When I started blogging in 2011, I never thought that I would actually turn it into a business. My intention was to have a creative outlet –Ā I felt stifled and frustrated with my career and needed somewhere to escape to. My first blog offered me a place where I could write about the things that I did with my toddler. We lead a very healthy life, with little to no processed food, organic produce where possible and fresh veggies from the garden, so I wrote a lot about the meals that I prepared for him, activities that we did together and cool products and interiors for toddlers. And I loved it! It turned into an obsession almost, where I just had to write.
In the beginning, only my mom, mom-in-law and my sisters read my blog. I am not sure when that changed exactly – it certainly wasn’t an overnight thing! – but one day I had a subscriber list of 200 people. WOW! Then the pressure was on: my public expects me to write for them! It’s totally narcissistic of course, but at that point I couldn’t believe that people actually wanted to hear what I had to say and wanted to give them useful content.
I started doing a lot of research on the technicalities of a successful blog. There is so much information out there: some sources say you have to blog at least once a day, others say blog when you have something to say, other still encourage multiple posts across multiple channels every day. I wasn’t sure which route to follow, so I decided to strike a happy medium and to blog daily. I had no idea what I was in for – it was crazy difficult! I was still working as a retail interior designer, commuting between the city and the farm, and most of the timeĀ had no idea what I was supposed to write about. But once I set myself a goal IĀ tend to follow through. So for the better part of a year, I was blogging my heart out, about anything and everything kids related. Ā But what I found was that the content became contrived. Because I felt I HAD to blog, the posts lost their authenticity and originality and I was exhausted and became disheartened.
It dawned on me that the reason I wanted to blog was because it gave me joy and by enforcing this demanding schedule, I had turned my passion into something closely resembling WORK. So I stopped. After that, I planned a bit better and blogged a lotĀ less. But the posts were real and what I really wanted to write about. So now, 5 years down the line, I work with a monthly theme to help me come up with post ideas, I write daily but don’t necessarily post daily, and I work with collaborators to keep the content fresh and interesting. Isn’t it amazing what comes with experience?!
Keep blogging!
