Photo by Jimmy Conover on Unsplash
I am big on streaks. The MN Twins recently finished a 12 game winning streak, their longest since 1991 and the second longest in team history.
12 wins in a row. That’s huge in baseball.
Of course, it pales compared to the longest baseball winning streak of all time. That honor goes to the Guardians who won 22 consecutive games in 2017. Baseball historians and those who know how to Google may note that the 1916 Giants had a 26 game winning streak, but it was interrupted by a tie. So…?
When it comes to blogs, however, 12 consecutive weekly blog posts is nothing to brag about. Even 22 would be meh? On the other hand, 572 consecutive, I’d like to say “winning” blog posts, over more than 11 years? Now that’s a streak.
My records show that I have posted a blog on my website every week going back to at least April of 2013. To the best of my knowledge, that is.
Even if I have missed a week here or there, it’s been a rare event. Nevertheless, even the longest winning streak eventually comes to an end.
And so I announce…
My streak of posting winning blog posts each week ends now.
When I started the blog, it was fun. Subject matter was plentiful. Articles were easy to write. People opened their email and responded well to what I had to say.
However, in recent years the struggle to come up with meaningful content that is worthy of your time has become more and more challenging. The time commitment to write and edit each blog, the research and fact checking necessary to produce accurate information, and the compliance process and other aspects of producing a weekly blog have become, well, a bit of a grind.
Not to mention the burden placed on you, the reader. You likely receive dozens of unsolicited emails in your inbox every day. They are not quite spam, you asked for them. Most of them, anyway. Yet, they are more than you can keep up with and most of them you never read.
I know that you read my blog posts, or you wouldn’t be reading this now, but I can see from my stats that most people don’t.
The streak ends, but the blog continues
I will continue to post winning content on a regular, just not weekly, basis.
You will no longer see a message in your inbox every Wednesday from Mike Branch like you have in the past. However, you will still see occasional posts when I feel I have something meaningful and relevant to share with you. I may also offer curated posts on complicated topics written by other professionals and experts much more skilled and knowledgeable than I.
Don’t be alarmed if you don’t get a blog post next week. Or the week after. I will be taking a short break until after Memorial Day.
A little inside secret:
Financial bloggers that consistently produce a lot of high quality content rarely work with clients. In fact, they may not even be licensed. And licensed financial advisors who do work with clients rarely write the blog posts that appear on their websites. They pay for pre-approved, generic, ghost written content that I don’t think many people really want to read.
In contrast, I write about 80% of the posts that I have published, for better or worse. And I worry that the quality may suffer if I try to force myself to keep up with my weekly streak.
Everything is OK here with the Mike Branch team at Focus Financial. We are just making some adjustments so we can be more efficient with our time and continue to add value where our clients need it most.
Be assured that my team and I are still working hard on your behalf and when we have something important to say, you will be the first to know.