When I first started dreaming of starting a blog, I wasn’t thinking about the late night hustle, the technological difficulties, or the huge learning curve that this journey involved. It has certainly been an intense growth experience. I’ve always been very ambitious and probably a workaholic. It is kind of funny that for the longest time I didn’t believe I could do this. It took a lot of deep diving and re-framing of my mindset. At first came the excuses…I am too busy, I can’t afford to take the risks, what if I fail, how will anyone find interest in what i have to say, how could I possibly compete with the bigger bloggers in this space, etc. It took almost five years to realize that in almost every other aspect of my life, I don’t question myself. I have a professional career, take risks everyday, I lead others, I plan, and I just do. I do my best work when I believe in myself. As soon as I started applying myself to my blog and stopped worrying about the rest, I started to gain traction and finally see my dreams coming to life.
There are several shifts I needed to make. The first was to be willing to invest in myself. I needed to learn all about how other bloggers made a business of it. I invested in training and mentoring to do this. I have to say it was probably the decision I made! If you are thinking that starting an online business will come free, or that you should be making money from day one you have the wrong attitude. This method involves a lot of work up front. You spend more than you make in the beginning. That is what starting a business really is. I know lots of people online trying to make a quick buck by telling you how they’ve made millions and it seemingly happened overnight. The actual truth is it has taken some of these online business years to gain traction, made many mistakes, and sometimes failed more than once. BUT…the key thing that separated them from others was their willingness to keep on going even when there was no immediate reward. To keep trying and looking at a shortcoming as a learning experience rather than a reason to quit.
Most days, I burn the candle at both ends. I work more than a full-time professional job. I come home and parent my kids, make sure my family has all their needs met, and I hustle HARD. Almost every night I do something to grow my online business. Sometimes I work from the moment I wake up until the moment I fall asleep. It is not the easiest path, but it certainly is a fulfilling one! I do enjoy all that I have learned and what I am building. It speaks volumes about what is possible when you put your mind to it.
Over the past two months I have logged countless hours building a website. I have become an expert in using WordPress, I have mastered plug-ins, learned email marketing, developed and authored an e-course, started developing a social media presence, learned to run ads, delved deeply into analytics and SEO, started list building, formalized the business as an entity, organized my accounting structure, filed all my paperwork for the new business to make it official and legit! I had to learn how to be a designer and make images from scratch, develop products from a blank canvas, and optimize all of these things for the online world. It has been a pretty great experience. I have been lucky to be mentored by some of the bloggers I most admire. I have researched every tool I heard about, and took suggestions from some of the best in the business. I had no idea how much it took to succeed in this space. I am proud of all of the growth and hard work invested. I feel so lucky to have my family supporting me and my husband helping make most of the social media happen!
If you’ve ever considered starting to make money online in the blogging space, I hope this post has given you some perspective. If you want to know more, you can always register for the free master class here. It takes you through the basics of getting started and shares all the resources I have come to know, use, and love. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this post all the way to the very end.
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