How I started blogging (and you can too)

Links to products in my posts may or may not be affiliate. However if they are an affiliate, I receive a small commission of the sale at no cost to you.

When I see a successful blog I want to know how they started.

I decided to share my story in hopes of encouraging your blogging journey, sharing useful resources I found that helped me to build my blog and audience and to express my gratitude to people who have steered my success along the way.

My good friend Natalya (www.momsdish.com) introduced me to a world of blogging. She has been blogging about food for over 10 years now and she has always been encouraging me to share my knowledge of interior design online.

I did take my time deciding and getting ready to start, but she was always encouraging me along the way. And I want to acknowledge her here and to say: thank you, Natalya!

I started my blog during COVID-19 pandemic while our state was on the lockdown, “stay home” order.

The quarantine was a hard time for many people, so deal with uncertainty, I decided to focus my thoughts on producing something beautiful and lasting, instead of going crazy with worry. I wanted to be able to look back at that time in my life and think: hey, I did ok. I have something to show for it.

However, on the bigger scale, here are my reasons for starting a blog:

Reach a wide audience

Interior Design is mostly working one on one with a client. The relationships that we build along the way are precious, but there are only so many people I can help in one period of time.

On my blog, I can share my design knowledge with thousands of people simultaneously. That’s encouraging for me to know that I am able to help many more people to improve their home through my skill.

Grow as a person

Blogging is hard and the learning curve is pretty steep, but that’s a valid reason to do it.

Through learning, overcoming difficulties, pushing myself to go farther than I ever thought I could, I am growing and that feels so rewarding.

Build a business

If done right, blogging can be a profitable business. Through my blog, I want us to support our family vision of spending a lot of focused time with our three kids while hiking, camping, RVing (in the future), and traveling the world.

Small upfront investment

The great thing about blogging is that unlike the brick and mortar business, it requires a very low upfront cost.

You will need to choose a website name (which can cost you as low as $10) and a hosting company.

I personally recommend Bluehost, they are very affordable at $3.95/month. I use them for this website and their support is always helpful and easy to reach within minutes.

Your mindset is very important. I truly believe that the mindset makes or breaks a person’s life.

I believe that you if have the same mindset as a successful person you look up to, you can achieve the same success. But it will also take you as long as it took them, success is not easy.

If you want a little “mindset tuning” or encouragement along the way, here are my go to resources:

Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield has completely changed my outlook on how the real work is done. I’ve read many books, but this one lit the fire under my seat and propelled me to move forward with my vision.

I have also discovered Brook Castillo’s coaching podcasts and I love listening to her, especially when I begin doubting myself and my thinking needs a little adjustment.

I seriously feel like she is my personal coach by now. She has propelled me to keep going so many time when I was doubting myself and was ready to give up.

The 12 week year by Brian P. Moran is another of my favorite books that I live by.

He teaches that we need to get rid of annualized thinking and planning and instead to plan in 12 weeks increments has helped me to consistently work and make progress and is lifechanging.

I started this blog in one of my 12 weeks year. On day one I wrote my goal: by June 14th, 2020 I will have my own website up and running and then I laughed at my own ambition because I had absolutely zero knowledge about anything that had to do with websites or blogging.

11 weeks later I am writing this post and my website is up and running.

This book is seriously a life changer if you want to start achieving real results in your life. I can’t recommend it enough.

1. You will get a sense of what you want your blog to look like by working on it and tweaking it yourself. After I was done building my blog, it looked very different from what I had in mind in the begging. Working on it yourself allows you to figure it out and save money (because you will have to pay for all the changes you will want to make down the road.
2. You will get an understanding of basics of the website, you will feel more in control and know what’s possible, how long it takes, and when you are being taken advantage of. I had one website built for me before and they quoted me 8 hours of work for something I later found look one minute with turn off/on button.
3. You can make your website look professional by buying a theme. When you buy a theme, you buy a complete design and you then fill it in with your content. Most themes cost between $29 and $59 and look absolutely beautiful. I didn’t know about buying a theme from the start and only bought it 2 months into the process. When I installed it, it transformed the look and feel of my website and it was the best $59 I spent on.
4. You can save money. I was quoted $5000 to build a website, instead, I spent $59 on a theme and learned a lot in the process.

I’ve created a list of the resources that I’ve learned from as I was beginning my blogging journey. I am sure this list will grow as I continue to learn and build my blog.

If you are new to blogging, then you will need to learn, as with anything new you want to do. At first, the learning curve is steep, but then you get a hang of it and fall into a routine.

Taking courses may seem like a hustle, but they are really jam-packed with information and will save you time, money, and frustration in the long run. These are the ones that I took and can personally recommend.

The Blogging Course for Beginner Bloggers

It all began with The Savvy Couple’s Bloggers’ Secrets Course. First I took their free Start Your Blog Boot Camp Course. It was a real boot camp. When Kelan said at the end of this course you will have your own website started I was sold.

After the boot camp course, I signed up for the Blogger’s Secrets Course. It is jam-packed with the information I needed as a beginner blogger and I loved that Kelan and Brittany personally responded to my e-mails when I had questions or needed help.

We are still chatting periodically and I consider them my first blogger friends.

Affiliate Marketing Course

Affiliate Marketing is one of the ways to monetize your blog. The reason I took Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course is that I wanted to make sure I do everything correct right from the beginning.

The course is built in the way that it would be useful for a beginner blogger ready to write their first post, as well as a seasoned blogger who wants to increase their learning and make sure they are doing everything right.

If you want to learn more about the nitty-gritty of affiliate marketing and also the legal side of it, to make sure you are doing it right, this course will be a great investment.

The Legal Bundle

I wanted to make sure that while I focus on building my blog, the legal side of it is done right. The Legal Bundle was another great resource and totally worth it investment.

Whether you decide to purchase The Legal Bundle or hire an attorney when you begin blogging, make sure you protect yourself legally.

SEO is very important if you want to rank on Google (show up on the first pages of search results). The SEO Unlocked course is comprehensive, easy to understand, and the best free or paid course I found online. And the best part is free. Check it out! You will learn so much from it.

As I will continue to learn, I will keep adding the best resources here and share them with you.

I like to think of blogging as planting a tree from the seed. At first, it requires a lot of work (digging, watering) with not much to show for it. However, once the tree establishes it’s roots, the fruits will come.

I hope you found my story and recommendations useful to you. Blogging is a great way to share your knowledge and your heart with the world.

If you decided to start blogging, I would love to hear your story. Please share your story in the comments below.

See more of my design work here in my Portfolio.