Effective Faith – 1 Year in

Actually, it is 11 months ago that I registered the domain and a week after that the site went live.  So, Effective Faith is not 1 year old as yet. But I am beginning to start reflecting on Effective Faith – 1 year in so I wanted to share some of this.

This past year, I only had basic objectives.  They were effectively start and get consistent.  

In terms of ‘start’ the main ones being:

1. Launch Effective Faith as a blog
2. Launch Effective Faith Website
3. Launch a Podcast
4. Launch a YouTube channel

These were the top tier goals.  I achieved them all.

1. The Blog was already running but I got far more serious with it in 2023.  This year I have published 78 posts.
2. My website, Effecitvefaith.org launched on 6th January 2023 and I have posted on it almost weekly since then.  Some weeks I did not owing to a crisis beyond my control or a decision not to due to holiday.
3. The podcast launched a week later, with the first episode going live on 11th January.  Since then I have released 25 episodes, dealt with  3 listener questions and had over 1,100 listens in total.
4. The YouTube channel launched on 17th Feb 2023.  I’ve published 30 videos now and have 547 subscribers.  My most viewed video has 5,965 views and in total I have had over 33,600 views of all the videos on there.

But really, those goals only equate to getting started.  What about consistency?

My aim here was more to do with process.  I wanted to produce one of everything every single week (a blog post, podcast and video) allowing room to post anything on top of that, if I had an idea or a desire to.  

The aim was to come up with a process that enabled this.  Even if this involved having multiple things in multiple states and all on the go at once.  This isn’t as complex as it sounds.  It might mean I have a planning slot on Monday where I map out plans for a few videos and then a writing slot on Tuesday where I write a blog or two etc.

I have tried a lot of different approaches to planning how to achieve this.  To be honest I was starting to get the hang of it but a new job started in August, which requires a significant amount of time and focus above what it normally might in this early stage.  My time for Effective Faith has been cut down significantly.  I haven’t managed to come up with a system.

Then I started trying to write something every day throughout November & December and this has been good, but not without its problems.  (I find the content I can produce with this approach seems to get more views but to me is far less significant material)

Where to from here?

So the questions becomes, where to from here.  I got started in 2023 and have been consistent enough that I am still going.

Well, as I had two goals in 2023, I have two big goals in 2024.

1. Nail down a system for consistent production, even if this means producing less content overall
2. Give more focus to publicity and reaching a larger audience.

With goal 1, I am breaking this down into 3 sections.

First, I need to figure what I am wanting to achieve with each strand of content production.  Does it have value?  Do I want to continue this strand or press pause on this for 2024?  If I am continuing, how will I develop and improve it?

Second, I need to create a clear schedule for planning, writing, filming, editing etc.  I need to be clear on how long these will take.  I need to work out a plan for what slots I can realistically give to this in an average week, with a large ladleful of intentionality and discipline to give time to something if it matters.

Then I need to work at the discipline needed to follow that schedule unless it is impossible to do so.  This is hard for me to do as I don’t like stopping things if I have not finished and see an end in sight.  This isn’t wholly bad, but it has meant that frequently the slots I have allocated for content creation have come and gone whilst I have continued with something else.

As I think about reaching a larger audience, I am crystal clear that I am not building an audience for the sake of having one.  And yes, I would include in this the idea of building an audience so you can monetise it (depending on what your strategy and aim here is).

I genuinely believe that there is a problem with our approach to work and life.  The digital age has opened up challenges that we are not yet equipped for.  Some of the solutions I see people opting for are bad ones.   Others are good.  I genuinely believe that the gospel has a lot to contribute to our thinking about all of this.

I kind of see the bulk of what I am trying to be raising awareness.  Both of the problems there are but also of the good material and ideas that are out there for dealing with some of it.  I also want to share my own experiences and wisdom.

Note, I carefully opted to use the phrase ‘reaching a larger audience’ rather than the more common ‘building an audience’.

I’m not building an audience of my own but I do want to get my content in front of more and more people in the hope that some of them who see it will benefit.  The more who see it, the more who benefit.  That’s the idea.

What do I hope to do in 2024?

I enjoy writing.  It isn’t something I want to stop.  I plan to continue writing every day into 2024  but I won’t get het up about this.  Most likely I won’t publish everyday.  I really like the idea of what Jonathan Edwards used to do was to spend time every day writing down his thoughts and study notes into various miscellanies.  He would then draw on this material for sermons and books.  I plan to do something similar.  Writing down my ideas and thoughts and all the things I am learning to draw on it for future content and future projects.

Therefore, with the blog, I will likely move back towards having one main post each week and then post 2 or 3 or 4 etc smaller posts through the week as I write things.

These musings that I am writing day to day will form my posts for E|F Muses on…. my newsletter, which I will aim to get more consistent in publishing weekly.

Podcast and YouTube.

I love doing this and do not plan to stop but I need to work out how best to approach them.  The podcast has not gained a lot of traction really.  The YouTube channel has actually done alright for a first year.

I need to work out what I actually have capacity for here.  I plan to post something at least once a week but the details I am giving a lot of thought to.

The main thing I plan to do differently in 2024 is to try and be disciplined in allocating time and using snatches of time for reading and watching.  This past year I have been really bad at this for a number of reasons.  The idea here is increase the input I receive which is essential to help me consider what output to create.

In terms of reaching a larger audience, the key I am told is to engage more on public platforms,  Indeed, when I have done this in the past, I tend to get more people coming to my website, watching videos and reading the blog.

All this takes time.   Time is at a premium these days and there are plenty of other vitally important things that I need to be allocating time to.  I sometimes wonder if I have taken on too much.  Perhaps I have.  Perhaps I need to listen to my own advice more.  This is undoubtedly true and as I plan 2024 in more detail, I will be considering this side of things carefully.

Nothing that we do comes without the cost of things we did not do instead.

But, at the same time, I would rather try and fail, than not try because it might not be feasible. And that is Effective Faith – 1 year in.

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