When I decided to blog about my everyday life and the wonderful struggles I encountered as a first-time mom, I never thought there would be a whole community of other moms interested in what I had to say.
And that was dangerous.
Dangerous in the sense that I began to lose who I was and why I started my blog.
Once I knew that it was no longer just my family and friends reading my posts, I focused more on the type of content I thought my newfound readers would enjoy, and not once did I think about what my audience really came to see on my blog.
When I gave up trying to create a brand for myself — selling ads, t-shirts, etc. — I knew there was more to this blogging adventure that I really needed to explore.
But first, I needed to regain focus. I needed to remember what led me to blog about motherhood.
The answer was family.
Whenever I think back to those first blog posts I shared, I recall all the feelings I went through.
Hitting publish is scary, more so when you’re starting out. You question whether you crossed your T’s and dotted your I’s several times beforehand. You wonder if your message will reach the right people.
No matter how boring those posts may have been, they were read by the people who matter the most.
Finding What Works
With research (and lots of chatting with other bloggers) I discovered my voice. A better understanding as to why I was getting followers came to mind.
Even when I would almost fall back into the salesman mentality, I tell myself to think of blogging as the way NPR tells their news:
They’re informative, and have earned the right to advertise to their audience because they provide their readers with the type of content they want to read.
And that’s when I look for new ways to reinvent myself.
The blogosphere is always changing. There’s always a new platform to promote your work, and so many innovative ways to do it. Research is key, but so is creativity.
To help me stay focused, I often do the following:
1. I jot down ideas.
Whether I decide to go through with an idea or not, I rather write them down. This way, I have something to come back to while I go off and focus on my family.
2. I plan to attend events.
I’ve always been a sucker for events that include everyone. I never like to leave anyone out, and that’s why I always like to look up things for our whole family to try.
Attending family events makes it easier to just focus 100% on my family, snap a couple of photos for my blog and put my phone away.
3. I work with brands who value my time.
You will run into companies and people who will want you to jump through hoops for less than what your time is worth.
Don’t waste your time, even if you desperately need the cash, it’s better to say “no thank you” than to deal with the headaches.
4. I always take time to just get away from it all.
Being able to blog from anywhere and everywhere through the use of my smartphone has been a challenge. But after months of doing it, I’ve learned to balance my time with family and the time I dedicate to blogging.
You have to balance more for family because if you don’t you’ll be missing out on important things, like family time.
Good ole quality family time.