

So have the kids.

Seven years ago everyone looked a lot different.

 

 

I guess writing about what’s going on in your life in detail almost daily for over two thousand days can have a (positive) effect on the way you think and behave and react.

It sure is a testament to what self-reflection can do to — and for — a person.

If only I knew then what I knew now.

But I wouldn’t know what I know now without my kids.

I owe them so much.

And I owe all of you reading along so much, too.

You have all made me a better mother and a better human being.

I’m wiser.

I’m stronger.

I’m more balanced.

I’m more compassionate and understanding.

I more patient and more flexible and more realistic.

While it’s still my party and my rules, the party and the rules have changed a lot.

I’m so far from where I used to be.

And I feel pretty good about the direction I’m going.