Editing The Pen Addict 259/transcript (section)

== Hobby Enjoyment ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, you have to have fun while you do this. If sometimes writing, if you think writing a product review is a chore or writing about a certain topic is a chore, it's going to get old pretty quick. You have to really have a passion for it and have fun while you're doing it. You know, impart that fun into what you're writing. you know, to make people smile and find some interesting tidbits of information. Because there were times in the past where I didn't have fun. And you've been involved in that, right? Where I was just overly stressed. And, you know, this was way before Panadict was a business or any of that stuff where just the specter of writing two or three posts a week was no longer fun. and I've had to stop and assess. And the thing I always found out whenever I took a break in the past was that I missed it. And once I realized how much I missed it, then I was able to go full bore into it. But you got to have fun. Like, if you're not having fun, it comes across the page. It comes across in your tweets and your Instagrams. if it's a chore for you, it's going to show and people aren't going to like that. So you got to have fun and be honest. Exactly. Have fun and be honest.

'''Myke Hurley:''' To piggyback on that a little bit, is that if you want to do this, be prepared to do this. It's just a hobby and never to make any money out of it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Absolutely. Right? Because if you're going

'''Myke Hurley:''' into this with the expectation of like, I'll be able to make some money, even a little bit of money, or I'll be able to get free products, then it's going to become a chore

'''Myke Hurley:''' money to go around, right? And it's not necessarily about your talent, but there are opportunities, you know, it's difficult.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, and I don't want to dissuade anyone from doing this. I think you should do it, you should do exactly what Myke says. You have to go into it doing it for yourself and wanting to share and be part of the community. You know, I never intended for this to be my job. It'll be 10 years that the blog started in November this year, and I probably didn't like, make any money like, that was of significance probably for seven or eight years, right? And if just the blog was my job, I wouldn't make enough still to, you know, live, you know, with my family. I would need a regular job if I didn't have the podcast and knock, right? The pen addict will never sustain me and my family on its own. It just never will.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And let's put this into perspective. The pen addict is the biggest one, right? So, like, just bear that in mind. I think so. You know, like, who else? So, like, it's just worth thinking about, like, you know, this is part of what Brad does, and it would be, if you start your own blog, it'll be part of what you do, and the rest of it will be probably what you're currently doing. So, like, just go into this with, like, I'm doing it for me, and I'm doing it to share, and if anybody reads, that's fine. If they don't, then it doesn't matter, right? Like, and it was the same thing for me with podcasting. I just really wanted to do it because I thought it would be a fun way to share my thoughts and experiences with a couple of friends. And then over a couple of years, it kind of got to the point where I was like, now I really am focused on making this a business because I feel like I can do it. But it took years for me to get to that point. And up until that point, I didn't care about busting my butt every day to work like an extra six hours to do the shows because I loved it. And if you don't have that love for it, then it's better for you to not do it, right? Like, if you don't feel like you're going to go and do like this thing that you really want to do, like that you love, then I recommend not trying it because you probably won't get a lot out of it. You won't get out of it what you think, you know?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So Punky said it good in the chat room just now, and I think it's a very good statement, even though, like, I have a business behind me now, I do this because I can't not do it. Like, this is what I do. It is part of me. Yep. I also feel that's why I'm successful at it if I can, you know, people like to say that I have an ego or I'm too big for my britches, but it's because I work hard at it, and I believe this is what I should be doing, so I'm going to keep doing it because I can't not do it, right? I'm at that point where this is my life and I fully believe in it. I'm fully committed to it. I don't do this just to make money. I do this because I have to do it, right? From a mental perspective. Like, I feel this is, it sounds stupid to say, but it feels like this is my calling, right? Ever since I was a little kid. So, I don't know, we got a little meta here, but I just, I have very strong beliefs about what I do, and I'm going to keep doing it because I can't not do it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's a beautiful way to put it. All right, next week we're going back to all pens all the time. We're going to do our top fives. My brother's a top five. I have a top five. We're going to talk about them. This is going to be funny. It's going to be funny. It's going to be funny, and it's going to be interesting. So, if you have any questions for us, you can always tweet with the hashtag AskTPA, and they'll go into a spreadsheet for us, and we can pick them up, and I think we might do some of those over the next couple of weeks. Don't forget about the wiki, stationery.wiki. It continues to grow, and it's a great resource, which is only going to get better over time, but it needs your involvement. If you're interested, go ahead, take a look at what's there, and start filling some stuff out. And we have the subreddit as well, reddit.com slash r slash penaddict. You can find Brad online. He is over at penaddict.com, not dot co. He's dowdyism on Twitter, penaddict on Instagram. I am imike, I-M-Y-K-E. Our show notes for today are at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 259, and I'd like to thank Harry's for their support of this show. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]