What Motivated Me To Start A Blog

What motivated me to start a blog?

It’s funny to think it was one thing actually.  I used to read blogs all the time so of course blogs inspired me to start my own but essentially it was this one thing:

It was this House Beautiful The Home Book.

It may seem like an odd thing, a book.  But I lacked confidence and I thought I needed to be a certified interior designer to start a blog and what I realized from reading that book was that I knew quite a bit already and it gave me the confidence I needed to start a blog.

There were a lot of design tips and tricks that I learned from that book. I got the affirmation that I had a certain ‘knack’ for design that I maybe I always knew deep down.

It also made me realize this has been my passion since I was a young girl.  I loved to arrange and rearrange my room hundreds of times. My mom was always thrilled when I wanted to reorganized her kitchen cupboards and drawers.  I would get inspired by going to friends’ houses and see how they lived.  I would come home and rearrange all of my mom’s home decor items in her living room and be frustrated with the type of items to rearrange.  I used to sneak the Ikea catalog into my science class and imagine what I’d buy for the home I’d have when I left home.

There are always signs in life that show what you should be doing with yours.  The key is to just pay attention to them.  I didn’t pay attention to those signs for years.  I knew it was a passion of mine.  I would always save up for furniture and home decor items way before clothing and shoes.  I would obsess about art, vignettes, lamps, duvet covers, pillows and paint colours.  Crafting, baking, organizing and decorating I’ve done since before high school.  I started refinishing furniture during high school with my first table (sanding the entire thing by hand!).

I had been reading blogs for a long time and I started to slowly put into motion that perhaps I had something to add too to the world of blogs.

At this point I was already a stay-at-home mom and knew I didn’t ever want to go back to being a medical office assistant.  It was my time to be creative and take the leap to start a blog.

The other super important detail that needs to be mentioned was when I went to The Farm Chicks show in Spokane, WA.  I went with a girlfriend of mine at the time who didn’t know anything about blogs but knew me quite well.  The moment we walked in she looked at me and said, “I think you have finally found your tribe in life”.  She was right!

Everything seemed to fall into place at that moment for me.  I never had the same ‘taste’ or style that other people around me had or my friends.  I just did what I wanted and bought things I loved.  Now here were a whole bunch of people that loved vintage stuff as much as I did and I felt understood.  When I got to meet Heather Bullard briefly at her booth, it was just a dream come true for me.  Last May when I got to attend Heather’s The Academy in France, it was like my life came full circle.

Blogging Education

The most important thing that helps progress with blogging (like anything) is education.  There is no blog university but the closest thing to it are conferences.  For my niche, it was the Haven Conference.

My first Haven was a game changer for me.  I had read about the first year of Haven (in 2012) and realized this was what I needed to grow my blog.  I bought a ticket the next year.

You can read about my experiences here:

2013, 2013 part 2, 2014, 2015, 2016

Education is a must with a blog.  I’m constantly learning new things.  Sometimes it can be overwhelming to keep up with it all.  Social media is constantly changing.  Competition is fierce.  You have to always be growing or you’ll be left behind.

Here are some e-courses that I highly recommend:

Right now I’m learning and loving:

Finding Time to Hold Dearly

Master Class:  Lazy Girl’s Guide to Lightroom

These ones helped me hone my photography skills:

Shoot Fly Shoot

The Ultimate Photography eBook

What I wish I had before I started my blog:

My friend Abby at Just a Girl and Her Blog has put together a free guide called 5 Types of Content that Will Boost Your Blog Traffic where she shares the kinds of posts that took her from zero pageviews to hundreds of thousands of visitors a month! Her insight and examples are so helpful and can help get any blogger or blogger-to-be started on the right track.

Click the image to download your free guide!

Webinar:

Also, this week, Abby and her husband Donnie (who are both full-time bloggers) will be holding a free training for new and soon-to-be bloggers on one of the most important parts of starting a blog: deciding what to write about (also known as your blogging “niche”).

In the training, Abby and Donnie will be talking about

Why having a well defined niche is so important for the success of your blog
A simple equation for finding your perfect niche
How to make a decision if you’re torn between a few different blogging topics
What to do when you’ve decided on the perfect blogging topic for you
At the end of the training, Abby and Donnie will also talk about their newly revamped course Building a Framework: The Ultimate Blogging Handbook, which provides even more in depth help and training for new bloggers.

Click here to register for a time that works for you!

Their revamped Building a Framework: The Ultimate Blogging Handbook is something I wish I had when I first started blogging.  Since Abby and I started blogging at the same time, that wasn’t possible 🙁  I recommend this book for anyone thinking of starting a blog.  She walks you through step by step through every process.

The eBook has been totally revamped with all new videos and there will be now be two versions: eBook and a course.  This book is specifically designed for new bloggers!  So if you’ve been blogging for some time, it’s probably not for you and I would recommend the above courses, but if you are just starting out or thinking of starting your own blog, this is the ultimate guide that provide you with everything you need.

For a limited time, there is special pricing for the book and course together for a fantastic price.

Click this link to purchase Building a Framework before the timer runs out.

Blogging is something that changed my life completely.  I found my passion and I found my tribe.

It grows so fast from that moment which each course or conference or ebook building on top of the next one.

It’s definitely something that I have never regretted and I’m so glad that I took the leap.

It’s funny how it all started with one simple book…that had nothing to do with blogging.

What has motivated you?

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