The “Great Reset” is a World Economic Forum initiative. And some people in the macroeconomics field have been discussing it recently on social media. However, macroeconomics is not the topic of this post. Rather, I am asking the question: What is next for this website? I have been asking myself this question for a little while now. What is the “Great Reset” for ForestryjobsHQ.com? I am not sure what I will choose, but I have a few ideas.
The Background
The motivation for this website came from the job I had at the time. I worked in an organization where there were some ineffective and uninspiring leadership issues. Some great leaders did exist in the organization. But the environment I was in lacked inspiration at times.
The working conditions allowed me to listen to podcasts at different times of the day. My playlist included podcasts on leadership, personal development, and e-commerce. The creative juices were flowing as a result of the podcasts I was listening to. Add the job environment, creative ideas, and a desire to affect change together, and a website concept was born.
Getting Started
Soon, the development of the website was underway in my spare time. The original goal was to create a blog about leadership, job searches, personal development, and over time adding in job postings. But something happened in those early days. I changed jobs!
The new job came with the usual steep learning curve. But gone was much of the primary motivation for the website. Now I had a great job and a website that lost part or most of its original purpose. Who am I kidding, having that daily nagging thorn of ineffective leadership removed was refreshing! Suddenly some of the creative juices around topics I had planned to write about faded.
Consistency is Key
This led to inconsistent posting to the website and the ForestryjobsHQ Facebook page. Since I love photography, Instagram was a bit of a different story. The initial motivation for the website was much different than simply sharing forestry relate photos. So inconsistency was not as big of a deal for the Instagram account. But as anyone trying to build a following on social media knows, content is important but consistency is nearly as important. Though I have had gaps in posting to Instagram, this was the one platform I was most active on.
Facebook, Twitter, and most importantly the website/blog was a whole different story. The ForestryjobsHQ Facebook page benefitted from the Instagram account due to cross-posting on the platforms. But those elusive blog posts started slow and faded quickly. There has been the occasional post from time to time over the last year or two. But not consistently enough to grow the readership of the blog. The same outcome for the Facebook page and Facebook group occurred as well.
What is next?
I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head. But which of those ideas or group of ideas is best for the “Great Reset”? I can get back to writing about the original topics planned for the website. I could broaden the topics to include more forestry-related subject matter. The website could turn into the “home base” for a podcast. Or shift to more video-based content. I could still look to add the job postings, though that will require more viewers. Maybe the website could be a hybrid of one or more of these? Or I could just shut it down.
Shutting down the site does not feel like the right move. Truthfully, this started more for my own needs. A way to express my frustration with what felt like a challenging work environment. Shutting down the site would be the easy thing to do. But there is the nagging feeling like there is something more this site can and should contribute to the forestry world. I just can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it is because a saying an old co-worker used to share keep running through my head:
“Foresters Plant Trees to Benefit Generations They Likely Will Never Know.”
Over the coming weeks, I will be exploring some of the options for a “Great Reset”. And also doing some crowdsourcing of ideas. Looking for ideas that readers/viewers would like to see and would provide benefit to them. A survey or two to explore some of the details of bouncing around. Hopefully, despite the relatively small audience, I can gather some useful information.
So please keep an eye out for future surveys and feel free to drop any constructive ideas either in the comments below, on our Facebook page, or email to [email protected]. I would greatly appreciate the assistance.