I’m getting close to my blog’s 5 year anniversary and that’s so crazy to me! I’m at almost 1300 posts and I’ve been able to be consistent with the posts since I started almost 5 years ago. And maybe it’s because of the upcoming anniversary or my consistency that has made a lot of people come to me recently about my blog and how I do it. It’s funny because I still feel like I need to ask others for advice and now people are coming to me for advice.
I still consider myself a small time blogger since I’m not out doing the crazy events that so many bloggers get invited to. I don’t have thousands of readers every day and I’m not making that much money off of my blog (I think in total I’ve made around $100). But maybe me being a small blogger has made me more approachable? I’m not sure. But because so many people have helped me in my journey, I’m more than happy to help anyone who comes to me. It’s all about paying it forward to me.
The number one thing that people have been asking me is how to start a blog. And my only advice is to just start. I knew I was going to start this blog for a while before I wrote my first post. I was terrified about what to write and if anyone would care to read what I have to say. I’m so glad that you all do care about what I have to say because it helps me feel more confident about putting myself out there. I wish now that I had started it when I got everything set up instead of waiting. The sooner you start blogging the sooner you feel comfortable about blogging.
And the other thing that people ask me about all the time is how I come up with ideas to write about. And this isn’t really an easy one. There are a bunch of days that I have nothing to write about and it takes forever to think of what I could possibly have to say. And when my editorial calendar is empty, I get worried that I won’t know how to fill it. It does make it easier now that I do my fitness recaps on Mondays and I’ve got some ongoing posts like my monthly challenges. But as an example, next week the only post I know I’ll be writing will be my Monday workout recap. I have no clue what I’m going to write about the rest of the week.
But I recently posted something I got through Shine Text that was so relevant about blogging for me.
When I saw that in Shine Text, it got me to reflect on things. But instead of things being for novelty, they are because I know they will make a good blog post. When I get invited to an event and my editorial calendar is empty I feel like I have to go. I know I’ll need something to blog about and going to an event is the perfect way to be inspired. And I’m so lucky that in LA there are so many fun events that I am able to go to. It’s still tough sometimes for me to make the time to go to events, but I’m working on it.
I have become a more social and outgoing person and it is partially because of this blog. But I don’t know if I became more social and then got the courage to blog or if I felt like I had to start blogging and then I had to start finding things to blog about. I’m not sure what came first, but I’m so glad that I have both things in my life.
I’m so much more well-rounded now and I’ve found new things that I love because I took a chance with going to an event. I’ve become really gutsy in trying new things and those new things bring other new things to me. It’s a cycle of awesome for me and I never knew that this would make me so happy.
Coming up on a big blogging anniversary does give me time to reflect on things. But I probably wouldn’t have thought as much about how I’m doing more now if I hadn’t seen that message in Shine Text and if friends hadn’t been asking me about blogging. Sometimes things come your way because you need them. I’ve been in a bit of a blogging slump (sorry in advance for any boring posts in the next week or two) and this just reminded me on how far I’ve come from 5 years ago when I was terrified to write my very first post.
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