The Ultimate Blog Podcast - 24. Amy Williams Shares Her Insight on Blogging

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

Today we are chatting with Amy Williams from “My Name is Snickerdoodle”. Amy has so much insight into blogging. She has been blogging since 2005 and today she is sharing her journey, insight, and perspective into blogging.Tune in as we chat with Amy about community, comparison, mindset, your why for your business, and the two tips that she would share with a new blogger!Check out the show notes (link below) for links and resources mentioned in this episode!Thanks for listening! Connect with us on Instagram: @sparkmediaconceptsThinking about starting a blog? Check out the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp!SHOW NOTES: www.sparkmediaconcepts.com/episode24

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast with Amy Reinecke and Jennifer Draper. We're on a mission to empower women who want to start or grow their own blog. This podcast is for women who want to learn blogging basics and who crave inspiration and encouragement. Whether you're just getting started or have been a blogger for years, we're excited to welcome you into this space where we are passionate about creating community over competition. We are bloggers who want to encourage you to believe in your potential, step outside the norm, and step into a life where you create your own schedule, your own success, and your own story. Join us for weekly episodes as we navigate blogging

and work from home life, all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. Today on the Ultimate Blog Podcast, we get the opportunity to interview Amy Williams from My Name is Snickerdoodle. Amy is a fellow blogger who we've had the opportunity to connect with the last several years, and she is amazing. We love her so much, and we are so excited to have her on the podcast today. So Amy, would you like to introduce yourself and tell them a little bit about you? Yes. First, I am thrilled, thrilled to be here this morning with the two of you. My name is Amy. I blog over at My Name is Snickerdoodle. My favorite place to be is Instagram. Of course, I do a lot of recipes where we cover kid friendly meals,

weeknight, easy recipes that you can throw together for your family. I do love a good dessert recipe as well. So I tend to share a little bit more of those because I do have a sweet tooth. So does my family. And I've been blogging since 2005. So quite a while, but just recently in the last five to six years, I've strictly just focused on recipes. Awesome. So 2005 is when you started this journey and I started my very first blog in like 2010 or something like that on blogspot. So what platform was the first platform that you started on? Oh, blogspot for sure. Back in the day where it was even, you had a, what was it? A music file that would pop up. You could change, you know, the

song and whenever you, you know, click on that site, a song would pop up. So I've been around for quite a while. I love that. I forgot about that. I remember that now that you mentioned it, but it's funny how blogging has obviously changed over the years. So let's talk about that a little bit. You started in 2005. What kind of brought blogging onto the horizon in your journey? What made you decide that, Hey, I think I might want to start a blog. It was actually my husband. I had just, we had just moved States and I did have some friends, but I was just at home. We were focused on trying to get pregnant and it was definitely a journey

there as well. And my husband being the tech guy that he is, he came home from work one day and he said, Hey, have you ever heard of a blog? And I'm like, that's kind of a weird word. What does that even mean? Kind of thing. And he's like, I really think that you need to do one. And at this point, I was a really big scrapbooker, really big into scrapbooking. And he thought maybe it's kind of a digital way that you can scrapbook. And I thought, no, like I am very paper, scissors, tape, glue, stickers, all the things. And he's like, well, you can share just, you know, whatever you want on a blog. And he's like, no one has to read it. Why don't we just start you one?

And he pulled, you know, pulled up. I mean, I'm like, I don't even know where to begin. He said, let's, let's look up. He's like, I've heard of blogspot. It's kind of a place to be, which I kind of laugh now. But you fill out the back end of what you want your site to be called. And he's like, what do you want to name it? And I just pause.

And I'm like, I have zero clue. What would I even name? Like Amy Williams. Amy Williams was taken at that point because it's a pretty popular name. And growing up, my nickname was Snickerdoodle. And it was a name that was given to me by my aunt. And my husband said, you know, is there a nickname? Maybe, you know, something funny.

And I'm like, I'm not that funny. But just the night before, I'd gone to an event where you had to have a sticker with your name on it and a name tag, basically. And it said, and I still had the sticker. I'd taken it off and put it on the desk and it said, hello, my name is Amy. And I thought, well, I don't, you know, I don't really know if I want my real name out there anyway. So I just said, how about my name is snickerdoodle? That's we'll just be kind'll just be kind of legitimate about it or literal about it. And he put it in, of course, it was available. And that's kind of how the name came about,

the site came about. Back then, I was only sharing kind of the ins and outs of the day and our small journey of infertility at the time. And every now and then I would share a recipe that a family member or a friend would, you know, text me or call me for, Hey, do you have a recipe for, you know, this or this? And I'm like, well, why I could share that on the internet and then just send them the link through the email. And that's kind of how the recipe started as well. But I would put them in, you know, attach the recipe to a huge long story about nothing. So we've come a long way, a very long way. You've come a long way, but I love that your name is still the same. Like this many years later. Over the years, I thought, you know,

there was kind of a surge of people changing it to their full name. Of course, Amy Williams is still taken. I think it's a, she's a skier, I believe, or some Olympian. And I thought, well, we'll just keep it. It's really long. Like when I go to tell people, I'm like, it is my name is snickerdoodle, not just snickerdoodle. So, but it fits and it works. It does. It does fit because you share a lot of like sweets and things like that. So I think it totally fits. Yep. So, so you started sharing on blogspot and then was there ever a point that you were, well, there obviously was, when was the point that you decided, you know what, I think that I could turn this into a business or did that just kind of naturally happen? So it wasn't until I couldn't tell you

the year, but I had three boys at home and whenever I would share a recipe, it would be like late at night after kids have gone to bed, horrible photography, horrible lighting, or it would be like right before dinner, I'm kind of shooing the kids away. Like don't touch that plate. We need to take a picture of it first. And it wasn't until I started reading, uh, I don't remember what it was called, but do you remember when you could go on and catalog or bookmark all of your favorite blogs? And then you would start, I would start from the top. I had collected over like 80 blogs that I would read every single day through what I can't remember what it was called, but blog roll or something like that. Yes. Yes. And I started seeing advertisements on some of these food blogs that I would read.

And I thought, why are they selling out? Like, I honestly thought they were selling out and like, you should share this because it's your passion and just give everything away for free. And it wasn't until I told my husband this a couple weeks later, I'm like, yeah, everyone's starting to have ads on their sites. And that's kind of when campaign deals were happening with some bloggers. And I thought, why? I don't know why I was so just blinded by it. And I told my husband, he's like, you're kidding me. He's like, you've got to get on that. And I thought, there's there's no way, you know, no one would want to take me. I'm not, no one's, you know, no ad agency, but a media company had actually reached out to me. It was very small at the time.

And so they liked my work. At this point, I was sharing multiple recipes during the week, just because I loved it so much. I kind of needed an outlet other than being a mom, just because I loved it so much. I kind of needed an outlet other than being a mom, stay at home mom. And I really, really enjoyed being in the kitchen. And this media company had reached out to me and said, Hey, we want to put some ads on your site. And I did. And I remember my first, it wasn't until, I don't know, three months later, I got that $23 check in the mail, like held it in my hands, but I thought I've arrived. So it, you know, increased from there, depending on obviously the work that I put in and it was a motivating factor to kind of have that little extra cash, but it just, it kind of evolved from there seeing how other recipe bloggers were doing their sites and going

to conferences, meeting people. It was definitely still a passion of mine, but then I got paid to do it. So it was even better. That's the best part about blogging, I think, because most of us, when we start our blogs, it's surrounded by something that we are passionate about. And there's not a whole lot of careers. And I'm sure that like you, I didn't think that when I started blogging, it would become my career necessarily, but it obviously has. But it's like, wow, every day I get to wake up and I get to talk about the things that matter to me and the things that make me like that fire light up inside, you know? And so I think

a lot of bloggers feel that way. So that's why choosing what you want to talk about is super important because blogging is so ever-changing. And I'm sure since, so how many years is that? 2005. So that's 17 years that you've been blogging. Wow. Sorry, I should not have said that. But in 17 years, your passion for cooking and all of that has remained the same, but I know that blogging has not. So how have you kind of gotten through that with the ebbs and flows? Obviously at some point you decided to switch from blogspot to WordPress and that was a huge jump. So what's so funny about that is I love that your husband was so supportive. I love that. So I think that that is probably a huge contributor to why you kept going. That's what I'm guessing.

Because my blogspot, I had a very similar conversation. My husband knew nothing about blogging, but he was really involved in his career. And I was like, people are like getting ads and like making money. And I don't know how to do that. And so I'm just going to quit. And that's what I did. I quit. And because I didn't have anybody like, well, no, you should just like try it. And that's not saying anything bad about my husband. He was just like, oh, that sounds complicated, you know? And it was, and I knew no one else really blogging back then. Bloggers were so few and far between. So I love that you have that encouragement to kind of keep going and start building it more. So as things have changed over the years,

how have you been able to kind of stay motivated with the changes? Because it's still changing today. Well, I will say that it stems from that very beginning part. I'm a pretty competitive person. And so when my husband's like, I really think that you should do this. I'm like, well, then I'm going to do it. And he has been a great supporter. And I also do know that there are many people out there, many, you know, bloggers that

don't feel like they may have the support in their home, but it is super important to reach out to people that you may admire, ask them questions, you know, join those courses like with spark and find those people that will encourage you to do the hard things and when it comes to you know all the blogging changes that have happened over the year i mean now that you say 17 years it's been years of changes and there have been times where i will just you know close my close my laptop and like, I'm done. Like, this is too much for me. I don't know if I can handle this. And when it comes to knowing when it's the right time, you just know. And sometimes it's, how can I push through this? Because I feel like the time is coming. And a lot of that was where I found myself with making those changes. I have to learn these hard things like

blogging is a lot of fun, but it is more work sometimes than it is fun. And when it comes to those changes, whether it's, you know, the Google changes that need to be made, or now people are wanting, you know, ingredient shots with their recipes, before, years ago they wanted them, then they didn't. And it can be really, really frustrating to try to keep up. And sometimes it is you taking a break and walking away for a minute, but realizing, am I doing this for me? Am I doing this for my readers? That's kind of where you need to assess where you're at mentally. But for me, I found that it was always worth, like 100% always worth it to push through whatever those changes may be, because it was on the other end that I looked back and thought, oh,

that was worth it because of X, Y, Z. And whatever it meant in my real life or my online career, it was always worth pushing through those hard changes. And when you say it was worth it, can you go into that a little bit more? What keeps you going on a daily basis? Is it the flexibility you have with your family? Is it monetizing your blog? Is it just the new things you get to learn? What keeps you motivated throughout all of these years? That is a great question. Actually, all of those at one point or another have definitely motivated me.

There are times where I will get a campaign deal with a company that I've admired for so long. And I thought, oh, it's one of those things again where I'm like, I've arrived. And you don't ever realize you've never hit, whatever has happened that's great, there's always still things that are great that are gonna happen afterwards, if that makes any sense.

But lately right now in this season of blogging, I consider my community to be on Instagram. And when I get messages like I did this week of a woman, I believe her name was Anne, said my two sons, you know, and all of her messages who are, I think she said 11 and 14 are your biggest fans and they want to learn how to cook. She goes, because I'm not a great cook. She's like, they're going to bypass mom, learn your recipes. And I thought to myself, I kind of laughed just

like picturing this, you know, 11 or 14 year old on Instagram, watching my, you know, Instagram stories or clicking on the link to, you know, the recipe. And she'll send me pictures of the food that they've made or, you know or the stories that they've shared. And she goes, your name came up again at dinnertime today. And that just, I say it made my day, but I think to myself, that's the reason I'm doing this. I have another friend who a couple of years ago, she had made my chocolate chip cookie skillet and she needed a quick, easy dessert for Sundays. and people were coming over and she had three growing boys at her house at the time. And she said, we hoovered it down and

we had to make a second right away because they loved it so much. And she goes, we now make them almost every Sunday and it has become part of our family's history. And then when she said that, I got the chills. I thought this simple recipe that I'm like, Oh, this sounds good. I'll throw it up. My family enjoys it has now become a part of her family's history, where her she said, my kids are gonna remember that every most every Sunday, we have a chocolate chip cookie skillet together, we put some ice cream on top and we just dig in. And it was at that point when she told me that a few years ago, where my shift, my mind shift changed. Yes, the money is great. Yes, I'm trying to work hard on updating my site and making sure you know that it's Google friendly and all the keyword, you

know, are in there keywords are in there. But really, why am I doing this? And that is to share recipes with, you know, moms, parents, kids, that they can enhance not only their dinnertime, but that they can gain kitchen confidence with the small skills that I'm sharing with them, the easy recipes that I'm making. And so for right now, that's my motivation of thinking of those families, you know, all over the United States. I won't say all over the world, but all over the United States making my simple recipes. It's very exciting and humbling and very motivating at the same time. I think that just proves that the impact is so great with blogging. And while we think when we sit down to write a blog post, you might only see, you know,

when you're starting out, it might only be a couple of people and then maybe only a couple hundred who are seeing it. But, you know, you've been in this for 17 years and you're still making an impact 17 years later. I was getting like teary eyed when you were sharing that because I think that a lot of times we can get caught up in ourselves, like, well, I'm just a stay at home mom. Who's a blogger kind of thing. And you can kind of downplay your gifts, but you're making an incredible impact, not just in your home,

because your boys are also watching their mom make an impact on others around. I'm going to say around the world, because I know that you're reaching people far beyond the United States. And so I think that what a gift we can give the people in our home, but also what a gift we are giving others who are just simply showing up on our sites. And that is incredible that we live in a day and age that people can be impacted by something as simple. I'm going to use a story as using a fork to whisk their eggs because your son taught me that I only ever used a whisk to whisk my eggs. And your son, I think was on Instagram and did a reel or something. I was like, he's using a fork. I had only ever used a whisk and I use a fork now every single time. And I have taught my kids to use a fork as well,

because it actually works way better. It does. And, and it's funny that in the mornings, like I make eggs several mornings a week. I think of you when grab the fork, like, Oh, you know, like you just have those little things in your mind that that's been within the last year that I made that tiny little shift. But when you think about that, when you think that what you're sharing is just some small, simple thing, you don't realize how it might be impacting somebody else's life. What it is something as simple as like how I whisk my eggs, you know, it, it still makes an impact. It's, it's our, our opportunity to touch the lives of people is so great.

And I think it does make those seasons and the pivoting and the challenges that we all face worth it. And I hope that the people, whether you're a blogger listening to this or whether you're just a reader of blogs, I hope that you know that when you reach out to a blogger and tell them that you tell them how you've impacted them, like it truly does have the capability of making our entire day. Like knowing that when we're up late working or we're up early working or we're trying to balance life and everything, we are making a big impact that is helping somebody else.

Well, you just said it, even when we're not, you know, quote unquote working, whether it's at the laptop or in the kitchen, we're constantly thinking about, like my mind doesn't ever take a break from my site, from, you know, my recipes for what needs to happen. But I, you know, my recipes for what needs to happen. And I, you know, some days it gets to me where I'm like, just stop already. But I kind of look at it as a good sign of if this is always on my mind where I'm motivated, like, okay, I kind of go through my to-do list, not like, oh, dredging it. If it's on your mind, then you need to kind of continue to do that. I think that can that can be your motivating factor of like well it's still in my mind like I there's something there's something more to it

than just you know oh I need to get this done if you're thinking about it constantly then push through it and continue to do it and don't be afraid to ask questions I think back in the day I was really nervous to ask you know know, who I thought, quote unquote, were the big bloggers. And there are so many out there that are kind and generous with their knowledge and their passions that we truly do want to share what we know with people. But sometimes we don't know the right questions to ask. And that's okay.

You can simply say, I'm struggling with headings or whatever it may be. What do I need to know that I don't know? And you're going to find someone, whether it's on Facebook or in your comments, that's willing to help you and guide you in the right direction. I think you have made so many important points about what it takes to have this longevity. I mean, you've got your mind right. You've got the right mindset. You have a positive outlook. You always remember your why, which is incredible. I mean, I think that's probably the number one thing that we have to do. And then you're willing to look for help in the right places. And I know that it can probably feel overwhelming sometimes because there's so many people out there telling you, you should do this, you should do that. Or there's other people that you're comparing yourself to as well. How do you kind of stay in your lane and

keep serving your people without getting too distracted by all that noise? Comparison is the absolute worst. It's the worst thing that you can do, not only just as like a human being, but as a business owner, as a blogger, as an expert in whatever you're an expert in. When it comes to, I finally, I think I figured it out. I figured it out. I will give you all the answers you need to know in this one question. And I will also follow it up with, I have to remind myself every single time it starts to creep up. When you start to compare and when you start to kind of doubt yourself, doubt your why, second guess that blog post that you put up. If you start second guessing yourself, if you start doubting, it's because you have started to consume too much and not produce enough. And, you know, I talk about Instagram a lot, but when I start to only scroll on Instagram, I'm not even taking the time to like double tap

my finger to like something, let alone leave someone a comment, even though in my mind, I'm like, oh, that was really fun. Or, oh, that was cuter. Oh, I want to make that if I am not interacting on Instagram, and I'm only consuming those posts, my confidence within hours will drop. And I will, you know, really start doubting myself and thinking, Oh, well, I didn't do I thought of that recipe five years ago, but I didn't do it and someone else made it or their pictures are so much better than mine, or their presence on Instagram stories is, you know, top notch. If I only consume and don't produce, that's a big problem. And it's right then and there where I think, wait a minute, I haven't even interacted with these people. And I'm comparing myself to them. Like,

that's not fair to me. And it's not fair to them. They have no clue. But all around it, that's when you need to stop and make that mind shift and think, you know, get off the phone, get off the internet, make something, do something, type something, whatever your expertise is in, do that right then and there, even if it's for five minutes. So you can gain that sense of accomplishment of doing what you love and what you know that you're really, really good at. you know that you're really, really good at. I love that a lot. We interviewed Lindsay Chambers a couple of weeks ago, and she said something kind of similar when she said, you don't find success by scrolling. And I love that she's a life coach. She's not a blogger. And that's the advice that she gives. And I love that you're a blogger and that you've realized that too, because I think we totally can get wrapped up in what everybody else is doing and tell ourselves

a few different stories that don't even matter. One is you don't think that there's room for you or two, that you can't do it as well as they can, or three, it's not a good idea and nobody would buy it. You know, I just think that is so powerful because I think we are in a society that we do so much consuming. I mean, I'm completely guilty of it. Oh, 100%. This isn't me thinking, oh, I've never compared myself anymore. That's not the case at all. I get caught up in it as well.

And it kind of also got me thinking of when it comes to blogging, I felt this way multiple times where, you know, now that you say it, I've been blogging for 17 years and I see someone who has started maybe two, three years ago. And I look at their success and how much they've grown and how much they're maybe making. And I think, what, what, how did this pass me by? Like I've had all this time. But I think kind of what's happened when it's come to blogging, if you've blogged for a long time, you've had to work through those hills, those challenges, where we've kind of figured it out. And not that those new bloggers have are not working hard, I don't want to discount them at all. But we've kind of

worked out the system, we've worked out the rhythm. And we've kind of like, you know, a lot of people blog of how to, you know, how to be the best at posting whatever. And those opportunities are out there for those people. So of course they're going to be successful. But I think those of us who have been blogging for a while, we've had to go through some really hard and frustrating tears. while, we've had to go through some really hard and frustrating tears. You're on the front end of the industry. There had to be somebody who paved the way and you were one of those people that was the start of it and had to work through all those kinks to where now it is easier. I'm not going to say it's easier, but you probably did things earlier in your journey

that like, let's say you did it and you're like, ah, not a good idea. Let me backtrack, go back to the way things were going. And then you might try something new now. I mean, for the most part, like what we teach our students in the bootcamp, like there's a roadmap to follow. Like if you do these things, you're going to have a solid foundation to move forward. You know, you didn't have that in 2005. Jennifer didn't have that in 2013. You know, I, I didn't have a roadmap in 2010 and that's why I

quit, you know? So I think that they all serve like a really important purpose. But what I like, what you're saying is like, share what we know. That's like link arms of people, create a community, network with other people in your niche. Or if you have, let's say that somebody is just thinking about a blog and there's somebody on Instagram that you follow currently who has something similar to what you want to create, like connect with them, see, like build an alliance, you know, ask them questions. If they don't want to ask, answer your questions, just message Jennifer and I, or Amy, and we will answer all of your questions. We will help you. Cause I think that together when we link arms, then we're all successful. We just, we keep elevating this career and making this well-known that this is a viable

career that you can have what you want. You have to work really hard, but you can have what you want to and the freedom that you desire by choosing this line of work. Have you ever wanted to start a blog, but had no idea where to begin, or maybe you have a blog that you'd like to update and want some help to make it the best it can be. We know that there are many people out there who have big dreams for their own blog that never happen because they simply feel stuck. The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp is an eight-week course

designed to help you create a solid blogging foundation by teaching you how to treat your blog as a business, find your audience, design a website that is optimized for SEO, all while providing support via online coaching calls each week of the course. There is a private Slack channel for students as well, so questions will never go unanswered. The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp will give you the tools and support to create a blog that has the potential to turn into a profitable business. We are committed to helping each and

every student feel empowered and confident with the foundational principles of blogging and the behind the scenes work that goes into it. If you don't want to blog alone, we can help. We keep each round small in order to provide each student the attention and support we believe you deserve during this process. Since space is limited, get on the waitlist today so we can help you with your blog. The link to join the waitlist is in our show notes or go to sparkmediaconcepts.com and click on the ultimate blog bootcamp. I, yeah, I agree. And I think to those moms that might be out there as well that have young kids at home, it's still doable to start what you want to start and to do what you love to do. It's just going to take a little bit more

time and you need to allow yourself that grace, if you will, just to be okay with that. It's going to take you a little longer to get there because you're doing a super important job of being a mom and that's the hardest job you'll ever do. But that maybe you want this, you know, side gig of blogging and sharing, you know, your passion for making wallets or whatever it may be. But that keep going, just keep going. Like you said, link arms with someone else that's in your same boat that's just trying to grow.

And it is okay sometimes just to be in survival mode when it comes to blogging, because it's then that you're kind of getting the dirty work done. There is always room to grow and that those exciting times are still ahead. No matter if you felt like, you know, you've reached the peak, you still can keep going and things are more incredible down the road. I think there's always something to look forward to. Yes. I think that part of that is the opportunity to reflect on where we're at and believe in

ourselves that we can do the next thing that's being asked of us. Because I think that we've all been there. Like, okay, I feel this tug to do this next thing in blogging. Because blogging is so much more than just sitting down at your computer and writing a post and calling it good. There's so many different things to do in regards to a blog. There's email marketing. You can create products and services. You can create membership programs that you can connect with your readers. You can engage more on social media by creating reels and things like that. There are so many different avenues to find people to connect with. And so they're starting a podcast. There's all these different ways. And I think the comfort zone when we're in this a while is sitting at our computers and writing a blog post,

sending it out to your email list and calling it good. But I do think that as you continue to do it more, there's more being asked of us and how can we grow and how can we, how can we continue to serve our community because we are creating communities. Absolutely. I'm thinking kind of going back to the whole mom thing. I remember drown and I will bring it back around drowning in laundry. When you've got those young babies. I remember I took a picture of my couch and it was just loaded with folded everything. And as the years have gone on, I've now taught, you know, my boys how to do their own laundry. They're in charge of it. I'm helping them just a little bit.

You know, they may need, well, they may, they always need the motivation to put their laundry in the washer, as do I, to be fair. And they need those subtle reminders of, okay, now it's time to fold them. And I do have a teenager that does his laundry all by himself. I don't have to remind him anymore. He always has clean clothes, thank goodness. And I kind of think blogging can be relatable to that, where at the beginning, and when changes do happen, you do feel like you're drowning. Like what else do they want from me? And they meaning the internet or your readers or whatever it may be. And at the beginning, you're drowning. But slowly, as you kind of work through it, and as you grow, it just becomes a little bit easier. And like you said, you can sit down and just write a post and send out the email because you've already done the hard, hard

work. I think a lot of people can just get disheartened when the changes never stop. There's always something to improve. There's always changes to be made. And some of those changes are forced upon us, whether it's a requirement for whatever reason. But sometimes if you just kind of let go and think, okay, I'm going to play the game and give them what they want within your own boundaries, of course, in your own passions, then that's when it kind of becomes a little easier when you stop pushing against those changes and those shifts. And you just kind of, if you accept from today on the moment you're listening to this podcast, just tell yourself there will always be changes. I will be ready when they

come up and go from there. I love how you compare this like mountain of laundry to the beginning of blogging. And it brings up these feelings for me. I think back, and I talked about this on one of my podcast episodes about how you look back on where you were and you were so hard on yourself and you're like, I'm not doing enough or I'm not successful enough at this point in time. But when you look back, you're like, but all those feelings that I had, those were so amazing. And so to me, it's like, you have to tell these people in the beginning of their journey to, you know, it's okay to strive for more, but you really truly have to embrace where you are today too.

And feel those small joys. You mentioned getting your first $23 paycheck and, you know, maybe that's not where somebody wants to be in the long run, but like be excited and celebrate those moments because every single one of those moments is a step in your journey. And it's going to be part of your story someday. Yes, it is. And I do remember that $23, I went to our local grocery store and I'm, I was, you know, getting paid to make recipes, but I went and bought a bakery cake and we just celebrated. I had spent my, you know, I think it was a $22 cake. And I thought I'm going to use this so that

I, and also in the back of my mind, it was just show my kids, my boys, I have accomplished something and it doesn't matter how big, how small, you know, like you said, Jennifer, with those small, small accomplishments can have a big impact on where you go down the road. So, well, yeah, when you had that $23 check, I would guess that your boys were at an age that $23 was kind of irrelevant. Like to them, mom made money, you know? Absolutely. And so it didn't even matter that it was 23. It could have been $2 and 30 cents, you know, but then it was like, Whoa, mom's been doing this and made money and we get to celebrate. Yeah. And that's huge. I think what, what a gift we can give our kids. You know, if you are a mom,

because I know I'm in the little years still with one and there are days it is super challenging to like push through that and know like, this is not forever. This is just a season that I have to figure out how to run spark, do my own blog and raise three kids. Like, but it won't always look like that. Like some in two years, all my kids are going to be in grade school and my time will free up then. And so I don't want to wish away the time that I have right now with

my daughter here at home. Still, I want to embrace that. And I want her to know, like, I'm doing this also for our family. Like that's one of the, that's one of the reasons that I chose blogging. And maybe this would help someone like I chose blogging because it was super important to me to be a stay at home mom. I had a mom and dad who owned a brick and mortar business still do today and worked a ton of hours and we're gone all the time. I mean, they worked super hard, but they still work super hard. They're come, they're workaholics and they've been extremely successful, but I missed them. Like I missed them a lot, you know, and we would come

home from school by ourselves. And that was something I just didn't want for my kids. And that's not to judge anybody who's listening, who does that currently I'm speaking from my own family experience and just how I wanted it to be different, but I didn't find, I don't know, my purpose as much when I was just staying home. I feel like I still needed something for me too. And I knew that I could find the best of both worlds. I could find being a mom and being able to be at the things I wanted to be at, take my kids to school and pick them up. And then also being able to help others because that's super important to me. And so I think that blogging, especially for those of us who are moms, has different seasons.

And that is kind of based on the ages of our kids, if we're honest, and what's going on in our families. So being willing to embrace that and know it's not that you have to throw in the towel if it's a hard season, but maybe you do take a step back. So maybe you're used to posting or you want to post like once or twice a week, and maybe you're in a season that that is just not feasible. It's okay. Because that's the beauty of blogging because your content is constantly living. It's, it's a living thing that is always working for you because of keyword research and SEO and Pinterest and all of that. When on social media,

you kind of have to stay at the forefront in order to stay relevant with people. social media, you kind of have to stay at the forefront in order to stay relevant with people. Right. And that can be exhausting. And you're, if you are a mother, you're already, you're already exhausted, no matter what age your kids are, that can, you know, can be hard. And you talked about seasons and those are constantly like seasons could change day to day. Like it's not just, you know, April through June, it's, it could be a month long, it could be a week long. And I look at people, you know, on social media that have said, you know, oh, they'll typically come back in their stores and say, I've been gone for a week, or I took some time off. Never ever do you hear those people say, and I totally regretted it.

I wish I would have been on social media more throughout that week that I needed off. You never, ever hear anybody say that. And I think when we, as business owners, we encourage and we talk about what is our why. And I can have a different approach to it where I don't think there's just one why. I think there's the main why that there's a sub why. And my why for my business is to share recipes. And I think that'd be a whole other podcast. But my sub why is so that I did it so I can stay home similar to you where I could be home with my kids.

And I also have friends who have a career outside of the home and they thrive and they love it and they've got kids and they make it work for them. And that makes me so excited. They find that an work for them. And that makes me so excited. They find that an accomplishment for them. And we are two separate people. And that is okay for everyone's why to be completely different. It is okay for your why to be, you know, money motivated. What's your reason? Why do you need that money? Is it to have a better lifestyle? Or is it to just pay the bills? to have a better lifestyle or is it to just pay the bills? And everyone's why should be different,

I think. And that we need to have that respect for those different whys for everybody, because you just don't know. You never know what people are going through and what they need this for. Some business owners may need it for validation in their own lives, or they may need it because they are an entrepreneur at heart. It doesn't matter what people's why's are, it only should matter to you what that why is and what your motivating factor for why you're doing it. Yeah. Because you're not at the end of the day when it's hard and you're looking at two choices to keep going, like, do I go or do I quit? I'm not going to be motivated by your why or Jennifer's why. So like, we have to have a very firm reason why

we're choosing to do this, I think. And I think it's okay in the future for your why to shift. I was just going to say that. And I think your why is going to change. Just going to say that. And I think your why is going to change. Yeah. As it should. If, if your why is the same as it was 10 years ago and you're currently struggling, then maybe that's the reason why you're struggling. Yeah. I get stuck. I'm a person. I really hate change. I hate, I have a, I kind of laugh because my oldest son has really hard times with transition always has, whether it's going from, you know, at preschool, he would be playing and having fun, but then they'd be go, you know, now it's painting time. Well, he would just be like, wait, I'm still playing, but you know, painting is just as fun. And so I kind of feel the same

way with school coming to an end or the school season and my kids coming home from summer. I'm really excited, But I was like, hold up. This means my kids are going to be home all day, which is wonderful in its own right. But it's just that change that happens. And I think when it comes to our blogs, those changes are going to happen, but then that's okay. And that throughout your blogging experience, those changes need to happen in order for you to grow and your business to grow 100%. I think change is necessary and life in general change is necessary. And I think when we embrace it as such, then our mindset can shift accordingly

instead of thinking this is being done to you, it's being done for you. So that's a life lesson right there. Yeah. When we just change, like just changing those few simple words, like I get to do this. I just think it can change the lens of what we look at when we are looking at the task ahead or the road ahead and how we're going to get through it is just by shifting our mindset. Our mindset is so huge. That's funny you said that because just last night, I made a few recipes and just my kitchen, you know, Sunday night, my kitchen was pristine. And last night, it was a pit again. And I was kind of getting grumpy about it and kids stuff everywhere. And I had a sewing project on the table and, you know, my laptop and my work stuff strewn everywhere. And I was just getting really

grumpy about it. And I, I had to say to myself out loud, no, I have a beautiful kitchen that I get to clean. And not that that's going to work every single time, but at that moment, that's what I needed just to wait. I have a blog, you know, a site that I own that I get to share these recipes with. And I get to have these online friends that I get to share things with and that they teach me things as well. So, so speaking of teaching things, if someone is a brand new blogger, what would you share with them? What would be your tips or a tip? would be your tips or a tip? My tips would be not in any particular order, but batch content or batching any of your work is essential. That's something I had to learn the hard way. And every now and then my, you know, I'll finish my batch work and it'll all be published or

whatever it is. And so I'll need to rebatch, but that's essential. If you have the time to do, you know, all of your emails at once, not all of your emails, but your weekly emails, monthly emails, you know, you can edit all your pictures at once, you can write even just the titles of your posts on your blog all at once. I think doing batch content is essential. And that's something I actually pushed back on years ago. And I'm like, no, no, no. Like I'm a person I need to be in just this one recipe.

And then I would get hung up because I didn't have, you know, you know, whatever it may be, and I couldn't post it. And that would keep me from doing anything else until that one thing was done. Another tip, and I, I hate it. I'll be honest. I hate it when people say this, but it is so true, is this consistency. It's something I struggle with just in general, but I do recognize the moment I start to be consistent in posting, in sharing, you know, on Instagram, making reels, you know, whatever it may be, being consistent and showing up is key. Now, what's great about that is that you can set whatever that schedule is. If you're consistent

is every Monday morning, I'm going to do my email. Then great. If you've shown up and done the email, that's you being consistent for however many weeks. So being, and that's something I had to learn the hard way as well, as I thought consistent was 24 seven, you're constantly, you know, doing this and the other. And I thought to myself, and it got back to, I was comparing myself to others and their schedules, where my schedule and my life is completely different than everyone else's. So that I got to set whatever that consistency schedule was. And that's something that can shift during, you know, summer, you know, my kids are going

to be home all summer long. So that schedule is going to be completely changed. But as long as I feel that I'm being consistent, then I feel more accomplished and that I'm getting more things done. So I think those two tips, as general or as broad as they may be, those are my top two tips for new bloggers. That that will bring you, I don't want to say faster success, but it will find you greater success in the end. I think those are fabulous tips. And like you said, they can be hard to keep in mind, or they can be hard to hear, but they're important to keep in mind as you keep moving forward. And it's not going to look perfect

all the time, but if you can just keep one foot going in front of the other and keep those things in mind, like you said, it will lead to the success in the long run. So if anybody wants to reach out to you, maybe they have a question about your blog or blogging, or maybe they just want to grab some of your awesome recipes or learn something from one of your cooking tips, what's the best way they can get in touch with you? They can email me, which you can find my email on my website, which is my name is snickerdoodle.com. And like I said earlier, I love to hang out over on Instagram and I'm pretty, pretty good and consistent at responding to my direct messages there, which you can find me at my name is snickerdoodle. And I am on Pinterest with the same name. And admittedly, so I'm also on TikTok

with the same name. And if you message me within hours, maybe a few days, I will definitely get back to you with any questions that you might have really regarding recipes or blogging, social media. I love to interact with others who are kind of like-minded like I am. Thank you so much, Amy. It's been just amazing talking to you today. Oh, you two are the best. The best. I wish I can come and just hang out with the both of you.

I would love to be able to do that too. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for being here. I love your servant's heart and it showed in this episode. So thank you so much. I'm glad to be here. Thank you.

Thanks so much for tuning in today. If you'd like to continue the conversation about blogging with us, please find us on Instagram at spark media concepts. You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter where we share blogging tips and inspiration. You can sign up by finding the link in the show notes for those of you who are ready for the next step and want to start your own blog, join the waitlist for the ultimate blog bootcamp. The link to join the waitlist is also in the show notes. Go out and make today a great day.