Did you ever wonder why someone would start a blog? Or how much work really goes into it? This is not a subject I was intending to write about, but I’m hoping if I share my emotional reasons why I started blogging, that others may find a positive outlet in blogging as well. So here I am about to get very personal on why and how I started a blog with one of my best friends, Sara.
FOUR BIG UNFORTUNATE FACTORS INTO THE DECISION
#1 Unemployment
I was layed off the summer of 2017 with the rest of my marketing team. This was a new thing for me. I’ve never not had a job since high school. How do I fill the hours after I’m done searching for a job and filing for unemployment? It was hard trying to wrap my head around it.
I’m a Senior Art Director/Graphic Designer and the problem is you can’t get a job without your own website to show off your portfolio. Well, I had been with the same company for over 12 years, and a portfolio website wasn’t on my priority list. Big mistake guys – always be prepared! I did a crash course on websites and WordPress (which luckily comes in handy later with blogging) and got my portfolio site up in 2 weeks. I also got my resume updated and printed. It’s amazing what you can do under pressure with a little determination. I was ready to start applying to senior positions out in the creative field.
Without a job, we definitely didn’t need to spend money on daycare/summer programs since I’d be at home for a while. But trying to entertain a 6 year old for an entire summer for free is not for the weak. I did my research and found several local libraries that were great for new books and also had summer events almost every day. We hit the splash pads and did a ton of arts and crafts. It was a great creative outlet for me and wonderful mother/daughter time that I will always remember.
#2 – #3 Unexpected Deaths
My Mom moved closer to us after she retired. Over the summer, Emma and I visited her at least once a week. After the school year began, I started to spend more time with my Mom. Lots of visits and grocery shopping because she didn’t have a car anymore. I ended up spending almost every day with her for over 2 months, which now I count as a blessing more and more.
But then the unthinkable happened out of the blue. There’s no way to prepare for it. That’s how I felt when my mom passed away the week before Thanksgiving. This is not something any of us expected, and it was extremely devastating. I was already depressed from not having a job, but went into a deeper depression during this time. There was no time to mourn. The holidays were approaching and my brother and I had a lot of stuff to take care of immediately.
My mom was a widow and lived alone. As I’m going through my Mom’s things and cleaning out her apartment, I got a call from my husband Stuart. He had to say goodbye to our dog and put her to sleep. We thought it was a possibility when we set the vet appointment but it didn’t make it any easier. I felt bad not being able to be there. It was one week after Thanksgiving and my Mom’s funeral. Things just kept piling on emotionally. I’m so grateful for all the support Stuart has given me during these hard times. At this point I figured something good should happen soon? That’s three whammies at once.
#4 The Last Straw
By now I’m thinking, ok… enough is enough. We all needed something to look forward to and smile about. So I was excited to celebrate Emma’s birthday in December. Something happy finally. I booked a firehouse, did invitations and made party decorations for a firefighter birthday party. It was even a surprise party and all her friends kept the secret. Then it hit, a big stomach virus the morning of the party. Emma started vomiting uncontrollably. There’s no way we could move forward with the party. I had to contact the firehouse and all the parents to cancel. The only good thing was Emma didn’t know about it since it was a surprise. She was able to sleep it off and felt better the next day. Once she fell asleep, I just completely broke down at that point. Falling to the ground, folding my arms around my knees and sobbing my heart out. This was definitely the final straw and I hit my breaking point.
WHAT WAS I THINKING
The number four is superstitiously a bad number in Chinese, and I’ve always avoided it as best as I can. Once I got hit with four bad situations, I kept asking myself when will something good happen. I kept trying to keep myself busy and ended up crafting a lot to give myself a creative outlet. Luckily I have a wonderful family who supports me no matter what.
So Christmas time was here, and I’m wishing that the new year will bring great opportunities for me and my family. Even after all that’s happened, I’m extremely happy I got to spend so much time with Emma and my Mom that I never would have with a job. But now it’s time for my luck to change, right? I still needed a creative outlet while finding a job. I kept thinking what my friends always told me, maybe I should start a blog. You know… share my craft projects, experiences and just write whatever I want.
Then when I mentioned this to Sara, she got super excited and had always wanted to do a blog herself. Well, why couldn’t we do it together? Sara was also unemployed at the time and needing her own creative outlet as well. After probably a 30 minute conversation, we jumped right in and decided… Let’s do this!
STARTING OUR BLOG
It went fast – from one cold day in January when were just talking about the idea of starting a blog to launching our new website a month later in February. Now this was definitely no easy task even for two people. But with a lot of hard work, determination and so many text messages, we finally did it! Here’s a quick list of how we got started (we’ll go into more detail in a future post).
Decide on Our Niche
This was actually pretty easy for us. We immediately knew we wanted to do a lifestyle blog and we knew each other’s interests. This also gives us the opportunity to overlap on topics.
Pick Our Name
This was harder to figure out and making sure the name wasn’t taken already. There was a lot of thinking, words searching and we wanted the name to sound catchy. Finally Crown & Chaos was the winner with an unanimous vote.
Purchase Domains/Website
Once we had a name, we bought all our domains for the website and registered our social profiles before we started anything to make sure it was available. Make sure you really think about how and where you want to host your website. We used Bluehost and purchased our domain through them. There’s a lot of bloggers out there that have discounts with bluehost. We purchased a WordPress template from Etsy that saved us a ton of time. We also started our Instagram before the site launched to grow followers.
Create Branding and Creative
Figuring out the branding helps make everything consistent from the start. Having the same colors and fonts on everything makes your blog become more recognizable. Design a logo and favicon that reflects your personality and colors. It’s also a good time to think about template designs for email and social. But one big part you can’t forget about is photography. Know what type of photography and imagery you want to use because you need a lot of it to make an impact on your blog and social media.
Start Writing
Now it’s time to figure out your writing style and what you want to write about. The way your blog is written says a lot about your personality. We made sure to be true to ourselves and be relatable in our writing by using a lot of humor and sarcasm. You want to write as much as you possibly can before launching so people have more than one blog to read. It’s best to have at least two blogs per category before you launch.
NEW BEGINNINGS
There’s a lot more details and work that goes into blogging. I haven’t even covered half of it all. These are times when I really believe things do happen for a reason. If I hadn’t lost my job, Emma and I wouldn’t have gotten to spend as much time with my Mom before she passed away. I never would have gotten to spend as much time at home with our precious dog, Angel. If it wasn’t for all these circumstances, I would have never even thought about blogging. If Sara hadn’t been unemployed at the time I mentioned it to her, I don’t think we would have started a blog together. Now sharing our experiences with others is something we both love doing together.
It was hard sharing why I started blogging and I even got emotional writing about it. But I want to share my personal experiences with others. No matter what happens in life, you can create your own path, make your own decisions and find happiness. It’s never too late to create a “New Beginning.”
Love,
Jeannie
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