The Best Advice I’ve Received about Blogging

Blogging in a Saturated Niche

Just over 3 months I began my adventure of learning to blog, so by no stretch of the imagination, am I an expert.  Before I started I was worried if I should even bother.  There are  tonnes and tonnes of mom blogs, and crafting blogs, and blogs of all shapes and sizes.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to jump into something that was already saturated and waste my time.  Being an inquisitive person, I reached out to one of the blogging communities I frequent and I asked if I should even bother, and that is where the best advice about blogging came from.

Bare with me, but this will make sense.

Go to the grocery store to buy bread.  Stand in the bread aisle and look around.  While standing there, you will realize that there are hundreds of different types of bread.  Each bread is slightly different.  Some are plain, some have grains, some are gluten-free, some are marbled…. the list goes on and on. There is bread of every shape, size, and kind you can imagine!  But every bread in the store has someone that likes it and buys. 

I am like that bread in the grocery store in the bread aisle.  The aisle is full of bread.  There will be people that don’t like me, but there will be people that can’t get enough! And so, even though I am blogging in a niche that has lots of other bloggers, I am (hopefully) to someone’s taste.  

Everyone is different

Everyone is different, everyone has a different style of writing, everyone has a different take on an issue.

My likes and dislikes, my style, my ideas,  are all unique to me.  Some of my crafting ideas may be similar or even the same as someone else’s, but I will have my way of detailing what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.

And I Scared?

Of course, I’m scared.  And how can this be the best advice about blogging if I’m scared?  There are a million other reasons I am scared about this. What if I fail and have been wasting my time.  I’m scared that if this doesn’t work, all of the time and energy I put into this will be time lost with my kids.  And I’m scared I will not be found on the internet full of experienced bloggers.  The list goes on and on!

But let me break down my main fears.

1. Fear of Failure:

I don’t look at failure as a bad thing.  If I fail, I will at least have learned something from this adventure, I have already learned so much. I have learned a whole lot about web-design, graphics creation, SEO, readability, programming.  And that’s just from the technical blogging side.  

I have also learned a whole bunch of new crafting ideas and techniques.  Additionally, I have managed to create so many new and great things since I’ve started.  Things I have always wanted to do.

I have also learned how to manage my free time better.  Now, instead of mindlessly surfing the net when I have a few moments, I have something to occupy my time with.  And when I’m not working, I focus more on being 100% present in the moment.

Failure sucks, but I have already learned so much, and this is just starting!

2. Missing out on time with my kids

And spending time with my kids?  Well, they come and check on me all the time (when I woke during the day).  And I try to do most of my work when they are sleeping whenever I can.

But they are also the source of so many of my project ideas.  They want something, they need something fixed, anything at all, they come to me and we figure out how to do it together. They are my Guinea pigs.  I test my idea out on them, and they love it!  And their honest opinion is worth its weight in gold.  

So I don’t think I’m missing out on time with them.  I have a different type of time with them now.  And they enjoy it, as do I.

3. Competing with experienced bloggers

There are lots of bloggers out there. I don’t even want to hazard a guess at the number.  Some are very successful, some are mildly successful, some are just starting and some have given up entirely.

The successful bloggers started at one point in time.  They didn’t know how it was going to turn out.  But they started just like me.  And they learned and grew.  But it didn’t happen to them overnight.  The same can be said about the mildly successful ones.  They started somewhere!  They’re just at a different stage of their journey. 

The beginners?  I’m in the same boat as them. So instead of looking at them as an enemy, I see them as a fellow voyager on a great adventure.

As for the people who have given up?  Maybe I will one day as well, but I can’t give up if I haven’t even tried!

So, this fear of competitors and completing with them…. when you boil it down, it doesn’t scare me as much anymore.

Now I don’t think there is a point being scared and not going for it, being the bread does seem to be the best advice about blogging.  There are a million reasons why I shouldn’t but there are also a million reasons why I should.

Be the Bread

For now, I have embraced the fact that I am the bread in the bread aisle.  I will be picked up by someone.  Right now, it’s only a few people that come, but I’m hoping in the future there will be more people that come as well.  And I will continue to move forwards based on the best advice about blogging I’ve received.

Check out other Corner Stone Content

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