I’m going to take a quick detour today from my normal “Deals” posts on saving money and talk a little bit about earning money! I rarely talk about the business side of this blog so I know this probably won’t even interest 98% of you, so just ignore me for today and I promise not to bug you about this topic much!
For those of you who are interested in learning more about How to Earn Money From Home I wanted to share with you 5 Secrets to growing a Successful Blog or Business.
I wrote a post several years ago called 12 Ways to Make Money for Stay at Home Moms and it took off! I know there are a lot of you out there who have thought about starting your own blog, or maybe you already have an At Home Business selling your favorite products, providing childcare, catering and more and you’re looking for tips to grow your following.
If that’s you, Sign Up Here for my personal email list so I can know that you love learning about this topic!
Today I wanted to share with you 5 Secrets to Growing a Successful Blog or Business, these are tips I’ve learned from over 8 years of running my own blog that I wanted to share with you.
5 Secrets to Growing a Successful Blog or Business
1 – Don’t Wait for the “Right Time”
I know so many people who live in someday… Someday I want to…. Fill in the blank. One of the things I have learned over the years is that there is no perfect time, and you really won’t ever get started if you don’t actually start! Maybe you have been thinking about starting a blog for several years but you never actually did it! It only took me about an hour on an afternoon when my son was napping to start this blog. I had no idea what I was even doing, but I started and without that I wouldn’t have had the opportunities that I have had.
Maybe blogging isn’t your thing and you have been thinking about signing up to sell your favorite product, or a friend has been begging you to start a business with them. Go for it! You never know where your dream might lead you!
2 – Build Your Audience
What’s your passion? What is it you connect with people over, maybe it’s cooking or baking, maybe it’s makeup and fashion, for me it was saving money! One thing I tell people over and over and over again is Start Building Your Audience Now!
Even if you don’t have a Blog you can start Building your Facebook Page Now! Start an Instagram Account and start posting content Related to what you want to post! You’ll draw in those people who like the topics you want to share about and when you do get that business started or you get a blog up and running you’ll already have people ready to hear what you want to say!
HOT TIP: One of my friends Rachel Miller runs an amazing Facebook Group about how to build your Facebook Group. It’s completely free to join! You can Request to Join the Group Here! If you already have a Facebook page she has fantastic information and her new course on Growing Massive Facebook Pages is Open this week only!
3 – Progress Not Perfection
I have spent A LOT of time this year updating old content that we created 5-6 even 7 years ago. I am almost embarrassed to go back and look at some of the posts I wrote back then, Pinterest didn’t exist, there weren’t Facebook Pages and almost all my posts had 1 if any images. It’s crazy how much blogging and the internet has evolved and while I know the content was great, I didn’t have the perfect strategy or plan, I just shared what was on my heart! I am a big believer in the Progress not Perfection mantra, because so many times we learn as we do. So if you are waiting and waiting for something to be Perfect jump in with both feet and do the best you can for now! You might just be surprised at where that takes you!
4 – Be Authentic
You could be selling makeup, selling essential oils, or just posting on Instagram, it really doesn’t matter there is one piece of advice that pretty much transcends all businesses and social platforms… BE YOURSELF!
You have something that most Big Brands don’t have… YOU! In fact these days brands pay big dollars to have people represent their brand because you have something they don’t, you are a real person with a real family with real struggles and real solutions! Take time to figure out what it is that relates to your audience (or the audience you want) and relate to them.
For me, this sometimes means getting on Facebook Live while cooking dinner and showing you my Messy, Non-Showered Self with Crazy “Super-man” kids running through the background. And you know what, while that was way outside of my comfort zone I have found so many of you turning into friends just because I was willing to be “Real” Getting on Facebook Live is one of my favorite things I get to do each week because I know your names, I get to hear your struggles and we all get to do this life thing together!
5 – Set Aside Dedicated Work Time
Jon Acuff says “Never compare your beginning to someone else’s middle” I love this because we can always look around us at the next person and start doubting ourselves, but the truth is that they may have had a lot of failures and experiences to learn from on their journey. Comparison is always the theft of joy so don’t do it. Don’t look at others and wish you could have this or that, Look at others and dream big for yourself! It’s possible, building a business is a slow and steady race it takes diligence and consistency so set yourself up for success by setting aside dedicated times to work on your business. If you’re a stay at home mom pick 2 afternoons a week where you’ll work during nap time, Maybe you are at a point you can higher a “Mother’s Helper” 2 mornings a week while you work on your business, or maybe one Saturday a month you go to a coffee shop to write or work on your blog.
What’s great about working for yourself is you get to be in charge of your schedule. The downside of working for yourself is that you have to set the schedule :) It takes some discipline but planning ahead makes it much easier to get focused work time in, that consistency will really start to pay off in the future!
I know this was a little bit of a rant for the day :) If you are still reading, Thanks for sticking with me! Make sure you Click Here to get added to my Blogging & Business Email List, this is the list where I normally send out tips and tricks for things that are working for us or articles I have read that I found really interesting. I’d love for you to join me!
