Readership Survey

Jason Shen -

Since it’s been a few years since my last readership survey, I decided to poll members of the Art of Ass-Kicking insider’s list to see who they are and why they read the blog.

Here are some of our findings:

Demographics

While the readership skews male, we actually have a pretty strong spectrum across different generations, from Millennials, to Gen X to Boomers.

Attributes

  • Technology: 63% of folks work in tech. 31% are developers or engineers, 25% are marketers, 22% are product managers, and 19% are designers
  • Entrepreneurship: 31% of readers are active startup founders and another 27% are aspiring founders. Related: 42% of readers directly manage other people at work
  • Blogging: 31% of folks have their own blog
  • Fitness: 57% of folks identify as being generally physically active, with 34% doing crossfit or some kind of weight training and 27% who see themselves as runners

How they describe the blog

I did this exercise where I asked people to describe the blog in a few words. I created a word cloud out of all the entries and excerpted a few favorites here:

  • it’s one of the few I regard as pretty good no-bullshit business / personal development blogs
  • interesting and different, not run of the mill thoughts and stuff, sometimes funny
  • useful, utilitarian, cross-domain thinking, energetic, bold
  • Gets inside the head of a connected millennial

Assessing the Name and Slogan

I’ve been pondering a redesign of the blog at some point in 2016 and also having some conversations with a close friend about the name and brand of the blog. So I decided to ask what people think of it.

Almost three quarters of folks were pretty into both the name “The Art of Ass-Kicking” and the slogan “Conquer fear and do epic sh*t”, which was a great data point for any future brand work.

Why do they read it?

One thing I’m always wondering is why people read this blog. To compete on the web, you have to understand why yours matters to people or what makes it stand out.

The number one reason people read this blog, according to the survey, is for motivation and inspiration (79%). Next was for lessons and directly applicable information (64%) with analysis and personal interest in me tied in 3rd at 36% and 37%.

Who they admire

This was an interesting question. I wanted to know who my reader consider “their heros” or people the generally admire. I asked this question after listening to a couple of Tim Ferriss podcastswhere he often asks “who comes to mind when you think of success”. I adapted it slightly to focus on who people admire or look up to.

The most common answers:

  • Elon Musk “won” with 15 write-ins out of 198 entries
  • Tim Ferriss (9)
  • Steve Jobs (7)
  • Barack Obama (6)
  • Bill Gates (4)
  • Seth Godin (4)
  • Mark Zuckerberg (4)
  • Jeff Bezos (3)
  • Richard Branson (3)

A few honorable mentions and interesting people:

For me personally, I would probably say Barack Obama, Seth Godin, and Dwayne Johnson. [1]

Giveaway

Finally, I did do a giveaway for the book so congrats to Anthony – you’re getting a  a copy of Strengths Based Leadership!

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[1] I recognize my top three are all men and that’s not ideal. I do admire many women like Sheryl Sandberg, Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, and JK Rowling, but I can’t say they make the top 3.