Happy Monday y’all! Now that I’m actually back at work, I’m totally remembering the value of a weekend. I was lucky enough to fill my Saturday with CrossFit and rock climbing, and head out for beers and friends on Sunday. Not too shabby!
I also took the time last night to sit down and analyze the results of my survey on Friday. For those of you that haven’t taken it, don’t worry – it’s still open and I’d love to receive more responses. However, for those that filled it out, thank you! I was fortunate enough to get a couple hundred responses, and I read through each and every one. Some answer were informative and helpful, some made me crack up with laughter, and others left me in a bit of a quandary. Let’s discuss, shall we?
(And for the record, the survey is completely anonymous, except for the few of you that chose to identify yourself.)
What do you like most about my blog?
Hands down, y’all clearly like hearing about my outdoor adventures! In fact, 92% of you said that was your favorite part of my blog, which made me totally happy. I guessed it would be up there, but I never thought it would almost unanimously be the favorite topic. Luckily, I like to play outside so I’m happy to offer up more outdoor adventures for everyone! (In fact, stay tuned—our Alaskan backpacking adventure is coming together nicely and I have lots of details to share!)
However, not all of the outdoor-related responses were positive:
Out of all the comments I received, this one probably bothered me the most, and for a couple reasons. First of all, I honestly don’t feel that I find myself in too many dangerous situations. My recent snowmobiling debacle is the only one that comes to mind, but in reality, we weren’t in that much trouble. Perhaps I have a different qualification in regards to what is or is not dangerous? Likewise, I don’t feel like I act irresponsibly in the outdoors. In fact, I believe that I am the opposite. I took my Avi course before getting involved in backcountry skiing, I took multiple bike maintenance courses before my bike trip in 2005, and I have taken some entry-level medical courses (CPR, AED, First Aid, etc.) just to be on the safe side. I’m even looking at a Mountaineering School this summer, even though I have years of experience under my belt. I’ve been out of that realm for a few years and realize that my tech skills with pointy objects may be a bit rusty. So, in order to be safe, Will and I are looking at a mountaineering intensive.
Do I participate in outdoor sports that are inherently dangerous? Yes, I do, and I know that. However, there is a reason that neither me or my outdoor partners have ever been seriously injured or harmed: we are careful and take the necessary precautions. I’m 31 years old and I’ve never even broken a bone. As much as I love the outdoors, I am not willing to die for it! Perhaps I don’t convey this enough because of my typical light-hearted style of writing. If that’s the case, then I suppose an apology is in order. However, I am curious about this comment on my survey and I wish I could better understand the thought process behind it. I know this was anonymous, but if the writer is willing to discuss it further, I’d love an email! If not, no worries—I understand that too 🙂
What do you like least about my blog?
For most of y’all, CrossFit seems to be the least favorite topic! However, this one was a bit mixed and the results were hard to interpret. For example, 25% of you said CrossFit was your least favorite but then 23% said it was your favorite. Tricky, tricky. However, a few of you requested tips on how to do CrossFit at home:
Guys, this is something I’m not comfortable with because I am not a certified coach, or even out of the “beginner” category of CrossFit. Even more, I’m not a personal trainer, so in reality, I’m not qualified to be telling anyone what to do! I’m a qualified ski instructor, an experienced dance teacher, and a confident outdoor guide, but that’s about it 🙂
How long have you been reading my blog?
I don’t imagine most of you care about this answer but in case you do, it turns out 40% of you have read my stories for over a year! That made me so happy that so many of you have stuck around for that long. Thanks, friends!
What would you like to see more of on my blog/Any tips for improvement?
Y’all, thank you so much for taking the time to fill these questions out! I wondered if most of you would skip these since they weren’t multiple choice (I know we’ve all done that!), but almost all of you took the time to respond. Seriously, I really appreciate it.
Looking at your answers really made me think. In certain instances, your responses completely canceled each other out. For example, here are two responses I received when I asked what you’d like to see more of:
Kinda funny, huh? These answers actually came through back to back, which is why I noticed them so quickly. For the most part, however, it seems like most of you want to hear more about my personal life. I had a few suggestions for a “day in the life” post…. Would you be interested in that? I’d be happy to write one occasionally! However, on the personal level, I’d like to explain a couple of things.
I realize I don’t talk about my job on the blog a lot, but that is completely intentional. As most of you know, my family owns a landscaping business of which I am the manager. However, I deal with a lot of personnel stuff (i.e. our staff), as well as a litany of other things that come along with a small business. Often times, I don’t mention anything at work because of legalities: I can’t really discuss personnel stuff because they haven’t agreed to that. Plus, I like to respect the privacy of my staff. Even if I don’t mention names (obviously), it’s not very cool for me to tell stories about them online, you know? However, I also do a lot of designs for our company (specifically annuals), and I’m happy to show off some of those if you’re interested.
I also received a couple comments (albeit less than I expected) about all of the free stuff that I receive in regards to paid reviews:
Obviously, comments like this aren’t fun to read but I sincerely appreciate the honest feedback, and I’d like to address as much of it as I can. First of all, I completely understand on the spoiled aspect. In fact, I tend to agree. I do receive a lot of stuff for free and for this, I do feel very spoiled. I may not show it or write about it enough, but I feel so incredibly fortunate to have made the connections that I have made through my blog and my other freelance writing stuff. And sometimes, yes, it is downright absurd to look at how much gear I receive. And for that, I do think that I am spoiled, and I apologize if I don’t express that enough.
However, I disagree that working with multiple companies is disingenuous. In fact, I believe the exact opposite. In my opinion, it is fake when bloggers or writers talk about how they only wear one brand of outdoor clothing (for example). I love Columbia Sportswear and have a great deal of clothing by them, but it would be a complete lie to say that they are my only outdoor gear provider. I love their stuff for more mellow adventures like day hiking, but I use a completely different arsenal of gear when I go on my high alpine mountaineering excursions. Additionally, I play in a lot of different areas: road biking, running, mountain biking, hiking, backpacking, mountaineering, climbing, skiing, snowshoeing…. the list goes on. Each one of those categories taps into at least a dozen different companies, and I’m not going to pretend that I don’t use a lot of them. Actually, feel free to check out my My Gear list to see an insanely old and outdated list of my outdoor gear. Although it’s not updated (at all!), you’ll get a feel for what I’m saying; there are at least two dozen companies listed on there.
Annnnnd last but not least on this topic, the sponsored posts. As ridiculous as this sounds, I’d estimate that I only say yes to a quarter of the opportunities I’m presented with. However, I talked to Will about this the other day, and I definitely agree that the past few months have been insane with product-related posts. I think it all snuck up on me during my off months from work, but I have to uphold my end of the bargain with companies. Fair is far, right? However, I made this realization a month ago and have been shutting it down, so to speak. Does that mean there won’t be any more sponsored posts? Nope. In fact, I have another sponsor-related giveaway this week. However, it does mean that I turned down every single opportunity that I received over the past three weeks. Literally. So while there are a still sponsored posts coming, it will definitely be an infinite fraction of what you have recently seen.
Other than that, I gathered that y’all want lots more of photos and Tally! Naturally, I’m happy to oblige.
Oh, and someone did mention this:
Can’t say that I disagree!
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How do you feel about the personal details questions: would you like to see more or less?
Thoughts on any of the topics I mentioned above?