The Secret Blogger’s Guide To Buying Cars

Don’t know about you but that headline makes me roll my eyes and shake my head. It makes me sound like I am selling snake oil and reminds me of some of the less savory aspects of social media.

But I used it because someone told me that secret is a word that has a higher conversion rate and that people will be more likely to click on the headline and see what this post is about.

I suppose if I really wanted to test things out I could throw in some of the other proven words and see what sort of impact they have.

Something like:

It is the kind of thing people would check out and that is in spite of the lack of clarity about what the product/service is.

How do I know this?

Simple, I know things. Hell, some of what I know is based upon fact and not opinion or theory.

What I really wish I knew was where to obtain the secret blogger’s guide to buying cars because not only would it provide everything you need to get a great deal it would take all of the pain and suffering out of the process.

I have been researching and looking at new cars for a good long while. Did I mention I like how specific good long while is?

Whenever the Shmata Queen tells me I haven’t provided enough details in response to a question I go back to good long while and prepare a response that is modeled upon that.
Remember when I wrote about my day driving the Ferrari 458 Italia at the track?

I don’t think I mentioned how the instructor said he was going to push me out of my comfort zone so that I could experience something more.

Don’t think I mentioned that I never went faster than about 130 something MPH in a car that can do 200.

I have been thinking about it and wondered if I would have gone faster when I was 25 than I did now.

Not sure that it really matters because I had a hell of a lot of fun and one day I’ll go back and when I do I’ll go faster because I’ll be more comfortable.

Wondered if going slower than I expected I would means I lost faith in my ability to fly or if I was just being prudent.

At 25 I didn’t have responsibilities or obligations to anyone but me so I spent less time thinking about what might happen if things went sideways.

Didn’t hurt that I didn’t have mystery aches or bruises or that if I did have one it faded over night. That is not to say that I am soft, old and rickety now because I am not.

I am just cognizant that things that hurt take a bit longer to heal and or right themselves. Kind of sad to say that I am one of those people who says if I knew then what I know now…

But I am also one of those guys who spends most of this waking time facing forward because you can’t go back and if you look back you might see the monster that’s chasing you.

Of course if there was a monster chasing me I’d turn around long enough to get a decent look, better to know what I am dealing with.

It might even encourage me to head back to the track sooner, might need the speed and power of that Ferrari sooner than later.

A Tool Is Only As Good As Its User

A tool is only as good as the person using it.

You could hand me the best guitar on the market and it wouldn’t enable me to play it like a professional or anything close to that.

That is because I never learned how to play the guitar. For that matter I can’t play any instrument with any degree of proficiency.

But give me something to write on and a topic and I can do it with my eyes closed.  That is not supposed to be a humble brag or bragging of any sort.

It is me saying that after more than 10,000 hours of writing I have enough experience to be good at this.

Ask my kids and they’ll tell you I have stressed the value of practice and repetition with them.

That is where this all comes from.

Talent is useful but most of us don’t have enough to rely solely upon it so practice is key. It is the difference between mediocrity and whatever comes next.

It is the difference between mediocrity and whatever comes next.Click To Tweet

There was a time where I worked for a general contractor as a project manager.

Every day I would speak with homeowners about remodeling and or renovating their homes.

And without fail there would be a call where the husband/wife would tell me they thought we charged too much because they had watched HGTV and knew how to lay tile because of that.

I was always diplomatic in my response and would tell them they were welcome to do the work or part of it themselves but suggested they consider how long it would take an amateur to do a professional’s job.

Sometimes they would still do it and the quality of their work was acceptable but that was rare. Most of the time it was awful and we had to redo it so they lost time and money.

Practice is important and it is valuable, sometimes boring, but still valuable.

The Secret Blogger’s Guide

Call me a skeptic, but I rarely find secret guides I can use for anything.

Most of the time they are better qualified as something that might have some useful tips. Some of those tips fall into the category of practical advice I can use  more than once and some don’t.

They remind me of the DIY stuff I see on television and make me wonder if it is the kind of thing I can apply immediately or if to get some benefit from it I need to do and then practice the tip over and over again.

Doesn’t mean I don’t want or need advice, just that I try to be realistic about it.

Circle back to Building A Better Blog… Maybe and what I hope to accomplish by changing things up here.

The new theme is just a shell for the content.

If I do my job with the kind of effort and efficiency I want you and the other readers will stick around because you’ll enjoy this, relate to it and not find it to be a waste of time.

And if I don’t, well a prettier look won’t hide the flaws and you’ll go.

Now if only I had the cash to hire a professional to make the physical changes here so that I could focus on what I do best.

But I don’t so I’ll ask you to bear with the noise and dust. Shouldn’t take too long to get it spruced up…I saw a show on TV and know the changes here should be easy to make.

See you in the comments.