Ten Factorial Rocks – First Birthday!

Hi All,

I am happy to share with you that today, Ten Factorial Rocks (TFR) is officially one year old! 

More than a big number here at TFR.

Exactly one year ago today, inspired after a long morning walk, I started this oddly-named website.  The idea itself had been germinating for long, after years of being on the receiving end of frustratingly bad information from mainstream media and also, dealing with well-meaning – but often wrong – advice from friends, peers and family (thankfully, I stayed clear of all those).  For several months, I thought why not be a ‘voice of balance’ in this crazy world? In the process, I discovered a great community of personal finance bloggers, focused on financial independence and retiring early (FI/RE).  

The relative anonymity of the Internet is a benefit that I wanted to use to get the facts straight and take on this “TFR project” (as my family calls it) even while working full-time in a senior management role.   I want to inspire people to achieve FI (even if RE is optional) and avoid the traps along the way in their own journey.  Finally, I want to explore life’s ‘meaning’, whatever that means to each of you.   My About TFR page describes the background in a bit more detail.

Being a mid-40’s corporate nomad, I have been a participant in the Internet’s evolution from the old days of text chat forums (alt.newsgroups – remember those?) to the curiosity of the visually rich ‘world wide web’ as it came in mid-90’s (Netscape Navigator, remember?) with better online search engines, online videos etc.  Then came digital commerce and the craziness that followed with anything.com start-ups commanding $1 billion valuations.  Boy, we lived through a lot!  Finally, we are today where the Internet has become a staple fixture in almost all aspects of our lives.  

In this entire journey, I have also seen how anonymity gets abused by some people, writing things they would never dare say to their neighbor, colleague or even a fellow passenger on a flight or train in person.

In my view, anonymity comes with utmost responsibility.  Authenticity has always been important for me, whether in real life or in the virtual cocoons of the Internet that we create and occupy.  Anonymity should empower authenticity – this has always been my belief.

I often imagine a genuine ‘seeker’ on the other side reading my articles, hoping to learn a thing or two from my experience and knowledge, and perhaps wondering (like most of the junk published on the net) whether these articles are true or not or even whether the writer is truly qualified to write about the subject matter.  

I write for this person, which may be YOU.

Importantly, I write with the question in my mind: What if you actually follow in your real life what I write here?  This unknown aspirant of a better life is my inspiration.  Your credibility, whenever you share anything you read here on TFR, is as important as my own credibility. 

This website was not created to be part of my financial plan, but it has taken over a big part of my life plan.  It has zero impact on my finances but a tremendous impact on my ‘self-actualization’ (to borrow the term from Maslow’s hierarchy).  That’s entirely thanks to you all!

So, how did we do in the first year?  From the comments and mails I have received, I am gratified that my content has added a lot of value to you all.  These words mean much more to me than the quantitative metrics that websites are judged by.

I generally don’t post about blogging as some do, as it detracts from the key topics of this website, but I think the occasion calls for it today.   So, here we go with some basic metrics:

Our readership is global, but we have a strong North American audience, which isn’t surprising given the topics covered in our articles.

We couldn’t have come this far without you!

The journey continues…

Today, Ten Factorial Rocks has become a toddler from a baby.  Wikipedia describes a toddler as:

A child 12 to 36 months old. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from “to toddle”, which means to walk unsteadily, like a child of this age.

Uhmm…… We will try to avoid the “unsteady walk” of a toddler but will contribute to “great cognitive, emotional and social development” in all topics relating to life, financial liberty and the pursuit of happiness.   

Stay tuned!  And thanks again for being part of this journey.

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16 comments on “Ten Factorial Rocks – First Birthday!”

  1. By Matt Hyatt

    Happy anniversary and congratulations on your first year. I’ve visited your blog many times this year and I had no idea it was so young. Keep up the good work (please)!

  2. By Mike H

    Congratulations on turning 1. May you reach many more birthdays.

    I have received value from your articles, I especially enjoyed the one called “The dog days of investing.”

    -Mike

    • By TFRadmin

      Thanks Vicki. I know you have been reading and commenting here from the very beginning. I appreciate your kind words and support.

  3. By Dads Dollars Debts

    Kudos. Sticking with this blogging gig for a year is no joke and I think that is why we all get excited when we hit 1. I have a few months to go but am digging reading your stuff. So keep it coming.

  4. By Jim Wang

    Happy first birthday!

    I’ve never been anonymous but I’m in the same camp as you – anonymity shouldn’t be a shield you hide behind but one you use to be as authentic as possible.

    It sounds oxymoronic, authenticity with anonymity, but if you strip out everything except your name and photo it’s still an authentic representation of you – even if we don’t know specifically who the “you” is.

    Keep it up!

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