Blogging as a stay at home mom is a special kind of career. It takes a special type of mom to tackle such a job. When I first realized that I, a momma bear of four beautiful psychos, can access the world of blogging and online business, just as easy as the successful wonders that are making it big time in their own successes, I quickly became obsessed with the possibilities- as well as everything I could learn. I love, love, love to learn and grow!
The Truth About Blogging As A Stay At Home Mom
Okay, so everyone has their own story, their own structure, their own learning style, but I would bet money that there are a million people out there (you may be one of them) that have experienced the same things that I am about to talk about.
When I first came across Blogging and online business articles, videos, etc. I took a course and became attached to the world of possibilities. I wrote down all of my ideas, all of the products I would create, created my filing system to record all of my successes and then I dove right in.
I love it, I really do, but it is really hard and time-consuming from time to time. Not a problem (for me), but it IS a problem for the fam. This is definitely a factor that any new blogger needs to consider based on the type of blog you plan to invest your time into.
My main goal was to build a platform for the book I was writing. Yes, I said “WAS” because once I saw the opportunities I could achieve with an online presence and platform I put my book on the back burner with the burner off. Writing a book takes time and growing a business for myself is way more exciting and exhilarating, to me, than writing a book. One day, but not today, and not this season. This season is the season for my business to take flight and grow and once I’ve accomplished that I will write my book.
It’s amazing how everything I have been doing in the past year has led me to where I am today. I was playing around with hobbies, then I would change hobbies every couple of months or so, then I decided I was going to write a book and when I heard I needed to have a following and a platform to even get a publisher to consider my book for publication I decided I would start my blog and create that platform. Well, that turned into starting my own business and the amazing part about this is that everything I have done in the past year, all of my hobbies that I went through as I tried to find my calling as a S.A.H.M, will be implemented into my business and products! Still a work in progress but I have it in my Business Plan!
My Top Resources On My Journey So Far
I started with the first course and I set a goal to launch my blog on August 1st, 2019. I ended up launching it a few days early and on that day I started my commitment to building my very own business! I am still in the stages of learning how to blog appropriately (and everything that is behind the scenes of building a blog community and gaining followers). I can’t wait to see where I am in one year’s time!
Now I have created a new Facebook profile (still needs content added but you can follow me now if you like), a Pinterest Business account, and an Instagram profile (that I haven’t put anything on yet). Social Media is something that I have never been into. I am working up to creating content for these platforms but I am mainly focusing on my blog and business endeavors right now. If you would like to follow me on these platforms for future posts you most definitely can!
I plan to build my online presence slowly but surely on the main platforms. BUT there is still much to learn so I am currently going through the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit for 2019. I have also found quite a few amazing communities that have tons of information on how to blog and build your business.
Some of these communities include Lurn Nation, where I am learning how to do Copywriting, Teachable.com, where you can learn to create online courses and so much more! StartAMomBlog.com, which has a million and one resources to grow your blog, email marketing, creating printables and a ton of other resources to turn you into the best blogger you can be. StartAMomBlog.com is where I started. Suzi’s courses were the first courses I ever laid eyes on and let me tell you that I have learned so much, received so many guides and printables that I have made a “Learn To Blog” book out of for personal use, and I keep going back for more! She creates such great content that all you have to do is follow her advice, step-by-step, and you will be well on your way to a great start! I have her website in my Favorites BAR, it is that helpful to me!
Personal shout out: Thank you, Suzi, for all the great resources you create and the time and effort you have put into helping other mom bloggers!
BusinessBoutique is another great resource if you want to go the business route. I was listening to a podcast by Rachel Hollis (another amazing resource) and she had Christy Wright doing an interview and I loved her personality and perspectives so much that I purchased the Business Boutique book! The book lays out step-by-step how to create, launch, and grow your business. It is interactive and has action items at the end of every single chapter so that you can apply what you learn throughout each chapter. You can find her Ebook on her website BusinessBoutique.
Rachel Hollis- The Chic Site is another wonderful resource. Her book Girl Stop Apologizing is absolutely amazing and inspirational! I purchased the audiobook and it stays in my CD player still to this day. I have listened to it a gazillion times and sometimes, depending on what mood I am in, I will scan through the chapters and start listening to a specific topic she talks about. It has really helped me build confidence and has given me the strength I need in my family life to tackle my dreams without feeling guilty or selfish.
Another great resource that I realize nobody has mentioned is creating a site with Google Business (free version). You can check out what it’s all about on my Google Business page. I happened to come across this one day when I was searching through all of the available tools that Google has for businesses. Lucky find! You can put your info out on Google maps and people can find you when they type in your business category and tags! You can create a blog/website for people to click straight through to from Google maps! I know I use Google Maps whenever I need a phone number or want to look up any specific businesses or resources near me. Great resource.
How I Keep My Kids Occupied
For starters, I don’t have a babysitter, but I have been taking this into consideration just so I can get more focused work done. It’s really tough to focus on learning and content creation when you have four kiddos coming up to you for something, one after the other like they have a plan to keep Mommy from accomplishing any work from day-to-day.
One way I keep them out of my workspace is by stopping what I am doing and doing an activity with them. Once I see they are getting antsy and wanting my attention I find a stopping point in whatever I am working on while thinking of an activity to do with them. I put my work on hold and I either set up some sort of creativity center for them or I paint something with them, draw, do flashcards, or take a quick walk with them. Taking some time away from my work and giving the kids quality time is usually enough to keep them occupied long enough to get a teeny-tiny bit of work done. Maybe about one to two hours of work if I get lucky.
The baby is a different story. I have a table that I move to whichever workspace I am using at the time. It is a foldable table that I used to fold my clothes on but now I do work on it, too. My little munchkin refuses to crawl around the table to get to my legs and instead chooses to take the tough route and go under the table and comes up between my legs while hitting his head on the edge of the table. Poor baby just won’t do anything easy! I’m hoping he grows up to love a challenge just as I do!
All of my kids are a “mommy’s baby” and I swear they can sense when I sit down to do anything. The same goes for phone calls. As soon as I get on an important phone call, here they all come to talk, yell, fight, and interrupt my conversation. I keep telling myself that without these interruptions I would have to work ten times harder to build up my patience and build up my tolerance for being able to work with distractions.
Work Time
I want to point out that you should make sure you have some work-time, alone, so that you can actually put some focused effort toward effective work when you start either a blog or an online business. I thought I would be able to fit this in when I first started out. I was wrong. You can’t “fit in” alone time out of the blue when the entire family is used to you being available for their beckoned call at all hours of the day- and night.
Eventually, I created a “Typical Weekly Schedule” to help me sort out when my work hours could take place. For some reason, this has not been taken into effect, yet. It took me two days to come up with this schedule because I wanted it to be spot on with my usual daily tasks. So far, none of my days have gone as planned and things seem to come up every other day, which in turn keeps me from starting the routine use of the schedule. It’s a great schedule and I am confident it would work out if I would actually put it to good use, but in my mind, I worry about committing myself to it and then not being able to abide by my layout. Fear of failure? Surely not. If I implement something into my life I want it to work and I want it to be consistent. Right now, taking care of two households, mine and my grandmother’s, is quite scattered and complicated and things come up a lot. When I think I am going to have a full day of work I get a phone call that changes my entire day! Can you relate? (sigh)
All in all, my main point for this article is to point out how with everything you do, no matter how much time, effort, blood, tears, and sweat you put into it, you may not get the end results you thought you would get. The way I handle this…keep trucking it and moving forward because eventually, you will figure out your sweet spot in all of the craziness and you will put that schedule to use, have alone time, and get your blog and/or business studies (and anything else you are trying to accomplish) completed. Then you will implement those teachings into your life and move onward and upward!
Riding The Waves
Starting something new, especially Blogging as a stay at home mom, something that you had no prior knowledge about until you happened upon it, is going to lead to quite a few different emotions (joy, frustrations, tears, anger, fear of failure will try to creep on through) and second guessings. These are all normal and they are all feelings and thoughts that you can work through. Don’t let this stop you or change your outlook and final end goal. Make the decision to push on no matter what happens, no matter the struggle you must endure to get to your end goal, no matter how much sacrifice (because there is always sacrifice when trying to gain something) you will continue to push forward with your goals and dreams.
It’s okay to take a break and reevaluate your goals or your outline. Another big thing to watch out for is burn-out. When you obsess over something and put all of your time into something so often and so hard that you get sick of it. <-my definition. I have been worried about this because I have worked every single day that I have had a chance to since I began. I think the thing that has kept me away from burn-out is the fact that I keep learning and growing. As long as I am learning something new and able to implement these things into whatever I am doing at the time, I believe I will avoid burn-out.
I do have days where I feel like I have done so much work yet am getting nowhere and that I need to take a week-long break and then come back to it, but my dream of being able to create something for myself, by myself, is so much stronger.
I work for 5 minutes if I get only 5 minutes to do so. I work for 8 hours if I get time to work that long as well. If I get a split second to make a list of ideas, I do that. I feel like I should be putting as much effort into my work as I can, whenever I can until I reach a particular goal that I have. So I do.
Time is not on my side but that is okay because I can’t do anything about it for now, and with 4 psychos (and a fiance, my 5th kid) I’ll most likely never get the time I would like to have for work. I can only appreciate the moments that I can put my efforts towards my growing business and be happy with that right now.
Take your dreams, turn them into big goals, then narrow those down into mini-goals. Mini Goals are the steps you know you will need to take to get to your main goals. This helps so much when trying to plot out what you are going to do and why you need to do it. It also helps to attempt a calculation for how long each of the mini-goals will take to complete so you can set an end goal. Marking your calendar for your big “Goal Accomplished” will make the achievement that more special!
Map out your plans by setting main goals and mini-goals and give yourself a reasonable end date for each goal. I just did this the other day in my Business Boutique book! It took me a bit of time but I felt so “businessy” when I finished it and that really pushes you to accomplish things!
I have days where I feel so great and so “on task” and I have days where I second guess my ability to accomplish such a great goal. I know I have to willpower to figure it all out and I know I am worthy of a platform to help others. This is tough, trying to find your place on the web and get yourself noticed so you can make an impact in someone else’s life. This is my goal and I will accomplish it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but when it’s my turn to shine in someone’s life, I will! All I can hope for is that my words will empower you to live the life you dream of living, too!
Everything new takes time, and Blogging as a stay at home mom definitely takes a lot of time, but it’s work and it IS a job so keep working at it and you will get the results you want once you figure out what your special sauce is. Trust me, you will have a special sauce so don’t worry about comparing yourself to other people because your special sauce will be different from anyone else’s. Your special sauce is what someone needs in their life and when they find you, they will know that you are what they need in that season of their life. Everyone is in a different season of life and my season looks different than yours. You may be reading this and you may be a millionaire that doesn’t need any of my advice or words. Or you may be someone that has never even thought about becoming a businesswoman (or man) and now it is a thought that is brewing in your mind! If so, that’s great!
This is my journey Blogging as a stay at home mom. I hope it inspires you to tackle your dreams because a lot of people expect to work a few days to achieve something, not realizing how much work and sacrifice needs to go into accomplishing a new life goal. The UPS and downs should be expected, they should be yearned for. If you are constantly in your comfort zone how will you ever go out and achieve something big and great of life-changing?
Get out of your comfort zone, prepare yourself for the fails and the trips and then swim in your achievements and your power days, and start your journey to success!
If you need a helping hand on anything, I am here for you. I will give you the best advice I can give and I will find the answers you need to move on to the next thing, and the next, and the next! It’s worth it and YOU are worth it, so go get it, girl! Become the best version of you that you can be! You have support right here.
If you would like to email me with any questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate!
If you would like to read more about me to get an idea of what I’m all about, check out my About Me Page!
I also wrote an article explaining my intentions for the Tribe! This article will give tons of insight about me and the type of person I am!
If you would like to join a Supporting community for MommaBears alike, please join the Tribe below and I will be happy to welcome you to the fam!
