Most of you won’t know this, but I am a long time development chemist who has become a consultant to pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries about a year ago. Â I know most of you don’t know this because I obsessively monitor my traffic to see how I am doing. Â While I am at it I generally take a look at all sorts of statistical information that Google serves up, including the fact that the bulk of my readers get here through searches and haven’t visited before.
But I have decided I am going to stop checking my stats daily – even the really addictive one that tells you who is on the site right now. Â My reason for this is that I have realised that readership is a pretty rubbish measure of success for this blog. Â I am not trying to compete with the Daily Mail’s website, and wouldn’t succeed if I did. Â And more to the point, if I replicated the Daily Mail’s success by replicating its methods I might have a lot more money in my pocket but I would feel really bad about myself. Â And what is the point of that?
So from now on the only thing I am going to concern myself with on this blog is whether or not I am happy with the content. Â If just one person reads a blog post that will be good enough.
I have picked up this new approach from my experiences running my own business as a consultant as opposed to being an employee of someone else’s business. Â One of the benefits is that I get to interact closely with a much wider range of different businesses than I have done before, and to do it on a more commercial basis. Â Basically I have to make sure I am making a profit or I don’t eat. Â And this applies equally to my customers, all of whom have to keep the till ringing if they want to stay around.
When I first started this seemed like a scary state of affairs and I expected that I would have to become a lot more hard nosed about things. Â I’d have to be sure to take on jobs that were profitable and concentrate on working for bigger more profitable companies. Â Well I tried that. Â I found it made me miserable – which I sort of expected. Â It also made me poor. Â When I lightened up a bit, I started acting myself a bit more. Â That worked much better.
What I have found in fact is that businesses worth working for are the ones that aren’t so concerned about their profits as about their products. Â Cosmetics can be a very profitable line of business indeed. Â A lot of products can be made very cheaply and with clever marketing can be sold at quite high prices. Â So it does attract a lot of people for whom the profit motive is the main one.
But there are also a lot of people who just love making these kinds of things. Â You might have supposed, as I did, that these people would be making less money. Â Well that simply doesn’t seem to be be the case. Â So just as I have decided that I am going to concentrate on writing blog posts that I think are worth reading, I advise anyone thinking of going into the cosmetic business to concentrate on loving what they make not on working out how much you are going to make. Â You will be a lot happier, and so will your customers.
Photo credit: Stitcher Scribbler via photopin cc
Love this blog post. (You had at least one reader! And probably many more.)
This makes sense per research on giving and meaning. There’s an excellent book on the subject by Wharton School organizational psychologist Adam Grant, called “Give and Take,” that you’d probably find inspiring and gratifying.
Thanks Amy, I will take a look at that book. It sounds like an interesting read.
Wise words Colin, as I too have found out 🙂
Another happy reader 😉 and I agree. I also thank you for your blog.
Another reader here 🙂 I really like your blog, there aren’t many in your line of work who are blogging so it really adds a fresh perspective. Keep it up!
I actually think all of your blogposts are and have always been worth reading.
Now I love you even more.
You are one of my biggest influences in beauty. I became less obsessed/stressed over sunscreen and started paying more attention to moisturizing my skin. I love your pragmatic approach to everything.
I’m really glad you took this route.
You are so right Colin. If I wasn’t passionate about what I do, I think I would shrivel up inside. It’s really a win win situation when you work with something you truly love doing.
I love your blog and your new philosophy! Your posts definitely come across as well researched and written. Your passion comes thru loud and clear, which makes reading the blog so enjoyable. 🙂
I enjoy reading your blog. You are excellent at explaining complex topics well, and come across as very knowledgeable. All the best in your endeavours :).