Have You Wondered?
Maybe you have or maybe you haven’t wondered why I started this blog. When I view people’s blogs, YouTube videos, or see people on the other various social media platforms I tend to wonder how they got their start and why they do what they do. It feels better having the transparency of why they produce the content they do and oddly helps me connect more to them. With such a saturated online world out there I thought I’d share with you all why I started my blog / business and my goals. I also think it’s fun to delve into this topic for others who are interested in doing the same. Why a blog? Am I earning money? How much time each week do I spend on the business? You’ll get raw and real information on my journey as someone who is still starting out!
Why Did I Start My Business?
Let’s start at the beginning. I’ve now officially hit a year into consistently posting blog posts. This is my 50th blog post so this just felt like the right time for this topic. While it’s only been about a year writing for my blog I had the idea of starting a business around 3 almost 4 years ago. After the birth of our first child I had planned to go back to work part time. Prior to our daughter’s birth, I was working remotely and so I pictured going back to work during naps and the first couple of hours of my daughter’s nightly sleep… but let’s just say that didn’t happen. She was not a napper apart from sleeping on me – or a sleeper much in general.
I quickly realized I would not be going back to work. Once my husband and I decided I would stay home I still felt the urge to do something to contribute financially to the household. This is a whole topic I plan to discuss for another day so stay tuned for that! Safe to say, this is why I started my business though. It didn’t start out as a blog, so here’s how I got started.
Deciding To Create An Online Business
Contact napping and endless hours of breastfeeding sessions had me laid up on the couch for large periods of time. I struggled with staring around my house at all the things that needed to be cleaned, knowing a dinner needed to be cooked, but I did not feel like I could be productive outside of caring for our daughter. Don’t get me wrong – this is the best and most important job ever, but I still struggled from my usual go, go, go personality.
Because I was somewhat stuck sitting for long periods unable to do too much I decided an online business could be something that I could do while caring for my child and could help the family in earning a little money on the side. I could pretty easily do things on my phone while a sleeping baby was cradled in my arms. If I could use the time to create an online business that could eventually create passive income for our family that would be the dream! But, where to begin?
Which Online Platform Is Right For You?
When I first landed on creating an online business I wasn’t sure what platform to focus on. This was almost 4 years ago so the online world and algorithms were different than they are now. It was a time where people still talked about being on multiple platforms and niching down. The only social media I had to speak of was Instagram and I wasn’t using it to post just to view content.
Since Instagram was what I had and was familiar with I landed on trying my hand at becoming an Instagram content creator. The algorithm was complicated and the more I delved into understanding Instagram the more I found it was one of the harder platforms to appease as a creator. It was like winning the lottery if you did well on Instagram or you started out from another platform that gave you an automatic following that helped.
I also struggled with anonymity. It sounds funny to want to put content online but be relatively anonymous but I didn’t feel comfortable initially putting myself out there. Also, I knew I wanted to keep my family out of the public eye. This made content creation even more challenging. If you are wanting to create content online but are finding similar struggles here’s what has ultimately worked for me!
Blogging
A couple of years ago I listened to several people who I follow on YouTube talk about starting their business by blogging. I ended up doing a deep dive into the world of blogging and became more and more intrigued by the idea of blogging. It hit a few key things for me that solved most of my initial problems.
- Can be as anonymous as you want to be
- No algorithms to contend with
- My own website aka a business I own
- Clear content creation
- Can expand the business as much or as little as I want
The only negatives I could find when it came to blogging was:
- Cost upfront for domain name and hosting
- Potentially greater learning curve
- Getting eyes on blog might be difficult
Starting A Blog
I had originally wanted to do something on social media that I could eventually monetize that wouldn’t cost anything upfront. The largest downside to blogging for me personally is the cost upfront; however, while there is a cost it’s a low one. It doesn’t cost much to buy a domain name and hosting can be relatively inexpensive. Most hosting sites offer incentive discounts. For example, I signed up to use Bluehost, but as long as I signed up for a three year period the monthly rate of hosting was significantly reduced and overall inexpensive. I also don’t have to worry about another payment for three years.
The three year mark also appealed to me because it gave me a full three years to give blogging a try and see if, one, I enjoyed it, but two if I could eventually earn a living off of it. Blogging is a game of chess not checkers. It takes time to set it up and get it going but once you do it can be quite enjoyable and lucrative.
There has definitely been a learning curve from my website set up, to learning WordPress, to starting an email list, and beyond. Despite the slow start, it has been fun. I enjoy the writing and creative outlet, I love knowing I am doing something that can one day help my family, and that hopefully I am helping others along the way.
The Mindset Struggles of Starting a Business
Back in the day, bloggers would often say they started it as a hobby and it sweetly and innocently turned into a money making business. In today’s world of a whole new internet and saturated market it is a whole lot harder to have a start like that. Also, as a busy wife, mother, and homemaker I don’t have time nor do I feel like I can sacrifice my other vocations for a time consuming hobby or business. While I have felt called to help out financially in our family, I decidedly felt that whatever I did needed to stay on the backburner compared to my other vocations – those would take priority.
Realistic Expectations
This has made monetizing my business very slow to get going, but I will say I came into it knowing it would take time. Again, this business for me is a game of chess not checkers. I want to take my time and learn all I can, create the right content for the correct group of people I am hoping to help, connect with, etc. rather than casting some large net just to go viral. While I did not innocently start a blog just for “fun” because I simply don’t have the time to do that without sacrificing time from my family, I also want to be intentional with what I am creating. I have always wanted a job that helps people, and feel blogging is a great way to do that while giving me a creative outlet that I love.
The best part is, I have designed it so that my business topic revolves around what I am already doing on a day to day. This is so helpful and time saving. I not only know what I am talking about because I have experience with it, but it is also something that I can share without having to make too much extra effort in the content creation portion.
For example, if I filmed videos of makeup tutorials I would have to film that intentionally, then edit, upload, and do everything in between. Whereas, doing a blog about my life of homemaking, parenting, and homesteading allows me to share what I am already doing. If I make a batch of chocolate chips cookies I can simply take a few pictures of the cookies I was already making, and then in turn write a blog post sharing the recipe and voila – done!
How Much Time I Work On The Business Each Week
This is such a loaded question for me. Each week is, honestly, a little different. Life can be busy and chaotic especially with kids. Having a VERY busy three year old and a baby on the way, along with trying to sell our home, and the laundry list of to-do’s every day makes finding time to work on the blog a challenge. I also find that my husband’s schedule affects things greatly. He has a unique work schedule so my time with him can impact when I work on my blog. I would say on average I spend about five hours a week working on the business. As far as planning, thoughts, ideas, and the like that is happening ALL the time!
I am definitely not spending enough time on the business currently. I believe this is the main reason I have yet to monetize the business; however, I have only been at this for one year. There were times when I spent way more time on the business, especially when I was first starting it. Working on creating the website and setting up my email list were incredibly time consuming.
Now that I am mostly spending time trying to write a blog post each week I am simply not spending the same amount of time. I wish I could though. I would love to have more time to focus on Pinterest. Recently, I have begun to post every other week. For one, life is just insane right now and about all I have time for, but two, I have been trying to focus on creating more Pinterest content – and here’s why.
A Little Thing Called Pinterest
Pinterest is a blogger’s best friend. I always thought of Pinterest as being another social media platform, but it is actually considered a search engine. Pinterest has a friendlier algorithm when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization – all the stuff that helps your website rank on a search engine) than the big search engines like Google. Pinterest is what initially helps drive traffic to most blogger’s websites, hence the importance of posting to it and why I have begun prioritizing it. I could write 5,000 blog posts, but unless people are viewing my website it doesn’t really matter – so bring on the Pins!
Monetization
Spoiler alert, I already answered the question of if my blog is monetized or not up above and no, it is not. I have made a little money from Amazon via my affiliate links but I don’t count that yet because I haven’t made enough to be paid out yet. If you are like me, and interested in starting a business online, I hope you follow along on my journey.
I am excited to share if and when I become monetized and how I accomplished it. I have SO many ideas right now for things I want to do that I feel could really help me in the area of monetization and just expanding my business that really excite me. For now, life is crazy and I am just trying to keep afloat what I have gotten started because I think it’s a great starting point and I am really proud of what I have created so far. Again, this is a long game business and I am so in!
The Future
A common question I hear bloggers discussing is if blogging is dead. Honestly, I think blogging is coming back. Websites like Substack, email newsletters, and the like are all quite popular right now. People seem to be craving human connection and the written word. So many people online and on social media are reading books and doing book clubs than I ever remember before. With AI and the internet as it is today it seems that everyone is wanting not only human connection but they want the actual experiences from real people. We want community and connection even if it’s in the online realm, but it seems most want it to be real and authentic and not AI created.
So, no blogging is most certainly not dead. Think of all the blogs out there! Technically, every recipe website is a blog – and there’s a lot of those! I don’t think blogging is the same as when it first became a “thing” but it, like everything else, has evolved. It is my belief it’s making a comeback and I am excited to see where it goes and where this possible resurgence takes my blog too! Keep following along if this topic interests you and I will keep y’all posted on this crazy journey.
Looking For More Inspiration?
The weekly, or lately, more like bi-weekly blog posts are still coming at you! If you missed my most recent post it is all about Finding The Perfect Curtains for any room in your home. I mentioned the chaos of life lately and much of that is due to the fact that we are moving and that I am pregnant. Read here about why we are moving, and if you are interested in pregnancy related topics I have several like my most recent on My Pregnancy Workout Routine. Keep checking back for more pregnancy content too because I am now in my third trimester and have several topics planned to discuss and post on soon.
As always, if you are looking for a great all year round cleaning routine then you can download my free year long cleaning checklist by clicking on the button “Download Your Checklist” on the Homepage. Enter your email, and you’ll receive your FREE checklist right in your inbox.
