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!

  

Is There Anybody Out There Part 4, Vol. 1

Hey guys!  It's time for Part 4 of my “Is There Anybody Out There” series.  Only this go around I'm going to need to break it down into 2 Volumes.  Just thinking about month four as a blogger sends me into a tailspin, my mind is literally running in a million different directions.  This last month has been full of complexities, challenges and exhilaration.  I’ve had incredible highs followed by some pretty low lows.  There’s so much I want to share with you guys, so much I need to get out of my head and into the universe.  

 

So here it goes.  Today, in Volume 1, I'm going to cover:

-How to break down affiliate links and why I hate HTML.

-Google+ comments, why the stink, and how grateful I am to have someone looking out for me.

-Making my first dollar as a blogger and the can of worms that that has opened.

-Attending my first event as a blogger (with terrible business cards).

-And writing my first ever guest post and hosting my first ever guest blogger.

On Thursday, and in Volume 2, 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.

Phew, I told you there was a lot going on in my mind right now (hence the reason for the 2 Volumes, I hope you guys don't mind).  I guess we should start at the beginning and get the technical stuff out of the way first.   

Affiliate links, a love hate relationship, and why I hate HTML.  Well that’s an easy one.  I hate HTML and anything that makes me feel stupid, which is exactly how these beloved links have made me feel.  I mentioned in Part 3 of Is There Anybody Out There that I had signed up as a Nordstrom affiliate.  Well, I only actually started using affiliate links in my last post (here).  I’m happy to share that I've already made a few bucks, which is absolutely amazing (thank you Christmas!) but as we all know, nothing worth having comes without it's struggles.  I'm not lying when I say it literally took me a full two days to figure out why I was getting huge gaps in my content after I’d post an affiliate link.  See my screenshot below (not a good look).  

Obviously, the huge gap between the image and the link wasn’t going to cut it so I Googled my little heart out.  I read through the forums on Linkshare (the affiliate program I’m using) and I exchanged at least a dozen e-mails with a pal I have in IT.  Two days later and nothing!  I hadn’t felt that helpless since month one.  No joke, I literally had my head down on the desk when D came in and asked if I wanted his help.  I don’t know why I feel it necessary to exhaust ever other resource before I finally turn it over to him, but I do.  I’ll be working on that one.  Anyways, an hour later and he had the link broken down and all figured out for me. 

Now, I know I'm not a rocket scientist, but I also know I'm not the only one in this great big world who has ever had this happen to them.  I don't know why on earth I couldn't find the answer to my problem, but I know I would hate for anyone to struggle like I did.  So here goes, I’m breaking it down for you right here, right now.  Below is an affiliate link I generated from Linkshare (I’ve changed my ID for confidentiality reasons, but everything else remains intact). 

 

<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/link?id=XXXXXXXXXXX&offerid=276224.3605089&type=2&murl=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.nordstrom.com%2FS%2F3605089%3Fcm_cat%3Ddatafeed%26cm_pla%3Dbags%3Awomen%3Aclutch%26cm_ite%3Dtory_burch_%2527adalyn%2527_clutch%3A970907%26cm_ven%3DLinkshare">Tory Burch 'Adalyn' Clutch</a><IMG border=0 width=1 height=1 src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=XXXXXXXXXXX&bids=276224.3605089&type=2&subid=0" > 

The highlighted portion is the only portion of the link you need (I tested it and purchased this fun little happy hour clutch that I’ll be giving away here on the blog real soon).  Whatever the rest of link is, it's irrelevant and is causing the huge gaps.  Not cool.  

Also not cool, Google+ comments.  In fact, they stink!  You may or may not have noticed that all Google+ comments posted prior to Monday 12/2 have been deleted from this blog, not by me, but that was one of the fall outs from disabling Google+ comments.  I had no idea I had Google+ comments enabled, and furthermore, I had no idea that by having them enabled I was pretty much forcing anyone who wanted to leave a comment to either sign up for Google+ or leave without sending their message.  Never in a million years would I ask a reader to sign up for something that they don’t want so that they could leave me a comment.  That's just crazy.

 If you’re a new blogger with a Google+ account, please do yourself and your readers a favor and be sure you have Google+ comments disabled.  If you’re using Blogger it’s quite easy to disable Google+ comments.  Simply click on the Google+ tab on the left hand side of your Blogger dashboard and then uncheck the "Use Google+ comments on this blog" box.

 

A HUGE thank you to Amanda from Voyage Of The MeeMee for letting me know she’s been reading but unable to comment.  I don’t know what I’d do without you guys looking out for me.  It really means so much.

With that said, I’m calling out for your help now ladies!  Earlier, I mentioned affiliate links and why I hate HTML but what I failed to mention is the giant can of worms that making my first dollar has opened up.  I mean I'm sure the IRS is going to want their piece right.  I’m only just starting to look into the steps I need to take to turn this little ole blog from hobby to business so any advice, tips, or just general conversation if you're going through this process yourself would be awesome!  Let's do this together.

Now less tech and more fun.  Let’s move onto greener pasture shall we.  The last thing I want this post to be is a bitch fest about all my "struggles" to figure this blogging stuff out.  The truth is for all of the challenges this month has brought, there have been just as many new and wonderful experiences thrown my way.  The first of which was my attending the Kendra Scott LUXE launch.  I went on and on for an entire week, most recently here, about how great the night was and how it was one of the best experiences of my life, bad business cards and all.

Let me explain...

So immediately after receiving my invitation, I jumped online and did what any normal girl would do, I consulted my Facebook friends for business card vendor recommendations.  Yep, because in my head, nobody was going to take me seriously as a blogger if I didn't have business cards.  I was in a mad rush to get my cards here (which is never a good scenario when making a big decision) so I ended up going with the vendor that could get me my cards the fastest without me having to pay an excessive amount for expedited shipping (because of course I need expedited shipping).  Let's just say sometimes it's best to pay a little more to get a little more.  I used X vendor who turned out to be a total nightmare.  Cards were delivered on the day I needed them, only they weren't my cards!  I immediately called X vendor (outraged, of course) and they advised me that I would need to prove that I had received the wrong cards by e-mailing them a photo of the cards I received, seriously?  Ok, so I e-mailed the photo and 3 days later my actual cards arrived (the night before the event) and they stunk.  See for yourself.

 

Paper quality bad, color bad (this is suppose to be gold), design ok.  Now admittedly I went with something simple, so the design of course was my choosing, but wow, not really the impression I wanted to make at my first big event.  I handed the cards out though none the less because I figured bad cards were better than no cards and remember, I wanted to be taken seriously :)

Simultaneously, Tiny Prints had reached out to me after they saw this post and wanted to collaborate.  At the time, I had pitched a few ideas, but only after receiving the cards above did I know how they could help me and vice versa.  There's a reason I felt like nobody would take me seriously without business cards.  As much as we'd like to pretend that there's no money behind blogging, there is, which in fact makes it our own little business.  OURS.  I take great pride in this blog because it's mine and mine alone.  With that said, business cards are our way to be remembered (good or bad).  I received 100 of the business cards below c/o Tiny Prints and I have since sent Kendra Scott and her team a hand written thank you for my invitation, along with one of my new cards.  Hopefully they lost the old one, ha!  It really is the details and the little things that will get you noticed.   

Now that you all have my telephone number, ha.

Ok, so moving on to other happy news.  Early on, I knew I would be one of "those" bloggers who would host guest bloggers, not for profit, but rather to give you guys something I personally couldn’t give you.  I by no means am a one man show.  I mean I can’t cook for $hit, I don’t have the patience or desire to DIY and I’ll never be able to take you on a journey of my most recent trip to Paris (because I’ll never go).  That doesn’t mean these things don’t interest me though, so I look at these gaps in my personal life as opportunities for guest bloggers.

 

 Did you guys meet Mollie?  Well Mollie was my first ever guest blogger and I chose to work with her particularly because she has a way of making complex DSLR things seem simple to me.  If you haven't read my 101 Things To Do In 1001 Days, you should, and after you do you'll know that I’ve challenged myself to learn how to manually use our camera (judging from the above pictures you'll see I haven't gotten very far with that).  Having Mollie here to go over some of the fundamentals was a great start to that and to building what I hope will be a great friendship.

   

When Mollie asked me to do a guest post on her blog, I was beyond honored.  You can check it out here.  I’ve said this before, but it’s not everyday someone takes a chance on a newbie.  I’m sure it’s a lot easier to turn your space over to someone with 1000 readers and ten other guest posts to give them credibility, but it takes someone really special to give someone their first chance.  One of the reasons I think our post swap worked out as well as it did is because we both really believed that the other had something valuable to offer our readers.  I’ve heard a lot of horror stories from bloggers who have done guest posts or hosted guest bloggers and they’ve come away completely turned off to the experience, it’s very sad really.  I consider myself very lucky to have worked with Mollie and to have gotten off to such a great start in this area.  

If you're interested in post swapping, I'd love to hear from you.  Never say never I know but it's my intent to never charge for a guest post on Brass Honey.  I don't plan to ever pay to be a guest blogger on another blog either.  I think once money gets involved things get complicated which is why so many bloggers are turned off by guest blogging to begin with.  This is so going to sound corny but we're all here to help each other out aren't we.  I don't care if you have one reader or ten thousand, if you can offer my readers something valuable, then I welcome you.  Off my soap box now, I promise.

Well guys, that's it, Volume 1 of Part 4 is complete.  I hope to see you back her on Thursday for Volume 2, and if you want to know how this whole "Is There Anybody Out There" thing got started, click here.

See you soon friends and have a great day!  

Is There Anybody Out There Part 3

I want to start this post with some exciting news, but I think it's important to back track first.

November 5, 2013

Picture girl, exhausted, sitting in bed ready to collapse into the covers.  Just before she does she confesses her inner most thoughts to boy.

"I don't know why I'm blogging.  This is so much work.  Maybe I should just give up".

To put it frankly, I was feeling what I'm now referring to as the 3 month blogger blues.  As much as I'd like to pretend that it's not, blogging is a lot of work, especially for someone who's been claiming it's just a "hobby".  I'm sorry, but nobody in their right mind spends this much time on a "hobby".  Between the networking, the gathering of images, the editing, and the e-mailing, blogging can be a full time job, and it is for some. 

Oh how I wish I had pursued blogging while I was unemployed and moving around the country, but you know what they say about hindsight :)  

Anyways, I was feeling discouraged and the self doubt was kicking in.  The voices in my head were taunting me, "You're not special.  You don't have anything to give anyone.  You'll never make it as a blogger.  Just quite now."  Being mean and lying to yourself is not cool at all.

Once I finally admitted that I was in it to win it, the stakes were suddenly raised.  It's a whole new ballgame.  Since coming clean I've been thinking a lot about what being a successful blogger means to me.  What do I want to accomplish.  What are my goals.  Right here, right now, in this moment being a successful blogger means:

Building a community of peers to learn from and grow with.

Finding a loyal group of readers/friends.

Being offered opportunities I wouldn't otherwise have because of my blog.  

Getting free stuff (if we're being honest, which we will always be here) and of course making a little extra spending money.  

These things are hard to come by though, especially as a newbie.  The number one thing I've learned on this journey so far is that building takes time.  You've got to knock and knock and then knock some more and eventually, maybe, someone might open a door for you. 

November 6, 2013

Picture girl making her way through a typical Wednesday in cube land.  Just before lunch she sneaks out her iphone to check her e-mail.  Scanning, scanning all the way to the bottom and low and behold, girls first door opens.

Invitation: Private launch party for Kendra Scott's new LUXE collection

I'm beyond happy to announce that I've been invited to attend the private launch of Kendra Scott's newest line LUXE.  As if that wasn't enough, I'll be meeting and interviewing the beautiful, talented, and self made Kendra for this little ole blog of mine.  If you've followed me for any amount of time you've probably noticed me wearing or featuring Kendra's pieces (here, here, here, here).   My darling sister in law purchased these and this for me two year's ago and I've been hooked ever since.  I seriously feel like I've just hit the blogging lottery you guys! 

Now, if I were you I'd probably be wondering how a girl like me got a gig like this.  I've seen bloggers all around me get amazing opportunities and I've wondered the same.  Let me start by saying that these things don't just happen to us little guys.  So here you have it, full disclosure.  I took the time to reach out.  Every time I featured a Kendra Scott piece on Brass Honey, I'd e-mail Kendra's social media division (every single time).  Eventually I guess they got tired of hearing from me and decided to throw me a bone :)  I'm not sure outside of that how I made the cut, but whatever it was has me over the moon.    

So what else is new this month?  Good god it's been a roller coaster ride.  How about I fully submerge myself into the blogging world and leave you with a brain dump.  You know just a few random thoughts I've had running through my mind this last month:

First and foremost, a huge thank you to my 61 readers!!!  You guys mean everything to me and I truly couldn't imaging going on without you :)

Commenting on other blogs is crucial to getting the word out about your blog.  Just be mindful of how you're spending your time.  As much as I LOVE checking in on Rachael at Pink Peonies, Jacey at Damsel and Dior and Wendy at Wendy's Lookbook, their readers are not my readers.  I'm not a fashionista posting amazing new looks everyday.  In fact, this blog is lucky if it sees one or two outfit posts a month.

Lovely blogger friends, if I e-mail you and you take a week to respond, that's ok.  You have a life, we all do.  I appreciate your time, whenever you can give it.  There's no need to apologize :)

After a boat load of research I've worked through the process and am proud to say that I will soon being using  Nordstrom (a natural fit since I do most of my shopping there) affiliate links.  I want to start small with one retailer and see how it goes, but I sure am happy I took the first step in monetizing Brass Honey.

I keep hearing about this amazing blogger community, but to be honest, until this last month I haven't been feeling the love.  I'm not sure what's changed, but lately I've received a few super sweet and helpful e-mails from fellow bloggers and I have to say it's been absolutely great.  A huge thank you to Rebecca at Caravan Sonnet for letting me know my profile was set to no-reply.  If you don't know what it means to be a no-reply blogger (I didn't) be sure you read this and if you use a Google+ profile like I do, you'll want to read this.  I feel so lucky to have a few good people looking out for me :).  I hope to grow and foster these relationships.

Despite my best efforts to keep a blogging schedule, time seems to get away from me.  I have a Decorating For Fall post sitting in my drafts that will have to make it's debut in 2014.

Still dying to know about sponsoring other blogs and whether or not the investment is worth it.

Also can somebody please help me figure out how to get involved in a group giveaway, please :)  I ain't too proud to beg.  Participating in a giveaway is my goal for this month!

I really do love blogging. 

 Thanks for reading.  If your a newbie like me and you want to read more check out Part 1 and 2. 

Is There Anybody Out There, Part 2

It's been just over a month since I wrote Is There Anybody Out There.  When I sat down to write about my first month blogging, I was desperately hoping to reach an audience of bloggers like myself.  I needed some sign, any sign that there was somebody out there.   I wanted to know that I was not alone in my thoughts.  At that point, I needed to find a community of newer bloggers to connect with, learn from and grow alongside like I needed air.  To date, Is There Anybody Out There has been my most viewed post at 80 pageviews and 5 heartfelt genuine comments.

You might think it's weird that I'm sharing numbers like pageviews and comments, but I think it's important for a few reasons.

1. Vague references don't do any of us any good.

2. I want to truly document what being a newbie looks like.  I understand that all blogs grow at their own rate, but I'd hate for a fellow newbie to be discouraged because their month old post "only" had 80 pageviews.   

So part 2, aka, month 2.  Let's talk about it.

Personally and professionally the last several weeks have tied me up and forced me to find the balance I was struggling with a month ago.  It's funny how that happens isn't it?  I'm still completely enamored with my blog, but family commitments and a busy work schedule have taken precedence. Oddly enough, I'm still here and the posts are still going out.

With that said, some of the posts I've put out have been pretty cringe worthy (here, here, here, here and here).  Okay there were more than I thought :).  If I was a reader looking for new blogs to follow and I came across my blog on a day I had launched one of the above posts, I'd go running for the hills.  

 My struggle to find balance has worked itself out, but it left me with a tough pill to swallow.  Nobody wants to put out bad content, but that's what I've been doing because I haven't accepted the fact that there may WILL be times when I don't have time to put out a quality post.  Instead of being okay with not posting, I've been slapping together crap just so something goes out.
 
A few of the posts had potential like Not In The Budget, Best In Beauty, For A Non-Makeup Girl and Halloween Costumes, Work And Play, but they were launched prematurely with bad images because I didn't have the time to make them pretty.  Instead of waiting a day to get it right, I hit publish and posted material I'm not proud of.

Staying Fit, Or At Least Trying and Love It, Or Leave It, The Dropped Waist Edition share the same problem, only I managed to bring it down a notch by posting about something I couldn't care less about because it was easy.  These posts feel fake and unauthentic because they're generic and they mean nothing to me.

As important as it is to put out regular material, I have to chose quality over quantity going forward.

My 30 Bloglovin and 8 Google readers deserve better.  That's right folks my readers have more than doubled this last month.  A HUGE thank you to all 38 of you!!!  I have no clue how it's happened but I'm incredibly grateful for each and every one of you.

On that note, I've yet to get a grasp on how marketing my blog works.  When I spend time finding new blogs to follow, leaving comments on other blogs and sending e-mails to fellow bloggers,  I definitely see increased traffic.  Like the difference between 30 pageviews and 100 pageviews, but for the most part my readers aren't the bloggers I've reached out to?  How are people finding my blog?

I have a million other questions at this point like:  

1. What in the heck are SEO's?
2. How do I linkup?
3. How do I partner on a giveaway?
4. How do I know if I'm posting affiliate links?

5. Why has monetizing my blog become such a motivating factor?
6. Does sponsoring another blogger really help your blog?

I swear somebody needs to write Blogging for Dummies.  Maybe such a thing already exists.

I'm sure month 3 will present new challenges, questions and hopefully some more insight into the inner workings of this bloggy blog world.   Thanks for sticking it out through month 2.  Let me hear what you think, PLEASE, and if you have any helpful tips or information on any of my many questions, let me have em :).  

Is There Anybody Out There???

So it's been just over a month since I've started Brass Honey and I wanted to take some time to write about what it's like to be in the trenches of starting a new blog.  Over the last few months I've read countless Blogging 101 posts that all seem to go a little something like this, "Be Yourself", "Content Is King", "Make It Pretty".  All very well and good but isn't that kinda stating the obvious?  To a lesser degree I've found a few, learn from my mistakes kind of posts, and while I think these are definitely more relatable, they give vague references and leave me wanting more.  Besides I've never been one to learn from someone else's experiences.

What both types of posts have in common is that they always seem to be written years after the blogger started blogging.  Their blogs are successful and have hundreds and thousands of followers, and while there's something to be said for learning from the pros, they're not struggling to make it past the 3 month mark which is the average lifespan of a blog.  They're not trying to get noticed in a sea of millions of other bloggers.  In all of my searches I couldn't find a single solitary post written by a new blogger in the midst of trying to make something out of nothing.  

You bloggers sure know how to make blogging look easy, and at least for me in this first month, nothing could be further from the truth.  Even taking pictures has proven to be a challenge.

See the fork on the bench?  Well I didn't.

And the missing stone in my bracelet.  Not a good look.

And let's not forget about the camera remote in my hand.

Pictures are only the beginning though.  What I'm really struggling with is finding balance.  For the first time in my life I feel like I'm working on something really meaningful.  I've never even had a hobby so the enthusiasm and love I have for my blog is totally new, and seems to be completely consuming me.  I wake up in the morning and the first thing I think about is my blog, not my husband.  I spend my lunch hour reading other blogs and I've spent one too many late nights at the computer trying to learn Photoshop or writing content.  D is starting to get annoyed and I'm starting to burn out.  I keep telling myself that it will only be like this in the beginning because it's new, and that once I learn how to do X or Y it won't take me so long, but I don't know.  Maybe it's just my personality.  I have always been an all or nothing kind of girl.

In an effort to try and find some balance I've had to take a step back and admit that there are some things that I just can't do.  I set some pretty realistic goals for myself as far as the number of posts I put out in a week, and I don't have droves of followers so it's not an issue for me to respond to the maybe 1 comment I get per post :).  If only those were my problems.  Instead, I'm dealing with learning how to pull back, admit defeat and then ask for help.  Not easy for someone who wants to figure things out for herself and loves to be in control.

Before I launched my first post in early August I spent three solid weeks trying to design my blog.  I'm not completely computer illiterate, but even some of the simplest things like linking my social media buttons took forever.  I did what I could, literally hit my head against my desk a few times, drank a few bottles of wine and then had to accept the fact that what I had, which is what you see today, was what I was capable of.  The Virgo perfectionist in me is still kicking and screaming, but for now Brass Honey will have to be plain and simple in it's design until the blog design I'm having built (by someone who actually knows what they're doing) is ready. 

Which brings me to my next struggle.  How much money is too much money to spend on your blog in the beginning, or ever?  A month and a half in and I'm spent $185 on blog design, photos and social media icons.  It's really easy for me to get caught up in all the things I "need" for my blog (i.e. professional photos, a new lens for my camera, a new outfit, business cards, etc.).  Still in the midst of working this one out, but am not doing so hot considering I'm scheduled to take more photos with a photographer on Saturday $$$. 

  I'm also struggling to balance my time between putting out content and promoting my blog.  While content is obviously important, if nobody's here to read it does it really matter? 

And on that note I'd love to give a shout out to my 1 Google+ follower and my 8 Bloglovin' followers.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming along for the ride!

With that said, 9 followers and 15 posts in and I'm feeling a little discouraged because I feel like I've put out a few great posts, one in particular (Five Things Not To Say To A Childfree Woman) and I know only a handful of people have seen them.

I guess I could go nuts spamming and leaving comments on every Tom, Dick and Harry's blogs, but it's not that simple, or maybe it is and I've just got it all wrong?  I feel like some bloggers are too big for my little old blog while others are too young, or too fashion focused.  I love reading said blogs, but I'm really only trying to reach out to bloggers that I feel share and run parallel to what Brass Honey is all about.

Just in case you're not one of my 9 readers, let me fill you in on what that is.  Brass Honey is about me, Shannon, a thirty-something, professional, married and living childfree.  Just an average girl with a lazy eye, speed bump gut and unicorn bump on her head.  Most importantly I'm a girl trying to connect with other girls who inspire and celebrate all that's great about being a real woman, the good and the bad.  I want to surround myself with people who can be vulnerable and share a piece of themselves and in turn will allow me to do the same.  That's not asking for much is it :).

Lots of struggles in this first month, but they say you should do what you love and I really do love what this could be for me.  I've never been afraid to fall or work hard so here's to making it another month!  I'd love to hear about your first few months blogging.  What did you struggle with?  How did you find your way?  Advice and support totally welcome and encouraged.

Bee Happy!