Month in Review – February ’11

Goodbye February!

Month number 2 of concentrated, deliberate blogging is in the books. What an awesome month this was for Ben Sayin’ and the community surrounding it. I’ve made a ton of new friends, kept a consistent group of core buds that I absolutely admire for sharing their walks, and… I also accomplished 1 goal I thought was going to take until April, or even June to achieve.

Also, the announcement that we were going to pursue adoption was kind of a big deal for us.

I thought I’d just put changes here from now on, that way there’s not too much repetitive material, besides you can see the complete list here.

So here’s the breakdown of the goals that I knocked out, for month # 2:

1) Publish at least 3 well-written posts a week. ~~I’d like to get a post # like Jon has on his site.~~

Ok so I decided to scrap the post # thing for now, strikeout shown.

4) Start a campaign for charity, or raise money for something great. Water, Goats, or GlobalX anybody?

Since we had our first meeting with our GlobalX team, you’ll notice a logo on the top right corner of this blog that will direct you to that post.

5) Become a Tentblogger, and earn at least $1 by July 1st

BOOM! Thank you affiliate link, and all of the people who have bought Standard Theme off of here. This was definitely a stroke of luck, as I have not even started advertising (I’m a little ways before I even do so). Still, pretty awesome I can cross this off the list.

9) Have 100 subscribers

Added 10 more this month making it a total of 29 subscribed through feedburner. This is good because the first 19 included my family, including all of their pets.

10) Respond to as many, if not all of your comments, all 5 to 10′s of you.

Still par for the course. What can I say, I love conversation!

How about new goals? Here’s a couple that I have added:

14) Create a Fun Disclosure Policy.

15) Start an adoption fund of some sort, preferably through a non-profit.

Here are the 5 most popular posts of the month:

Here are a few of my favorites outside of Ben Sayin’:

Moe over at BetaChristian.net. This dude is solid, and I’ve had the privilege to get to know him better through twitter and via his comments on blogs. Seriously, a great guy to have on your side.

I’ve already mentioned KC, but his Fatherhood is Not for Sissies is definitely a favorite for the month. Go peep it.

Jen, who is the wife of Dustin wrote a great 2 part series about the battle for our children. Seriously, go read it. Now.

JD over at jdeddins.com just launched the redesign of his new site using Standard Theme, awesome read about Tackling Taboo Topics.

Alex. He’s going to Africa, and he’s hands-down the best High School co-leader anybody could ever ask for.

Although I’d love to point out more, I seriously could go on and on and this post would last forever. Good thing there’s next month!

For those of you who had monthly goals (blogging or otherwise), how did you do?

29 responses to Month in Review – February ’11

Moe March 1, 2011 at 12:23 pm

I really enjoy your month in review posts. I’m glad you are making progress on those cool goals.

Thanks for the shout-out. I appreciate it.

*I can’t wait for the fun disclosure policy. I’m already giggling like a little girl. 🙂

- Ben March 1, 2011 at 12:32 pm
  
  Absolutely Moe. Besides, I wouldn’t give an undeserved shout-out 🙂
  
  Do you have a disclosure policy?
  
  - Moe March 1, 2011 at 2:03 pm
    
    Not yet, It’s on the “to do list” way after, remove ingrown toe nail. I’ll get there.
    
    - Ben March 1, 2011 at 2:42 pm
      
      nice.
      
JD Eddins March 1, 2011 at 12:28 pm

Thanks for the shout out Ben. It’s great to see that you are making some good progress on your goals for the blog.

- Ben March 1, 2011 at 12:35 pm
  
  Absolutely man, thanks to a certain somebody who rhymes with shmay schmee shmeddins who was one of the ones that helped achieve that goal 😉
  
dustin March 1, 2011 at 12:52 pm

I LOL’d at the “including all their pets” comment. Hilarious. (My Feedburner count I’m sure is inflated like that, just the same)

You rock, Ben!

- Ben March 1, 2011 at 1:06 pm
  
  My feedburner’s been doing some weird things lately, like this weekend it didn’t send anything to readers until monday. The heck.
  
  - Donald Borsch Jr March 2, 2011 at 12:26 am
    
    Feedburner? Um,…what is that, exactly? Shoot me an email, will ya? T’anks.
    
    - Ben March 2, 2011 at 12:29 am
      
      dun.
      
- Tony Alicea March 1, 2011 at 1:44 pm
  
  Clearly I’ve missed this boat. I need to get my family’s pets to subscribe to my RSS feed!
  
Nathan March 1, 2011 at 12:57 pm

Ben, so glad I stumbled on your blog last month – you’re an outstanding guy with a huge heart. Thanks for adding to my blog too, I’ve really appreciated your comments.

My goal last month was to redesign my blog and have a point to it all, and start generating a sense of community. Didn’t know if I’d manage any of those this time last month, but I did, thanks to guys like you, Dustin & Moe. 😉

- Ben March 1, 2011 at 1:09 pm
  
  Thanks Nathan, your stuff’s been awesome to read as well, and that video of your boy laughing… Love it!
  
Tony Alicea March 1, 2011 at 1:45 pm

I love how Saddington says “that which is celebrated is repeated”. There’s nothing better than reviewing the goals you made and getting motivation for the ones you missed. Good stuff brother man! Looking forward to seeing your influence grow.

- Ben March 1, 2011 at 4:14 pm
  
  Thanks Tony, I enjoy reviewing the goals too, as it puts things in perspective,and also provides a pretty cool source of encouragement.
  
Adam March 1, 2011 at 5:38 pm

Congrats Ben. I am going to do a site review of my blog tonight,and work on this months goals.
Your monthly reviews rock!

- Ben March 1, 2011 at 5:46 pm
  
  Thanks Adam! I like the new “look,” gave me an idea for a short post, maybe…
  
seekingpastor March 1, 2011 at 6:47 pm

Well, all of my wife’s goats are still alive–so my goals aren’t going very well.

- Allen March 1, 2011 at 9:30 pm
  
  watch out! I used to raise goats 🙂 My daughter was smaller at the time, and she had the whole heard named. It was priceless. They were super low maintenance and did an outstanding job of pasture management.
  
  As far as goals for my blog. I um, well, um, I try to post when I can think of something to write about…hmmm
  
  -Peace
  
  - Ben March 1, 2011 at 9:38 pm
    
    That’s kind of how I started back in 2008, and I noticed I wasn’t really getting the most out of the social aspect of it all. Once I plotted out goals, I’ve felt really encouraged to write more.
    
    By the way, did you know Andrew (from GlobalX team) started his blog? Check it: http://www.droodat.com
    
- Ben March 1, 2011 at 9:36 pm
  
  Three words: You. Never. Disappoint.
  
  LOL
  
Alex March 1, 2011 at 10:31 pm

Thanks for the shout out Ben, inspired me to finally make time for a post ive been thinking about since this weekend. Should be up tonight. BTW your the best “high school” co leader ever.

- Ben March 1, 2011 at 10:36 pm
  
  Awesome, can’t wait to read it!
  
  LOL Well, according to one of the Mom’s I do look like I’m a sophomore. I’m guessing she didn’t have her contacts in…
  
ThatGuyKC March 1, 2011 at 11:04 pm

Thank you for the shout out Ben. It’s been fun to share the blogging journey together with a group of “core buds”.

Congrats on reaching some goals and recalibrating others. I like the idea of highlighting stuff at the end of the month. Going to give it a go the end of March.

Godspeed.

- Ben March 2, 2011 at 12:29 am
  
  Absolutely man, and thanks for the congrats. Looking forward to your end-of-march post!
  
Sandy Sandmeyer March 2, 2011 at 7:03 am

CONGRATULATIONS! Hitting goals, esp. the ones ahead of time, are great things. I’m so glad to be a reader and so blessed by your words.

- Ben March 2, 2011 at 10:44 am
  
  Thanks Sandy, I’m glad you feel that way. I hope to continue for the month of March 🙂
  
Marti March 2, 2011 at 11:15 am

Pets….oh man I forgot to add Max and Maggie! Great goals, keep them coming.

- Ben March 2, 2011 at 11:19 am
  
  Yes, Two more!!! Well, since they’re toy poodles they actually just count as half-dogs, so I’ll just count it as one.