Two years of perennial blogging lessons

My blog turned two last week!

I was late to the blogging game. It took years of filling up my confidence cup before I had anywhere near enough guts to hit publish on a blog post. Now my blog is the home of all my work and it’s even given me a job. Thanks to my blog I can now call myself a professional photographer, writer and entrepreneur. It’s not a proper job in everyone’s eyes, but it pays the bills, serves a community of like-minded hearts and brings me joy so that’s as good as any job in my opinion. I never saw that coming. The original purpose of my blog was never to make money, it was to create.

In a way my late start served as an advantage. I had an idea of what I felt was missing from a reader’s point of view so I set out to fill that gap. I wanted to be the blogger I couldn’t find at the time. Part of me wishes I’d started sooner, but part of me is reassured by the notion that this is the way it was supposed to be, that there’s a time for everything.

I’ve never felt the urge to write about blogging, but I’ve learned a lot of lessons over the last two years thanks to this tiny corner of the internet I carved out for myself and I wanted to share the game changers. I partly want to make sense of the last two years and I’m thinking anyone reading this might from them too.

These are eleven things (because I couldn’t whittle it down to ten) I wish I’d known when I hit publish on my first two blog posts in 2017. These are the lessons I’m taking into the next two years and beyond with me. These are the lessons I know won’t date, the perennial ones.

1.My values are my superpower – I change my mind a lot. I’m notoriously indecisive – I changed my wedding dress three times in the run up to my wedding for goodness sake. The idea of niching down to grow my blog wasn’t really an option because I was terrified of getting pigeonholed and I’ve seen so many people then struggle to pivot when they don’t want to sit in their chosen niche anymore.

Getting to the heart of my values instead of a niche means I can build a multifaceted brand around myself, my story and what I believe in. It feels like a more human way to do things too which feels right and I’m all about doing what feels right. In case you were wondering my values are simplicity, joy, community, sustainability, sincerity, beauty and creativity. Everything I do centres around these and I hold them close to my heart.

2. I want to be a human first – Being a human online is a relatively new thing for all of us and as someone who struggles with self-belief and self-confidence, being myself doesn’t come easily. The way we feel the need to present ourselves in a certain way online kind of fascinates me. Maybe we’ll talk about this over coffee one day, I could talk to you about it for hours.

In a bid to protect myself, my default has always been to appear as someone other than my true self, usually like everyone else. This feels safer. There’s nothing more terrifying than showing up as just you. I know I’m not alone here, I see so many others struggling with this. Whenever I get scared I still revert back to wanting to do the same, wanting to hide. As scary as it feels at first, in the long run being yourself is a comfier fit and it’s what has created genuine connections with others – connections I treasure. In a world of AI infuencers, bots and spam people need genuine human connection online more than ever.

3. I only have to focus on two things: content and relationships – for me, these are the key to building a community around a blog, a business or any medium you want to create. Forgetting all the hacks, cheats or anything else that felt like a shortcut no matter how desperate I’ve felt for success has given me work that I can stand on the weight of. The road to true success is long, winding and the speed limit is slow. I like to think of it as a Sunday drive down winding roads in a vintage car that only goes 30mph – and it’s to be enjoyed!

Aside from the odd sick week (because I want to be human first remember) I’ve posted a blog post every single week for the last two years and the same goes for the platforms I focus on – Instagram, Pinterest and most recently my weekly simple letter. I keep showing up. Someone said 50% of success is showing up and I’m inclined to agree with them. Consistent quality content is everything.

I know I’m biased but the community around my blog is a special one. I’m grateful for every single read, follow, like, share and comment – and I let people know it. Getting to know people who enjoy my work has opened my world up beyond anything I could’ve imagined. It’s got to the point now where some DMs and comments slip through the net, but I make sure I set time aside every day to try and reply to everyone. In addition to that I also reach out to new people I think might enjoy my work but don’t know about it yet, it’s not their job to find me. Heartfelt connection is the aim of everything I put out into the world.

The importance of focusing on content and relationships has been the underpinning key to every growth spurt I’ve had.

4. My version can look however I want it to – I know I said I was late to the game but blogging is still a new medium in comparison to old school media like newspapers and magazines. And yet, at first I felt there was only one way to do it, the same way as everyone else. This just isn’t true. A blog (and a business) can look however I want it to. It’s totally up to me. The key is to build something that works for you, not against you and to build that around you I work best. For me this means a schedule a feel I can keep up with and a less but better approach. I want to create work I can stand on the weight of instead of having a high turnover of work I feel I have to keep up with. This is the reason I only blog once a week, and that’s been enough.

5. My story matters and it’s the most interesting thing about me – I have Michelle Obama to thank for this one. In her memoir Becoming she says ‘your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.” – and isn’t that the truth. Whenever I’ve felt like I can’t compete with other blogs I love or like there isn’t room for me with so many incredible blogs already out there I’ve come home to myself, to my story. It’s the one thing I’ve got that makes me different and having the courage to share it has helped me connect with more people than I could’ve ever imagined.

So many of us think our everyday lives, quirks, thoughts and opinions are boring and nobody would be interested but that just isn’t the case. As long as we steer close to our truth, these seemingly mundanes are the most interesting, relatable and unique thing about all of us.

6. Investing in my blog was so worth it and it gave me permission to take myself seriously – I’ve done my fair share of courses because I love to learn and I wanted to invest in my blog hoping that would mean it would be able to give back. It worked. My favourite e-courses I’ve taken, the ones that added real value, are…

–the insta retreat with Sara Tasker
–don’t be a writer, be a storyteller with Laura Jane Williams
–lost in the light with Melia Melia
–pinfinite growth with Melissa Griffin
–make films with Xanthe Berkley

7.Finding a few inspirations that speak to me is plenty – The amount of noise out there is so overwhelming. It’s easy to get lost in a hole of looking at what a million different people are doing and I’ve done that many times. It always results in a headache, crippling comparisonitis and tears of frustration. Simplifying my watering hole for inspiration and guidance has felt like a weight off my shoulders. Now I look to just a few inspirations I resonate with and then block out the rest of the noise. My go tos are Zoe Sugg, Sara Tasker, and Jen Carrington. I love the way these women show up in the world and stay true to themselves. I love the way they make me feel as a consumer of their work too. Aside from these gems I get my inspirations from outside the blogging world. I turn to completely untapped resources like films, books and music then channel them into my work.

8.Everyone is making it up as they go along so I’d best get comfortable with a beginner’s mindset and an experimental attitude – I always thought there were secrets I needed to get in on. Well kept industry secrets that nobody would share. I realised there are no secrets pretty quickly and it was both liberating and terrifying. Everyone, even those people I thought were wildly successful, are making the whole thing up as they go along. They really are – I’ve asked them and they’ve told me. We’re all in this together, learning together, messing it up together and this is a feeling I have to learn to walk alongside. It’s kind of liberating.

9.Celebrating every small win is important – You know how some people are afraid of failure? I’m afraid of success. Failure feels more familiar to me, more realistic and it’s everything I expect. Success is a different beast – it’s not for people like me. It terrifies me to the point where I will subconsciously set out to self-sabotage it. The way I’ve come to deal with this is to take a breath and celebrate every small win in a bid to change the story I’m telling myself on a daily basis – that failure is imminent. The more I celebrate the small wins the more I realise how much I’ve achieved and that feels pretty great. It can feel so indulgent to sit down and make a list of things I’m proud of but it beats constantly striving for more with a constant taste of dissatisfaction in my mouth.

10.Operating from a mindset of abundance and sharing my secrets, lessons and value lifts everyone, including me – We’re pit against each other as women. The idea that there’s only enough space available is planted in our heads and this leads to a competition culture. It’s all a hoax. Sharing any value we have to offer is an enabler, our secrets aren’t worth keeping. There’s enough room for everyone and the more room we make for each other the bigger the industry will grow. Again, this benefits everyone. Sharing the work of my peers and cheering them on has become something I take great pleasure in. Sharing my secrets, lessons learned and any other value I have to offer via my ebook and retreats is also how I make most of my income from my blog. More evidence that sharing is a good thing. Even the work I do with brands and publications I work with, which provides additional income so I can make a living, comes down to sharing value.

11.Reading well and writing often is what it all comes down to – Writing has become my main love. It’s how I want to spend my days and if I want to write, I’ve got to read. Blogging is no exception. Reading sideways, as in similar blogs to mine, can be fun but reading up is how my writing has got and will continue to get better. Reading at a higher level than I’m used to (literally anything I can get my hands on that interests me) and reading often has been the most effective way to nurture my writing.

The more I read the more I want to write and the better I feel I’m able to write. Even when writing is the last thing I feel like doing, keeping up my daily practice flexes my writing muscle and puts me ahead of those who never started. All the faffing, scribbling and pondering adds up to something in the end. The same goes for photography, although I don’t believe you have to take your own photos to have a successful blog. Whatever it is I do want to get better at, I need to practice. No shortcut can compare to practice and persistence.

If you’ve got any blogging questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to help. Failing that feel free to join me in raising a cuppa to my blog and its second birthday.