Also, the other two bits:

10k subscribers to a mailing list. Oh wow! So impressive. I managed niche newsletters with up to 35.000 subscribers in the past, built by the company I was freelancing for. In Italian. I didn’t have the reach of English. I consider it a very average work and achievement, frankly. If I’d ever put that in a CV here in Germany, companies would LAUGH at me and even be upset about such formulation.

100.000 views. Again, So what? A column I wrote last month had 120.000 views and 800 comments. I also think it’s good but not impressive.

So now, the problem is either I can’t really market myself, (or I don’t care) or it’s just a very profound cultural difference here between America and the rest of the World.