A Quick Time Out To Say Thank You!

Wow! I didn’t expect this.

If you listen to the podcast, you’ll know that we did our usual lobbying for a Plutus Awards nomination. There was a good reason for this: although I quickly tire of “Who’s the best?” contests on the internet between bloggers (and don’t compete in them anymore), the Plutus Awards dropped like a bomb on our site last year. Our surprise Plutus nomination brought in over 250 new listeners to the podcast. For a show with just over 600 listeners at the time, I think you’ll agree that was a big win.

The Plutus Awards are also different than your run-of-the-mill internet popularity contest. I can’t win a Plutus just by asking you to nominate me. Even nominations themselves are run by a committee to determine whether they believe you were among the most deserving.

That’s why I’m so surprised to see that not only were we again nominated for Best Podcast (last year it was audio/video, this year it’s audio-only), but we were nominated in the Blog of the Year category.
 

 
You’re shocked? Imagine how surprised mom was when we told her that our little fake operation in the basement was nominated as “best” anything.

So, thank you, everyone who voted for Stacking Benjamins. It was an incredibly thrilling day yesterday to find out that we were nominated. There’s no way we’ll win (and I really don’t care if we win…and I’m not just saying that….I think this was more “win” than I could have expected from this little blog). I love the fact that I get to write about money here and I love that people like to read my thoughts on the topic.

What’s Coming

Next year I hope to be more deserving of the “Best” nomination, because we have lots underway here in the basement. What are we working on? Since we’ve already paused the blog for this time out, I might as well share.

Video – I’m working on incorporating video into our stable of formats. For those of you who prefer to watch your financial discussions, we’ll hopefully be rolling that out in the next couple months. I’m learning how to use a program called Screenflow (check out Steve Stewart’s awesome course on the topic here). I have an editor lined up who’s already working on making video #1 less awful….. On that note, I fully expect to stink at video when I start. I have lots of experience in audio. While I’ve done lots of video shoots, I’ve never controlled the camera. That’ll be a whole new world….

Blog – I really want to go to 5 days a week with Stacking Benjamins blog posts. We’ll do this the same way we work the podcast: more discussion about current financial headlines. That means fewer long, thoughtful posts, but I don’t think people come here for that anyway. When will that happen? Hopefully in the next three weeks, but I don’t want to start and then stop later. Once we go five days a week I want to keep it rolling.

Book – I have a white paper finished (some podcast listeners have heard me offer it on other shows. I’m not ready to offer it to the public yet, but when I do, you’ll see it here. That white paper will become an eBook, which will be a portion of my book. The first draft of my financial planning book is finished (65,000 words), but is a long way from being publishable. So I’ll offer smaller bites of it as I edit, then offer it in total….hopefully by this time next year.

Workshops – OG is leading the charge on something we’ve already thrown out here several times: Stacking Benjamins classes. Those will begin as soon as his travel schedule allows.

Podcast – I’m currently working on a premium section of the podcast called The Green Room. It’ll include bonus interviews and content, as well as the entire back catalog of 2 Guys & Your Money and Worst of the Free Financial Advisor episodes. I think we’re a month away from that launch.

Other stuff – We have many tweaks to the podcast that I’d prefer to leave as a surprise. I also want to improve Big Ben’s Store and introduce SB swag (just for fun).

As you can see, we’re really focused on making Stacking Benjamins a place you’ll want to visit often. If there are any improvements to the site you’d like to see, email me or leave a note here. I’m excited about the future!

j.

Photo: Betsy Weber