By Jessie Artigue of Style & Pepper
I’ve learned a lot of things about myself over the past 4 years of running a style blog, but there is one thing I’ve known all along: It hasn’t ever been (and most likely never will be) my goal to run my site, Style & Pepper, as a full-time blogger.
Over the course of my young (albeit quite varied) career, I’ve found that I work best on a project-oriented basis, thrive in collaborative settings & that love of media communications (specifically broadcasting) is one of my favorite strengths. These valuable observations, even as they continue to grow and develop, have come to be the foundation that I’ve based my business upon, and even though my blog is still a large part of my day to day activities, it is not an end-point or final goal, by any means.
That said, my site is a very important part of the successes I’ve had over the past few years as a creative entrepreneur, and I’d love to share how I’ve been able to utilize it as a helpful tool, and have recently let it inspire the creation and launch of a new business idea doing something that I absolutely love.
Start with the End
It may sound like a lofty goal, but I try to ensure that the majority of my projects point toward what I’ve identified as one of my life’s purposes, and placing that desire at the core of my current business model has been both rewarding and successful. Perhaps you are passionate about helping fellow bloggers find their voice through artistic photography, or maybe you’d like to share your gifts of organization and productivity with others as it relates to running a successful fashion site? Grab a hold of whatever concept you can get most excited about, and let’s start to examine how it might possibly turn into a source of revenue for you.
Strengths & Loves
Identifying your strengths and strategically aligning them to overlap with what you love to do, is a good next step of the process. If your goal is to teach fellow budget-conscious women how to shop the current trends for less, and you happen to be an amazing writer, you might consider compiling a series of e-books containing how-to articles or resources that you’ve found to be helpful as you’ve honed your own craft. Are you more of a people-person? Many bloggers have gone the consulting route, and you might find that one-on-one teaching, shopping tours, or leading group classes are much more your speed.
The Final Product
My desire to help women feel like the absolute best possible versions of themselves is the drive behind my latest project called Pepperologie: A Five-course Study of Style. Increasing someone’s confidence by enhancing their personal style is such an incredibly rewarding experience, and our collaborative workshop aims to create a hands-on and affirming place where that can occur. The fellow bloggers who are teaching each course based on their different areas of expertise have turned it into an incredibly dynamic event, rich with interactive layers and valuable takeaways for all of the guests. We’re essentially bringing the pages of our blogs to life, and enabling ourselves to continue to pursue our passions as we do.
Resources
I’m constantly devouring online business resources, and love sharing them with other fellow creative entrepreneurs. If you’re looking for a little extra holiday weekend reading, here are some of my favorites: Marie Forleo, Seth Godin, Jess Lively, Braid Creative, Derek Halpern & Meg Biram, to name a few.
I’d love to hear about any of your own current business ideas or offerings (blog-inspired or not), so what do you say we make the most of this amazing IFB community and let’s do a little brainstorming in the comments section of this post!
Image credit: Jessie Artigue by Sarah Haile
Great article and very sound advice. I write about what I love and though it is not my primary business, it definitely generates ideas – and yes, even some income.