So you want to start a food blog?
Here’s the 10 things we learned in our first year of blogging that had the biggest impact on our business success and personal growth
Let’s keep the 1 year blogiversary celebration going with the 10 things we learned in our first year of blogging.
Earlier this week, we announced our one year blogiversary and today we’re expanding on that post and sharing with you 10 things we learned we’ve learned from blogging in the past 12 months.
While this list could easily be 100 things (maybe even 1,000 things), we’re keeping it to just the 10 things that have had the biggest impact on our rapid business and blog growth and our personal lives this past year.
Note: This isn’t a post about how to start a blog or how to grow an existing blog – it’s about the human aspects of blogging. It’s about the passion and grit required to go from ZERO to almost 200,000 page views per month in just one year.
And even if you’re not a blogger this post is still for you. It’s for anyone who has a dream, a goal or an ambition to create or achieve something big in their lives. So listen up and see what takeaways you can apply to your life in your quest to be even awesomer that you already are. (Because ‘awesomer’ is a word, right? If not, it should be!)
((We’re talkin’ about the mentality we’ve sustained on most days this past year, the dedication, the patience, the perseverance and the drive to pave our own path/learn new things but also the willingness to let the opportunities that come our way and define our business growth even if that means altering our vision.))
10 things we learned in our first year of blogging:
- HUSTLE: Always hustle. The hustle is real so you may as well embrace it. Sure, it ebbs and flows from time to time but for the most part, to be successful in blogging or anything you really want you’ve got to hustle.
- Know your ‘Why’: Having a clear vision of what you what to create/be/do, the gifts you want to offer to the world and how you’ll do it is key. Though your path may change many times along the way, knowing your “why” will help guide you along the way. Your ‘why’ will serve as your compass whenever new opportunities present themselves and when you (gasp!) hit a wall. Your ‘why’ should be specific but not so rigid that it prevents you from being open to new ideas and new paths to success.
- Be patient: Caving your own path, creating your own destiny and manifesting your dream job is hard and it takes time. It’s really hard. And it takes a lot of time. Be patient but don’t stop hustling. You’ll have days when you’re on top of the world and everything is perfect – and other days nothing will go well, you’ll feel stuck and uninspired and second guess your ability to keep going another day. All we can say is that it’s perfectly normal. Show yourself some grace and compassion on the down days and ride the wave of amazingness on the up days – keeping in mind that the tide can turn at any moment and that’s okay. It’s just part of the journey.
- Accountability is king: Having someone to hold you accountable is key if you truly want to be successful. For us, that means having one another as a business partner – which is awesome, but not always easy. Any time you bring two personalities together there exists the potential for great synergy but also for great discord. Luckily for us, those times have been few and far between and we’ve been able to overcome them. Our Rule: Always talk it out. Don’t text it out – TALK it out. Texting is the BEST way to be totally misunderstood. Trust us on this one.
- Overcome fear: Fear of failing, fear of what others think…even fear of being successful. It’s all gotta go! When fear rears it’s ugly head, acknowledge it and sit with it for a little while – try to figure out what you’re afraid of and why. Make a mental list of everything this fear is keeping your from experiencing and achieving then kick that fear in the pants. Most of the fears we’ve had in our first year were completely unfounded and once we learned to move past them, well, that’s where the real growth started to happen.
- Get out of our own way: Stop letting the voices in your head (or that of the naysayers) keep you stuck. Find your unique voice and start using it to share your gifts far and wide. Embrace the ‘hard things’, the things you never wanted to learn because that’s where true growth lies – when you step outside of your comfort zone and start before you’re ‘ready’. Never stop learning and be open to new challenges as they present themselves because they always will.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect: It’s true that perfect is the enemy of the good. Waiting for something to be perfect is a recipe for disaster. In the words of our friend, Nikki Elledge Brown, “It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be shared.” Get your gift out into the world – you serve no one when you keep it to yourself waiting for it to be perfect. You can always improve upon it as you go – not convinced? See some of our first photographs here and here.
- Build a strong support system: Surround yourself with supportive friends and family members. Our secret was to seek out other bloggers who could understand what it’s like in the trenches and who embraced the spirit of ‘collaboration over competition”. Having someone who will tell you to pick yourself up and dust yourself off, to sleep on it or not to sweat the small stuff is invaluable.
- If something isn’t a “Hell Yes!” then it needs to be a “Hell No!”: Learn to say “No” when something doesn’t feel right. Trust your gut. Step away when you’re at your breaking point so you can regroup and come at the problem or situation with fresh eyes.
- Stop comparing your beginning to someone else’s middle and just freakin’ start!
Want to learn more about starting a blog of your own?
If you have a food blog or are thinking about starting one be sure to check out Food Blogger Pro – it’s an online membership program for bloggers big and small. Much of our success in blogging this first year can be attributed to all of the amazing resources we tapped into within Food Blogger Pro.
Seriously, the minute we stopped Googling everything from how to set up a WordPress site to how to use our cameras and started taking advantage of the hundreds of hours of video tutorials and answers from experts in the blogger forums – that’s when we really got traction and took off.
Enrollment in Food Blogger Pro happens just twice a year, so get over there and get signed up if you’re ready to start your blog or take it to the next level!
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