*This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you decide to try it I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.   I only include things that I have tried and love myself.*

One of my favorite things as a kid was paint by numbers.  I loved it because you never had to guess which colors to use or remember where to use them.  Follow the numbers with the corresponding paint and you came out with a beautiful picture.  Not to long ago I bought my daughter a color by numbers book and she was in love! She was amazed at how her art turned out just by following directions.

Don’t get me wrong, I love spontaneous, on a whim adventures.  I love the freedom of doing things different and in my own time.  There are times though when having some instruction just makes it a little easier. The awesome thing about a path is it gives you guidance.  So you want to color #3 blue instead of green? Go for it 🙂

Introducing Blog by Number

I think that is why I love Suzi Whitman’s Blog By Number.   Starting a blog is overwhelming at times.  Add in being a mom and the chaos that comes with that and it can make you want to just take a nap to get away.   The Blog By Number book gives you an easy to follow guide.  Get interrupted?  Did the baby wake up from their name or your potty training toddler need you?  No worries! This book makes it easy to follow and keep up with.

Included in the book are templates, guides, a ton (I mean a TON) of time saving tips and resources geared towards moms who want to blog.

A Road Map to give clear directions…

Information on making money from your blog!

I highly recommend checking it out! It is perfect for mom’s and really anyone who wants to start blogging.  I’ve learned so much in a short period of time from this book and am able to quickly reference things when I need to as well.

Other post you may like…

Thinking about starting a blog?

Are you good enough to blog?

Are you wondering if you should blog? Would it be worthwhile?  Here’s a list of reasons that you should start blogging!

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning that I may receive a small commission if you choose to try the services.  I will only suggest products  that I truly believe in and have tried myself.*

1. Blogging allows you to become a better thinker.

When you blog you are having to organize your thoughts in order to write them out.. Blogging causes you to look further into subjects that you are tackling. This continuous practice helps you train your mind to think better

1. It makes you a better writer.

Remember the saying “Practice makes perfect” or “Use it or lose it”?  Both of those come to mind when thinking about writing.  The more you do it the better you get.  Also, when you don’t practice something you start to forget the details of the process.  Writing on a regular basis will  build these skills which can help you both professionally and personally when communicating.

1. Blogging makes you better with conversation

As you start having people follow your blog, you’ll receive emails and comments from your audience.  These interactions with people will help you better articulate yourself and allow you to gain confidence in expressing yourself.

Blogging is a great way to help people by sharing your knowledge on a subject or process.  In turn, it makes you feel better for having made a positive difference on someone.

Whether through ads, affiliate marketing, sponsored post, or selling your own products you can make money blogging.

Find a sponsor for your web site. Get paid for your great content. shareasale.com.
Blogging empowers you to raise awareness about things you care about. Click To Tweet

1. Blogging empowers you to raise awareness about things you care about.

Do you have a specific cause or a charity that you want to raise awareness about or support? Through your blog you can help raise awareness and money for these causes.

To blog, you don’t need a special degree or classes.   There is some training that is nice and can make things easier but there is no specific degree required to be a blogger.

To start a blog, you can do it for free by hosting through a platform such as WordPress.com or you can get a host and have your own domain (www.name.com). There is a cost to host through  your own domain, however,  it’s well worth it.

1. Blogging Instills Discipline

To blog successfully you must come up with a schedule and be consistent so that your audience knows what to expect.  It can feel very difficult at first until you get into the groove of doing it.

Are you good enough to blog? It’s a question that plagues a lot of people and delays their start in blogging. What are the qualifications? Do you need a degree? Are you required to be pretty? Do you need to be an extrovert? What does it take to be good enough to start a blog??
Here’s is the test, just follow the flow chart with your replies

You don’t need a degree

There is no degree requirement to start and have a blog. There’s no special education that you need to start your blog. Are there helpful classes that you can take? Yes! And a lot of them will save you some research and heartache but again, they aren’t required.

Are you required to be pretty?

No matter what your definition of pretty is, the answer is no. There is no look, height, weight requirements to be a blogger.

Do you need to be an extrovert?

NO. Goodness no! Do you know how many bloggers out there are introverts? A LOT! In fact, there’s a lot of introverts that say it’s just more comfortable to share their thoughts/feelings/ideas online with their blogging community. This often leads to them feeling more confident in other areas of life. On a side note- there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being an introvert. I’m an introvert… it’s not that I can’t have the qualities of an extrovert I just don’t want to.

Let’s be clear- What does it take to start a blog? It takes the WANT to. If you want it, then… Click To Tweet

Let’s be clear- What does it take to start a blog?

It takes the WANT to. If you want it, then it’s completely achievable. It has to be your desire. It’s not much different than the teenage boy who wears wrinkled clothes and won’t brush his hair no matter how often his mother tries to correct him. Then he meets a girl and suddenly he wants her to notice. He’s ironing clothes, combing his hair- no reminder needed. The moral of the story is- if you want something you will start to discipline yourself to achieve it. Are there things we say we want but really it’s more like “it would be nice”? I want to have some quiet time before the kids wake up… that means I need to get up 30 minutes prior to when I do now….and suddenly it’s no longer a want it’s a “more quiet time would be nice” what I want though is to sleep as long as I can in the morning..lol.

Having a blog takes effort and time. It does not require any special training or tools though. So if you WANT it…then go for it.

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Ha!…That headline.  Notice the quotation marks, I really wish there were truly a universal sarcasm font that could be used.   It’s a suggestion that you will see all over your search engine results when you google blogging. Everybody has a course with a quick fix and how you can make six figures in a month working four hours a day.

While there are many courses that are very very helpful, I’m not knocking that at all, there’s work you have to put in.   A lot of these courses do benefit you in that they tell you of their failures and how to avoid them saving you a lot of experimenting and time.   I think though that a lot of people fail at blogging because they go in with the expectation that there’s nothing really to do.  Once you’ve got a foundation and a couple years behind you then you might be at the point where you are working from home and have 4 hour days. Talk to successful bloggers and you’ll see they had to work hard, sometimes felt like a total failure but pushed through anyway to get to where they are.

Persistance

My point is, it’s going to feel difficult at first.  Doesn’t most things worth doing feel that way at some point?  If they didn’t everyone and their grandma would be doing it.  Don’t be discouraged, be persistent.   There are Facebook blogger groups and many great courses to help you find your footing and let you know they’ve been there before.  Just be leery of any that promise little work and instant success.

Are there any courses you’ve taken that have helped? What would you recommend?

I really liked Suzi Whitman’s Blog by Number, I found it to be easy to follow and very helpful.  I’ve heard great things about Ruth Soukup’s Elite Blogger Academy and have gotten some helpful free downloads from it but haven’t actually taken the course yet.

March 3, 2017 by lmbadmin Leave a Comment

 
LittleMissBlog.com

Filed Under: Blogging, life hack

One of my favorite things as a kid was paint by numbers. I loved it because you never had to guess which colors to use or remember where to use them. Follow the numbers with the corresponding paint and you came out with a beautiful picture. Not to long ago I bought my daughter a color by numbers book and she was in love! She was amazed at how her art turned out just by following directions.

Ha!…That headline.  Notice the quotation marks, I really wish there were truly a universal sarcasm font that could be used.   It’s a suggestion that you will see all over your search engine results when you google blogging. Everybody has a course with a quick fix and how you can make six figures in a month […]

  Are you good enough to blog? It’s a question that plagues a lot of people and delays their start in blogging. What are the qualifications? Do you need a degree? Are you required to be pretty? Do you need to be an extrovert? What does it take to be good enough to start a blog?? […]

Follow my blog with Bloglovin!  It’s an app that makes it easy to keep up with your favorite blogs! Check it out!   LittleMissBlog.com

Are you wondering if you should blog? Would it be worthwhile?  Here’s a list of reasons that you should start blogging! *This post contains affiliate links, meaning that I may receive a small commission if you choose to try the services.  I will only suggest products  that I truly believe in and have tried myself.* […]

(This post includes affiliate links. This means  if you decide to try one of the products then I may receive a small commission from the company at no additional cost to you)

We threw an Alice in Wonderland theme baby shower for my one of my sisters. It was so much fun to plan!

Decorations

I’ve learned that a lot of decorations can be re-used if you put away and store them properly. I’ve also learned to work with things I have (or have access to) like toys to tie into the decorations as well.

I LOVE these flowers! I actually made them for a Wonderland themed birthday party originally but have used them to decorate several other times for things like spring lunches we’ve done and Easter. They fit in great with the baby shower!

They were super simple to do. I purchased them from JoAnn’s Crafts along with a pack of eyes and hot glued the eyes on. Then I bent some of the stems over (so they weren’t straight up).

I bought the little Alice in Wonderland figurines from the Disney Store, the pack was on sale for $10 and I added them around the food for fun.

Food

My mom and aunt did the food, it was food my sister loves. The food included- mini-philly-cheese steak, meatballs, turkey pinwheels, tater-tots with cheese.

The centerpiece on this table was actually ‘meant’ to go with a Texas hold ‘em/card themed party but I thought it fit in well for Wonderland.

For drinks there was strawberry lemonade and regular lemonade.

The cakes and cupcakes were AMAZING! Funny enough, my five year old came up with the idea for it. Let me tell you, she kept checking to make sure the “Eat Me” signs were on there! She was also very specific that there should be eyes on the cake (for the Cheshire Cat).

The  cupcakes  were super yummy also and bite size which made them even better!  They are on Meri Meri Happy Birthday Patterned Party Cake Stand a that I love and have used several times!

I also bought some note cards and envelopes for guest to write a note for the new baby to be opened when she’s older.

Everyone had a great time and it was easy to put together!