Is There Anybody Out There Part 4, Volume 2

Hey guys!  As promised I'm back with more.  Just when you thought you'd heard enough blog talk right?  Well don't worry, for those of you seeking the superficial, I'll be back tomorrow with my Friday Favorite.  For now though, let's talk shop.

Today I'll be covering:

-Not meeting my personal goals

-Creating a blogging schedule and sticking to it.        

-Why you shouldn’t pay for a blog design until you've been a blogger for at least a few months.

-And how happy I am that D is finally taking my blogging seriously.

So first up, not meeting my personal goals.  I know this is going to sound incredibly silly to some of you, but somewhere along the lines I decided I needed to reach the 100 reader (I absolutely hate the term "followers") mark by the end of November.  One hundred people I don't know reading my blog seemed like a good number to me so all month long I focused on getting there.  Some days I'd pick up 3 or 4 readers and I thought for sure I'd meet my goal, but alas, I fell short by 8 readers.  

Initially, I was down on myself (you didn't market enough, you're not mainstream enough, etc.), then I made excuses (nobody was online over the holiday, it's not me, it's them) then I looked at my growth since I started in August and I gave myself a reality check.  I've managed to grow this little blog 20 to 30 readers a month all by myself.  I haven't sponsored other bloggers, I haven't plastered my badge all over a million blogs.  I've spent a lot of time writing sincere comments on relevant posts and darn it, 92 readers is great!

So in typical fashion I'm going to lay it out for you guys (month by month).  Please keep in mind I'm combining GFC, Bloglovin Brass Honey and Bloglovin' Shannon Kerns numbers.

After my first month of blogging I had 9 readers

After my second month of blogging I had 38 readers

After my third month of blogging I had 61 readers

And finally after my fourth month of blogging I had 92 readers

With that said, I still want my beloved 100 readers but I know my time will come and I'm not stressing about it.  Besides, quality over quantity right.  And as I've said before, nothing in this crazy blog world seems to come quickly, except maybe the time in between posts, ha!

That's actually a great segue into my next topic, creating a blogging schedule.  I hate to admit this but I've been struggling with balance again.  The momentum I gained in November sent me into overdrive and I've been spending a TON of time blogging and not so much time doing much of anything else.  I've never really had a set posting schedule, I've always just said that I'd post 3 to 4 times a week, but I've found myself posting more than that lately.  And let's be honest, posting is really only the half of it.  In an attempt to put some normalcy back in my life I've created the following blog schedule.  

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
4-5 hours of content creation and networking at my leisure	Lunch: Book a conf. room at work and catch-up on Bloglovin’ After work: Me time, wine, The Real Housewives, Vanderpump Rules and Keeping Up With The Kardashians	Lunch: Book a conf. room at work and catch up on Bloglovin’ 5:00-9:00 P.M: Content creation	Lunch: Book a conf. room at work and catch up on Bloglovin’ 5:00-9:00 P.M: Content creation	Go out to lunch! 5:00-9:00 P.M: Content creation	Lunch: Book a conf. room at work and catch up on Bloglovin’ After work: Date night/time with D	3-4 hours of content creation and networking at my leisure

 So far this schedule is working and best of all it sets boundaries for me and let's D know what to expect.  I'm very interested in knowing whether you guys keep a blogging schedule and if you do, how do you split your time between networking and creating content?

Not quite the nice segue here, but hey we're moving on from schedules and onto blog design.  Let me start by saying a few things before I jump right in.

  

1. I don't hate my blog design.

  

2. My blog was designed by Marquis at Clarke Creative Design.  Marquis was amazing, quick and so easy to work with.  She charges very reasonable rates and I would highly recommend her.

Can you feel the but coming???  Really, it's nobodies fault but my own, I jumped the gun (typical Shannon).  I didn't give myself or my blog a chance to become anything before I spent the money to have it designed.  I used tabs and side bars I saw other bloggers using.  I figured if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me.  After 2 weeks I think I had used up my 2 blog edits and after 3 months, I'd change at least a few dozen things.  

That's just the tip of the iceberg though.  The even bigger issue I have is that when you first start blogging (despite even you're best intentions) you're trying to fit in.  The pink and yellow on this blog are so not me.  I'm not a cutesy twenty-something, I'm in my mid-thirties and I like dark jewel tones.  Think deep teals and warm ambers.  The font isn't me either.  I'm bold and kind of in your face, not so much of a curly-q cursive kind of girl.  In the design phase, Marquis was nice enough to present me with two completely different looks, one of which was much more me and I opted for this (who says peer pressure isn't real).  As I said earlier, I don't hate this blog design, I just wish I had given myself a chance to find my bearings before I committed to something this big.  

Ah commitments, that brings me to D.  Let me fill you in a little on D and I.  If you're going through a breakup you may want to stop reading now (warning over).  D and I are indeed what you would call the "lucky ones".  I think we literally fell in love the night we met and that feeling hasn't wavered one bit.  We've gotten ourselves out of enormous debt, we've moved across the country multiple times, we've lost parents, we've "dealt" with parents, we've pretty much run the gamut in our 10 years together.  

Now, I'm not making excuses for D because believe me, there have been a number of time where I've felt like he's been completely non supportive of this little venture of mine, but what I will say is that when you've found "the one", you tend to worry about them.  D is and always has been very protective of my mental and emotional well being and lets face it, this whole blogging thing has created some waves in our pretty calm pool.  

From the get go D made it clear that he knew nothing about blogs nor did he see the point in blogging.  What he did know was that I was stressed out, spending lots of my time on something that seemed to be bringing me nothing but troubles and that it was disturbing our otherwise very predictable lives.  

As the months have passed, he's gotten use to the idea.  I can have a conversation with him now without him getting annoyed or without me getting annoyed because he didn't seem to care.  I think by now you all know that his blog means more to me than anything has in a really long time.  For my partner not to have gotten that, it was painful.  In the last month, he's driven me to Newport Beach for the Kendra Scott launch, he's taken outfit posts, he's debugged my affiliate links and more importantly he's taken in interest in this new and very important part of my life.  He won't be promoted to VP of Brass Honey anytime soon, but we're getting there and that means so much to me.  Bloggers, when you started blogging, what did your partners think?

Readers, do your partners know you read blogs?

I can only imagine what the next month will have in store for me, whatever it is there, I'm here and ready for it.  If you've made it all the way to the bottom of this post, THANK YOU!  The sheer fact that you're here with me right now going though this meas more than you know.

Have a great day!