image by Victor Bezrukov
I’ve always wondered if there was a way to make a living being fabulous, or in the very least being myself.
Glossing over the vast majority of blogs out there, it may seem like we all want the same thing, but if you look closer at what’s really going on, there’s a lot of variety in terms of opportunities. Figuring out what you want will not only help develop your blog, it will help you get the most out of your experience.
When I first started The Coveted, I had no idea what I wanted, or why start blog in particular. At the time I was seeing a career coach because I wanted to change careers, and a blog just kind of evolved out of the sessions, mostly from trying to figure out what I even liked, and what I was passionate about.
It turns out that figuring out what I want is probably one of the hardest things. My dad jokes about the first time he took me to a toy store, he asked me what I wanted, I said, “EVERYTHING!!!!!” Though I often wonder exactly how true that story is, I do know that deciding specifically what I want has always been very difficult. I’ve often struggled with wanting specific things because I wasn’t confident that I deserved them, much less achieve them. Overcoming that challenge is something that I deal with even today, but it doesn’t stop me from getting more specific about what I want and taking steps toward achieving it. Particularly when it comes to blogging.
Here are some of the first steps I took towards figuring out what kind of blog I want….
What is a successful blog?
First thing, is I look around and see who is already doing the things I’d like to do. Who do I admire? What do they do? In blogging I have a number of blogs on my list which I admire for different reasons…
- is it one that gets a lot of attention?
- does it make a lot of money?
- is it interesting?
- does it engage the readers?
What do you want to gain from blogging?
Looking at what I admire, and what some people are able to do with their blogs, it doesn’t mean that I want to achieve the same thing. Everyone has different gifts to bring to the world, and what sounds like a glamorous career, may in reality entail tasks that are completely wrong for my personality and my talents. I’ve had to really differentiate what I thought I wanted and what I actually wanted…
- a job in fashion?
- to start my own business?
- to change careers?
- to meet new people?
- to market my products or skills?
- to have a creative outlet?
- to have fun?
There are a lot of bloggers with interesting jobs that have stemmed out of their blogs. Some are photographers, editors, writers, some work in PR, social media marketing, blogging, SEO consultants, web design, fashion design, styling, personal shoppers, consultants, web entrepreneurs. There’s a lot of directions one can take.
Expand on what you like and make it useful to others
I look at the elements of blogging I like and see what possibilities can come from them. However, if it’s not useful to other people, it fast becomes boring drivel that no one’s interested in. A lot of times I have to ask myself, “I like this.. but how is it useful?”
I’ve noticed over the past few years that the things I enjoy the most out of blogging actually have been recurring themes in my life: writing, socializing, getting people together, playing dress up. For the longest time, I thought bargain shopping was completely frivolous, but talking about it is useful to other people. It saves them money. Playing dress up helps inspire other people to try new things in their wardrobe. It turns out that there are careers that can cater to all of those things, it’ just a matter of finding or creating them.
Figure out what you really want, you deserve it.
Resources
How to figure out what you should really be doing with your life
so forgive me if this one is not up to par…
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Wonderful post! It makes me think a lot about why I started my own blog, and how it really hasn’t landed there at all. It makes me want to incorporate a lot more of my original vision in to the blog… it’d be intriguing to see how it affects all of the other elements!