One day months leading
up to my high school graduation, one of my closest teachers told me that I
should start a blog and get to the point where I could make money from it. He
said I should start it right then rather than wait until after college, so my
followers could go on the journey with me. The journey of my life, I
suppose. He was adamant about it, and gave me all the reasons as to why this was a good plan. I thought that would be a cool
idea, but never thought it was a reachable, obtainable goal. I didn’t start a
blog. Well… I have a blog started of my letters home while on a study abroad in
New Zealand, but I think I stopped about halfway through because I got too busy.
Anyway, I also thought that the people who end up getting thousands of
followers, getting sponsors, and making money from their blogs were simply the
‘lucky ones’. And who was to know whether I could be one of those ‘lucky ones’?
As it turns out, it is not because
you are a ‘lucky ones’ that your blog becomes successful; it is as much of an
art as you choose to make it. There are blogs on blogs about how to be the best
blogger you can, how to start a blog, how to monetize your blog, blogging tips,
spicing up your blog, and so on. In fact, here is a website listing these types
of blogs:
And here another excellent article on how to start a blog:
I also watched a Ted Talk given by
Mena Trott, who they call the ‘founder of the blog revolution’. She explains
that there are many of types of blogs out there, but it is the personal stories
that interest her. She says, a blog is “a record of who you are, it is your persona…
it is about writing things that interest you”.
Our human
minds crave stories. We remember them, we are drawn to them, we want to hear
them, and we understand concepts through them that we wouldn’t understand
otherwise. We as humans also like to tell our own story.
So this
makes me think again about the advice I got a few years ago to start a blog. If
I wanted to truly make something out of it, it would be a lot of work. And if I
am to do it, I want to do it right. I hope I can inspire and uplift my readers.
I will use it as a creative outlet, and a place to share the stories of my
journey.
Great post Jessie! I like the advice that your teacher gave you. You should totally do it!! People would love to hear about your adventures, especially since you went to New Zealand. It'd also be fun to tell about your engagement story. :) I find it way cool that there are so many types of blogs out there. They're all so different and have completely different styles. I totally agree with the whole creative outlet thing that you mentioned. I've found that when I write things down, I'm able to express myself in ways that I'm not able to through verbal language. Thanks for the awesome insight!
ReplyDeleteI have seen that Mena Trott video and I also enjoy it. I definitely thought I would be getting something completely different. I like your perspective.
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