I have a couple of questions for you Steve...

[James81]

...that are completely unrelated to each other, but I'm curious and have been curious about them for a while.

The first one is more of a personal question. This may be silly, but does your family (i.e. not Erin or your kids, but other family members like your mother/father/siblings/etc.) know about this website? And if so, what do they think? Do they ever talk about it with you? I mean, I figure that they probably know since you don't make any bones about anonymity or anything like that, but I'm more curious as to whether they agree with the direction you've taken in your life and on this site or if there's any contention there and how that dynamic is. And that's just me being curious.

The second one is more general and perhaps someone else can help me here, but are there any articles here about marketing and how you specifically marketed this website when you first started? I know there's the one about 15 second (or is it minute? I can't remember but I've read it) marketing, but is there any other articles that go in depth about marketing?

[Aleksander Krstic]

First of all, he's probably not going to answer your questions.

Regarding the second one, he didn't spend a dime on marketing, he only used word of mouth.

[Adam Elkins]

Hello James and Alexander,

I saw this thread and had a thought. As you say, Steve probably won't answer personally for reasons given in his "busy people" series, but I was just yesterday reading an article in which Steve answers the question: Understanding Family Relationship Problems

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I love my parents and siblings unconditionally (I have two younger sisters and one younger brother). However, I haven’t had a particularly close-knit relationship with any of them for many years. There was no major falling out or anything like that — it’s just that my personal values and lifestyle have moved so far from theirs that there isn’t enough basic compatibility to form a strong common bond anymore. My parents and siblings are all of the employee mindset with a very low tolerance for risk, but as an entrepreneur, risk is my favorite breakfast. My wife and kids and I are all vegan, while my parents and siblings celebrate the holidays with the traditional consumption of animals. I don’t recall anyone in my family ever saying, “I love you,” while I grew up, but with my own kids I’m very affectionate and strive to tell them I love them every day. My parents and siblings are all practicing Catholics, but I left that behind 17 years ago in order to explore other belief systems. (Technically within their belief system, I’m doomed to hell, so that sorta puts a damper on things.) Even though this is the family I grew up with and shared many memories, our core values are so different now that it just doesn’t feel like a meaningful family relationship anymore.

Despite all these differences, we’re all on good terms with each other and get along fairly well, but our differences create such a big gap that we have to settle for being relatives without being close friends.

I hope this helps.

Adam

[Manomanman]

Same thing happening with me. I can't figure out when to openly renounce my faith to them. Since they have little going for them besides Prozac and guilt, it might be nice to let them cling onto another delusion among many (i.e. that I'm a believer in Christianity).