It’s hard to believe it’s our one year blog-a-versary! One year ago I bought the domain for FI Venturers!
For years a teeny, tiny voice in the back of my head told me to start a blog. My vision was clear from the get-go. I’d write about our travels and adventures, and share photos of amazing locations.
For years, in lieu of a blog I scratched the “itch” so to speak by sharing trip reports of our travels on Tripadvisor forums. I’m pretty sure I lost at least 6 months of my life in the St. John USVI travel forum.
What kept me from starting the blog sooner? Just me, my self-doubt, and limiting beliefs…
I have nothing new to contribute. My "take" isn't unique enough. I don't have time to start a blog. I don't know how to start a blog. No one will read it. No one cares what I have to say. It'll be a waste of my time.
Man, tough crowd in that head of mine!
I truly felt the blog had to serve a purpose beyond being something simply enjoyable yet challenging for myself. If people didn’t like the content, if I didn’t know how to bring it into existence, and if my thoughts were not unique then starting a blog wasn’t worth it.
Say what?
Far be it for anyone to create or start something just for the strict purpose of wanting to do the thing… Oh no, in our culture it needs to be monetized, attention-grabbing, and completely novel.
So, what changed?
We made a lot of bold moves throughout 2022, which luckily provided the momentum I needed to take action.
I could have never imagined requesting a leave of absence, but I did and it was quickly approved. Having the 60-days off led us to take a month-long RV trip out west, which was truly life changing. Through those situations I gained confidence to trust myself and follow my intuitions. I was finally beginning to see the value in approaching new things as experiments, which helped lower my fear of perceived failure. There was really no failing, just the opportunity to try something and learn from it no matter the outcome.
Ironically, despite thinking about creating a blog for years, purchasing the domain happened on a whim while he was out of town on a business trip. He had emailed me a YouTube video explaining how to purchase a domain and set up a blog. The link sat in my Gmail account for months, just waiting.
All of the sudden, I just decided to go for it. I was only just returning to work on a very part-time basis (10 hours/week), so I told myself I’d have more time to devote to the blog than I had in the past.
I really had no experience with anything needed to set up the blog, including website setup, design, WordPress, plug-ins, themes, etc. Everything was new to me. I fumbled every step of the way, taking one step forward only to then take five steps back. I spent hours reading articles from understanding SEO to how to connect your domain to Google Analytics, to only walk away more confused than when I started. It was so frustrating!
And then at times the negative self-talk would creep back in.
You don’t have any business doing this. You can’t do this, you don’t know what you are doing. You’re wasting your time.
But, one tiny step at a time, things came together.
He helped design a logo, which was a huge help because I have a hard time starting from zero when it comes to design ideas. Then I started working on the social media, which was very exciting to me.
Then I wrote my very first blog post. The site was officially live with actual content! It wasn’t perfect, but I took the tiny idea in my mind and made it come alive.
What I’ve Learned
I truly enjoy writing and creating helpful content for others.
I’ve struggled with making the blog my own versus trying to optimize the site for SEO and Google ranking purposes. I’ve also waffled back and forth on trying to monetize the blog, which the practical side of my brain would prefer to justify the effort I’ve put into the blog. But granting myself permission to do something just because I want to has been a healthy exercise for me. Not everything has to be optimized and monetized.
I’ve had to dig in and struggle to learn new things I never thought I’d want or need to do to make the blog a reality. For example, taking a paid SEO course last year was helpful to understand how websites typically gain traction with Google and audiences.
I continue to see examples in life where you simply just have to start. We often think we need to have the motivation to get started, but I’m not sure I believe that anymore. While researching has a role to play, there is only so much you can learn until you just have to rip the band aid off and jump in. Yes, you’ll be uncomfortable, probably scared, and likely think you aren’t ready.
But hey, you’ll figure it out and you’ll learn a ton along the way.
Thank You!
I’m glad I made the leap last year to bring my tiny idea to life. I’m excited to see where we go from here.
Most importantly thank you, dear reader, for being here and checking out our content!
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