• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Jared Dees

Author. Speaker. Teacher.

  • About
    • Now
    • Projects
    • Speaking
    • Contact
  • Books
    • Beatitales
    • Tales of the Ten Commandments
    • Take and Eat
    • Do Not Be Afraid
    • Pray without Ceasing
    • Prepare the Way
    • Advent with the Angels
    • Take Up Your Cross
    • 15-Minute Stations of the Cross for Kids
  • Articles
  • Worksheets
  • Children’s Stories
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter

Your website doesn’t have to be pretty to make an impact.

By Jared Dees

For the first time in a few years I started to research and read personal finance blogs again. I came across a group of blogs writing about the goal of “financial independence” and retiring early (affectionately called FIRE).

All of them point back to a blog by J. L. (Jim) Collins and his “Stock Series.”

I have been a big proponent of index fund investing for many years. I read a couple of books by John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, five or six years ago. Collins’s series of blog posts about investing has brought John Bogle’s message to a whole new generation of people who are looking to retire early.

I’ll save what I learned from reading his blog posts for another time.

What really impressed me about his blog and this series was how much of an impact he has been able to make while still breaking all the conventional “rules” about growing a blog.

  • His domain name isn’t easy to remember. All the variations of Jim or J. L. Collins were taken, so he added “NH” for “New Hampshire” at the end of his name.
  • He has no logo in the header of his website. In fact, it is just his domain name and a tagline. He didn’t even change it to his full name.
  • He is using the standard Genesis Studiopress child theme rather than a fancy new theme with a great built-in design.
  • He has no homepage headline or image. The homepage shows the most recent blog posts.
  • He still has a “blogroll” in the sidebar of his website.
  • He has one email opt-in form in the sidebar, but doesn’t offer an incentives to sign up.
  • The copyright date at the bottom of the website still lists the previous year.
  • The images for his blog posts are random, small and not optimized for Pinterest or Google.

I could go on and on about with a critique, but that is the best part.

Despite all appearances, this blog has inspired hundreds (thousands?) of people to change their lives.

He didn’t set out to be a famous blogger. He had an audience of one in mind. He wanted to explain investing to his daughter in such a simple way that she wouldn’t have to worry about it.

That is the key to making an impact in the world.

Set out to help one person and share what works with others, too.

Jim Collins's Stock Series

J. L. Collins’s Website

 

April 25, 2018 Filed Under: Leadership, On Entrepreneurship

About Jared Dees

Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, To Heal, Proclaim, and Teach, Praying the Angelus, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children.

Previous Post: « March 2018 Project Report
Next Post: Happy Money Book Summary »

Primary Sidebar

Jared Dees

Author, Speaker, Teacher

📬 Tools to Teach Faith 📬

I send many weekly email newsletters every week with tools to pass on faith:

👨‍🏫 The Religion Teacher’s Sunday Planner 👨‍🏫

Lessons, activities, videos, and worksheets for religious educators.

Get teaching resources here >

📖 God’s Word Wednesday 📖

Bible stories for kids.

Get Bible stories for kids here >

🏰 Formative Fiction Friday 🏰

Short stories to help kids find confidence, character, and a relationship with Christ.

Get stories for kids here >

Jared’s Newest Books

  
    
 
 
   
 
 

Jared’s Popular Website for Religious Educators

Search the Site:

Footer

Connect with Jared Dees

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, To Heal, Proclaim, and Teach, Praying the Angelus, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children. See all of Jared's Books →

Stories for Children

Copyright © 2023 · Jared Dees