Hello beautiful friends! As someone who has been blogging for 4-5 years, I'm certainly an advocate because I think it's AMAZING!
BUT........
It wasn't always like that for me.
I started my blog on a complete whim without any prior knowledge of blogging or even following other blogs. I just wanted to share what I knew about painting furniture to help other people! Looking back I can't believe I've made it this far, but tenacity has a way of getting you places, right?!
On this week's Blog Talk via Facebook LIVE, I shared briefly about the one question every potential blogger must ask themselves before starting a blog. The question I never asked myself until years into it, and a question that made all the difference.
Because of my negative experiences (because of my lack of knowledge) in my first years of blogging, and the process I went through to turn it around, I'm happy to help others get started on the right foot with a good foundation to their blog.
Now, anyone who has an interest in starting a blog typically has a mix of fears and excitement about the process and possibilities and this is completely NORMAL.
I do believe that no matter what dreams and goals you are pursuing, asking this ONE QUESTION before creating and launching your blog will give you greater clarity into how you actually want to do "this whole blogging thing".
It's simple, but profound.
The question simply is.........
"What do I want?"
What do I want in life?
What am I hoping to gain by starting this blog?
Why does this matter to me?
Does pursuing the launch of this kind of blog support the life I want to live?
How do I want to structure and operate my blog in order to support what I want in life?
Listen. The great thing about owning and running your own blog is that you call the shots. You set your hours. You work where you want to work. You choose the people you work with. It's amazing!
At the same time it's easy to get sucked into the "what everyone else is doing" trap. You may start to get bogged down because you "have" to post so many times per week. You "have" to have these certain things on your website.
You can literally make a job for yourself taking care of all the "have to's" and forgetting the heart of why you ever even began.
I know because that used to be me.
Late late nights. Overwhelmed with emails and social media comments. Grumpy at my kiddos for lack of sleep. Not prioritizing work outs and time with friends. Waiting for that next big break.
Addressing this one questions will help you begin your blog on a solid foundation from the get-go.
Here is an example of what I want in life is, and that I've created my blog to support this:
- Time with my family.
- To be well rested.
- To feel strong and healthy.
- To earn an income from work I enjoy.
- To help others with problems and saving them time and money.
- To have fun with design and style - things I enjoy!
- To talk about deeper topics occasionally.
- To create and savor the process of creating - not feeling rushed.
- To be able to listen to my kids, look them in the eye, and be completely focused on what they're saying to me, without thinking of a million "to-dos" in my head.
- To take time off and completely unplug from technology and not feel stressed out about it.
This list will look different for every single person who goes through this simple exercise.
What would your list look like? Are your current goals supporting that list? I'd love to know in the comments below.
xo,
Anneke
P.S. Interested in starting a blog of your own. Grab my FREE Guide below!