1. You are never too old to learn!
I never knew I had it in me to understand the inner working of the internet. When I made the decision to start a blog, I looked around for help. But since everyone was asking for some kind of payment and I wasn't sure if the my blog will be a long term thing, I decided to do it my self.
Yes, it took me 3 days and 1000's of Google and Yotube searches but I managed to put a blog online. All by myself! Pretty proud of it!
Now I can edit HTML (a little bit but I still find that it gives me major nightmares), add a little CSS (no idea what it stand for, though). Also tried to upload and customize a template but that didn't go too well, so decided to stick with the limited options that I had till I can find someone nice enough to do it for me.
2. Never be afraid to ask for help!
I am the kind of person who is always willing to help but not willing to ask for help (if that makes any sense). So it was hard for me to reach out to people and ask for some guidance. Also, I thought I would come across as pretty dumb because I don't know all the cool words and lingo. But I decided to do it anyways. With a few cold replies, no replies, seen notifications but still no replies later, one pretty cool blogger decided to answer my questions. After that I found a really great blogging community on Facebook and Instagram.
For a while, I couldn't believe that there were people who were so willing to help. But they restored my faith in the goodness of people. More power to all of you who don't hesitate to help!
3. Blogging is a full time job!
I really thought I would just hop online, shoot a few lines, take and upload a few pictures and I would be good to go. Little did I know that the people who say that they gave up their jobs to pursue blogging full time had a really good reason to do so. It takes a lot of time and effort to put together a blog post that your readers will enjoy. A lot of hard work goes into the conceptualization, compostion, photo editing and typing it out before hitting publish.
This is why I decided to blog about once or twice a week. Because it is too much to handle with 2 kids. Also, I believe quality should always come before quantity. And I am still learning as I go.
4. Time management!
As I said earlier that blogging is a full time job and you need some serious time management and multi-tasking skills to make it work with a busy family schedule.
I am a professional procastrinator (there should really be an official title for people like me) but by deciding to write my blog I have managed to get a little control over this habit of mine. I wake up early, take notes and get to work as soon as the kids are asleep. Yes, I have to get creative to find time to blog but having this part-time job has put a lot of things in perspective. I have learnt to prioritize and be flexible, as when you have kids there are a lot of things you can't control.
5. Your inspiration is right in front of you!
I used to be so in awe of my favourite bloggers, still am. How they come up with one great idea after another. I used to rack my brain trying to think of one thing that someone other than me would find interesting but used to come up empty. But now I am always on the look out for something that strikes a cord with me. I have learnt my strengths and am learning to use them.
For now, my biggest inspiration are my kids. And I figured if so many of my friends and acquaintaces ask me for advice about babies and kids, there must be something that I am doing right!
This blog post is part of a blog-hop hosted by Suki Eleuterio, she is a writer, motivational speaker and yoga teacher among other amazing things. You can follow her on her blog www.sookton.com.
Others participating in this blog-hop are:
Mariah Riney, http://staywithmeonthis.com/
Marielle Altenor , http://www.ladymarielle.com/
Kristin Hendershot Sullinger, http://cateredbykristin.com/
Tabitha Rice , http://ahundredtinywishes.blogspot.no/
Brandi Mishonna, http://www.prettygirlsmarterwoman.com/
Karissa Ancell , http://afreshstartonabudget.com/