Survey Says

A couple of weeks ago, I ran a survey on The Beautiful Voyager newsletter and Facebook page to get to know what everyone's needs were. I told you that I would share the results when they were in. The time for that sharing is....now.

Since I have nothing to hide from you, fellow voyagers, I will tell you exactly what people said and how I interpreted it. It's always interesting to get feedback and try to understand it. Even moreso when it's about a topic like stress and overthinking! See what you think.

Survey Sent: July 19, 2016

Number of Responses: 13 (More qualitative than quantitative information, in other words)

Level of appreciation I have for every single person who responded: Very high.

#1: How did you hear about the BV?

Responses, and my read on them: How could I have forgotten to include Anchor in the list? We had 4 write-ins for Anchor, almost as many as "I know you Meredith, you crazy cat," the top response. One person found the BV through FB and one through Medium. One from a friend and one from "I can't remember but something on the Internet let me to you."

My read: People find the project in lots of ways. The strongest bond will be people who have heard my voice, prolly.

#2: Do you ever seek out the site or FB page?

Answers: This one happily surprised me! 76% DO seek out the BV. 24% say I stalk them, hahaha. I love all of the responders.

#3: What feelings do you associate with the BV?

Answers: This one really intrigued me. Since I am trying to do the Reverse Buzzkill en masse, I had no clue how this was going to go down. Here are the results: Joy came in first with 63%, Pressure or Anxiety second with 45%, then Excitement with 36%, and stress and boredom just had one response each. People could answer more than 1 (we are an ambivalent bunch).

My read: I am mostly accomplishing my aim! YAY!

#4: Do you know what you'd like from the BV, in terms of information or experience?

Answers: Tips was the big winner here, with 66%. Resource ideas was a close second. Blog Posts came in with 50%, Interview 41%, 3 darling responders said it was perfect as it was, and just one person said events.

My read: The events thing is interesting, because on Facebook I have people signing up for possible events. You can rest assured that the event I am thinking of doing is very, very, extremely low-pressure. No one would have to make small talk with anyone else. It would kind of defeat the point right? It was helpful to see how much people want tips. I love bite-sized info too and will keep scouring for it.

#5: What's your favorite thing you read or learned from the BV? Or an experience you had?

Answers: This was an open form answer, and I loved, loved what people said, so I'll share here:

• I love the tongue in cheek humor. Also that there's a community here.
• That there are others like me out there.
• seeing an article or blog where the feelings I feel were described - realizing it's not just me!
• I think just the sense of community, that I'm not alone in these struggles
• Lighthouse map -- feeling of community
• It makes me feel more "normal" - whatever that means. It associates anxiety with other qualities, like overthinking or being highly sensitive, which makes anxiety feel less like a singular way to define myself.
• Article shares
• How to interview well
• Anxiety
• I love connecting with others in the BV community. It has been a great resource to feel part of a community that understands me.
• Just knowing others are out there, and that there's is a community, is pretty awesome!
• The Slack channel is nice for connecting with others.

What can I say? I love you guys!

#6: Do you know what the term "overthinker" means?

Answers: All but 2 people said yes. Those who said no responded: "Truthfully, no. But I know people who are prone to anxiety and worry are part of it." and "In my mind, it's someone others might call "sensitive." Always analyzing everything to the point of exhaustion, often involving self doubt."

My read: Relieved. I rely on this word to fill the gap between all of the other things we are...to try to simplify the concept to find others...so knowing that most people get it meant a lot to me.

#7: What words do you use to describe yourself ("overthinker," "I have anxiety" "I am a highly sensitive person" etc)

Answers:

• empathetic, bleeding heart, jumpy, tense; my brain is hurting me.
• Anxious, hyper-sensitive.
• focus-challenged, anxious, and sometimes introverted
• Sensitive, "too nice" (thanks mom), anxious
• I have occasional anxiety and an overthinking kid
• Anxious, highly sensitive, stressed out
• Highly sensitive
• I have frequent bouts of social anxiety
• Sensitive person
• Im an overly anxious person.
• overthinker and anxiety
• Anxious, sensitive
• Highly sensitive person. I actually find overthinker a little confusing/offputting because I've worked really hard to not think so much and feel/intuit instead.

My take: I'm really aware of the words we use to describe ourselves, and I can see the power of not using any words at all. Ultimately, we're verbs, not nouns. But this was helpful and insightful to see. I hope reading this list doesn't bum anyone out too much. You're all pretty awesome in my book.

#8: How likely is it that you would recommend The Beautiful Voyager to a friend or colleague?

Answers: This is a question I included out of curiosity because it is an official question called The Net Promoter Score. It's a score that someone (who??) has said determines the health of a site. Here's how it works:

The Detractors cancel out the Promoters, and the Passives are neutral. You're given an ultimate number on a scale of -100 to 100. If you got all detractors, you'd have a -100. If you got only Promoters, you'd have a 100.

The first response I got was a Detractor. I took an audible intake of air when I saw it. I just didn't expect it. But then I remembered, "It's only data, Meredith. You are here to learn." So I just waited. Here's how it all played out: I got 54% Promoters, 38% Passives, and 8% (that one response) Detractors. My final number was 46. 

Here are some industry benchmarks:

Depending on where we place the BV, with this small qualitative data, it's doing just fine.

Have I said thank you enough to each of the 13 respondents of the survey? I will be doing these every 6 months or so and sharing the results.  Let me just say it one more time: