When you have your own business, it’s so easy for it to consume all your free time if you let it. Even if you like what you do, I don’t think it is healthy. A very well known whisky writer recently told me that, in the past year, he has only taken two days off from work–including weekends.
Not me! I have a family. I have hobbies I love. So, here’s what I plan on doing. I am going to make an effort to post up something every weekday (and you know that I often have multiple posts in one day, like today). But, unless there is something really compelling, I don’t plan on putting up any blog posts over the weekend.
I just wanted to let you know my intentions and make you aware that if you visit WDJK on a Saturday or Sunday, you probably won’t find anything new. And if you check on a weekday, you probably will.
I have a lot of whisky reviews to share with you. I’ll try to put up a review every day next week.
Good on ya, John.
I look forward to the Glen Grant and Smokehead reviews (if those are two of the ones in the queue for next week).
Both brands are on the agenda.
Nicely put – I agree with you wholeheartedly, John.
John,
If you aren’t already, you may want to use the power of the scheduled post. If you have a bunch of posts in your head, then just schedule one for later and you then have free time when you need it. It’s easy in WordPress; above the button that says “Publish” there’s a “publish immediately edit” and if you click on that ‘edit’ you can set a date and time. Might save some trouble.
All my awards announcements were with scheduled posts. I’ve been using it for over a year. I guess that 1/3 of my posts are scheduled. I suppose I could use it for the weekends. I’ll give it some thought.
I should have known you were an expert on this already! I was thinking that if you are sitting to post, and a second post pops up in your head, then schedule that second one to give you free time if you need it later.
sounds reasonable to me. . I work in the high end sneaker industry which has hundreds if not thousands of blogs about it. the best one which has semi-paid interns make maybe a dozen posts a day stops posting on weekends. It’s still the best blog.
Other blogs that close for the weekend will have a weekend post that posses a question or idea that will spark a conversation in the comments section over the weekend. This would be very welcome.
Mark, that’s a great idea! I’ll try to post something on Fridays that will help to keep the conversation going over the weekend.
I think you need to stop your whining and suck it up and work weekends too.
Whisky is a hobby for me.. so the weekends are the only time I get to read this.
I hate reading old news.
Just joking… balance is important, but I thought that is what the whisky is for
Good for you John. My work as a Bar Manager consumes my every thought even on my days off and I constantly struggle on ways not to think about work. If you can find a balance, i think i can too. Your an inspiration to us all
John, I’m surprised you didn’t make a resolution like this long ago. Keep yourself well.
When you have your own business, creating boundaries is one of the hardest things to do.
Shucks, John. You can take off Friday, too.
Never apologize for having a life. You know, watching the Olympics these days, one is always impressed by the dedication it takes to reach that level of athletic achievement; but one also wonders about the cost, and whether or not such athletes have stunted their lives in other ways. That goes for workaholics in less visible fields, too. Good for you for keeping some perspective.
I think a post every weekday is not only acceptable, it’s admirable. I only WISH I had that much to say that people wanted to hear.
The blog, while excellent marketing and a good outlet when you have things to say, is not the same as the business. I know from running a business that it’s all too easy at times to get caught up in the constancy of it all — that underlying feeling that any time you’re not working is time wasted. It took me YEARS to get over that to the point that I felt comfortable taking even the occasional weekend off away from things.
But the blog is more a labour of altruism, and should be treated thusly. Weekends away to spend time with the family or to enjoy some time alone with the hobbies is an absolute MUST.
Hi John,
You are certainly entitled to taking the weekends off. I think that the M-F updates are quite generous in themselves, especially as you are giving away for free, content that was previously part of the paid magazine. From my end, this is actually a best of both worlds situation, as there is still plenty of stuff in the magazine to justify the subscription price. And it’s nice to get away from the computer every once in a while too.
Slainte.
Louis
Good for you, a sound decision.
Best regards.
JG