As I do every year following my annual retrospective, it’s time to follow it up with a bit of planning.
While I accomplished a fair number of things I set out to do in 2023, I also took on a few more things that were outside of the planned scope. I have zero regrets and I’m glad I did them. However, those extra things required additional monetary investment that I didn’t account for as well as I should have. That coupled with decreased advertising and affiliate revenues in addition to feeling the financial pinch most everyone felt with the state of the economy has resulted in a pretty thin budget going into 2024. My outlook for economic improvements next is rather bleak. If anything, I expect the budget to get tighter throughout the year. The logical and responsible response here is to be ultra financially conservative as I head into next year.
What does that mean for the blog? That’s an excellent question that I have been asking myself for a good while now. Let’s see if we can find an answer to it.
The most obvious thing to me is that there will be a noticeable reduction in gear reviews. At least when it comes to big ticket items. Reviews that are likely to be published next year will probably be made up of more budget friendly items and products furnished by sponsors. I’m still going to shoot the snot out of the guns I have on hand which means we will probably also see several round count milestone update reviews as well.
Training-wise, I’ve already booked seats in the training courses I will be attending next year. As I mentioned in the retrospective, I’m slowing things down a bit here with the goal of reducing travel related expenses while also giving me the opportunity to better digest what I am learning and put it into practice. That said, I’ve booked 72 hours of pistol related training with folks like John Hearne, Ben Stoeger, Tom Givens, and Gabe White. I will also be attending my first Tac-Con in 2024. I don’t plan on adding on to that list. However, I’ve earmarked a few buckaroos just in case the opportunity to do some scatter-gat training presents itself. More specifically, I’d like to attend the level 2 defensive shotgun course from KR Training and have a go at the Rangemaster Defensive Shotgun Instructor course. Either way, the classes I have booked will result in a handful of after action reports that will be published on the blog.
As much as I enjoyed attending major USPSA, Steel Challenge, and IDPA matches this year, I’m going to pump the brakes on those in 2024. This is going to be a difficult decision to stick with. However, the match fees and associated travel expenses just aren’t in the budget unless cuts are made elsewhere or there is an increase in revenue. On the other hand, I will continue shooting local matches every weekend I’m not otherwise booked.
Hunting? I have no plans. I wanted to make plans, but I just don’t see it happening. As they say, it is what it is.
Let’s recap what the reduced budget means so far: a decrease in reviews, a decrease in after action reports, and no change in hunting related content. I’m not going to lie, it sounds pretty dismal when I put it that way. However, I think there is a little light at the end of the tunnel. That light comes from the investments I’ve made over the last 18 months into becoming and improving as an instructor that I will be focused on capitalizing on by expanding and offering additional training opportunities and services in 2024. In turn, I expect to find myself publishing more instructional and educational posts than I have in the past. So perhaps with a little luck and healthy helping of elbow grease, the blog and my instructor hustle will see a growth in revenue that will allow for adjustments to the budget later in the year or more grandiose plans for the following year.
Let’s try that recap one more time. In 2024, readers can expect to see reviews of budget friendly gear, reviews of products supplied by sponsors, round count milestone reviews, after action reports of self defense and competition pistol related training courses, and instructional content. Y’all can also expect to see new opportunities to sharpen defensive pistol skills with me. I think it’s safe to say that 2024 actually sounds pretty good when I put things that way.
Time will tell how 2024 plays out for the blog and me.
Regardless, I want to wish each and every one of you a very happy new year! May it be prosperous and bring you good health.