Best of Small Scale Life 2018

by | Jan 18, 2019 | About, Blog

Best of Small Scale Life 2018, Small Scale Life, Small Scale Life Podcast, blog, Minnesota Prairie Sunset

Small Scale Life had a great year in 2018!  Now that Julie and I had a chance to breathe after the Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart, I wanted to write a post about some of the Best of Small Scale Life in 2018.  While I wrote an article on New Year’s Day titled “2018 Year in Review: Building a Solid Foundation,” I wanted to highlight some of our best work on the Small Scale Life Podcast and blog posts.  Julie and I have learned a lot over the past year, and even though everything did not quite turn out as expected, it was a fantastic year!

Small Scale Life Podcast Highlights

2018….What a year!  I am really excited about the growth of the podcast and what is coming in 2019.  At the start if 2018, I listened to Gary Vaynerchuk and made a decision to really push myself with the podcast. I would consciously move towards posting a podcast with every article I published.  I knew that people are busy, and they might want content in different formats.  After all, sometimes they do not want to read 1500 words of wall text!  

I listen to audio books and podcasts all the time, and I wanted people to experience Small Scale Life in that format.  Because of our work on the podcast (and improving it), I have to say that 2018 marked a banner year for the Small Scale Life Podcast.  Here’s why:

  • Published 55 episodes by December, which was a huge goal of mine
  • Broke 60,000 downloads between Fireside and Blubrry hosting services
  • Doubled the number of listeners per episode of the podcast
  • Broke 1,000 downloads on several podcasts in 2018
  • Broke the 2,200 download mark on one podcast
  • Got to talk to some great folks and made some good friends in 2018
  • Developed our voice on the podcast and had a lot of fun doing it

That is pretty amazing stuff right there, and I REALLY have to thank my cohost, my guests and most of all you, the listeners.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  You all are awesome!

Best Small Scale Life Podcasts


As I mentioned, 2018 was a great year for the Small Scale Life Podcast.  What we discovered is that the audience really responded to getting back to the basics to begin living simply and intentionally.  Homesteading, minimalism, and starting a small business were popular topics, and the list of podcasts are in order of popularity with the audience.  

The response from the audience lead Julie and I to the conclusion that people are looking for a path to developing a life that they love, that they don’t need a vacation from.  If the four pillars are in place, you are that much closer to achieving that goal, so let’s explore those kind of topics in 2019!

Best Articles on Small Scale Life

While I was pushing on podcasts in 2018, there are several articles on Small Scale Life that attract a lot of attention each day, and it reminds me that I need to do more writing for the blog.  I think that folks are listening on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and other podcast apps, and they forget that there are informative articles on Small Scale Life as well. 

As Julie stated in one of our recent podcasts, I like to write.  I really enjoy putting words down and creating something interesting to read.  While I am not writing fiction (yet), we have had some interesting articles that might get overlooked by our podcast listeners.  Because of this, I am providing some of the “Best Articles” in this post that you might want to check out!

Many of these articles are focused on gardening, and I have been doing a lot (A LOT) of thinking about how to present gardening here on Small Scale Life.  While I will have some garden podcasts, I think it will be more instructive to use the Small Scale Life YouTube Channel, blog posts and pictures to tell this story.  After all, a video and pictures are better than 1000 words, and it is fun to create that kind of content as well.  

Leveling Up and Next Steps

intentional living, simple living, goals, love the process

As we move forward in 2019, we plan to write more, podcast more and provide more video content on our YouTube channel.  Things are picking up, especially with the Renew You Kickstarts that are planned for this year. 

In case you missed the first one, Julie and I hosted the first Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart in the second week of January.  This goal of this free 7-day Kickstart was to focus on movement, nutrition and mindset so you could be the best you in 2019.  Julie and I essentially used podcasts, articles, video and e-mail to deliver content during this week, and it was a great experience.  We have gotten some good feedback from people who participated with us, and we are leaving that content up and in place so participants can jump in at any time in the future!

As we move into the three quarters of this year, we will be facilitating new Kickstarts focused on our remaining pillars: Simple Living and Minimalism; Financial Freedom; and Building Community.  I am looking forward to working on these projects and delivering them to you! 

Of course, we will be interviewing folks who have made a decision to live a life they love on their own terms.  It is amazing what people can do and achieve!

Feedback Loop

Julie and I are working hard to improve Small Scale Life, but we want to provide the right content for this growing audience. What do you want to hear about in the future? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same result, so we like to take feedback and adjust accordingly.

To provide feedback, send us am e-mail at realsmallscalelife [at] gmail [dot] com or hit the Contact button in the upper right corner of the menu. Of course, we will see the comments submitted at the bottom of this post too! We got you covered.

Until next time, remember to learn, do, grow and be a little better everyday! See you soon, Lifers!