The characteristic, in my mind, that most separates young people from adults is one’s willingness to enumerate her faults. It is from this place, therefore, that I will share one of my greatest faults: my tendency to be extremely interested in something for a short period of time. While I do not love admitting this about myself, it’s proven to be true on many occasions.
About a year ago, encouraged by my friend (and successful blogger), Marla, I decided I would start a blog. Starting a blog is actually very difficult. I pushed on, however, and launched A Little Something More. I was determined to channel my creativity, share my expertise, and generate income.
Much to my distress, six months after launching my site, I was not attracting thousands of Instagram followers, being asked to promote my favorite products, or, I felt, one step closer to becoming the world-renowned lifestyle blogger I knew I was destined to instantly become.
If you couldn’t already guess, one of my other major flaws is impatience (and maybe an inflated sense of self). I HATE waiting for anyone or anything. In my mind, I was doing everything right and people around the world should have been flocking to A Little Something More.
Flaw number three rears her ugly head: unwillingness to admit when I’m wrong. While my blog is interesting, well-written, and professional, few people knew it existed because I was unwilling to do the PR to get noticed outside of my circle of friends.
Blogging is a legitimate profession that takes real work. One large part of the job is making connections with people to increase your readership and following online. To do this one has to engage with others via social media and (gasp!) in real life. I am actually really bad at both of those things. I don’t enjoy being on social media enough to grow my following there, and I’m too shy to promote myself in real life.
Although I wrote about my favorite local places, I very rarely introduced myself to any of the business owners. I felt uncomfortable doing this for a few reasons. First, I thought my social media presence and number of blog subscribers was too small to matter to them. Second, I thought they would be bothered or annoyed, maybe thinking I only wanted to talk because I was looking for something free. Because of this attitude, very few businesses knew I was singing their praises online (albeit to like 100 people, but still!).
Frustrated and embarrassed, I ignored the blog and social media for most of the summer. This was really an immature thing to do, especially since I knew deep down that I was entirely to blame for the blog’s lack of success.
I thought I might quit the blog altogether, but I decided to push on because of the encouragement of a number of friends and readers. People actually do enjoy reading what I write, and missed me while I was away at my pity party.
If I’m honest with myself, I will probably never promote the blog as much as I should, but there is no reason I can’t keep writing and sharing with the people who do know I exist. And, if I do ever want to move my blog to the next level, I should actually keep working at it.
In short, thank you for your continued support and readership. I’m going to continue to focus on writing and creating fun content, while worrying less about sponsorships, metrics, and the business of blogging. I actually do have a full-time job I love. I would quit tomorrow, however, if Oprah, Mindy Kaling, or food bloggers Teri Turner, Gina Homolka, or Alex Snograss want to work together (just throwing it out there).
Josette Busuttil says
Great job Nickie! Keep up the good work.
Cindy says
I missed your blog but I saw you in person, that’s even better! Keep writing as long as you’re enjoying it.