I’m not an expert, I’m just a guy. Sure, I’ve done some cool things with points and miles, and yes, my finances have some neat things attached to them, but I’m not an expert. In fact, while I find such things fun, they are just symptoms of the disorder that comes with a value orientated mind. If credit cards went away tomorrow, and I could no longer travel for free it wouldn’t bother me, I’d be grateful for the ride and looking for the next thing to keep me occupied.
I know a few things, but I am not the fount of all knowledge, in fact on a manufactured spending level I currently don’t do much at all, while I did put things on hold for the mortgage application I was going through, even at full steam ahead I am only doing 3-4 very basic and simple things each month as I just don’t have access to many options, and even when I do I just don’t have enough time or capacity to always practice what I preach.
Some months I forget to max out my Amazon Payments accounts….
Acting like an expert when you are not is dangerous ground. It frequently means you cannot take risks, it stagnates your growth and learning. Fear of making the wrong call means that you never reach your full potential, because you can never succeed in life without failure. Also, you find yourself stretched too far into areas beyond your expertise chasing false ideals. I saw another blogger do this recently when he posted about an airline program he had no knowledge of and just made a complete arse of himself.
I believe if you don’t know, say you don’t know. It’s ok. At least I hope it is because this post is me saying I don’t always know, but I feel like I am being placed in the position of expert for all things points and miles as the blog grows more popular, hence the need to warn you guys.
Beyond the subject matter (I think arbitrage is the most accurate and inclusive term) that I find interesting, I am not an expert at blogging either. I don’t mean just in my atrociously long posts with grade school grammar, but I mean the building an audience, converting people into long term readers, and creating a world dominating empire. When you start a blog, it is a hard slog, you can pour your heart out into an article and perhaps 100 people read it (80 of those views are you hitting F5 to check for new comments) and then you hit upon some gold, some posts that drive masses of traffic to you. Mr Chasing The Points and I discussed this last night, as his post on Unethical Perpetual Points machines boosted traffic through the roof.
Likewise my post on Lifemiles tricks drew in the crowds. It is tempting to give away the keys to the kingdom and bring the masses, but I have decided, in my non-expert wisdom that I don’t want the masses. I don’t want to see this site populated with the great unwashed, and I don’t want to blow up deals for people who work hard on them for the sake of page view or conversion. I think it is interlaced with the pressure to perform beyond my scope, and I would have to actively seek out ‘secrets’ to spoil and keep people happy. I have dozens of such tricks now, but they aren’t going to be posted.
The readers wouldn’t want me, they would want my secrets. Heck, they wouldn’t even care if they were mine as long as they could have them.
You can lose yourself in blogging, trying to live up to a reputation, trying to allow revenue or site visits drive your content into areas that push personal boundaries, and I’m taking note of this and finding my center again. When I think of the site as I want it to be, I see a place that helps the people like I have been in phases of my life. The guy in debt. The guy starting a business. The guy who traveled through 50 countries and lived on 3 continents before he even knew what an airline mile was.
I’m not sure what real changes you will notice. But the one big one you might see is that I will be distancing myself further from the inner workings of loopholes within the system, and striving to become a better steward of our art. I certainly want to help folk on the path, but I really want nothing to do with sharing the nuts and bolts of the next Vanilla Reload on a public forum, I still think such content just feeds people on the wrong part of the Venn.
I am seeking to find that fine line where I can get more people into the game without harming the game for the players already in it. It may be impossible to find that balance, but if I try to keep my focus on remembering I am not an expert, and it isn’t about driving traffic to my site, it is about the love of the game. Perhaps with that approach I can find the place where the value I offer exceeds any harm done.
This post was inspired by two elements combining, the first was a desire to move away from harmful secret sharing, especially with the primary purpose of making the site a ‘go-to’ resource. I’ve tried to be mindful of this in the past, but I want to improve further, and secondly I just got so excited that I booked a RT to Chicago yesterday with Avios for $10 and I thought to myself, I can’t be excited by this if I am an expert, this is nothing to me. But I actually still feel like such a big kid every time I book an award trip like that and I don’t ever want to be too cool for school.
I can beat that!! I’ll see you in CLT when I use Avios and $5 RT………….
Ha! I brought the wife with me 🙂 look forward to seeing you there!
Interesting post, Matt. My main line of thinking has always been that what is the difference between sharing on a blog vs sharing on a forum. I’ve seen people get noticeably upset because a blogger has shared a tip or secret, yet the same secret is on several forums with over 100,000 pageviews on each. Surely at some stage it’s no longer a secret?
I think it’s a hard line to draw on what is sharing too much and still wanting to provide value for your readers. I don’t think myself or any other blogger has that balance quite right, but it’s always a matter of adjusting to try and get it spot on.
I don’t hold forums in high regard at all, and rarely spend time on them. I drop in when I see a link to a post and have a little activity then drop off again. In my experience forms draw in assholes and I haven’t got the patience for them.
So I am not suggesting that we shouldn’t blog and keep things to the forums, that is just as bad.
I think the answer is quite simple, if you want to offer value focus on the noobs – but don’t exploit them and don’t give away the keys to the kingdom. Blogs can help new folk out by helping them understand how arbitrage works and how to start out without giving away sensitive information. The middle grounders and the experts would be better served not by sharing the latest HIGC deal, but by being connected with like minded people to share concepts off the grid.
Write what you want to write about, Matt. Some of us just get a kick about reading whatever that is. I wish I could be in CLT, but prior commitments, dang it!
Thanks Cate! Yep that’s the plan, hope to see you around somewhere soon.
Blogging is anout sharing your personal experiences and perspectives, not about being an expert.
Sure it is. But once you gain a following and some popularity it is easy to lose site of that.
There are a lot of charlatans in this space who shouldn’t even be blogging in the first place. I still don’t understand how The Points Guy is viewed as an expert…
Matt,
I’ve been meaning to write this for about two weeks, but haven’t had the opportunity to write it yet. I stumbled onto Saverocity about a month ago and have really enjoyed the posts, especially yours. I enjoy your candid, straightforward style and appreciate your intentions. I look forward to your blog like used to with FM’s, but his stuff has gotten pretty general (as it should as you get bigger) and the content less interesting to me. I enjoy your posts on personal finance, as it is one of my interests, but often lack the time to invest into it with two small children and being part of the millennial generation. As someone who MS’s 50k+ a month and tries to put in the time, I appreciate you keeping the “secrets” and not sharing them with the masses. I see that you don’t want to attract the “masses”, but if your stuff is going I don’t see how you’re not going to attract them. I would love to be in CLT with all the big players, but unfortunately my priorities lie at home (as they should), maybe in the future…
Anyway, I really enjoy your stuff and look forward to it each morning. Keep up the good work and the insightful, thought-provoking writing coming. I tend to be long-winded too, there is an audience for the long articles (like me), so don’t fret. Best wishes on your blog and I really think you are on the right track. Don’t sell out like some of the “other blogs” for the almighty dollar, attract who you want so that you get high-quality readership, commenters, and people who will add to a discussion / article and not detract or be an a hole.
Thanks Bryan, that’s a really nice comment and I hope to keep bringing things that are of interest.
Love the site and can say you are a stand up guy who deserves a lot of credit.
Thanks Jason, I’m trying to be, but it’s a bumpy road.
Your candidness, the integrity of your analysis and your willingness to call things as you see them (along with the other bloggers on Saverocity) are things I greatly appreciate. This post is particularly compelling for its honesty and it makes me respect your work even more. I certainly would prefer to read the work of a renegade and risk taker over a so-called expert any day.
I have a varied blog diet but almost never comment on what I read and while I haven’t been active in comments on Saverocity by some standards (I don’t think I’ve made more than 4 comments ever), your work has truly had the effect of making me want to be active in the community you have built and are building, and it was the deciding factor in me coming from LA to Charlotte next month. Thank-you sir for your honor, I look forward to meeting you in person.
That’s very kind of you to say so, I look forward to meeting you next month and hope to live up to our expectations for the blog too!