Last week, I discussed my approach to blogging numbers – page views and money talk and everything in between. I shared that while I do have goals for my blog, I never view you all as page impressions or subscribers. I value the relationships. I blog for my passion. That’s what keeps me going. Please, please, please never forget that!

Howevvvveeerrrr….I know many of you showed interest in the behind the scenes stuff of the good ‘ole blogging world. I took some of the common questions I got in that post or have received via email often – specifically about money and increasing readership. Today I will talk about the money side of things from my personal experience. Hold onto your hats, it’s gonna be a wild ride!

Money & Blogging

Let’s jump in to the hush-hush stuff from the get-go shall we? Quite a few mentioned they are simply curious as to how much people can make from blogging. I can’t speak for others, but I will tell you in a vague round about way where I stand. I can hardly believe I’m going here, but why the heck not?

source

The best comparison I can come up with? I probably earn comparable to a part-time grocery bagger. Only blogging is a whole lot more fun! And I don’t have a manager breathing down my neck every 5 minutes. It’s “work” I can do that allows me to pursue a passion in a flexible way, do what I feel meant to do and follow the path it takes,  and still be a mom first. <—most important!

The point of this is to say it’s hard to make a full income from blogging. I don’t even think most bloggers expect blogging to act as their main source of income. I know I don’t.  And like I said last time – I would continue blogging even if I didn’t make a cent from it.

In my opinion, blogging simply opens up opportunities to other ventures (like Julie with freelance writing) or it works well alongside other personal goals and plans (like my plans with personal training).

I cannot emphasize enough – DON’T. BLOG. FOR. MONEY! Blog for the passion and enjoyment. Please. I beg of you!

How I Have Found Opportunities via Blogging

This one is simple to answer, but hard to put into practice. I gained opportunities in blogging two ways. The first way I get opportunities through blogging? Companies contacted me.

Love Grown, Champion, NuNaturals, and the Mom Central Consulting review network are just a few recent examples of companies and networks I work with that first reached out to me. I don’t quite know how they find me in the first place, but I think the fact that I focus on developing relationships, producing quality content, and working hard helps these brands feel comfortable working together.

That now brings me to the second part of finding opportunities through blogging.

Don’t be afraid to ask.

After building a relationship with a brand, or even a fellow blogger or blog network, sometimes you have to put yourself out there and ask for an opportunity.

For example, working with Love Grown at the Healthy Living Summit only came about because I asked them if they would be interested in having me represent them at the conference. I only suggested it after already developing a strong relationship of mutual respect with them, but I still had to take that leap of faith for it to happen. It wasn’t handed to me on a silver platter.

Becca and Jason – Two of the awesome people behind Love Grown. Spread the love!

There are countless opportunities out there that come about just from making connections and then not fearing making yourself vulnerable if you notice a possibility from those connections. That is not to say you buddy up with people solely for the sake of getting something from them down the road.

It all goes back to not blogging for the numbers, but instead representing yourself well. I appreciate the opportunities as a way to help support my family a tiny bit extra, but I still remember the following: to focus on being myself, writing what matters to me, and enjoying the community.

Stand for what you believe. Connect with other like-minded individuals and companies. Keep your eyes open, but stay true to your core values. Care about your reputation and what you put out there. And after all that, don’t be afraid to go after and believe in your goals.

• Has blogging opened up any fun opportunities for you? What?
• Let me know if you have any questions regarding readership for Part 3.
• Aaaannnddd…how crazy do you think I am for talking about this?

Evening, friends! Did you all have a delightful Tuesday? I sure did! Despite a minor snafu I will get to in a moment. First, I need to tell you all about my killer intervals session today!

This morning I headed to the gym for some upper body training. Gotta keep this body nice and strong and fit.

I did a strength endurance style workout by completing supersets coupling the same muscle group for an extra challenge. For back I did assisted pull-ups immediately followed by underhand barbell rows. Then, for chest, I did machine bench press followed by dumbbell flyes on a stability ball. I rounded it all out with a couple sets of bicep hammer curls and tricep kickbacks. Burn baby burn!

As much as my upper body workout pushed me, I really want to highlight my interval workout from the day. It started off feeling not too difficult, but boy did it build on itself quickly for a good sweat session! Low impact certainly does not mean low intensity!

Low Impact High Intensity Interval Workout

Use an elliptical, spin bike, incline walking, or cross trainer for this workout. Set the resistance or incline to a moderate, but challenging level. I used level 12 resistance on the elliptical. You want a resistance where you can pick up the pace but still feel challenged when at lower recovery speeds.

The intervals start off with one minute “work” and one minute “rest”, then the work period gets longer than the rest period to amp up the intensity. Finally, at the end, you go back to shorter intervals. It doesn’t get easier! Having shorter rest intervals doesn’t feel so friendly.

This workout keeps the impact out, but will still leave you with a good burn. Promise! And you can easily switch it up to make it work for you by choosing the equipment or altering the length of the intervals or workout. Have fun with it!

I spent my elliptical session daydreaming about pumpkin bread and carrot cake. So, I decided to do something about it this afternoon. I realized I didn’t have any pumpkin still hoarded from last year, so I headed out to the store. Just for pumpkin. With both kids. I’m telling you – I was determined.

Bwah bwah bwah. <— sad attempt to make the “disappointed” sound from cartoons

I ended up picking up pumpkin pie mix and not pumpkin! #fail

Looks like I will just have to wait for my sweet baking visions to become reality. On the bright side, the store clerks will get some amusement from Makenzie again.

I love my Santa-hat-wearing, turd-in-the-tub-dropping children.

• What is your favorite low impact workout activity?