How I Finally Got The Courage To Start Blogging and Interesting Lessons Learned From The First Year

I’ve been blogging regularly for almost a year now. As I write these words I honestly feel a funny mix of thoughts — “Wow, I made it to my one year mark” but also “Why did I wait so long?”.

My blog is still in its infant status. So I am not writing this post pretending to be a blogging guru imparting her wisdom.

My perspective is this: I knew for the longest time that I want to start a blog but I was just too scared (for a variety of reasons) to take the first step. But after many internal dialogues with myself, I finally did it. And what I want to share is how I finally overcame my fears and got the courage to just go for it. It’s as simple as that: how I took that first step and the next and the next and so on.

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Taking the first step was a mind game I kept playing with myself 

I remember before I decided to commit to blogging I would read articles with themes like “how to run a successful blog” etc and while this kind of content always reignited my desire to have a blog — it never pushed me to actually do it. And here’s why: I would get inspired for a day or two and soon that inspiration would turn into defeat because the reality would hit me that I didn’t actually have a blog so thinking about its success at this point was basically a pipe dream. And then I would feel too overwhelmed to even start my blog. I think it’s human nature to hope for the best possible outcome for any decision we make but the truth is it’s not in our control. What we can control is how we approach a decision, project or anything else we want to do or make happen and what we do with it — irresepective of what the final outcome may be. I think this shift in mindset really pushed me to take the first step to publish my first blog post. That in itself is a big moment because essentially I have “launched my product” and now I can start working to improve it and make it successful — no more pipe dream! 

Treating the blog like a job / startup / creative business that can only grow with my input

Of course, after writing my first post I was riddled with excitement but also fear of what would others would think or say about my content. And while I had a lot of anxiety about publicising my first blog post on Instagram and sharing it with family and friends, I just knew that I couldn’t let fear stop me, again. It would be a disservice to myself because I wasn’t giving my dream of blogging a real shot. I came up with a simple strategy to keep myself moving forward with the blog:

1. Treat blogging like a job — it’s something I have to show up for no matter what.
2. Set a realistic schedule to produce content — I settled on posting once a week and have stuck to this schedule since day one.
3. Write about things that I’m passionate about (and don’t worry if others find it interesting or not in the beginning) — my new journey into motherhood, beauty and makeup, travel and women empowerment 
4. Don’t compare myself with other bloggers — it’s ok to be inspired by what others are doing but I made sure to always remind myself that I am on my own path
5. Think about photos and visuals to help make posts more interesting — they do not have to professional photos or images, I only use photos taken from my iPhone

It might seem overly simple but let me tell you this strategy has worked wonders for me because it’s taken away the ominous pressure of “having a successful blog” from day one and turned it into a creative hustle I am happily committed to.

Focus on finding your point of view and forget about what others are doing or saying

Once I got into a rhythm with posting once a week, I automatically found myself carving out time in my week to brainstorm content ideas and then execute. I did not set any particular rules, categories or patterns for my blog topics and posts. I just went with the flow of what I felt inspired or moved by each week so you can see my content is a little all over the place but there is one common thread in each post: it’s my voice and what I’m passionate about sharing with the world.

The more I focus on my blog and what I want to do with it, the more motivated I am to invest time and effort in it and the less time I have to worry about what others are doing or saying — funny how that works, right?

Connect the blog to some kind of analytics because data is important to understand your audience and what they like but do not focus on the numbers too much

I connected my blog to Google Analytics right from the start so I can eventually see which posts people are reading and which ones are not as popular. I’ll say it again: at this infancy stage the numbers don’t really matter to me because I am still building my blog. But I do think the data is important to help understand what content on my blog people like reading and what is not relevant because it actually makes it easier to plan content in the future. It all sounds a bit confusing but once you get the hang of it (and it’s super easy!) using data analytics really helped me become more proactive about my content and it also gave me more confidence because I have solid evidence people are really spending time on my blog!

Be fearless when it comes to organically promoting and sharing my blog and always respect myself as its CEO

I made a personal decision from the start that I only wanted to use Instagram to promote my blog. I don’t pay for sponsored posts or anything like that. Whenever my weekly post is published, I will put it up on my Instagram Stories and put up a post on my feed with the link in my Instagram profile bio. I had so much anxiety about posting photos of myself and selfies constantly on social media but honestly once I saw that it was helping bring readers to my blog I got over it.

Another important thing I have learned is to see myself as the CEO of my blog and to always present it as a respectable and serious endeavour to anyone who asks. Yes, it’s still an infant blog but it doesn’t make it any less important. There will be naysayers who have silly remarks and comments but I always tell myself: I am the brave one putting myself out in the world, not them. 

People are so much kinder than I thought they would be and I am equally surprised as I am grateful for the little community slowly building around me 

Like I mentioned, I use Instagram to organically promote my blog and from time to time I’ll share posts with family and friends and you know what? Everyone is so supportive and nice with their comments and feedback!

Before I started my blog, I was so worried about what others would have to say about my content and it turns out most people only have nice, encouraging things to say. And I think it’s so important to share this little lesson learned because for me it has really helped to boost my confidence to share more of myself with the world and keep moving forward with the blog.

I am also very particular about replying to each message and comment on my blog posts as well as social media posts. Engaging with the audience is important because they took out the time to read and engage with my content, so the very least I can do is acknowledge that and say thank you. And I have found by being open and sharing what I want to share with the world without overthinking has planted the seeds for my online audience and community to grow.

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I hope you found this post helpful and if you are an aspiring blogger or entrepreneur of any kind, please share your thoughts, advice, comments and questions below.