What’s this site all about anyway? Well, if you want to know that, you’re better off reading the about page, which goes into who I am (hi! I’m Adam!) and why I’m writing about these topics.
This page is a little different. It’s a focus on what guides the content. Having a clear vision is important for aligning behaviors around. That is as much true for a blog as for a major business. I have a clear vision in mind for how Minafi should behave and what you should expect from anything you see here. This article drives to the heart of that vision with what you should expect on here.
Minafi Vision
Vision is intentionally high level. At no time should this ever be accomplished. Instead, it is continuously strived towards.
To inspire investment in a life you want.
This encapsulates much of what I’ve been writing about over the last year into a single cohesive statement. It isn’t purely about financial independence, minimalism or mindfulness – but investing in yourself to improve. I have a slight obsession with planning for the future, and this helps communicate that focus. The one focus that I want this to drive to is somewhat optimistic, but here goes:
Help 1 million people make their first informed investment.
Nearly everyone invests nowadays (via a 401k), but how many are confident and comfortable with it? That’s a problem I want to help solve. I want to people to build on that informed investment with an understand of what they’re investing for and helping them get there.
What does “Investment” mean?
The term “investment” can sound scary to some people. It has a connotation that you could put yourself out there and get nothing back in return. That is completely true for each of these areas, but growth only comes with making that leap. When I say “investment” here’s what I mean:
- Financial investment in your future.
- Time investment in your own goals.
- Investment in your relationships with other people.
- Investment of focus on areas of your life that want to improve.
- Investment in your community and the global good.
- Understanding how each investment will impact the future.
Values
Having a vision is a good start, but how do we behave to get there? Here are the core values that support this vision.
Enliven Inspiration
- Leverage interactivity to make topics more memorable.
- Include audio, video, and images.
- Create entertaining content.
- Inspire motivation through play and exploration
- Make the first step so easy they don’t realize they’ve done it.
Let Transparency Shine
- Use personal stories to support topics.
- Mention my goals, my numbers, my motivations and conflicts of interest.
- Be honest about my own privileges and advantages in life.
- Communicate my struggles and failures.
- Clear communication of affiliates, ads, and payments.
Envision the Future
- Focus on where things could be in the future with investment now.
- Show what a future could be like with these investments.
- Small steps lead to great changes – what’s the first step?
- Tie in advice and stories from those who have struggled through growth.
- Help others have a vision for their future that inspires them.
Advice With Integrity
- The readers’ growth is always more important than mine.
- Be clear about who will benefit and who will not from any advice or ideas.
- Communicate where I found an idea if it’s not original (book, another blog, article, etc).
- If I’m not following any given advice, mention that, and make it clear why I’m not.
- Money is not the goal, inspiring investment is.
Growth Never Stops
- There is always more to learn and more room to grow.
- Limiting beliefs are an artificial barrier to growth.
- Growth mindset in all things.
- Always have a goal and be working towards it.
- Show that growth is possible through personal stories and others growth.
Where is Minafi today?
Physically, I’m in Salt Lake City. Time wise, Minafi was registered in 2015, with some articles written in 2016, and focused on seriously started in 2017. July 18, 2015 was the date Minafi was registered, but July 1, 2017 was the date Minafi as you see it today really became a thing.
In 2018, I registered Minafi as an LLC with the intention of separating it from me for tax and legal reasons. Nowadays I release courses, new articles and (at most) one email newsletter each week!
What About Money?
My personal goal for Minafi involves using it as a platform to explore these topics and to help and inspire others. I’ve always found when I share what I’m learning it forces me to dig deeper into a topic and take the learning process more seriously.
It’s hard to say what I want this to be 3, 5 or 10 years down the line. For today, I enjoy writing about these topics while learning myself. Will I still enjoy doing this later? Only time will tell.
In order for it to work long-term, I want it to be cash-flow positive. The more money it makes, the more I can explore other topics and invest in Minafi’s growth.
In December of 2017, I left my job to retire early. My retirement plans don’t depend on making money from Minafi, but they do depend on Minafi being at least self-sufficient. In other words, I can’t spend lavishly on it unless it’s making some money.
If Minafi reaches a point where it can supplement my own finances and help me on that journey, I plan to be clear about that. As for today though, Minafi is just a very expensive hobby that costs me money every month (see actual numbers on my Income & Expenses page).
Not All Topics are Equal
Minafi isn’t focused on entrepreneurship. I don’t want to go too deep into the business side of running a blog. I’m not much of an entrepreneur, and I’d rather talk about other ways to help you reach your financial and personal goals. Talking about my business is time I don’t spend inspiring investment in improving your life. There are many more successful and motivating entrepreneurs out there who help fill that gap.
For those few who are interested in the business side, here’s a look at Minafi’s finances! (updated monthly-ish).
Ethical Standards
Basing financial decisions on what you read online is scary. When I find myself looking for information, it’s always difficult to separate articles where someone is writing to make money vs someone writing an unbiased review.
I’ve taken a pledge to adhere to ethical standards – here on Minafi, on Twitter, and everywhere I interact. My goal in this is to always be 100% clear when I am compensated for anything, but also give my opinion on who shouldn’t use something along with a statement if I would/do as well.
If you see a link like this one to Personal Capital, it’s an affiliate link. You’ll know them because they’re green (rather than blue) and have a handy tooltip when you hover over them. I also document this in my advertiser disclosure.
What Does it Mean for Minafi to be Healthy?
The concept of “health” for a product is important. When trying to expand a site or a business, keeping an eye on health metrics to make sure the basics are functioning is key!
Here are a few metrics that I use to determine if Minafi is healthy:
- Minafi loads and resolves in under 1s.
- Google Pagespeed exceeds 90 for Mobile and Desktop.
- All pages on the site load and work as expected.
- New articles are posted twice a week.
- The weekly Minafi Magazine email is sent out.
- New articles and major updates are communicated out on all active social channels.
- Minafi is cash flow positive and growing.
Most of these health metrics are hit today aside from the cash flow side. I’m excited to see where Minafi goes in the months and years to come!