Hello,

As the editor of Plenty of Time, Money and Love, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in this website.  My name is Dave, and I prefer to remain anonymous.

No, I’m not asking for money.  I just think it’s about time to address this audience personally, to report how things are going. Consider this post the blog’s own Visions exercise for the year ahead.

If you prefer, please feel free to ignore the rest of  this post and go on to the post for today, about the importance of  embracing your visions.  I hope you enjoy it.

Ok, now, I’ll assume the rest of you are at least a little curious  about how this all evolved, and where it’s going, so here it goes…

One Year Anniversary
I started this site a little over a year ago,on December 31, 2013, to give daily meditations to DA members and others interested in recovery from compulsive debting and staying solvent.   The program is near and dear to my heart, and the stories are all inspired by things I’ve heard in the rooms and read in the DA and related literature.

Here are some of the accomplishments in the last year:

• 150 hits per month.
• 30 subscribers
• costs of $19.95/month for email subscriptions
• $49.95/year for SiteLock Security monitoring.
• Hosting is about $3/month, in a shared environment.
• After a month of affiliate marketing through Amazon Associates program via book links, we have achieved out first $5 of affiliate income (I think I will have the first check framed – no just kidding, I’ll cash it!)
• Facebook: We had an issue with the Facebook posts not coming thru, but thankfully that was finally resolved today.  Of course, we have few Likes or Friends in Facebook, probably due to the anonymity issues.  More on that later.
• Twitter: We have been tweeting each post for about four months and will continue.  It’s a good outreach.
• Google Plus:  We are on it.
• A couple of people have unsubscribed from emails. One said they didn’t like to have to click the link to the website to read the full version of the post. This person didn’t know that they could use the RSS feed to get emailed the full version.  The other person said they were receiving too many emails.  I get that.  I’ve received many emails myself, and can appreciate de-cluttering one’s in box!
• We have a steady 30 to 50 percent open rate, meaning of the thirty people who subscribe to the email, almost half open the email. Of those 12 say, about 5 read the site consistently.  I don’t think non-subscribers are reading the blog all that often yet.
• We’ve posted about 250 days out of a goal of 366 (to make it a full year of posts plus leap year!)
• But the most important thing is that we have no debt!

Goals for the year ahead:

• Survey our subscribers:  I intend to send a two-minute Survey to our subscribers shortly to get your personal feedback on this site.  It will help me improve the site.
• Improved artwork:  I really focused on the text, but I think it needs some sprucing up.  I’m hoping to design some cool graphics.  Plus I will be adding book images to the Amazon affiliate links in posts soon.
• Create more links to organizations and people willing to link back to this site.
• Create more resources (e.g., sample moratorium letters, expense sheets, Fourth Step inventory guides, links to third-party books, etc.)
• Create and sell Ebooks related to the Steps, Tools, and more.  (Please email me if you are interested in pre-ordering!)
• Seventy new subscribers (for a total of 100 subscribers)
•  Retain the subscribers we have, giving them more and more reasons to stay as time goes on.
• Make the site self-sustaining so that it can live on and grow on its own.
• Continue to refine and find the ideal balance between DA to non-DA material
• Continue as always to respect the Twelve Traditions of Debtors Anonymous.

Challenges we face:

• Anonymity: Plain and simple, people who are in anonymous programs feel it best if they do not share about this site on Facebook or twitter.  I’ve frankly not sure if there is any way around this, and I would love to hear your ideas on this.
• Getting known:  This is related to the above.  It’s hard to get known thru back links when users don’t feel comfortable linking because it would potentially break their anonymity.
• Audience participation: Even though people can participate anonymously on the site by creating a site account, they hesitate.  I want to assuage any fears and build trust in this area over the next year so that everyone feels comfortable and trusting that this is a place for free exchange of ideas.

In Conclusion:
As each of our emails attests, this site is a “labor of love”.  Know that I will do everything in my power to earn your trust so that you keep finding value here.  We look forward to exceeding your expectations in the year ahead.

If you have a moment, please send an email to admin@plentyoftimemoneyandlove.com to respond to anything you read in this message and let me know what you like and what you dislike about the blog.  I’d love to hear from you.  Do this whether or not you subscribe already.  I am particularly interested in if it is possible for this site to “be social”, and if you are interested in an EBook of these daily meditations.

Yours in recovery,

Dave

Admin for PlentyofTimeMoneyandLove.com