Blogging as a Single Parent with @DaveTaylor #VCBuzz

Post on by VC Bee

Blogging-as-a-Single-Parent-with-@DaveTaylor-#VCBuzzCombining parenthood with blogging career is a hard work. It’s much harder if you are a single parent! It doesn’t mean you cannot be successful!

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About Dave

Dave has been in the computer industry since 1980 and has been online since before the beginning of the Internet. Dave has created and launched four Internet related startups, the first of which was The Internet Mall. Dave has served on the board of a number of different small companies and have worked with various investment and venture capital firms as a due diligence analyst and even an entrepreneur in residence.

In parallel, Dave learned to write and wrote twenty books, thousands of magazine and newspaper articles. Today he continues to write both online and off.

Now Dave splits his time between free tech support on AskDaveTaylor, fatherhood and parenting discussions on the popular GoFatherhood and film reviews on DaveOnFilm.com site

Questions we discussed

Q1 How and why did you decide to start blogging? What was your first blog? Was it successful?

I started out hosting a bulletin board system for readers of my tech books, because too many emailed me same questions, but a friend suggested I check out this “weblog” thing. I liked it because I owned the main article.

So, I started out with AskDaveTaylor.com and it was just about my books & magazine articles. But then I got more questions from readers and it morphed into a Q&A format. And gained readers. Lots of ’em.

And I just celebrated my 14th anniversary for AskDaveTaylor so, yeah, it’s done pretty well ?

Q2 You manage so many blogs and projects! Have you ever considered consolidating? Why or why not?

Consolidate? Make my life easier? Are you kidding? I’m a parent, life is all about chaos, complexity and the unexpected ?

More seriously, yes, I think about it. The two I look at the most are my parent blog andmy film blog, because it seems logical to merge them at some point. Someday. Maybe. ?

There are trade-offs to consolidating blogs, of course. Focus versus rambling. But easy vs complex. And as my youngest is now almost 13, my Dad blog will eventually evolve into a lifestyle blog too. Under a new URL too.

And as my youngest is now almost 13, my Dad blog will eventually evolve into a lifestyle blog too. Under a new URL too.

Some I monetize, some are a labor of love. AskDaveTaylor has been paying my mortgage for almost 10 years tho! Primary revenue stream for AskDaveTaylor remains Google @AdSense, though it ain’t what it was five years ago.

Q3 What are your favorite blogging tools?

Favorite blogging tools. I’m kind of old school, I don’t really use any separate tools. Just work with WordPress in a browser.

Though I do a lot of photo and image editing, muchly in the wonderful shareware Mac app Graphic Converter.

I think that the heart of blogging remains good writing, so I focus on the writing much more than the plug-ins, etc.

Though I do have a few plug-ins on my sites. I dig @JetPack but I believe too many plug-ins = security problems. Remember, good writing is good writing regardless of presentation format ?

Never too many questions, @WebSuccess. Yes, @JetPack includes lots of great plug-ins, including social ones.

Q4 What’s your single, most powerful piece of advice to a single parent who is looking to start blogging? Where and how to start?

Blogging as a parent is a tricky business. I would encourage any parent to spend time really thinking about privacy first. In particular, at some point your children will be able to read what you wrote. Are you ready for that?

I feel too many parent bloggers are somewhat exhibitionists and their spouse and especially children are the losers in that.

how do YOU draw the line about what’s for public consumption and what you should avoid writing about?

That’s why I try to write about *parenting* not about my children or my experience. For family privacy (and respect).

Heck, when I went through my (ugly, contentious) divorce, I didn’t write a single blog post about it. Too raw.

Yes, @JessyTroy I do monetize my YouTube channel. But it ain’t much. Under $100/month with 50K views/month. FYI.

I also get a rather insane amount of cool gear and devices for review, so that’s a form of monetization too, right?

Q5 Being a single father of three kids, how did you manage to accomplish so much? What are your productivity secrets?

Productivity secrets? Give up sleep. Really, it’s pretty darn handy. ? #MostlyKidding

Actually, I’ve learned to fit work, life, and parenting together like a jigsaw puzzle, so it all fits pretty seamlessly.

I’ll get my youngest to school, then sit at a fave coffee shop and work until school’s out. Drive to a volleyball game…and work at the local @Starbucks while they’re practicing. And prep for the next day’s work late at night!

And as a blogger? Learn how to type fast and learn how to write fast. Take classes. Read books on writing.

… Or, heck, just take the “think” part out of the equation entirely. Oh, then you’re buzzfeed ? #snark

Working as a senior editor at a national computer mag helped me learn how to write really fast too. Deadlines & no copy!

And one more thought: Love what you do. Love writing. Love sharing. And let that come out too. Makes it all much more fun.

Our previous blogging chats:

 

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