My Blogging Story

I've been blogging since January 2011. 

When I started, I was passionate about personal development and wanted to write about it over on www.elisemcdowell.com. I called it 'The Inner Vibrance Project' and I championed the core message of practicing self-love and having a healthy body image (which  by the way I still whole-heartedly practice). 

But after a year I started to get burnt out. I was blogging almost every day, and although I had my topic, I didn't have a clear direction and I felt like I was running out of things to write about. Because how many times can you actually write "practice self-love" before you want to kill somebody?

The truth is, that's not what was really happening at all. On the surface, yes. But underneath? I was struggling with my upper limit problems. (Definition: An internal thermometer for how much success, wealth, happiness, love, and intimacy we’ll let ourselves experience. That’s our upper limit setting. Kind of like our success comfort zone.)

Because this is what was actually happening: My blog was growing traction, I had been marketing every single day, making new connections with other self-help bloggers, growing my brand and building a strong readership. My name was getting out there. I was selling affiliate products and had made several digital products including ebooks and e-courses, and they were selling like hot cakes (Mmmmm.. hot cakes). I was literally on my way to becoming a thought leader with a "business".

BUT, and it's a big one. I didn't know how to turn my blog into a business, I didn't know the next steps, and I felt guilty about the money I was making because it felt too easy.

And so I freaked out, sabotaged it all by getting sloppy, deleted a lot of my popular content, abandoned my readers and stopped blogging for TWO YEARS.

Because why not?

2012 to early 2014

During my two year break, even though I still felt stuck and unclear, I continued to study and read books on blogging and business, I invested in some blogging courses, continued to work on my own personal development and would read my favourite websites every day for inspiration and creative release. 

Lifestyle and DIY blogs became a huge guilty pleasure of mine, I'd always wanted to create one of my own. I actually did early on. It was called 'Pretty Delights', and it was soooooo homemade. I did the blog design myself, my photos were taken by an old camera and then heavily edited on PicMonkey for a "cool" sepia tone.

And to my surprise the damn blog started to gain followers! People started leaving more and more comments, asking for advice and sharing my posts. I was beside myself. And as it became more known, I again freaked out and completely abandoned it. I then eventually deleted it because I didn't believe it was good enough.

And I STILL couldn't see what I was doing to myself!

It wasn't until recently (this year) that I FINALLY connected the dots. That I was completely sabotaging my own success. And of course I was, I'd never known what true personal success was. I'd never made money on my own before. I'd never built something from scratch before. I'd never gained readers and followers who believed in my ideas before. I'd never built a business!

Yes,  I realized all of this even after I had started The Confetti Room.

*face palm*

So what do you do when you realize you've been cutting off your nose to spite your face (and nervous system)? You set up a fool-proof (or in this case, Elise-proof) plan to build a blog with the right foundation. Because giving up is NOT an option when you are passionate about it!

Because of all of that, I was able to do a lot of planning for The Confetti Room. I took into account all the mistakes I had made and all the things that had worked in the past and put it into my blog plan. I was able to get clear on the direction, the type of voice I wanted and my procedure for when I start freaking out and my upper limits start playing up.

And now? Things are going really good. The Confetti Room is growing slowly, but surely. If I start freaking out a little bit, I give myself a few days break and then come back in full force to pre-write and schedule several posts. I like how the blog is right now. I love the design (I am a recovering design changer) and I'm finally happy with the vibe the blog gives off. There's definitely always room for improvement, and I'll definitely be working on those things in the future.

So where to from here?

I've got big plans for the next few years. In June, I will be venturing deep into the Marlborough Sounds, pushing myself well out of my comfort zone through challenge in the outdoors with zero access to phones, computers, ipods, wifi or any form of technology (more on this later). When I return I will be returning with a purpose to focus heavily on building my personal development business (more on this later). Keyword: business.

I've found with any project I want to make successful, and rapidly, I literally have to pour 150% of my sweat, guts and energy into it. So The Confetti Room's content load may reduce significantly during this period.

But don't worry, there are bigger plans for TCR in the works. But for now, I'm keeping this space as a creative outlet solely focused on DIY while I build my business.

Next week I will be compiling a list of my best blogging tips for you to take away and use. Keep an eye out! And if you have any blogging questions you'd like me to answer, feel free to submit your question here.

But for now, what I'd really like to know from you is, what's your blogging story?


xo Elise

P.S - 25 ways to beat bloggers block