Everyone has guilty pleasures. One of mine is US Weekly. I blame this squarely on two of the smartest female colleagues I ever had. They both subscribed and used it as a fun way to blow off steam when they traveled. If it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me. I also got a great deal on a subscription a while ago and I can’t seem to get it to stop showing up.
Each week, I read the “25 Things You Don’t Know About Me” page. Many times, I have never even heard of the person so it is not hard to believe I don’t know 25 things about them. I don’t know 2,500 things about them. I digress.
25 Things You Don’t Know About Erica Finds
1. This blog started in April of 2012 as a deal finding blog. I was trying to come up with a way to make money while shopping/telling people about great deals. I am (sort of) still looking for the money and still posting deals every Friday.
2. My most popular post ever was written on the fly the first week of blogging. That is the closest I have come to going viral. Here is the post on Chicago Area Runners Association discounts.
3. My second most popular post ever was entitled “I’m a Streaker! NYC Marathon Report #InforLife” – not sure if people were expecting naked pics. Spoiler there were none. I’m not that kind of streaker.
4. Before I started blogging, I read very few blogs. (Read: I had no idea what I was doing.)
5. I get packages all of the time addressed to Erica Finds. Finds is the blog title – not my last name.
6. I never intended to be a running blogger. In 2012, I really had no idea that was such a big thing. Love my running blogger friends and groups, but I am not really a running blogger. I am a blogging runner for sure. I have run more than 5,000 miles since I started blogging.
7. I have published 680 posts. Almost half are in the category of Wellness and 160 are in Running.
8. I have 48 draft posts started an waiting to be published.
9. When I first started blogging, I had no idea I could get free stuff to test and post about. I have received several thousand dollars worth of freebies since 2013 – give or take.
10. I have hosted over 150 giveaways since I found out that giveaways were “a thing.”
11. My most popular giveaway ever was for 2 jars of Peanut Butter and Co peanut butter. Who knew? Now I am a member of their “Yum Squad” which is an Ambassador program. I really like peanut butter and so do my readers.
12. Some of my favorite posts have not gotten much traffic. I can almost hear the crickets when I look at my stats.
13. I have gotten over 12,000 comments on my blog. I love comments. I also love when people talk to me IRL (in real life) about my blog.
14.I am a wee bit obsessed with the stats. I try not to be but I can’t help it. It is how I roll.
15. I have made so many virtual friends via blogging and love meeting them IRL. Chicago Running Bloggers has been so awesome for connecting with awesome people here in town (and getting LOTS of cheers in running races, too).
16. For the first year that I worked on this blog, I had the visual editor turned off and I wrote all of my posts in HTML. I don’t know how to write HTML code. I just thought that was how the software worked. After I turned the visual editor on, my post looked a lot better and were SO much easier to write.
17. I have posted 40 “Tried it Tuesday” posts and have tried so many new things!
18. I currently have a huge backlog of products to try and/or review. I would post a photo of the stack in my office but I am concerned that the crew from Hoarders may show up here.
19. I have posted 40 guest posts. I love highlighting awesome friends/readers with specialized knowledge. I have some more great ones in the works. [Want to guest post?? Let me know!]
20. I have only tried one product that I had to write back to the business to tell them that I could not write a favorable review. I have had a few that were “not for me” but friends liked them and/or they had some really good redeeming properties.
21. The tone of the blog is WAY less sarcastic than I am IRL. I don’t feel like sarcasm translates. On the upside, I think this has made me a more optimistic person in general. How? I write on the bright side and sometimes it sticks.
22. Many times I get writer’s block, but I usually can “find” something to spark a post.
23. The average blog post takes me less than an hour to write but it can take hours to come up with an idea.
24. I never used to take pictures. Now I take pictures all of the time to show here. That is another unexpected consequence of blogging that I am very grateful for.
25. Blogging has helped me to notice and appreciate the small details of things. I am super grateful for that.
So now you know more about this blog than you probably every wanted to! Any questions? What are your fave things to see here? Or least fave? I am a big fan of constructive criticism.
PS. Don’t forget my great giveaways! You know I love my giveaways!