Reflecting and Assessing
So as I’m reflecting on the state of our family company of brands there are two clear lines of thought:
I need to redirect more focus to our monetizing sites for awhile.
I am grateful for my husband and life partner, Coleman’s undying support, encouragement and patience as I’ve pursued my iCD passion, but I’m neglecting our family brands and that is not sustainable.
I can’t not do iCD too, but I will need to do less for now.
To say that pings my solar plexus, for I feel as if I’ve done so little compared to my vision of growth and service for this group and work. But, I also very much believe in long term thinking and committing for the long haul, and that is what I’ve done and shall continue doing.
The main difference is that I won’t be working daily on the iCD website content which means that the daily emails will mainly be a daily meme (quote and image) rather than an article.
And I shall continue to incubate on this thought that I regularly ask myself:
How can I best serve and grow the iCreateDaily community?
iCD is slowly growing. Our website traffic is at about 14,000 visitors / month.
However, in the world of successful blogs, that’s on the low side, especially when you consider that a portion of those visitors are actually content curators and scrapers searching for quotes, memes and content they can curate and reword to publish elsewhere. Sometimes they use the actual content properly cited, which is great and helpful for traffic growth. Other times they re-spin it with enough changes to make it "original".
Anyway, (back on track from that little industry side note), in terms of the growth of the iCreateDaily group, that is also low and the majority of members seldom (if ever) chime in.
However, it’s not unusual for many groups for just a tiny fraction of members to post and comment regularly. In many ways that's good because often it’s that they’re busy creating and living their lives. The deficit is that we don’t get to know them and see their work, interests and aspirations.
Vision Questing
So I’m on an iCreateDaily Vision Quest… a quieter period of reflection, meditation, inner ponderings and outer feedback. Your thoughts and needs are integral to that.
Part of it is defining what iCreateDaily is about. Even Google has a hard time honing in on just what we stand for. Ie., “Creativity” is not a niche.
iCreateDaily is a brand for creators (anyone creating anything). We have many visual artists due to the Creative Challenges we’ve hosted in the past, and some crafters, photographers and writers, in about that order of most to least.
When we first created iCD it’s because we love creating and supporting and associating with other creators. But at the stage of being in the steep uphill ascent to our own success as a creative brand, I’m not yet qualified to teach others how to succeed in earning a living as a creator.
So for now, without the time to host new challenges and without more “how to succeed as a creator” offerings, I’m on a quest to identify how iCreateDaily can best serve YOU.
I’m grateful to have an outlet for my own creative writing and philosophical personal development passion. I can continue doing that from the website and growing the traffic that ends up supporting that. However, that’s not as personal and connected our group of creators is and can be more so as it grows, (and as existing members are better served).
Creators just want to create. Creators must create. It feeds our soul. So what would fuel your creative pursuit?
Judging by how our FB Group, Page and email list aren’t growing and people aren’t flocking to open and read the daily emails, articles and posts, all indications are that I’m falling short of serving the majority of our members.
Almost daily, I awaken with varying degrees of identity crises relative to who and what iCD is for you, and how it/I can best serve you. But as I get ready for the day I apply the things I write about and I move from fear and anxiety through gratitude and into joy. The more I exercise those mind-body tools, the better and faster they work.
It’s 100% true that all the positive, motivational things I write about incessantly are because they’ve shaped and saved my life many times over, and even now, often daily.
Periodically along the way as I’ve been tussling with these things some of you have messaged or commented spontaneously to share gratitude at how I’ve helped you and what iCreateDaily means for you. Often, these have come at the perfect time to give me a hand up back into my vision, as if to confirm that this work is indeed needed, has a place and will find its way into greater service.
When the time comes, I know how to again focus on growing the brand, and it’s relevant to you growing yours as well, should you wish to. It begins with very targeted Facebook ads. But to target the right folks is a tricky thing for our group, because once again, “creators” is not a niche, it’s more of a globe! 🤓
So Where Do We Go From Here?
PASSAGE - ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.
~Lewis Carroll, author-Alice in Wonderland, 1832-1898
