The European View And The Future Focus Of The TEV Blog

As you may know, I started this journey without much knowledge at the peak of the corona crisis in Europe (around April 2020). It was an adventure, based on my contributions as The European View on Seeking Alpha, and I was curious where it would take me. I have taken a few steps now and still don’t know the destination of this adventure, but meanwhile, I know what I don’t want (after all!). And that is exactly what I want to tell you.

Why I started the TEV Blog

I started the block because I was missing something. On the one hand, I had a pretty well-paid job as a lawyer (which I still have). On the other hand, I pursued my interest in stocks and finance by writing stock analyses and selling them to investor platforms. Since I live in Europe, I chose the name The European View for my analyses and stuck with it.

As I said before in one of my first TEV Blog posts, I enjoyed this time, and I learned so many exciting things. But in the long run, these activities became too monotonous for me. Both works are very challenging, and most of the time, exciting, but they follow fixed structures. As a lawyer and as an author of stock analyses, you are a professional and have to follow your client’s wishes, which is absolutely right because they pay you.

Nevertheless, I wanted creative freedom. It doesn’t matter what platform you go on; there are rules you have to follow. But I want to let my thoughts run free and write about what I want. And I want all of this to be in one place. And that place is the TEV Blog. Just in the absolutely unlikely case that you don’t know, TEV stands for The European View ;).

What I don’t want

Now the first months have passed. I have made the first experiences, first readers are coming back regularly, and some even comment on my articles. To be honest, I’m happy with the way things are right now. At the same time, I have started to look at the options a blog offers. I see other blogs that I regularly visit from a different perspective. I recognize the work behind it and the authors’ patience and dedication.

On the other hand, I also saw many nonsenses and people who were looking for quick money. All this has helped me to orientate myself a bit better and to structure my goals. Above all, I now know what I don’t want to achieve with the TEV Blog.

I don’t want to sell anything

Firstly I don’t want to sell anything. It took some time to gain this insight. In the beginning, you read so much and want to do everything right. But then you realize that in the end, it is all about one thing. Selling. This track is not for the TEV Blog and me.

Besides, I have a comfortable situation. As a lawyer, I make good money, get some dividends per month, and have a somewhat (very) small extra income with my stock analyses. So I don’t want to push the blog towards making money. I don’t need another source of income. I mean, why would I? I think it is a big misconception to assume that multiple sources of income are automatically better. If I wanted to maximize my profit, I would put more time and effort into my analyses or focus on my career in the corporate world. This blog is far too small to get rich from. To be honest, I am also unpleasantly touched by all those bloggers whose entire appearance screams “Buy me”. Nope, that’s not me. There will be no tricks and no gimmicks on the TEV Blog.

I don’t want to go out and hunt readers

Of course, it is great if I reach many readers and I am looking for exactly that because otherwise, I would write my thoughts in my private diary. But I’m not going on a reader hunt. I will write what I want and about what I want and either people like it or they don’t. We’ll see.

That said, I’ve tried a few things to attract some new readers at the beginning. I mean, I was completely new to the game and kind of lost. And then, everyone tells you, try Pinterest. I tried Pinterest, and it felt like hell. Information in garish colors banged into a few pixels with a meaning close to zero. No, that’ s not me either.

I gave up the whole thing very quickly. The same applies to my Facebook site or my Facebook group. I’ll keep them, but won’t push it any further. However, I started to appreciate Twitter. It’s quite okay as a news feed and not as overloaded as Facebook. But I am not very active there. Nevertheless, feel free to share my post wherever you want :D.

What I want to focus on with the TEV Blog

So I have the privilege of not using the blog for commercial purposes. This gives me great creative freedom and therefore everything I am looking for. So I just write about whatever I want and continue to share my thoughts about the things that interest me – from the European perspective and with the European view ;).

Currently, most visitors to my site come from Europe and the USA. It would be nice if more people would visit this page from even more regions of the world. In the best case, the TEV Blog contributes to the peaceful intercultural exchange of people who would otherwise never have met in their lives. That would be an achievement!

I am excited and look forward to what is coming and how the TEV Blog will develop.

All the best,