My Blog
Finding my ‘soul’
By Derek  •  February 24, 2015
I had an enjoyable evening with some friends. Although it is our first time meeting, we talked freely discussing about finance, relationship, career and even about the stars. Does feel a bit like the Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu and Lu Su in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LuSu.jpg
One of our conversations revolved around my site and they gave me many constructive ideas. One of which is that my articles lack a soul. They explain that they can easily identify a particular blogger's article not because they can write well but because their articles have a 'personality'. They further explained that my views are too neutral and what readers want are my opinions e.g. where do I stand, do I agree? It hit upon me that being neutral is fast becoming a habit of mine. I guess it is because I want to avoid conflicts or am I afraid of conflicts? There is also another side of me that is not often seen unless I am in a soccer match. I am not afraid to tick the person off, and when there is a conflict, you can be sure that I am in the thick of it. This explains why I am a firm believer in personal accident insurance. Gosh I better not elaborate further else I will be scaring my readers off. What I want to reflect on is how I can channel this 'energy' and inject more 'life' into future articles. On top of being an aggregator, I also want TheFinance.sg to have a voice (personality). Hence, I have set up a dedicated menu on my financial journey and to make it easier to interact with readers. If you have any tips on writing engaging articles, please drop me a comment below. Thanks.
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By Derek
Derek is an investor who follows Peter Lynch style of investing. He prefers to use simple and straight forward information for stock analysis. He started TheFinance.sg with the intention to bring together all bloggers and professionals who are interested or already in the area of Finance and Investing, and to create a community where everyone is free to write and to share their articles, experience and opinions.
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15 Comments

15 responses to “Finding my ‘soul’”

  1. B says:

    Hi Derek

    I enjoyed your posts actually but just wish I or readers could have known more about your situation through more blogging from you which I am sure readers will.be able to know you more overtime.

    • Derek Lim says:

      Hi B,

      Thanks for your kind words. I have to admit that I was hesitant to share my own story but as I get older, my skin gets thicker too and I will be blogging more based on my own situation.

      Cheers!

  2. Jes says:

    Hi Derek,

    Maybe more personal thoughts and details would be a good idea. I think many readers would want to know you more as a person instead of as an fellow investor which you have already proven to give sound advice.

    Can’t wait! =P

  3. La papillion says:

    Hi Derek,

    Oh I totally agree. It’s what I call a blogging voice. It’s easily settled – u just have to blog more often instead of just sitting there passively. I can see that this yr, you can really putting a lot of effort going out there to meet people and also to blog more often. These are improvements already! As you blog more often, you’ll reach a point where you can freely give out your opinion. It need not be forced.

    So my suggestion is just to blog more. Share more things about yourself. We don’t need more pple reporting about factual information. We need more pple telling us how the facts affect them personally. These points of view are always unique and special, which makes them very interesting to read.

    • Derek Lim says:

      Hi LP,

      Ah a blogging voice, so that is what it is called.

      I use to think I have nothing noteworthy to blog about but everyone views and situations are unique, and that is what make an interesting read.

      PS: I miss the gathering of the Super Friends. Are they retired from Super Hero duties?

      Cheers!

  4. Googirl Investor says:

    I think you must be very busy already with your job, aggregating this site and what not so maybe that leaves you lesser time than us to blog. I think the difference is when you are inspired to blog about something, it kind of shows in your writing and over time that could be the “soul” that you are looking for.

  5. Derek Lim says:

    Hi Googirl,

    You are right. However, making an effort to blog more now is not only a personal decision but a business one as well. An aggregating site can be easily replicated and injecting my own voice is one way to differentiate it.

    That said, I’m not going to start churning out post after post. I will only write when I’m inspired or certain views and opinions that I’ll like to share. This makes it easier to inject my ‘soul’ into it.

    Cheers!

  6. RetailTrader says:

    Cool, you must be a fan of Romance of Three Kingdoms like me! That’s what sharing more of yourself involves, bit by bit with every post.

    • Derek Lim says:

      Hi RT,

      Thanks. I’m not only a RTK fan but also a fan of 水浒传 and all things to do with military history. No thanks to the many Koei games I played when I was young.

  7. Neutrality is a style though! The world needs a variety of voices, not just ones at the extreme of either side

  8. Jared - SMOL says:

    Derek,

    Write from your heart.

    Have fun writing.

    Whenever you find writing a “chore”, stop.

    Cheers!
    花和尚 – Jared

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