Two Important Things About This Site!

1) I love you guys, so I try to keep this site ad-free. That means the only revenue generated comes from the occasional Amazon affiliate link to a product I am endorsing, or via e-book sales.

So do me a favor!

If you find value in my ramblings, if you are picking up what I am laying down, then consider one of the following (or both!):

• Doing your Amazon shopping using our link
• Picking up a copy of The Heroes’ Transformation Guide

Either way, it would be greatly appreciated and a sign that you appreciate all the hard work into the site!

2) I think I am going to be a little less strict with the publishing schedule. While releasing an epic article every Friday has worked out pretty well, I think I want to try something new.

What’s Happening With the Posting Schedule?

Throwback image time!

Let me break this down…

When I started The Jerd I wanted to put out two articles a week.

Everyone told me that the key to winning on the Internet was frequent, short posts with viral-worthy headlines.

The problem was, those weren’t the type of articles that I A) enjoyed reading or B) thought would be of any real value to people who honestly were looking for a way to positively change their lives.

So I decided on two articles a week as a happy medium, one short and one long one.

It sounded like a reasonable plan. Two posts a week would be a little challenging, but for a brand new blog, I figured a consistent schedule would be key to attracting readers.

It seemed to work for a while.

But I was never satisfied with the shorter articles (unless they were healthy recipes,) I always felt like I was short-changing my readers. So changed my focus, shifted to a once-a-week model, and started writing really long posts.

I wanted to be thorough, examine topics from several angles, and challenge not only the readers but myself as well.

So problem solved, right?

Not so fast!

I have found that life continues to conspire against me, tossing up roadblocks everywhere (one of the reasons our YouTube channel has been pretty barren for the last 6 months,) and causing me a lot of stress trying to make sure I have a meaty article ready every Friday for you guys.

I find myself in a weekly battle with my self…

Let me back up a few steps.

Here is the process I go through every week:

• I rack my brains for a topic I haven’t covered (or a new angle for an older topic)
• I outline the subject and try to find a way to break it into 4-5 chunks
• I search for fun and nerdy, creative commons, images
• I get irritated that I can’t find images I like, so I start writing
• I draft the first cut of the 2000-2500 words I want to say on the subject
• I spend a few more hours searching for images to use
• I take a second pass at the article, finding 360 of the 379 spelling and grammar mistakes and fixing them.

So I’ve found myself in a constant battle every week, stressing out I will not be ready to publish come Friday morning.

It’s me versus my own personal trinity of super-villains.

Dr. Reality, Captain Perfection, and the Guilt-Monster.

Every week the same thing happens; Dr. Reality, Captain Perfection, and the Guilt-Monster all team up and conspire to not only make posts take longer to post than they should, but also increase my stress levels at the same time.

Those jackholes, and their mascot the If-You-Don’t-Post More-Your-Readers-Will-Leave-Forever Monkey, keep screaming at me, “You are a failure if you miss another deadline — you suck!”

So yeah, that’s the vortex of over-commited, perfectionist crazy that happens in my skull on the regular.

If one-day there are enough people buying my sweet e-books then I can kick my day job to the curb and focus 100% on researching and writing epic content; but alas that isn’t the case right now… (but it could be, so buy some books dammit!)

So I have decided that my posts are going to happen on the “ish“.

Could be Friday-ish… could be Wednesday-ish. Could be whenever-ish.

For my own sanity, I am not going to commit!

Some posts flow from the keyboard easily, and some are beasts that require lots of research and end up being 2-3 week projects.

I want to devote the time that the topic deserves, and not shortchange you the reader by shoe-horning it in one week.

So in a nutshell, here’s what’s happening:

• No more feeling guilty if a thorough posts takes more than a week.
• If the mood, or topic, strikes I won’t shy away from a short article that I think will be useful.
• I am going to endeavor to share more helpful article/videos from other sites on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter in-between posts.

No more putting myself into a rigid box when choosing topics or writing posts!

It’s time for a change.

So posting will happen sometimes. It will be erratic at times; sometimes with 3-4 days in between posts, sometimes a week or two, but I don’t expect the overall level of productivity or information to decrease at all.

And remember, this is a test.

If it works well and solves problems, awesome! I’ll keep it. If it causes different problems, or if readership falls, I’ll change things up again.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this is my roundabout way of apologizing for the lack of predictability; I figured the least I could do is pull back the curtain a bit for the readers who really care so they aren’t checking the site each week, not knowing what to expect.

Two final thoughts:

1) I love your feedback – Your emails, comments, questions and tweets make my day (even when I can’t respond)! I consider this site a relationship between you and me; and as we all hopefully know, communication is the key to a solid relationship! So please… tell me what you like, tell me what you more of, tell me if there is a topic you want covered, tell me how I can help you achieve your goals! Oh yeah, and don’t be afraid to tell me what you don’t like. I’m a big boy, I can take it!

2) If you don’t want to miss an article, sign up for the email list – I don’t send emails very often—at most it is once a week, and it’s almost always to send you the new post after it goes up.

PS: In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I want you to get your free e-book, “The 7 Fitness Obstacles Newbies Face” by subscribing to our newsletter… no spam, I promise!

PPS: If you want to really kick start your fitness transformation, and support the site, then make sure to get your copy of “The Heroes’ Transformation Guide“ and let me help you go from geek to real-life superhero. Don’t wait!