7 Tips To Help You Start Your Blog

Hello loves, I've had a few of you ask me about blogging and where to even start. Or how to handle all the demands of life while keeping up with it and it becoming financially fruitful. I am going to give you my advice that is solely based on my personal experience. I believe what will add value to you, is me encouraging you in the emotional sense, because the logistics of it will vary greatly to my experience.

I hope you are able to take some nuggets that resonate with you and make something beautiful. Here we go! 

1- How to start: Just do one post. I know, I know, your brain is exploding right now from the amazingness of this tip, right??! Ha! I would recommend, not investing any money for anything to begin with and just starting with a free website that will let you KEEP your content, I used Weebly for my first two years and loved them! Listen, you'll want to perfect your site before you go live. I say you go live and don't worry about it being perfect, it never will be. You'll always have room for improvement, so just resolve to start at the beginning and to allow yourself the room to learn and evolve. It's okay to start at the bottom and move on up.  I would say, start with one!!

You'll get caught up in excuse town if you don't, just take the leap into your very first post.

2- Start With Your "WHY" and whom you are meaning to reach. I believe it's super important to know who you're talking to. And I believe it's even more important to know why it is that you want to share content with the them. Your compelling "why" has to be so compelling that it will get you through some of the valleys of your journey (because there will be lots of difficulty and resistance) so encouraging, I know! But it's true, I wouldn't want to make it seem like an easy feat. It's not. But is it worth it?! YES! 

you have to set a great foundation of why you are doing it all, so you can get through tough seasons. 

3- Will I Make Money? It's a great idea to believe that you will make money doing what you love. However, I don't believe that money or getting free stuff will EVER motivate you to do your best work. I believe that the financial aspect comes because of your diligence and commitment to your audience! It comes from being consistent in doing the everyday work that comes with blogging for a career, the nuts and bolts, if you will. It might take a long while of doing the work without having any financial compensation. You'll have to decide if it's worth doing based on your "why"!

See, the "why" has to be super important! 

4- The Fear Of Not knowing How -  will cripple you if you let it. Listen. I didn't know how either, and if I can do it, you can do it too. There's  nothing "special" about me that you don't have. I didn't know how to either, I had to learn by doing and I am still by making a lot of mistakes and learning from them, by embracing frustration and deciding not to give up! When you decide that you're in the process of figuring it out, you will move forward in knowledge!  If you discipline yourself to do the work it takes and resolve that the fear you feel of the unknown is normal, but you will choose courage instead of it, you will see yourself growing and that will give you strength to keep going!  Choose to have faith in the God who created you with a brilliant brain and in your brilliant brain! We all have one, but some of us aren't willing to follow our fears through to the other side. If I can do it, you can do it too. Our common thread, love, is an ABUNDANT God in heaven who is willing to love and lead us!

Fear is meant to keep you safe. It serves you from being eaten by a lion, but it doesn't serve you when you want to start a blog. Fear is there to keep you safe. Friend, you will not die from blogging, not even when you fail miserably and you feel embarrassed. You can handle difficult emotions. You can handle failing! You can handle embarrassment. You can handle rejection.  You can handle ANY difficulty! You can do it! 

Resolve to be okay not knowing how and just share with the world your voice, even if it helps one person, it's enough. That person might even be you, and you are WORTH the start! 

5- You Have To Be Down To Learn!  The business aspects of blogging are interesting and evolving in this new social media culture. I believe the best thing you can do is to be a student in your new adventure. Read as much as you can on the subject you want to blog about. Watch youtube videos that teach you and encourage you every day!  Learn something about writing, marketing, selling, advertising, time managing, etc, every day.  I will tell you from personal experience, if I didn't know how to do something, I just googled it! Ha! I watched video after video to find the knowledge I needed to move forward that day!

There is so much amazing content out there, if I learned, I believe you can too.  

6- It's A Marathon Not A Sprint! Listen my darling, it's going to take time. It's going to take persistence and perseverance. It's a crockpot not a microwave. It's easier to take shortcuts or to pay your way into an outcome, however, the outcome will be short lived. If you are diligent you WILL prosper. Don't take shortcuts. Don't fall into fast traps. They don't work.

It takes time. It takes time. It takes time. Again, this is why your "why" is crucial! Can i say it again, it takes time. preaching to myself!

7- Balancing Act. You will learn to balance like the best of them. I believe we are all doing the balancing act, every day. Figuring out how to distribute our energy, time, and money to what we value. It can get overwhelming trying to "do it all".  My best piece of advice is, don't do it all. Figure out what areas you are not going to part with in this season of your life and say NO to everything else.

For example. I have a very important and personal relationship with, Jesus. He comes before all things in my life. He is a HUGE part of my "why" and the reason I live and dream!  So I choose to give him first dibs of my time, energy and money. In my relationship with Jesus I am able to take care of myself first, so that from a full cup I am ready to serve others. When I place him and myself out of balance to other things, I quickly crumble. So I start there, then, my husband and my children are next in line.  I love serving them and find it so important that I create an environment of unity and peace whenever I can, in our home. Then my ministry, which is my blog and my career. The purpose for which I believe I was created. Then my close family and friends are important, so I make time to deepen those few relationships because I know that God has blessed me with these beautiful people in my life. After that, I am extremely selective to what I say yes to, since I know distraction can come even from amazing people and opportunities. I know God is calling me to stay FOCUSED. So I say no to what isn't in line with my most precious goals and values at this time. Trust me there are MANY times I fail in all these things I'm listing out, however, I always go back to the start and try again. That's why it's called a balancing act.  

So then too, you'll have to decide what you say no to in order to say a bigger yes to what God is calling you to do! 

I pray this post encouraged you to do your thing! I know someone is waiting to hear what you  have to say! Thank you for listening! 

With love and respect, 

Libier