I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into when I started sharing information about Disneyland. Sure, I was warned how things would consume me and take over my life, but I really didn’t believe that would happen to me. I figured not many people would be interested in it and I though it would be a small operation, a minor hobby.
Now Disneyland is my life. I track as many moving parts at the resort that I can and share all of it. I have discovered that food is more popular than popcorn buckets but new ears beat everything. I have learned that knowing if it is packed is more important than when the next show is. In the beginning, I was tired of seeing misinformation spread around in the various groups I was in at the time so I started sharing what I learned and what I read. It quickly grew into a major source of daily resort information.
I started out with a post in Notes that I would update then copy and paste that information into each group along with any pertinent images. As my ‘client list’ grew (list of FB groups that wanted the daily information I was providing), I quickly discovered that I needed to create a better way to manage the data in order to deliver a quality product. It then moved from copy/paste sharing to creating a page to manage the data because coping and pasting into multiple groups is problematic if you have to make a correction.
Now I have amassed a huge amount of data that I track daily and a healthy number of groups I provide that information to. What time the parks open and close, when is the next event held by Disneyland, when is the next unofficial event, what do tickets cost for the day, what is being fixed and what will change, and so much more. I like doing the work though. It is something I used to do in the real world before I became disabled, so it feeds that soul. This is an activity I can do and not worry about taking a 3-hour nap at a random time to recover from whatever managed to drain my internal battery at the time.
I recently realized that I really can’t go back to my copy/paste beginnings. I had tried early on to do that for a group that only wanted a certain portion of the information. It quickly became apparent it was quite difficult to manage because I would invariably manage to put the wrong information somewhere and well, I’m about accuracy. It was seriously causing me a lot of stress. So I backed out of that arrangement. It was not a good fit with what information I was supplying to the rest of my clients.
Sadly, I lost a group today because they didn’t want a particular data set that I have included from the very beginning, from those copy/paste days, in my daily updates. Sadly it’s a significant loss since I have been there for many years. I’m a rule follower, I may rail at how I hate them but I am a total by-the-rules girl. I usually ask permission before I do anything. I mess up from time to time but I’m human and I apologize. It was becoming apparent, though, that I was outgrowing my connection to that group. The group is massive and I believe a huge driver of traffic for the information I provide. The loss will become more apparent as the days pass and I no longer post there. It’s also ironic that I lose the largest group when I recently declined to help another because my client load had reached a max that I could safely handle…at the time.
So where do I go from here? I am going to investigate other groups to see if my services are a good fit for them. I have a feeling I will not find very many that would like the service but I’m still going to try.
Here I am, working out my frustration in writing this and trying to find a better way to get my information out there to people who want it. I’m not selling anything, and nor do I want to. This isn’t a business. I make no money from it, but I’ve been told I need to figure out how to do so. It is something I have been thinking about but I don’t think my numbers are anywhere enough to monetize what I do yet. Dare I say I can’t imagine my numbers will ever get to be high enough to monetize it, but I never thought I’d have as many followers as I have now.
I’m a simple person. I’m just providing the best accurate and official information that I can. I hope I can find more people who are interested in and appreciate all that I can provide. It is obviously a service that people find useful and it is always good to be useful.
This past Thursday was a good day. I was able to get a lot of pictures of various things in the Disneyland resort for my page and a few for myself. These are a few of the ones I took for myself, because sometimes it is important to feed your creative soul in the midst of a trying time…enjoy!