6 Months into My First Year Blogging Full-Time

It’s now the month of July, and that means I’ve been blogging full-time for about 6 months! Find out how I’m doing in terms of my business goals for The Joyful Dabbler! What does running a brand new blogging business look like? Am I on track to meet my 2021 year-end goals? Keep reading to get a behind-the-scenes look at my new online business, plus…I got some fantastic new surprises coming in Q3 and Q4! Check it out below!

(If you’d like to know more about why I quit my regular job, take a look at the video here!)

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My 2021 business goals

In January, I laid out a quarterly action plan for the year. (For my full post on my 2021 new year’s resolutions, including what led me to start my own business, click here!)

Q1 quarterly goals:

Set up The Joyful Dabbler as a legal business entity
Complete 2 blogging/entrepreneurial courses purchased in 2020
Learn about financial aspect of running my own business

Q2 quarterly goals:

Plan content a month at a time
Learn how to drive traffic to my website

Q3 quarterly goals:

Begin website monetization through affiliate marketing
Start selling digital products to bring in revenue

Q4 quarterly goals:

Continue growing my business through higher traffic
Generate $1K per month

(Yep, I’m well aware they weren’t SMART goals! Learn first, SMART goals second! 😀 )

So, how did I do in Q1 2021?

Legal Matters

The Joyful Dabbler, LLC was officially formed on Feb. 17, 2021 (the day before my birthday!). With help from a lawyer friend, I easily filed Articles of Organization with the state of Virginia, applied for the appropriate county permit, and applied for an EIN from the IRS. (It sounds more complicated than it was – literally it was just a few short and sweet applications plus filing fees.)

Along with this, I had to make certain my website included all pertinent legal info. Kelly Anne Smith’s Dreamer to Profitable course (more on that below!) referred me to Erika Kullberg of PlugandLaw.com. I utilized Erika’s firm’s services to easily create legal documents such as a privacy policy, terms and conditions, and a disclaimer for posting on my site. I even worked with her company to submit a trademark application to legally protect my logo!

Set up The Joyful Dabbler as a legal business entity – CHECK!

Completion of Courses

In 2020, I purchased several courses to help me on the path to becoming a successful business owner: Dreamer to Profitable by Kelly Anne Smith, and a suite of blogging courses from It’s a Lovely Life. I knew I had a lot of learning to do to get my business up and running, so I got right down to business learning! (See what I did there? 😀 )

Dreamer to Profitable taught me so much about what is involved in starting your own business. The modules incorporate lessons on everything from solidifying your business idea, setting up efficient processes/systems, different online business revenue streams, finding your target client, sales and marketing strategies, and financial/legal aspects to consider. It’s taught by Kelly Anne Smith, who founded her own successful business 5 years ago (check out her Youtube channel here!). (If you’d like to take initiative, be your own boss, and start your own business too, use my affiliate link here for $30 off Dreamer to Profitable! Use coupon code “DTPFRIEND” to claim your discount!)

To learn the basics of making specifically a blogging business work, I studied several courses from Pete and Heather Reese of It’s a Lovely Life. This included their Blogging Blastoff 30-day course, their Affiliate Blogger Bootcamp, Pin Success Bootcamp, and SEO Blogger Bootcamp. This suite gave me a great foundation for how to start a successful blogging business. Now it’s up to my efforts and dedication to fully implement the strategies I’ve learned! (If you’d like to learn how to get started with your own blogging business, check out their FREE 5-day crash course Starting A Blogging Business! Note: links provided are affiliate links, which just means that if you do make a purchase, I may receive a small commission, at *no* cost to you.)

Complete 2 blogging/entrepreneurial courses purchased in 2020 – CHECK!

Financial setup

Of course with any business comes the financial side! Shortly after setting up my legal business entity, I established bank and credit card accounts, and organized my income/expense information in Quickbooks Online. This gives me an easy snapshot of my financials for any time period I choose. (I’m an accountant by trade, so luckily this was the easiest part for me.)

Learn about financial aspect of running my own business – CHECK!

Now, how’d I do in Q2?

Content planning

Each month, I brainstorm potential topics for posts as well as peruse a list I’ve added to whenever an idea strikes. I try to go with one post monthly for each of the three categories I have (fitness, healthy eating, mindful living). I also have started releasing my monthly Imagination Meditations the last week of each month. Between the brainstorming and the consistent meditation release schedule, I’m able to plan 4 weeks’ worth of content in one go. This takes some of the pressure off when writing each week’s post; I don’t have the added burden of coming up with a topic.

Plan content a month at a time – CHECK!

Driving traffic

Through It’s a Lovely Life’s SEO Blogging Bootcamp and Yoast Academy’s SEO courses, I learned about one key way to drive traffic to my site: through the power of Google. I went back and optimized all of my blog posts with search keywords, and my site now appears on the second page of Google search results for 7 keyword phrases (excluding searches specifically for my site). The goal is to eventually get on page 1 of Google search results for multiple keywords (this way people are more likely to click to your site). But considering ranking on Google takes time and I’m competing with millions of websites, I’d say I’m not doing too shabbily. Admittedly, I’m not getting many impressions/clicks yet, but once I rank higher for more keywords, traffic from search engines should increase.

I’ve also been slowly building my social media presence; The Joyful Dabbler is now on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter (admittedly, not very active on Twitter, but it’s there). I regularly share my posts on social media, both on my business pages and my personal accounts. Pinterest can be a potential gold mine for getting people outside your follower base to view your material, so I’ve been creating Pins for my content as well as utilizing Tailwind, a website that makes it much easier to schedule oodles of Pinterest content all in one go.

I’ve also been consistently sending out a fun weekly newsletter to loyal subscribers who opt in on my website. This newsletter includes links to new website content, inspirational anecdotes based upon my personal struggles/joys, joyful tidbits like fun National Days, and amusing poetry. The feedback I’ve received has been very positive! So if this interests you and you’d like a little extra dose of happy every week, please subscribe using the opt-in form on the right-hand side of the page (or at the bottom on mobile)!

Slowly but surely, I’m getting my content in front of people. Right now, most of my user engagement does come from my social media posts and my newsletter. So growing these follower bases should help to increase traffic as well.

Learn how to drive traffic to my website – CHECK!

What are my plans for Q3 and Q4?

At this point, I still have my original goals as listed above: I intend to begin monetization of my website and start earning revenue. BUT…isn’t it so true that new goals are formed and current ones may change as one acquires more knowledge?? So….I have made some tweaks!

*NEW* Q3 goals:

Generate affiliate revenue through affiliate links
Generate meditation revenue through the Insight Timer app
Launch an Etsy shop
Launch a Youtube channel (Surprise!!!!)

Action Plan:

Apply for more affiliate networks and place affiliate links on every post on my website.
- I’ve already started applying for more affiliates. Hopefully I’m accepted!

Apply to Insight Timer and upload 1 meditation per week.
- I applied…this week! They got back to me quickly and said I just needed to submit a headshot that meets their specifications. Here’s hoping that, once I do that, I’m accepted!
- I would get paid based on how many times my meditations are played in the app and how much listeners engage with my offerings. (Hint, hint! 😀 )

Etsy shop:
- I’m starting to use Canva to create digital wellness trackers, habit trackers, and planners for sale.
- Once I have 5 items ready, I’ll go about setting up my Etsy shop. (Stay tuned!)

Youtube channel (ahhhh!!!):
- I plan on launching my channel on….Labor Day weekend! (Mark your calendars!) My channel will focus on mindful/intentional living, meditation, and minimalism.
- I did a couple test runs using simple equipment I already own, and I’ve already learned that the more I do it, the easier it will be – dramatic difference from Take 1 to Take 3!

Some additional major things!

Get Certified as a Meditation Teacher!
- I’m currently going through a meditation certification course from the School of Positive Transformation, with accreditation from IMMA and CPD. I am hoping to finish the course in August.
- I am registered for an in-depth meditation teaching and coaching certification from Sura Flow. This will be a 6-month, 300-hour program in which I’ll learn fundamentals and engage in practice with fellow students and my own clients! This program starts in September – ahh, excited but scared!

Adding a “lead magnet” as an email subscription opt-in incentive:
- My free 32-page guide “How to Become Happier in 30 Days: Specific Ways to Add Happiness, One Day at a Time” will serve as a 30-day plan, incorporating certain facets of a joyful life each day, with specific actions to do daily.
- Current subscribers: don’t worry, you won’t miss out! The guide will automatically be sent to your inbox once complete. I hope to have it ready in August!

Spin off the Jewish Learning section of the blog as a separate website:
- I love sharing insights related to Judaism and my personal study. However, it may be a little confusing to site visitors seeing this on my site as well as wellness topics: they might wonder, what is this site actually about?
- So within the next couple weeks, I will be spinning off the Jewish Learning section to a new site, separate from The Joyful Dabbler. This one will likely start out as a personal site, without monetization. If you follow me on social media or subscribe to my newsletter, you’ll find out as soon as it’s launched and the new site domain.

Whew! Lots to do!

I have lofty goals for Q4 as well:

Increase email subscriber base to 100 subscribers
3K page views per month
1K subscribers on Youtube

I know the last one especially is a lofty goal, but a higher goal can increase your efforts and results substantially over what you’d otherwise achieve with a lower goal (I learned this from Dreamer to Profitable)! So this may push me to do more than if my goal were half of this! Your mind can unconsciously create self-imposed limits, so best to push that ceiling higher and therefore strive higher!

Takeaway

It’s been quite an eventful 6 months! I’ve learned so much from so many! I’ve started my business, taken courses to improve my know-how, implemented search engine optimization, and gotten in a groove when it comes to weekly content. So many plans for the near future, from getting my meditation certifications to launching a Youtube channel to increasing my subscriber base and traffic! It’s a scary undertaking, but I’m so excited to move forward and take you along with me!