AYCLimitless.com turns 1 year old and I have made it through my 1st year as a newbie blogger. Here are 5 things I would tell myself at the beginning of my blogging journey that would have made the journey less daunting.
In the blink of an eye, my website has turned 1 year old! And an eventful year in my life it has been.
I started AYCLimitless.com as a passion project to spread inspiration for self-help, self-care and self-development. I want to put the expertise that I have gained over my 20 years in the learning and development industry to good use and share it with a global audience.
I also wanted to share my life lessons as a 50-something blogger who has overcome unique adversities and challenges in life that could help others. You can read more about my journey to becoming a mid-life blogger in my very first blog It's Never Too Late to Turn a New Page!
I had actually been dreaming of starting a blogging website for years but couldn't find the courage to do so. Then I found myself in a mild depression from the pandemic and struggling through empty nesting syndrome in 2020.
I needed to find a way out of my fears and worries at the time and find my way back to being positive and productive. I started researching, learning and putting together my website as a way to focus my energy. It took me almost a year of prep before I hit the "go live" button on February 22, 2022, and AYCLimitless.com was published.
In many ways, creating my website and blogging have been therapeutic for me. I have rediscovered my value and voice. I have renewed my confidence in my strengths and talents. I have discovered exciting growth opportunities.
The learning curve in my first year has been steep. Although I am not tech and social media adverse, I am also not expertly fluent in these areas. The process of creating my website and content has proven to me that learning is lifelong and will keep you engaged, youthful and active in life.
Looking back at the challenges and struggles in my first year as a blogger, here are 5 things that I would tell myself at the beginning of this journey that would have made it less daunting.
1. Focus on Purpose and Believe in Your Unique POV
Although I know that I have a unique life story that gives me a unique point of view on life and how I conduct my life, the self-doubt voices in my head haunted me with fears.
"What is so special about your story?"
"Why would anyone be interested in what you have to say?"
"What makes you an expert on anything?"
The closer I got to the publish date I set for myself, the louder the self-doubt voices became.
What helped me to reduce the fears was focusing on my purpose for AYCLimitless.com, to provide an inspirational platform to share my love of self-help, self-development and self-care.
Focusing on my purpose strengthened my confidence in my unique point of view and experiences. Focusing on my purpose helped me to change my thinking from "what could go wrong" to "what could go right".
There are no two identical human beings on earth. We all have our unique life stories and experiences. We can all learn from each other.
2. Don't Pressure Yourself to Write What You Don't Feel
In doing all of my research and prep for blogging, the experts said to write and post regularly and if you can, post more often to increase engagement and traffic to your website. They advised on writing a bank of articles for scheduling automated publishing.
For me, this is a challenge. I write from the heart and I write from inspiration. I have to feel what I write and its relevance in the context of life at the moment.
I pressured myself to follow the "blogging experts" and schedule writing days, editing days and adhere to a content calendar. Within the first 3 months, this type of automated blogging format was stressing me out and creating writer's block.
While I know this systematic way of running a blogging website works for most, it doesn't work for me.
AYCLimitless.com was not created just to generate income. My hope is to give people access to inspiration and learning that most companies only reserve for the development of certain management levels. My hope is to share my unique point of view and insights from current world experiences as I experience them.
The website and my blogs are a form of creativity and personal expression. I write what I feel and that's what connects my readers to my content.
3. Not All Blogs Will Be Viewed Equally
In my first few months of blogging, I worried about why not all of my blogs were getting the same readership or interest. I put the same amount of time, attention, research and hard work into each one, but some were higher in readership and likes than others.
The numbers started to influence topics I was considering for future articles and made me question what writing style I should do more of. Falling into the numbers game is similar to social media addiction and posting content for likes and approval.
I had to remind myself that not all of my blogs will receive equal attention because the topics of my articles are varied. I don't want to pigeonhole myself into just one or two most popular topics. I want to provide a variety of articles and allow myself creative expression to share the varied expertise and experience that I have.
With 50 blogs now published on AYCLimitless.com, I enjoy seeing what resonates with my different readers. It's okay that some get more clicks than others.
I now understand that it's not a numbers game of how many clicks I have for all of my articles. It's about inspiring readers, even if it's just one, who find value and inspiration from my content.
4. Mistakes and Editing are Allowed
During the website creation process and in the first few months of writing my blogs, I was stressed out with the proofreading and editing of everything I wrote. I would spend hours meticulously scouring over all the website copywriting and each article I wrote before hitting the publish button.
The process was tedious and anxiety-ridden because I felt any little mistake would jeopardize my credibility and my professionalism as a blogger. The hypersensitivity to being perfect with all my content before publishing slowed down my productivity and creativity.
The truth is that the occasional typo isn't going to detrimentally affect the overall content of my articles or website copy. Of course, I need to produce well-written content that is easy to read and free of typos, spelling errors and incorrect grammar use. But if the inevitable mistake slips through, it's not the end of the world.
Luckily there is an "edit" button for websites and blog articles. The occasional mistake will not implode the website or the articles that I write. However, being stuck in an "edit-to-perfection loop" will make writing and publishing impossible.
Mistakes are human, inevitable and allowed. That's what the "edit" button is for.
5. It's My Dream to Chase My Way
In researching and creating my website, I fell into a rabbit hole of advice and best practices from the blogging internet universe. All of these successful bloggers had great advice and practices and I felt the need to emulate them.
Educating myself on all of these examples of success also made me question my path.
"Do I have what it takes to build an audience?"
"Can I have as much impact as what they have created?"
"Am I as talented and skilled as they are to become a successful blogger?"
I had to remind myself that there is more than one path to success. I should have been looking for elements of others' success that I can learn from and apply instead of comparing myself to other bloggers.
Chasing our dreams is not a competition with anyone else but ourselves. We all have unique dreams. And we have the unique skills and talents to bring our dreams to fruition in our own way.
As I Learn and Grow, So Too Will AYCLimitless.com
My journey as a mid-life blogger is still in its infancy. Some may say I should have achieved so much more in my first year while some may say I've come a long way. What's important is that I am progressing at a pace that works for me.
AYCLimitless.com is just one facet of my business. I will continue writing, designing and creating books for self-development, self-help and self-care. I will continue to gain knowledge, skills and certifications to grow my consulting services. I will also make sure I maintain the life balance that is so important to me.
I am excited about the new projects in the pipeline and the opportunities to grow and expand my comfort zone.
Thank you for all your support and encouragement of my blogging journey and website thus far. Please help me to spread the word and share my content with those who could use some positivity and affirmation. Stay tuned for more inspirational content to come!
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