The Business of Blogging: Think Like a Boss!
*Updated: October 28, 2022
I’m about to share a little bit of tough love to help you along your blogging journey. At BlogPaws, we do a great job on our blog teaching you the mechanics and logistics of how to blog. One thing we haven’t touched on as much is the mindset behind why you blog aka the business of blogging.
To do anything great in life you need to have the right mindset with a purpose bigger than yourself. In this post, I’m going to share six must-have mindsets of successful bloggers.
6 Pro Blogger Tips to Help You Succeed in the Business of Blogging
Define Your Why
Whether you are starting a business blog or working towards being a professional blogger, defining and knowing your why is the single most important thing you can do to be successful. Your why is what drives everything you do and pushes you to jump out of bed in the morning. Your why is a deep motivation for doing what you do. It’s bigger than yourself. It has nothing to do with the what or the how. In fact, until you can get really clear on your why, the what and how will just have you spinning in circles, chasing every paid opportunity that you see. I hear a lot of bloggers say, “I want to be a full-time pet blogger.”
WHY? What does that even mean? WHY do you want to blog full-time? What is your purpose?
Let’s re-frame the statement, “I want to be a full-time pet blogger,” with a why in this example:
“I want to save the lives of animals by educating people about the power of rescue through the content on my blog.”
See how much more powerful that is? That WHY statement will power you through the days when you feel like giving up.
Action Plan: Finding your why is not always easy and may take some soul searching. To get started, go to a quiet place without any distractions and write down what fires you up. What are you passionate about? I always say, “Your why should make you cry.”
Take Small Steps Every Single Day
Have you ever heard the quote by Ernest Hemingway about how a man went bankrupt? He said, “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” We aren’t talking about bankruptcy, but the same concept applies to success. It doesn’t all happen at once. It happens from a series of small changes and steps that you take every single day.
Nike was onto something when they created the tagline, “Just do it.” When I’m feeling overwhelmed, it’s usually because I’m focusing only on the end product. What helps me is to chunk out the work. For example, when it comes to writing a new blog post or a course, I start with brainstorming by putting all my thoughts in an empty Google Doc. This allows me to freely write without judgment. I don’t worry about grammar, flow, or context. The next day I will arrange all of those thoughts into something that actually makes sense. Gradually, then suddenly, the final product comes together.
Start right now with the smallest step and do something to help move you forward every single day.
Action Plan: Write down all of the small tasks needed to accomplish your next project. Then create a schedule to take action on those tasks daily.
Stop Making Excuses
- I don’t have enough time.
- I’m tired.
- I work a full-time job.
- I have kids.
- I have pets.
- I’m stretched too thin.
- I don’t know how.
My Dad always says that “an excuse is a reason for failure.” I have heard him say that my entire life, and it’s true. Excuses are distractions from focusing on the work. There’s an underlying reason why you are letting excuses distract you from success. Sometimes it’s a fear of failure or maybe even a fear of success! If you are going to succeed in the business of blogging, you have to ditch the excuses and laser focus on the task at hand. Again, if your why is strong enough it will overshadow any of your excuses.
Action Plan: Write down the top three excuses you find yourself saying and turn them into positive affirmations. Here’s an example:
- Excuse: I work a full-time job, and I don’t have any time for my business.
- Positive Affirmation: I get to work a full-time job that gives me financial security and benefits while I’m building my empire. I’ll use my job to gain experience and skills that I can apply to my business.
Stop Wasting Time
“I don’t have enough time to work on my blog.” Do you say this? Time is the only thing we never have enough of, nor can we ever get it back. You can always make more money. You can’t make more time.
Successful bloggers have the same amount of time as everyone else. The difference is how they spend it.
Do you have a favorite show on Netflix? Is there a show that you HAVE to watch every week? Boom, there’s an hour back in your day. I get it. You need an escape. We all do. But, if you want to be successful you need to be willing to make sacrifices . . . at least in the beginning.
Again, when your why is strong enough, you will find the time.
Action Plan: Evaluate where you’re spending all your time. Write out your daily schedule and then journal for the next two days exactly how you spent that time. Then you can see where you can cut out distractions and schedule more productive time.
Stay In Your Lane
Oh, comparison. You greedy little thief of joy. It’s so easy to compare yourself to others when blogging. Especially now when everyone seems to be publishing their income and traffic reports. Yes, those things can be inspiring, but they can also be debilitating if you still have a long way to climb in your journey of blogging as a business.
Stop comparing your journey to everyone else. It literally gets you nowhere.
Action Plan: Next time you find yourself going down the rabbit hole of comparison, stop. Instead, compare your present-day self to where you were a month ago or a year ago in your business. That is the only person you should be comparing yourself to!
Do the Work
Nothing great was built by someone putting in work on occasion when they felt like it. Nothing great was ever accomplished by someone full of excuses. This is the simplest of advice but one that most people overlook by searching for the next big answer. Do the work. Plain and simple. Keep your why as your compass and just do the work. I love this quote by Frank Ocean, “Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise.”
Doing the work can be uncomfortable and requires sacrifice. Example? I detest waking up super early in the morning, but my why makes me do it. I need those extra hours in the day to accomplish my blogging dreams.
“Before anything great is really achieved, your comfort zone must be disturbed.” — Ray Lewis
Imagine if all the time you spent worrying about your blog, searching for answers, comparing yourself to others, and mindlessly scrolling on Facebook was spent actually doing the work. How much further ahead would you be?
There’s no action plan for this one. All I can say is get out there and do the work to make your blogging dreams come true!
The business of blogging starts with having a business-focused mindset. What areas, of the above, do you believe you could improve upon to help propel yourself (and your business) forward?
Aimee Beltran is the Director of Community Education for BlogPaws. She also writes two blogs, Irresistible Icing and Irresistible Pets with her Chihuahua, Chuy. Aimee is passionate about her mission, “create an irresistible life you can’t resist!” She loves anything with glitter, kayaking, and spending time at the beach.
