On the 17th of december2017 my blog was two years, I celebrated my blog's one year anniversary by giving out call credits to my subscribers on my face book page Nemyinspired. If you haven’t like my face book page you can do so now! You never can tell what’s in store there for you! However, I wasn't able to celebrate the second anniversary but I promise that the third anniversary would be celebrated in a big way.
When I started blogging in 2015 I was filled with apprehension, I never knew I would last for a month however as time went by, I got more focused, encouraged, determined to continue blogging. I recently shared my reasons for starting a blog in this post. In all sincerity, there were times I felt that blogging took so much from me and I felt like deleting the blog and in fact forget about the whole thing but the encouragement I got from family, friends and random people kept me going. It would be very insincere of me to say that I never got any discouragement but this blog post is centered on how blogging turned my life around positively!
1. There is no better time to start than now!
Do you have visions dreams you want to work on, but things aren’t really ready, you are still waiting for the perfect time before you make your big launch and then people will get amazed by how wonderful your ideas are and how grand your own business is, or better still people will be spell bound by your genius! Sorry to disappoint you but most big things actually started small. Yes, there are actually advantages one have when you have enough capital but then, if you haven’t enough capital and training, don’t let that deter you because you can actually learn on the job. When I started blogging I knew nothing about the technicalities involved in blogging apart from reading and commenting on my favourites blogs, my head was tabula rasa where blogging was concerned! But today, with research , practice and advice from friends and professionals , I have stepped up my game big time.
2. You learned to write by actually writing…
It took me a while to actually consider myself a writer. If you tag my hesitance to low self- esteem, inferiority complex, you are not actually far from the truth. For a while I felt my writing was not good enough , I found my steam of thoughts very slow in flowing but with constant practice, I no longer find writing a chore but a skill which I constantly hone to be more proficient at.
2. Never underestimate social media
Facebook, twitter, pinterest, instragram, linkedlin, googleplus can either make or mar you. I often shudder inwardly when people present social media as the bane of society, I shudder because most of their assertions are made out of ignorance . Can social media actually be used as a tool to foster evil? Yes! Is social media the cause of the evil in society today? Hell No! time spent on social media can be used constructively to grow your business big time, there are many businesses i've discovered through social media. So next time when you are on facebook don’t forget to put in a nice word for your business and also support other people’s businesses and they might return the favour.
Make sure you get obsessed with pinterest. I started using pinterest actively recently and it’s one of the few things I regret not starting early enough. Pinterest have helped me so much in blogging and I swear by the gospel of Pinterest. Apart from learning so much from following amazing blogs onPpinterest, Pinterest is search engine friendly. This means that posting your article on Pinterest increases the chances of google bringing up your work when people search the web. Because sharing is caring, i'll share some of the amazing blogs ive found on pinterest and they are:
www.thirteenthoughts.com
Byregina.com
Xosarah.com
www.sarahtitus.com
www.fempreneur.co
if you aren’t on Pinterest, register now and follow me EmenikeVIctoria@nemygirl
3. Don't take it personal when friends don't support your hustle
Say what? What are friends for if not to support each other, be there for each other etc. As true as that is, friends would support you when your interest/passion matches theirs. For instance, if you are a golfer and you are my best friend, don’t expect me to be at your golf because I absolutely hate golf. My hatred for golf has nothing to do with you neither does it mean that I don’t support you but it simply means that in that particular area of your life, our interests don’t match. Some would argue that when you are friends with somebody there should be a point of compromise yes that's true but don’t let your business venture make you lose true friends who would do very well in other areas of life.
4. Quality over everything else!
Advert, promotion can bring in a lot of customers/subscribers to your business but it is the value your brand adds to them that keeps them patronizing. Same with blogging, what value does your blog posts add to your subscribers? Why should they keep visiting? I rememeber this post I shared on https://nemyinspired.blogspot.co.ke/2016/09/back-to-school-12-side-hustles-you-can.html?m=1 it received a lot of views because it helps students make the much needed extra income. So when you are writing your next blog post or creating a product for your business, the paramount question that should ask your self is? What value does my product gives?
5. You'll get support from unlikely places
When I launched my blog, I was really humbled from the support I got from people who I don't even know before. Some sent me messages applauding what I've began. My friends, family also supposed me big time.
These are the few business lessons I've learnt from blogging. I hope you found them useful. You can share also in the comment section what you've learnt from running your own business.
Comments