10,000 Hits Milestone! And Countdown to Upbeat Dad Community Forum!

Good Day! What a beautiful day it is!

I’m excited to share that earlier today we reached a MAJOR MILESTONE! This afternoon, we reached the monumental milestone of 10,000 hits on our blog! Yes, 10,000!

Let’s put this in perspective. We officially launched the blog on Monday, October 4, 2010. It was launched with the goal to reach fathers throughout the world to encourage them to hang in there and be very involved in their kids’ lives. What’s ensued these 3 ½ months has been simply magical!

Here are some statistics that might let you know just why I’m so excited:

• On December 31, 2010, I shared the post Major Milestone and Year in Review. On that post, I shared that the previous day, we hit the 5,000 pageview mark. I’m not a mathematician but I’m a certified public accountant. So if I do the simple calculation, that tells me that in the month of January we’ve had approximately 5,000 more hits – and the month doesn’t end for a few more days. That’s beyond comprehension, in a sense, but it’s also quite pleasing. This clearly means that we’ve struck a chord on a global scale with the message that we share.

• As I write this post, we have 10,086 hits on the blog, 682 followers on Twitter and 315 Facebook fans. As you read this, I’m pretty certain that each of those numbers has increased. I have written 114 blog posts and sent 2,285 Tweets. You may wonder why I so frequently talk about the numbers. If you have followed this blog for any length of time you will know that my passion is to reach the world with the life-changing message that strong, involved fathers help to produce strong kids. Each of these numbers that I reference represents a new opportunity to share this message, in my view. It’s not about numbers to me – it’s about lives. If I had my way, we’d have billions of hits because that would mean that billions of lives are being touched and families throughout the world are being encouraged.

• We have daily readers on every continent  – well, except Antarctica (do they have internet there anyway?). From Asia to South America to Australia to Europe to North and America and the Caribbean, people are reading the Upbeat Dad blog each day and are sharing our message with others. In early December, I started a weekly post on Saturdays to welcome the new countries to the blog. And today, I can say we’re pretty much maxed out. I’m not sure I’ll be doing one this week because we now have readers in all the countries in the world that I’ve identified as our target market – except one. I’m still waiting on our first hit in China – that will come in time, I’m sure. But I’m thrilled with the dozens of countries we have on board.

                        

• Over 60% of our readers are women. Hard to believe, huh? It was for me initially but now it makes perfect sense. My original agenda was to address men on the issues of fatherhood. But then I quickly realized that the many issues concerning fatherhood affect each of us – men, women and kids. Women have been on-board with our vision from day one so as I write a post each day, I think of how the issues raised affect both dads and moms. The platform I have is something I will never take for granted. Men and women have so much to do with the issues that affect our kids. So if we can engage in productive dialogue among ourselves, then we can make significant progress.

So there you have it – these are just some of the highlights to show the exciting things happening here at The Upbeat Dad.

Now on to the next big thing – The Upbeat Dad Community Forum! I tell you, that there’s a certain buzz in the air. Do you hear it? Something big is on the horizon! And two weeks from today – on Thursday, February 10 from 7-9 PM – we will have our inaugural Upbeat Dad Community Forum! I’m more excited than I can say! It’s going to be awesome!

The planning for that event is coming along great! We have speaking commitments from the Miami Dolphins football organization! That’s huge and quite an endorsement of our efforts to bring the community together to address the topic Where Are Our Fathers? We also have speaking commitments from 2 family law attorneys, a local City Commissioner and a former parole officer who is currently a Criminal Justice professor.

The term forum suggests public discussion. And discuss we will! The aforementioned persons will share their own unique perspective on the plight in our society as men are missing in action. But a significant portion of the evening will be devoted to hearing the voices of the persons who attend. We really want to engage in productive discourse at this evening.

One major goal I have for this event is to duplicate in person what’s already transpired online these past few months. I received a phone call from a young lady two days ago. She wanted to ensure that women are invited to the event as well. She was excited to hear that both the male and female perspective will be heard that day. She told me that she went on the blog and she felt the energy – “It’s electric,” she said. I want to bring that same energy to this live event.

I have done seminars and conferences before but none quite like this. This one is what I consider to be the cause of a lifetime. I really envision that this event will be the catalyst for a chain reaction that will reverberate around the world. Are you feeling it yet? Even the hair on my bald head is standing!

I consider this whole vision of the Upbeat Dad to be a life-changing force that will bring hope and healing to many lives that are broken throughout the world. I have said it many times before and I say it again here that this movement is way bigger than me. I’m just privileged to be serving in the capacity that I am. And if the feedback I get on a daily basis from all over the globe is any indicator, we’re on to something huge. So I encourage you to remain engaged with us.

If you’re in the Miami area, do join us that evening. And if you’re out of town but you feel that you cannot afford to miss this event, then come on down! We’d love to have you!

Here are the details of our forum:      

Come let your voice be heard at The Upbeat Dad Community Forum!
You'll enjoy this intriguing discussion on fatherhood!

Where:

Cooper City Church of God Fellowship Hall

9191 Stirling Road

Cooper City, FL 33328

When:

Thursday, February 10, 2011

7 PM - 9 PM

Contact:

Name: Rodrick Walters

Phone: 954-288-4788

Email: info@theupbeatdad.com

RSVP by Thursday, February 3, 2011


Dads, Moms, Married, Divorced, Singles, Everyone’s welcome!

We wanna hear from you!

Free Admission!

Come on out and express yourself on this thought-provoking subject!

Among the issues that will be addressed are:

• Absentee father syndrome: Where are our fathers?
• How fair is the family law system?
• From father to visitor: Being dad after divorce
• Why every child needs a dad
• When good fathers go bad
• Why parents use children as tools in a game of Tug of War?

Do make the effort to join us that evening if you can. I truly believe that it will be a life-changing event for many.

As with everything that we do, this is all about our children – to ensure that they get the loving, supportive fathers  that they deserve. We’re headed to a great destination so I encourage you to join us – and hang on for the beautiful ride!

Enjoy your day,

The Upbeat Dad