Let’s take a look back to 2006. That was the year I wrapped up grad school, earning my Masters in Business Administration from Washington State University in June of that year.
Grad school was a little different for me. It was like a do-over of my college days, where I didn’t get super involved and kinda kept myself on the down-low. When I went back, I did the things I wished I had done the first time around. One of the most notable elements was joining KZUU as a radio personality.
Suddenly, my passion for exploring and discovering new music increased exponentially, and I soaked it all up. And all the while, a new one began parallel to this: sharing these discoveries with anyone who would tune in. But it could only last so long…
Introducing the FensePost Music Blog
The summer I graduated, I decided to hang around for a few extra months before moving to Seattle and starting my career. I lived in a house with friends, working during the day at the Office of Admissions and spending the evenings BBQing and frequenting the local grad student pub.
You know those summers they always show in movies where everyone is super chill and having a great time? Yeah, it was kinda like that.
I could see the end coming, too. And that meant I’d lose my newfound passion with discovering and sharing new music.
Around the same time, a few music blogs had popped up. This was shortly before the trend exploded and EVERYONE started a music blog. I saw what others were doing and decided to throw my hat in the ring.
Fense was my DJ name–a truncated version of my last name, Fenstermaker. Since you “post” on blogs, it just seemed natural to append that and have a good ol’ play on words. And like that, FensePost was born.
Consistent Content
At least one new post would be published each weekday. I set that grueling pace for myself, and pushed it to the edge, maxing out at 2-3 daily posts at one point. With that amount of production, other areas of my life began to suffer, and I hit burnout mode in around 2012 or so.
When you hit a wall, it can be an immediate disconnect or a tapering off.
There’s that famous quote from Hi Fidelity when Jack Black’s character Barry poses the question: Is it better to burn out or fade away?
I definitely hit burnout. There may have been a slight tapering, a last gasp for breath, but it went fast. Days between posts became weeks, which became months, and in some cases over a year.
I was spent, and no matter how often I attempted to give it a reboot, it always failed within a month.
Life, too, took over. My career expanded. I became a homeowner. I began to cultivate new friendships. It all took time, and it all took me away from the external, outward projecting component of my musical passions.
Rebooting the Blog
Late last fall, I had the idea of giving FensePost a bit of a reboot, not as a new music blog which is where it began, but to focus on my passion for collecting vinyl.
This came in conjunction with retooling how it would look, what posts would include, and even ways to potentially monetize it for a small amount of passive income.
Posts would ONLY cover music in the physical format. Thus, if it’s not in my collection, I’m probably not going to write about it.
To continue this theme, rather than featuring photos of the band I’d take photos myself of the records I’m covering.
Finally, I’d film quick “unboxing videos” that would expand my YouTube Channel and hopefully drive additional exposure for the blog both on YouTube and through Google Search. Sample video below:
Early Results
Already, I’m seeing an uptick in traffic just about two months in. Google appears to be crawling my site more, and the videos are very slowly gaining traction. And I mean slowly. I figure it’ll take time, effort, and consistency for me to build things back to what they were a decade ago, but I’m having fun!
And I’ve started to monetize it with Amazon Associate links to the vinyl records I’m covering. (You’ll see occasional links here on this site as well.)
I find it all very exciting, and I’m enjoying creating fresh content about music once again. I feel I’m finding a fresh style in an area that isn’t fully tapped or saturated yet.
Let the journey continue!