Blogging as a business is super rewarding but it’s hard work mentally!
You may start off your blogging journey being all gung-ho (I love that phrase) but at some point, you will hit a block.
You may just get burned out or you may hit a failure with your blogging business that totally deflates you. It happens to the best of us.
I mean, sh*t gets hard sometimes.
The key is to push through it.
I am not saying this to make you run from blogging. I’m saying this so you DON’T run from blogging. I’m saying this so you can realize it’s going to be difficult and know that you are not alone.
Also, I’m saying this so you will keep reading and recognize the tools that you can use to help yourself.
I saw this quote recently:
“You can’t fail if you don’t quit.”
Hell yea! So let’s not quit and find some great tools and ways to motivate your success even when you aren’t feeling it.
This post is my little pep talk to you of all the bad thoughts and feeling I sometimes have surrounding my businesses and how I overcome or at least try to cope with them.
Dealing with Naysayers
If you are worried about people judging you or potentially talking you out of your dreams, don’t tell them.
You don’t owe anyone (except yourself) anything.
Wait until you are kicking some major blog biz butt and then be like, “Yes I run a blog and make a ton of money.”
And then, force yourself to stop caring. Because you are doing amazing things for your life and you are helping your readers do amazing things in their life. And, you are amazing! The end!
I have some friends that visibly squirm when I talk about my businesses. Even saying things like, “Oh yea I need to file taxes for my business in Costa Rica” will make them uncomfortable.
Now I just talk about it to bother them.
Because you know what? I’ve learned that people either act this way out of ignorance and genuine concern for your well-being or because they are secretly jealous that you had the guts to take a risk like starting your own business or career path.
Talking about your business will make the ignorant people more aware and the jealous people may start to see that they too could find success like yours.
Imposter Syndrome
I find that imposter syndrome never really goes away. It is so so easy to look at other people and their huge social media following or million dollars a year income and to think, “OMG who am I to think I can share the same type of content?”
What tends to work for me is reminding myself that I am sharing my knowledge and helping others in the process. I am getting my readers to Point D on their journey.
For example, with Hello Blogger I sometimes feel that other people are more qualified to write about blogging. There are other bloggers who have been around longer and are more successful.
However, then I try to remind myself of my strengths.
- I started a successful blog with a super small budget
- I built that blog into something amazing
- I struggled a lot along the way. Like, all the struggles you could have, I went through them
- This was all in the past four years. So, I know what it’s like to start a blog in the current time climate.
- And these struggles taught me what to not do and what to do to make a blog based business a success
So, in conclusion. I’m worthy. In fact, I’m actually a very good person to be teaching others how to start a blog based biz.
And if I can help you to come out on the other side without going through all the difficult stuff I did, well then that is worth it.
Comparing Yourself
Along the same lines of imposter syndrome is comparing yourself. It is so easy to look at your competition and see what they are doing better. This can really get you down.
However, I like to look at this in a positive light. Compare yourself to your competition on both sides. Don’t just look at what they are doing better.
When I go down the comparison path I make two lists. One list has all the things they are doing better (in my opinion) and one list is all the things I am doing better. This builds up my confidence in what I am doing right and gives me an awesome list of things to work on.
The Fear of Success or Failure
This goes along with the fear of monetary success that I talked about previously.
I know it sounds weird to think that you might fear success. I mean, we all want to be successful right?
But, think about it.
Sometimes it is easier to not take big risks. I mean, big risks are scary. And success definitely involves taking risks.
Whenever I find that I am feeling unmotivated, I try to reflect on why. Often it stems from fear.
But, then I think about where I could be in one month, six months, one year, ten years etc. if I just take action today.
Maybe, you’ll fail. But, it is a lot more terrifying to think that maybe instead you’ll just be standing in the same place in ten years.
Take the risk…..like….today….not tomorrow.
You are Not Your Business
One thing that can be hard to process when running a blog based business is remembering that although your business is yours, it is also separate from you.
This is difficult to separate because you are likely writing about personal experiences. You are putting your character as part of a business and people are not always going to be friendly. Things won’t always go smoothly.
Just remember, something that does not go the way you wanted it to in your business does not mean that you yourself are a failure or a flawed being.
Trust Yourself
You are smart. You are intuitive. You know deep down the right decisions. So, trust your instincts.
It’s a weird thing to be the one to make all the decisions. There is no boss coming in to be like, “yea we are going to grow the business in this way and here’s what I need you to work on.”
That boss is you.
So, make the decisions. Grow your business. Have missteps. Pick yourself up and keep going.
