Probably everyone has heard or seen the saying: don’t post nudes on the internet, because they will stay online forever or as long as there is the internet. As far as I know, my nudes are not on the internet. But my very first blog/website is. Here is the story behind it.
LatvianCrossFit was born out of necessity. Namely, I applied for courses to learn how to create a website. We did not study HTML, CSS, or Bootstrap, but a simple Google-based blogging platform called Blogger. Fortunately for my website, this platform is alive and well and is still being developed and updated. The final project for this course was to create your own website with content, various sections, or pages.
I only briefly did CrossFit, and I was no athlete. Back then I just had started my gym membership, thus I was relatively fresh to free weights and gyms in general. Why did CrossFit as a subject for my website appeal to me? Honestly, I don’t remember. Maybe because it was something new and unknown. Or maybe because I saw an opportunity to create a source of information about a subject that is not widely covered. At least in Latvian.
Initially, I simply translated existing articles. After all, I did study translation at that time. Or wrote short descriptions of events or shared my opinion on CrossFit-related subjects. But soon enough I figured that I could create my own content, and focus more on the people who actually do the sport. The first official CrossFit gym in Latvia was yet to be opened. Nevertheless, some Latvians post videos on Facebook where they do CrossFit workouts in common gyms or in outside training grounds. That is how I noticed those first athletes whom I could ask for an interview.
My first “interview” was with a guy from my hometown. How I got the courage to write to him on Facebook and ask about his journey with CrossFit? I don’t know. This was something I had never done before. But he replied. He said sure, send me your questions and I will answer them. Thus my modus operandi when it came to interviews was born. All “conversations” in LatvianCrossFit were conducted this way. I sent questions, I got replies, I wrote an introduction, I asked for pictures of my interviewees and created an article. Before publishing, I always sent the draft to the athlete. Even though I did not study journalism, I believe that I did a decent job imitating it.
Furthermore, during these “interviews,” I got to know about other people. Those who don’t post their workouts on Facebook, but who are passionate about the sport. Little by little the word got out, and when I approached a person to do a conversation, he or she already knew about my blog and was willing to tell their story as well.
In total, I wrote 75 articles; 31 of which were interviews, most of them in Latvian, but a few also in English. I even managed to get an interview with an American entrepreneur who created CrossFit-specific jump ropes. I think that was my highlight during the LatvianCrossFit period. When an accomplished American replied to Latvian writing on Facebook about doing an “interview” for an obscure blog. But to be perfectly honest, all interviews with all these athletes were accomplishments. None of them asked for anything in return.
Fun fact. I also got interviewed about CrossFit. Probably because I was writing about it. I must admit I have only once or twice listened to my own interview. Same as Johnny Depp, I don’t like watching myself speak. Sadly or luckily this interview is no longer available, as far as I know.
In retrospect, this was an interesting time. I got to interview people, I went to watch CrossFit competitions held in Latvia, and I gained valuable experience creating something. I believe the latter is the one thing that has really stuck with me, and why I started OLAAF. I want to create something. I want to develop something. And I want to see how I evolve. It is interesting to read my old texts, to see how my language has changed.
Before writing this article I checked LatvianCrossFit. It had 40+ spam comments, some links no longer worked, and a few Latvian CrossFit gyms are no longer open thus I had to update a few sections. In total LatvianCrossFit has 80 thousand views, which is a decent number considering almost all of it is written in Latvian and about a niche theme. Furthermore, I did not use any ads or take advantage of digital marketing strategies. Then again, it was almost ten years ago, and I knew little about digital marketing back then.
Looking back I must say that I am proud of my work on LatvianCrossFit. I really did put my heart and soul into this project. Every time when someone replied that he/she is interested and willing to do an interview with me, I felt joyed and immensely honored. And I felt sad when someone said why should they give their time if it is not paid for. Luckily, people were mostly positive and willing to tell their stories.
If you do post something on the internet, make sure it is something that you can be proud of. As long as Google will support Blogger, there is going to be LatvianCrossFit. My first creation on the internet.
Kind regards,
Olaaf
