To put it simply, it is a grind. Setting up systems, batching, and outreach. The only thing I enjoy about it is thinking about new products and creating them if there is any time left.
Outside of that, I try to catch up on learning, as learning never stops. At the moment, I am deep down the AI road. Not using it much, yet. But I will end up using it for sure, especially where it can save me time.
I could write this post with AI, but I did not. It goes against what I set up to do here. So I would rather write in my imperfect way. I do believe that authenticity is a special currency and will be more valuable in the future. People will be hungry for human-made content, human-made stories. It is obvious. Same as you keep on eating chocolate cake every day – one day you just don’t want it and you crave something very ordinary like a freshly baked bread. But that is not what I wanted to write about.
So what am I actually doing during Q2 and Q3.
Revising my strategy
Revising the systems I have set up and improving them
Preparing new products for Q4
Learning new things and catching up with the market trends
I know, it is not that exciting, but it has to be done.
Have a great week, and stay productive, dear friends 🙂
P.S. I am not writing about the world economic situation on purpose. As a solopreneur who has been through many up and downs, the only thing I will say is – ‘Stay calm and don’t lose your focus.”
By now, I have read so many articles and posts on productivity ( I don’t even count YouTube videos) that I should be a productivity expert myself. So am I?
No. But I have figured out this: Everyone will recommend the system that works for them, but my situation and goals might be completely different. The more steps there are to implement, the less likely I am to implement them. I am not an app person, so apps do not do it for me. Notion templates look nice, but I am not that cohort, it passed me by (unfortunately). The Outlook I use at work, that simple fact blocks my motivation. Time blocking looks nice visually, but I am not able to block big chunks of time for anything.
So what I have been re-discovering recently is: just having two buckets. In one bucket I put everything that is connected to my “Has to be done now,” and the other bucket is: “Do this in the future but not now.” This helps me to eliminate videos and books that have nothing to do with my current situation, but might be useful down the road. I actually spent so much time watching videos on how to make a course, webinar and etc. But I am not at that stage, yet. Instead, I should just do things connected to my immediate business goal (or watch a video connected to it). I have realized that even though I am not doom-scrolling, I am wasting time on advice that is just not for me. So my new productivity plan has a different perspective. What is right for me now? And what is for “future me” and can wait. I am not saying that it solves everything. It does not, but it is definitely something I can start implementing NOW.
I hope that you are having a restful Easter weekend, dear friends 🙂
This post is a quick one. The new algorithms seem to be obsessed with sharing. It does not matter how many followers or views you get anymore. At least for a while 🙂
So I did look at my referrers for this blog, and quickly sharing as you might find it helpful.
WordPress.com Reader – it shows the home platform is the most important one
Search Engines – Google is still the most powerful
Pinterest – maybe because of the images I use?
Facebook – visits from my old friends 🙂
Others ( like Snapchat – surprise to me, Chatgpt – not a surprise, and many bots I do not need to name)
So there you go, it seems that focusing on “home” pays off as always.
Have a great and productive week, dear friends 🙂
I love digital products. They helped in more than one way. I did buy plenty. Anything starting from different kind of planners to short business plans and how to…
First thing to remember is that I must find you – if I do not find you, I cannot buy from you, if I notice you on my feed, I will probably listen to what you have to offer
If everything you are talking about is about ‘selling this thing to me’, I will probably not buy it
I will want to know, how did you get to those results or how your product is going to save me time and a headache. If I am not convinced, I will not buy.
If you add your life story or simple back story, I am more likely to relate – and buy
If you have millions of followers, I will probably not buy as I will assume that this is basically your business and I cannot apply what you recommend – I know, the logic is warped but that is what I will assume
If you ask for anything above 29 US, I will probably not buy. Especially, if it is the first time, I am seeing you and listening to you.
I will happily try any freebies you offer, stay on your email list, and try crazy bonus offers if they make sense.
I am more likely to buy if I can see that you are a real person 🙂
So here you go. I hope this helps you a bit with promoting or tweaking your product.
Have a great spring, dear friends 🙂
Image, created by AI, after asking it to create a digital product image 🙂
Starting 2025, still not retired. If you have been following me, you know that I have been trying to do that with the help of my numerous side hassles.
I do feel it is an uphill battle most of the time. Trying to increase traffic, getting exposure, and capturing more visitors and subscribers. It seems very forced and frankly, goes against my nature and introverted character. And now, the bots are thrown into the mix. The space is even more cluttered and crowded. I have nothing against technology but as with everything, it can work against us. And that shows now on the internet. It is clogged with AI content that is churned out effortlessly and slowly killing the content created by humans. I choose to be optimistic and consider this as a natural first phase, when there is an unregulated surge first and later one it begins to crystallize into more refined phenomena.
But what to do in the meantime? That is a big question for the man on the street. This is not the case for big tech companies that are experimenting carelessly and selfishly.
If there is massive chaos outside, one must keep a quiet mind, only from that he/she/they can keep a clear vision and clear thought. I try to do that as much as I can, not saying I am successful every time.
My current strategy is to become as human as possible. And thus differentiate myself from countless accounts that are just a bunch of words bundled together albeit in a very sophisticated manner. It forces me to answer some fundamental questions: What makes me who I am? And what makes me human? I am trying to project this into my creations, posts, and products. Is it easy? Not at all. It is extremely difficult. Often I found that what I produce, can be easily replicated or copied. And that is scary, of course.
Do I have some positive words for you, dear friends? Yes, I know you struggle and you try to navigate this vast ocean – that is currently in the midst of a storm. As I see it now, the intentions of tech companies to create “human-like” bots that will fulfill our need for ‘eye-balls’, ‘subscribers’ and ‘customers’ but it will be same like sitting on a tree branch and the same time cutting the branch off. Or a better metaphor might be the snake that eats its own tale. It always happens to giants. They do not when to stop and become self-destruct. As this is happening, for us, ordinary folks, new ways will emerge. The one I see is in building human relationships – something we have to relearn especially after the covid times. I am focused on that. Who do I know? Who I can lean on? Who can help me? As an introvert, I struggle with this. Internet was a lot easier for me, impersonal, nameless. Now I am forced to think, o.k. can I create something that serves my community and is based on human relationships. It took me a lot of thinking. For me, it is the education path and I am adding it to my side hassles. For others, it can be something else.
In comparison to my posts from all previous years, this one might sound a bit gloomy. But I am still optimistic. Let’s make it a great year, wishing you all the success, you deserve 🙂
It is simple. There is so much content nowadays. Most of it is AI or hybrid AI. Yes,
I hopped on the train, too, and I am using AI services where I can—when writing emails, instructions for students, or presentation slides. My approach is very utilitarian. Do I enjoy AI-generated content? Some, yes. I do occasionally watch a video or two just to see what AI can generate. Do I subscribe to accounts like that? No. Why should I? There is very little motivation for me as an individual. Some accounts try to be more personal and present some story-telling but I cannot relate to them.
And here I am getting to the point. If you want to be successful and build your tribe these days, you cannot generate just empty articles full of fluff. I could also create this post with AI but chose not to. I rather struggle through the words to present my own ideas and experiences – because this was always my intention on this blog.
So how do we survive all this? Being authentic, presenting life-based experience, real stories, wins, and struggles of daily life. And by being small (or smallish). I have always advocated for small creators because they are genuine and relatable – and I trust them. So if you are one of them, please don’t give up. I can tell you that I am genuinely happy to see those on my feed and eagerly click on them.
So don’t give up dear friends and keep on creating 🙂
Last week I put together the most popular niches on WordPress. It was a revelation for me. I thought that I would be able to guess them – and I failed.
Today, I am looking into my own niches and themes just to see what actually resonated the most with my audience over the years. Well, I was almost always interested in health and food. When I started the blog, it was a golden era of blogging when the main purpose of blogging was sharing your own experiences and advice based on those. So I shared anything that worked for me in the hope that there is someone somewhere who will be helped. Those posts got very few views and they did not make it to my top 3.
Another type of post was sharing posts – I have shared my mum’s journey, her struggle with breast cancer, and her victory. Yes, it was more for me than for anyone else. I was thinking about deleting those, especially when I learned about the EAT policy of Google. I knew that those posts would hardly be seen. And they were.
The last type of posts got the most response. And those were about my struggle to leave wage slavery and to become a solopreneur (or simply a one-person business). Not necessarily a millionaire but a person who is in charge of his own time, a person without a boss, the person who does what he loves and is interested in, the person who retires early, travels the world, enjoys time with his family, has enough time for friends, can play with pets endlessly, can spend a whole just reading…utopia right? Well, those posts got the most views and likes. So there are more people like me! Great 🙂 Let’s dream together, no, better than that – let’s get there together!
Most likes received: Keeping Everything in One Place (themes: long-term goal setting for a one-person business, platforms, social media, self-growth)
Second place goes to: Q4, the moment of truth. I think this is one of my weakest posts, but the title is catchy, and people are always curious – how much did you earn and how you did that. If you can share that, I am sure you can drive more traffic purely based on this. (themes: earnings, Q4)
Last but not least: Where to put your energy. This one is an interesting one. The title is very vague. It can be anything, right? In terms of the content, I regard this one to be a better one. It has some research and data, not just my opinions or feelings. It shows me that quality is better than just a lazy post. (themes: large selling platforms for small businesses, print on demand, Etsy)
and a consolation prize: Provide value and you will be rewarded. I could not help myself and include this 🙂 It is a very short post, more emotional than other posts. Reassuring myself that what I believe in is actually true. It did resonate with others and I am happy about it. This is what I believe social media should also be about – resonating, supporting each other, and upholding values. Yes, I am preachy sometimes…(themes: sharing emotions, feelings and hopes with others, moral values, vulnerability, resonating with others)
So, to conclude this post. The themes that interest me most and I think are helpful, did not gain any traction in the long run. The themes that were more about what I do, backed with some data and emotions, resonated the most.
I would say if something is working for you – double down on that. That is what I am doing from now on, and you can catch up with me in another three years to see, whether it worked for me or not 🙂
Have a great summer, dear friends, and don’t give up!
And to add to this a little side note. I do not like to bother people with my e-mails but there was a time when WordPress would send out emails every time you posted something. From the image below you can see what topic was most liked by my readers.
Update 2026 – Yes, I still stand behind this post. It is one of the most visited on my site. It goes to show that people are interested in reading this. If you are looking for a good topic, this is a great one. Showing your own mistakes and mishaps to others so they do not have to make them. Another topic that is popular on my blog is anything to do with toxic people. I wrote that one just randomly, and did not want to make the whole blog about it, but it is a topic that many find interesting. The third topic that is evergreen is health. Always get a visit on those posts. Anyway, wishing you good luck, and definitely learn from my mistakes 🙂
I have done a little research for myself but then I have decided to share. I looked into different niche sites on WordPress and made a guess – which niche is going to be saturated and which niche is not that saturated? Well, I was completely wrong. I have put the real number of sites in the brackets. My guess (based on the WordPress tags that were offered) was as follows:
1. Self-improvement (15k sites)
2. Fitness (47k sites)
3. Mental Health (84k sites)
4. Recipes (84k sites)
5. DIY (29k sites)
And now the real numbers according to the highest number of sites:
Blogging (949k sites)
Arts (514k sites)
Books (235k sites)
Beauty (219k sites)
Adventure (199k sites)
Are you surprised by this? And what do these numbers mean? Are you in the right “niche”? Or are you simply not bothered 🙂
Have a great summer, dear friends! And make it a productive one 🙂
This is a very short post. You might know that Pinterest is one of the few media that is working for me. If you ask me how? I would say – it was the volume and unique look combo. It took a long time to convince the algorithm and I did not see real traction for over a year. But now, something has changed. It might have to do with AI. The more people are using it the harder it is to post, actually, on my analytics breakdown a strange pattern has appeared. Every time I posted, my reach went down. As if I was punished for publishing. When I started to publish less, the analytics stabilized somewhat and a new pattern emerged. Low reach on weekends and higher on work days. I suppose it makes sense. More people are on Pinterest when at work rather than on the weekend. You can see the pattern below. If you are getting frustrated, try to post it more. Chance is, that you are mistaken for an AI and prevented from being seen. So post less but go for high value/content. I am not using AI on my pins, so I felt that it is unfair to limit me – but hey, we all know that the algorithm has the final arbiter.
Have a great spring dear friends, and stay creative 🙂
This is a different post and an experimental one. When I started this blog I used to recommend products that were great for me or my mum. I loved them purely because they delivered what they promised. At that time there were plenty of blogs doing this and they were NOT affiliate blogs.
Times have changed and most of the pages on Google – at least the first two will have some kind of affiliate link to them. My blog is tiny to make it to any affiliate and the products I will mention are too cheap to make big bucks. But they did make a huge difference to me.
The first one is about a matted coat. Oh my god. How many tears I cried that I could not prevent matting on my darling cat. Usually, I had to cut the matted coat at the end or ask the nurse at my vet to help me. I felt so useless and inadequate when they had to help me and asked me: “Why did you choose this kind of cat? She is so demanding and will need this type of grooming for the rest of her life?”
Well, the truth is. She is a rescue. She chose us and we could not say no. So what is the magic product that helped me? It looks like a simple brush but it is not. It gets the matted clumps out so well. Use it as a normal brush, be gentle of course but this time you don’t have to stress. My cat enjoys it!
The second product is more for me but it is about the cat’s hair again. I have been getting lots of her hair on our bedding blankets. Yes, I have used the old lint roller but it did not do the job so well. Now I finally have something that helps me to scoop the hair and have the blankets clean. A photo is below. There is something I need to say though – it is more labour intensive, you do get the hair off but little by little. Also, I have tried it on my blanket covers that I bought in IKEA, these are fairly cheap and cheerful fabrics and I don’t mind them being damaged. I would not use it on an expensive fabric and the teeth are fairly aggressive when scooping and might damage more delicate material.
So here you have it. Two products that changed my life (and my cat’s), too. Enjoy them as much as I do and they just cost a few dollars.
P.S. Of course, this post is for cat/dog lovers but for my regular readers who are petless a little explanation. Yes, I do want to help cat owners but I am also testing something. I want to know if this post will get picked up and if there is something to the “affiliate” concept or not. Is it worth it for someone who has a small blog and is just promoting products from daily life? I will let you know the results or you can keep on checking this post as time goes. I do not have high hopes as I am not using any SEO strategy or anything like that. Anyway let’s see, shall we?
Have a great spring, dear friends 🙂
Two products – one has a link and one does not because I can’t remember where I got it from.
You don't have to read this 