Have YOU Ever Wanted to Start a Blog?

Three different people recently contacted me and asked me the same question: Should I start a blog?

They wanted to know if it has been worth the work. They wanted to know if I have enjoyed blogging. 

Oh my stars, YES! And if you have ever wondered about starting a blog, but felt unsure about what you’d write about, let me just put that fear to rest. You have a message to share. How do I know this? You are alive. 

**Want to watch or listen along instead of read? Here you go! You can also ask Alexa, Google, or Siri: "Listen to The Parenting Dare Podcast"
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If you are alive and over the age of 15, you have a message to share. Yes, even has a freshman or sophomore in high school! You can make an impact in the world. 

If you are over the age of 25, you have learned some truths about life. You  can change hearts and minds and lives by sharing those truths. 

If you are over the age of 35 and have a couple of kids/house/husband you have hard-earned tips and methods and ways. You have a ton of knowledge and can inspire others. 

If you are over the age of 45, with kids leaving your nest, you have changes occurring in your heart, changes that almost pierce. You gotta share!

If you are over the age of 55, you are like me, looking at the other side of the mountain. The view is better here. Crisper. Tell us what you see. 

You have a message. And that message is part of your God-given MISSION.

• Do you have a special needs child? 
• Have you dealt with an illness? 
• Does your child have food allergies?
• Do you love love love gardening? 
• Do you all of your friends come to you for marital advice?  

What is your passion? What is your specialty? What are you really good at? Do people tell you that you are funny? Are you inspirational?

Start a blog.

Share your message. 

There are other reasons to start a blog.

1. To become better at something. If you actually suck at something, you can start a blog on that topic in order to keep yourself accountable. You don’t have to be the expert. But through the blog, you can showcase how you became an expert, which gives people incredible hope because they can look back at your beginning. “Oh, if she can do it, so can I” type of thing. Even if they don’t want to mimic you, The Hero’s Journey is incredibly fascinating to witness. Here are some examples: 

• You want to eat better. So start a blog that captures your journey as you learn how to truly nourish yourself. People love love love watching a transformation. 
• You are a terrible money manager. So learn. And share with others in such a way that motivates YOU, holds you accountable and inspires others. That’s a powerful combination.
• You want to learn how to be a minimalist. Show us how you do that. Specifically. 
• You want to run a marathon. So start. And teach others! Be awesome every day! That’s one of the gifts of blogging!

2. To create a community of like-minded people. 

• There’s no better feeling than finding your tribe. Instead of heading over to a weekly meeting for motherhood, I just post a blog about motherhood and my people share their heart with me. That’s what the internet can do! And the more authentic you can make your message, that “vibe” will literally create its own tribe of followers that know, trust and like you and what you have to share. 

3. To earn money.

• Shocking, isn’t it? But yes, you can earn money as a blogger. And you don’t have to sell your soul. You just have to figure out who to learn from and then follow in his or her footsteps.

You have a message to share. And you can use the internet for GREAT GOOD!

The primary reason I started my first blog almost four years ago was to start a community of like-minded people. I called it “Prayer and Duct Tape” because that’s what held our family together on most days. 

I asked a fellow blogger and friend Erika to help me get started. As she sat down with me at the computer, I had one feeling: overwhelmed. I didn’t know anything about the blogging world. 

I tell you that because sometimes it’s easy to look at someone’s middle of the journey and think to yourself, “Wow, I could never do that.” Um, yes you can. 

You are awesome and you do have a message!
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I started writing for a couple of reasons. 

1. Years ago, when I was knee deep in diapers and baby barf, I promised myself that when I got to the promised land of Having Kids that Could Feed, Wipe and Dress Themselves, I would reach out and help other mothers laugh at the crappy parts of motherhood. Blogging became a cool way to do that. 
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2. I also wanted to build a platform where I could go into one of the most difficult topics: How to educate our kids about the extremely real dangers of pornography. This was a huge huge huge weight on my heart. It was a topic that affected every single family yet no one talked about it. 

As I wrote, I discovered that BLOGGING was its own world and that with some focus, I could grow my reach. 

My friend Erika, the one that got me started, was a great encourager but I didn’t want to suck her dry. 

I started doing some research and truthfully, I got disenchanted pretty quickly. I read books on blogging but they just shared a PART of how to grow a more successful blog. 

I kept reading and learning and soon had a messy pile of information, with a variety of techniques and differing opinions, all of which simply created NOISE in my head. 

In January of 2016, more or less on a whim, I bit the proverbial bullet and PAID for someone to teach me how to blog in a bigger way. 
 
Ruth Soukup’s Elite Blog Academy was like walking into a five-star hotel after spending six months trying to live on my own in the wild. 

She gave me everything. EVERYTHING I needed to be successful as a blogger. 

Okay, if you are still reading, that means you are a bit intrigued so let me get into some of the fun details. Elite Blog Academy has four modules, with three POWER-PACKED lessons within each module. 

I expected module one, which was about the writing process. She truly helped me refine my message and create posts that would want to be shared.

I even expected module two, which was about growing my traffic. Using Ruth’s methods, I had posts that were shared all around the world, up to 5,000 times! And yes, she taught me HOW to see the analytics and how to use them. What that meant to my kids: when I opened the analytics map, it would have dots and numbers, showing where a certain blog post had traveled and how many people in a certain country had read it. 

Bonus: my kids instantly thought I was way cooler. 

What I didn’t expect was MODULE THREE. Ruth stated emphatically that if I am a blogger with a message, then I could create a product for my readers out of that message.
 
THAT SHOCKED ME TO MY CORE.

Once I got over the shock, I listened and relistened to the third module. I read her pdf of that module. Slowly, the idea grew on me. 

She believed that I could create a product that enriched the lives of my readers. 

Wow….I loved that….I could create a product that would change and transform the lives of the mothers that believed in me and my message.

That idea excited me almost as much as it scared me. 

Ruth PUSHED me out of my comfort zone, yes. Big time. But she was also there every step of the way. 

(Her fourth module is about goal setting and thinking bigger about the business aspect of blogging.)

So what course did I create? 

The Parenting Dare.

Ruth showed how I could start small, with baby steps, with a little launch. My initial audience could actually give me feedback as I created. 

It was unbelievably amazing to start in such a way. I didn’t have to know everything. I just had to start. My son Eric joined me at that point (crazy but true!) I share everything here: The Whole Story: Lori’s Side and Eric shares here: The Whole Story: Eric’s Side.

Alrighty, now once we had created our baby launch we used the feedback to develop The Parenting Dare 1.0, which journeys with parents into the depths of parenting, guiding proactive parents on how to talk about love, lust, sex and pornography with their children!

My son Eric and I are working on The Parenting Dare 2.0, which, to be frank, is a much more intentional course. I love working on it and cannot wait to share it. Eric and I are both writing books, too. Holy Cow!

That’s where I am, you guys! But you can see how I didn’t start Elite Blog Academy to create a product. I started EBA to become a better blogger. 
 
I love people that help me become more of who I really am. 

What’s your message? What do you want to share with the world? 

If you are thinking that yes, I do have a message that has been building within me, may I share my Ruth with you? 
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She is offering a 5-day Build Your Blog Bootcamp ​February, 28 - March, 4, 2019.
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As you go through those five days, you will begin to see that yes, I CAN create a place where my voice can be heard. 

Her comprehensive course, Elite Blog Academy, only opens up once a year; her Bootcamp is designed to get you started. 

Here are two other resources that will help from Ruth:

1. If you have no idea how to set up a blog - How to Set Up A Self-Hosted WordPress Blog
2. If you have a blog already, this training is SUPER helpful - Blogging Made Simple

So no matter where you are in the journey, if you already have a blog or if this post got you thinking about one, there are plenty of resources out there. 

And I would love love love to hear from you. What’s your message?
Email me at: [email protected]

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PS Here's just the podcast link