One Thousand Blog Posts

It seems like a number that should be acknowledged. Not by you, but by me. On our Hoot n Annie blog alone, this is post number 1,000. That does not include blog posts we’ve done for Little Browne, Matthew Liberty, or on Annie’s personal blog.

We started Hoot n Annie in January (or February) of 2010. The original purpose of it was to simply track the wineries we were going to. In a typical weekend we’d go to roughly five wineries and then do a video about that winery and their wines. We were posting seven days per week for a while, moved to five days per week, and now I post as often as I have the content. I shoot for two to three times per week.

I have produced almost all of the content while Annie has handled all the WordPress side of things because I can’t stand doing that part of it. The content has ranged from video, photos, audio, to text. People have asked if the blog is our full-time job and, well…no, very far from it. Although we have not made money directly from our blog I feel it has had an immeasurable indirect impact on our bank accounts.

For those that don’t know, I started my own house painting business in 2006, called Liberty Coatings. Our son, Sammy, was born in October 2012. Annie was working in San Luis Obispo and went back to that job after her three-month maternity leave. We made the decision that I would be a work at home dad. I had started transitioning from the painting company to an online business, basically consulting and helping businesses with their social media as well as content.

I feel that this blog was the start to that transition. Local wineries and other small businesses had started approaching me about helping them and that’s literally how this business got started. So if there had been no blog I don’t really think this would have been possible.

I’m extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to be home with Sammy in those first few years. I’m extremely thankful for the opportunities and work that this blog has brought my way. I’m extremely thankful I still have the desire to do this blog. It keeps me in touch with this community that I love so much.

I don’t know where this blog is going but I’m letting serendipity take its course. I hope to get better as a writer and to bring content that people enjoy on some level. I will continue to promote the hell out of Paso Robles in whatever way that I can. So, time will tell. Thank you to any and all of you that have read along and taken part in this crazy little thing called life. Cheers!