The Ultimate Blog Podcast - 45. Success Story: Raising a family while growing a blog with Kelsie Brown

Episode Date: October 25, 2022

Are you a mama who wants to start or grow your blog? Today we are joined by Kelsie Brown, a former student in the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp. Kelsie shares how she has grown her blog while raising a family. She shares how her blog has changed and pivoted over the years and how she now has integrated blogging into her family. If you are a mama and are scared to start a blog or wondering how to grow your blog while also being a mom, this episode is going to be one you want to hear!Check out the show notes (link below) for more information including links and resources mentioned in today’s episode!Thanks for listening! Connect with us on Instagram: @sparkmediaconceptsCheck out The Blog Depot. This is a community and course that we have set up for you if you need questions answered before you start your blog. Join the waitlist for The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp, our online course and coaching that helps you build the blog that you have always dreamed of.SHOW NOTES: www.sparkmediaconcepts.com/episode45

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. Well, you guys are in for a treat today. I am so excited to introduce Kelsey Brown to you. Kelsey joined the Ultimate Vlog Bootcamp with us. I don't know. It's been over a year, I think. It's been over a year. I think it was early 2021. So it's been like a year and a half. Yeah. And since then, Kelsey is in Kansas City with Jennifer and I. And since then, our kids go to the same preschool and things like that. So we have lots of connections. And I'm just so excited to have you here today, Kelsey.

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to have this conversation with y'all. Yeah. So Kelsey, do you want to start by just telling our listeners a little bit about you and your blog? Sure. Yeah. Well, my name's Kelsey Brown, live in Kansas city. I've got three kids. Brooks is four, Shay is two, Reese is six months. So bam, bam, bam. We're super busy. The kids are in the school program now, the older ones. And so it gives me a little bit of freedom. But other than that, I stay home with them full time. And my blog, my blog has been all over the place. But at the time and for the last several years, it's been primarily just kind of home, more so motherhood and recipes. So I share a lot of food, inspo, weekly family meals that are simple and conducive to busy lifestyles with some fun splurge recipes thrown in. And then I try to share bits of my motherhood journey,

especially like newborn days and, you know, strategies for coping with toddler stuff. And just kind of whatever I'm dealing with is kind of a, my blog is a good outlet for that. So yeah. Awesome. So you said that right now your blog is about, you know, like, like food and motherhood and that, but when did you start blogging and how has it kind of evolved over the years? Oh, it's, um, it's evolved so much. So I started back in 2017. I was a teacher. Um, I taught biology, high school biology for six years prior to becoming a stay-at-home mom. And while I was teaching, every summer, I swear the last three years of my teaching career, the final three years of my career, I kept like wanting to write something about teaching because I felt like I kept seeing, and I had only been there in the, you know, been there for a few years, but I felt like I kept seeing new teachers come in and leave the profession within a year or two. And I knew why they were doing it. And it was the same reason that I wanted to, at times I toyed with the idea of leaving sooner than I did. And I always felt really upset by that, that I would see these teachers that came in with so much excitement and

so eager to make a change. And then the system just beat them down so much within a year or two that they were like, I'm done. And so I wanted to write, I actually started writing a book and I have no idea how to write a book. I'm not actually a big reader, so it didn't really bode well for me as a good outlet for these thoughts. But I worked on this book for a couple summers at the tail end of my time teaching. And it was kind of just about putting my ideas about getting through all the beat down from the system, getting through all the disrespect and the frustration and the long hours and focusing on the fruit of your labor. And it was just kind of my thoughts of trying to keep teachers like me

that were feeling defeated with their eye on the prize and like what's important and why you went into this and kind of wanted to just encourage teachers in that way and share some fun lesson ideas and some fun things to make fun again, to focus on the fun. Anyway, that was my motivation behind sharing. And then it was Hurricane Harvey that hit Houston. I was in Houston at the time and Hurricane Harvey hit, and we were stuck at home for several weeks, like trapped inside with the flooding during that time. I was like, it occurred to me, I was like, you know what? I've been working on this book for so long, but I'm not, I don't feel like a natural author. I feel like I didn't really know what

to do with a book. I was like, I can do a blog. This is the perfect thing to do because I had so many ideas I wanted to talk about in different categories of ideas in this topic. I was like, this is perfect for a blog. So I spent that time being trapped inside, just like hammering out my blog and was so excited about it. It felt like this is exactly what I'm supposed to do. This is so fun. I love sharing. I love teaching. I love, I'm passionate about these topics. So during those two weeks, I built my blog, just knowing nothing, just YouTubing all night. I had like maybe six or seven posts and I posted it. And the first one I posted was a post about Hurricane Harvey and when your students come back to your classroom after the trauma of that.

And so I thought that would be a relevant and something that I'd seen a lot of my friends and community dealing with currently. I thought that would be a good thing to start with. Anyway, over the course of that first semester, that semester with my blog, my teaching blog, it quickly turned into a recipe blog. And I kind of realized that my passions were teaching and cooking and sharing both of those things. I did a little bit of health and fitness. That was just very much, I did a little bit of health and fitness. That was just very much, I was like, I was a coach at the time. So it was very much a part of my lifestyle, like the health and fitness, the fun, unique, healthy recipes.

And it really shifted that year to be a little bit of teaching and a lot of like recipes, which was kind of unexpected and fun. And, but that was where my passion was. I was thrilled to follow that. And then I got pregnant. So anyway, it was like, then all of a sudden everything shifted. And so I was like, what, maybe I jumped into this too soon because my life is changing so much and all my passions and all my, the things spinning around my head that I want to share, they're changing so much. And then I realized

that a blog is meant to evolve and change with the blogger. And that's what makes blogs different from books, you know, that are all about maybe one topic that a blog, you can make it. And a lot of blogs are about just one topic, but it doesn't have to be, you can allow it to evolve with you. And so I've found a lot of joy in that along the way that like, as I pass through these new seasons

and have new passions and new projects and new things in my heart, I can share those intentionally and genuinely as opposed to trying to force content that maybe doesn't resonate as much with me. I'm so glad that you're saying this because I think oftentimes when people start blogging, they have this huge fear of changing. And we really do try to help our students understand like, you got to walk into this knowing you're going to pivot and you're not a failure for pivoting. You're not like, you're not doing something wrong. You didn't make the

right choice from the start. It's just, that's what we do as human beings. Like we go through these different seasons and things come up that we're like, that's really interesting. And I want to learn more about that. And, and that's okay, because that's kind of, like you said, what blogging is about and people, I think a lot of times people don't just follow bloggers and read their blogs just solely for the content. It's also the person and, and what that relationship that they're creating with that person who's providing content often and how they're showing up and what that relationship that they're creating with that person who's providing content often and how they're showing up and what they're sharing about and how they're helping them in

their own lives. I truly think that being a helper should be in a blogger's job description because that's what we do. And I love that. I love that piece of it. I totally agree. I feel like that's what people love about blogs is that they get to know the person behind the blog and it's a real person. And people are aware of that, that a blogger is a, is a real person who's going through these same ups and downs, rollercoaster changes of seasons that they're going through. And that's what brings people comfort and bliss is that kind of personal connection you have with the, with the author. Yes, totally agree. connection you have with the author. Yes, totally agree. And I think your journey started like so many other people because you found a need and you were just addressing that need. Like, here's my pain point. I know other people feel this pain point, so I'm going to share about it.

Did you at that time, did you think, oh, I want to get people to read my blog? How did you kind of go about that? Did you have a goal? Like, did you want to oh, I want to get people to read my blog? How did you kind of go about that? Did you have a goal? Like, did you want to grow this? Did you want to like try to make money with it or were you just simply like creating an outlet for yourself to share? Yeah. So at the beginning, I, um, I, gosh, I didn't really know anything about the business of blogging. I just thought I just found it as an avenue for saying what I wanted to say. And I didn't even have an Instagram. Actually, I had did have a personal Instagram at that point, but it was like very small. I probably posted a couple of times a year. I was not an active social media presence at all. I've never been one prior to blogging to be real on social media or

on my phone a lot. It wasn't natural for me. So I did soon realize I needed to make an Instagram for my blog. So I made an entirely new Instagram just for my blog. It actually started out. Now my blog is named Kelsey Brown blog. Maybe this is kind of an applicable thing because it used to be inspiration from a messy desk because my desk when I was a teacher was really messy and life is messy. It was kind of a, you know, one of those, what's the word? I kind of tried to relate it to how life is messy and teaching is messy, but here's some inspiration from my messiness. And so anyway, I'm laughing Kelsey, because I'm looking at my desk. I wish you guys could see my desk right now. It's so bad.

Like I walked in my office and was like, I can't even focus. There's so much paper. Like you can't tell that like, Oh, I know it's messy. So I'm laughing because it makes solidarity there. I know. Well, and then if we, if we just like dwell, you know, dwelled on that fact that everything, things are messy sometimes and life is messy, then we wouldn't be productive for like a vast majority of the time because that's just the reality, you know? Anyway. Yeah. I think that I didn't initially know that I needed to like how to market or any kind of the business side of things. And so I created this Instagram and I just put it on my Facebook, which now, since I am such a one, I'm just not real natural social media still. I've gotten better at it with practice,

but now I'm, I initially marketed on Facebook, my blog. And now that I've shifted to Instagram, I feel like I can't even... I don't have time for Facebook, which is something that I'm still trying to work on, pulling in all these different aspects of marketing tools that I can use to grow my business. And that's one of those things that's on my future track for things I want to achieve that I find hard to juggle right now with all the things. But yeah, I think initially, I just kind of threw it out there on my Facebook page. I made this Instagram.

It was mainly just my family and close friends and colleagues that were like, oh, I love your blog, you know? And then slowly it started to gain a little bit of traction. It was really fun. It really started to take off when I had my son, Brooks. I think I kind of opened up to a new audience or maybe people became a little more engaged that previously just saw me as the teacher who was sharing some recipes and teaching

ideas. And now all of a sudden it became a little more personal. I think that grabbed people a little bit when I shared a little bit more of like some of the deeper things and the family things and they got to know me a little more. Yeah. I feel like that's when I felt like it really started to become something I could turn into a business. And that's kind of when my mind shifted was after having my son and seeing where it went from there. I think that's a very natural shift too. I think a lot of us,

Jennifer's different. Like when she started, she knew it was going to be a business. I didn't either. I was like you, I didn't. Yeah. I had to have Jennifer being like, this can be a business. Oh, right. Right. You're like, really neat. Show me, like, tell me how to do that. I don't know how. Yes.

Hence why I signed up for your course. So I think as we have those things in our life that like come more to the forefront. So you had your son and you changed, you shifted. So your goals shifted as well. Like all of a sudden you're probably looking at it like, okay, if I'm going to be doing this alongside being a mom, then this needs to be worth my time is what I would guess. Like, I know I kind of had that. That's exactly it. That's exactly what it was.

And at that point I became a stay-at-home mom too. I mean, I stopped, I quit my teaching job and, and you know, that, that comes with a little bit of a lifestyle shift and it was new for us. We'd been double income, no kids for our whole several years of marriage at that point. And then to have to make that lifestyle shift. And all of a sudden I have my son and I'm like, what can I do with my resources? And also what I'm passionate about, what I love. And also something that gives me some connection and the craving for interaction that I was now void of, you know, having just been home alone with this little baby. And I lived in a place where I didn't have family or a big network of friends because I wasn't from Houston.

And so it was an isolating time. And it was a time that really, I had so much motivation at that point. Sometimes I'm like, oh, how can I get that back? And I know I've had a few more ironstone in my fire since then that makes it a little more tough. But at that time, it's funny because I've noticed that after each of my babies, I don't know if it's like an instinctual thing or what, but after each, like couple of weeks after having babies, I get this burst of motivation, like with my blogging business. And it's so funny because I never anticipate it. I always expect to just like, I'm not even going to worry about the blog in these newborn days. And then shortly after having the baby, that's like, that's where my motivation is. It's so interesting. I mean, with my baby,

of course, but I just always get a big fire under me after having a baby. And I think maybe that's part of that, like a desire, maybe it's a little bit of an innate desire to like make something, do something for them and help in a way that I can and provide in a way that I can. And that's kind of when those business wheels have really spun. And I've tried to capitalize on that motivation and push myself in those times with the energy I have, which is funny because it's a time when I don't have a lot of physical energy, but I just have all this blogging energy and this desire to talk about and share and grow. And I know that ebbs and flows. So whenever I get a burst of it, I try to grab onto it and capitalize. Yeah. And I a burst of it, I try to grab onto it and capitalize.

Yeah. And I think that's an important point because blogging doesn't have to be separate from your family. It can be this integrated part of your family and be part of your story and can benefit your children and all of that as well. I think people tend to think of it as something that's taking away if they want to become a blogger as a stay-at-home mom or a mom, like it's going to take away from my family, but it can actually contribute so much too. Sure. Yeah. And I think about that too when I'm doing mainly recipes with my kids because a lot of my blog is shooting recipes. And so I'll have them help me kind of like set the stage for pictures and photos. And, you know, it's like a fun thing. I can't be super productive with it when they're awake.

And that's just the reality is I'm not able to really get into, you know, writing recipes and getting a lot of photography done when they're awake. I try to manipulate their nap times and try to combine their nap times and overlap things and to get a few spots during the day that I can get some stuff done. But when they're awake, I try not to be completely, okay, bugging hat off, mom hat on. I try to kind of keep it, you know, a part of me that they see. So I'll pull them out when I'm ready to, I know it's time to get them up from their nap. And even if I'm not done, I'll pull them out and let them help me manipulate some, some pictures. And cause that, you know, with the

pictures, it's easy to be like, Oh, let's put this apple here. And so it's kind of just a fun little thing. And so, yeah, I think it's, I'm excited also as they get older and are a little bit more aware of what I'm doing, they can help me like, let's, let's create a recipe this weekend. I want to put it on the blog and share it. And then people, other people can make this recipe. And so that's been a fun thing. And I, you know, I started that cookie cake business and they've, they love that I have that. And so it's been fun to like have them watch me put these other hats on while I'm home with them, because all of my work that I do happens with them at home, you know, so not having real legitimate childcare, you know,

so that it's been fun. And I think you're, I think you're exactly right when you say it's a part of your family. I'm fortunate that my husband is very supportive and he he's, he actively helps me to continue reaching for my blogging goals. And he's actually the one that's a lot of, he more so probably pushes me to work. I think he has these big dreams of me of like being able to live off of my blog. Hey dude. Okay. Let's not quit your day job, but I love it. But he's always, he's always like, let me go down. I think it's when he has something he wants to watch and he knows that I'm going to try to watch it with him and talk during it. It's like, let me go downstairs and watch this and you stay up here and you work on that blog post you've been wanting to

do. And I'm like, Oh, I was planning on chilling tonight. I wasn't playing. So it's good that I have him in my corner too, to be like, Hey, you've been wanting to get that post up. We're just hanging out. I have something I want to watch. This would be a good time. And then I'll be like, you know what? You're right. Thank you for that. Cause it's kind of nice to have an accountability partner, especially right now when I'm, you know, when you're your own boss, you have to have the internal motivation, intrinsic motivation, but then it's nice to also have an accountability partner and somebody in your corner that knows what, what your goals are and wants you to succeed and can help you when you're feeling a little, a little lazy. you to succeed and can help you when you're feeling a little, a little lazy. Kelsey, I relate to you so much. Like as you're talking, I can relate to so much of what you just said. Like it just, it just, yeah. Because it is like a juggling act a little bit. And I, I love that you said that you allow your kids to like help you. I know Jennifer has done that. I have done that.

Like sometimes if I make a recipe, the boys will ask, are you going to share this with the world now? And I'm like, or is this a recipe that you've shared with the world? It's so cute. You know, like it's so cool because my kids are a little older than yours. I have almost 11, seven and three. And like, they, they get it like, like they know the other day I'm starting a podcast and, and I pulled them in my office

and I said, Hey, come here. I want you, I want you to hear this. And I let them listen to like the intro of my new podcast. And they were like, Whoa. And I think that's a gift that we can give our kids that you don't have to go work for someone else in your life. Like there are things that you can do to create your own income and your own happiness while being able to show up and be the parent that you want to be and give them the life that you want to give them. And does that, does that come with sacrifice? It absolutely does. Like, does that come with a little stress? Sure. Yeah, it sure does. But I mean, what job is without stress is, I mean, whether or not you work for someone or work for

yourself, I think that we all have to learn how to like navigate that. I know my husband is not like stress-free and he works for someone, you know? So I think that that's just such a gift that we've been able, all three of us right now have been able to give our kids that we're home with them yet. They're watching us build this business and this legacy that someday they get a look back on and be like, wow, like my mom, I'm getting like emotional, but like my mom did that. My mom did that while she was raising me. And that's really awesome. Like look at what my mom, like the impact and because blogging goes so far and wide. I mean, the, the capacity that we have to reach people goes so far and wide and we're just sitting behind

our computers and like sharing this stuff or sitting behind our phones, but like, we're truly like helping, I think others and helping another generation with things that are important to us, you know, and our kids get to be like at the front of that. And, oh yeah. And they see it more than anybody else. Really. They see, they're going to see, especially as you said, your kids are a little bit older and they see a little bit more of that behind the scenes work and the fruit of your labor. And my kids don't really get that or see that much yet. But I think that that's such a lesson for them and so inspiring for them to just be able to see all of what goes into that versus being a consumer on the outside.

And especially people, you know, that don't have blogs or aren't business owners and don't know of what goes into that. But your kids to see that, how much it is, how much extra work it is and how much sacrifice you're making and how you're able to do it all while you're still tending to them and being a mom, your number one job. That's kind of something that I've always kept in my head is that I just want to make sure and I always try to do these checks and make sure that being mom in my heart, in my acts, in my words, it's always my number one job, my number one priority. And, you know, if at any

point I feel that slipping or I feel like it's off balance, one, I can tell in my life, like in my days, you know, in my joy and the way I feel and the way we all feel. But that's when it's time to reassess and take a look at my habits and what I'm doing and come up with a new plan. And I think it's really, like you said, it's a really neat thing for your kids to be able to see you do this, because I think that you kind of grew up, I did anyway, thinking that, you know, you have your one track and then you go to college and you pick what you were going to do. And for me, that was teacher. And I threw, I threw all of myself into teaching and I loved it. But then when it was time to be done and I knew I, I knew that when I became a mom, I wanted to stay home. That was kind of something that I'd always wanted to do. And I was so happy to be able to do it when the time came,

but it was kind of like, all right, closing the career box. And now I'm mom. And then to kind of learn along the way, it doesn't have to be this career box. That's just teaching like my career. It's kind of just, what am I doing with my life? And how can I find a way to provide value and bring in some value for my family, provide a little bit on my end too, what, with what talents and what passion I have from my home. And, you know, I think, I think I've found even sometimes more, I think I've found that what I'm doing now brings me more, I don't know, purpose even sometimes than when I was teaching, which, you know, it's arguably one of the most purposeful career paths. But now I feel like, man, man, what I'm doing and the connections I make with a lot of women on my social media pages and through my blog, those have been so valuable.

And I imagine what it would be, you know, I'd be missing out on that. They would be missing out on that had I just decided that this was something possible or didn't, it didn't count as a job, you know? So. And just think about how much you really are still a teacher. You're, you're, you're teaching things in different ways. You're teaching, you know, how to make a recipe or just, you're still offering so much value. And that's probably why it feels fulfilling in that way. I think you're right. I think that's why it feels a little bit natural in some senses too, because I think it's tough and this is a little bit of a shift, but I feel like with, with, with a lot of people who have blogs, they use their social media. Anyway, they use their personal page and then they turn

it into their blog page. And that's, that's a transition. That's kind of an awkward, tough transition to all of a sudden be like, I'm going to be a blog. I'm going to be a blogger. I'm going to share things. I'm going to have this new voice about me. That's it's a little bit different, maybe a little more commanding than what they had before. And then that feels uncomfortable and people feel that imposter syndrome when it's in front of, cause the first people to see that are their, their close community, you know, and then that kind of, that kind of, it makes that transition a little bit tough. And so I feel like to, to start the blog from a sense of like, this is separate, to start the blog from a sense of like, this is separate. This is my separate thing, my separate endeavor, a business, and it has its own thing. And this is what I'm offering, jump in or not.

And I feel like I kind of avoided a little bit of that off the bat, having not tied it into like my personal identity. But that was just, you know, me personally, it's hard to, I feel like it's hard to shift your personal identity just on a dime, you know, it's kind of like you have to, I don't know. So that's one of those struggles I think a lot of people probably deal with when they're getting into that world of making that shift and feeling a little bit of imposter syndrome. But for me, it did become a little natural being a teacher already and kind of having this class of teenagers that I had stuff to share. And I knew that they had listening ears because they didn't know this stuff. And so kind of having a little bit of that, you know, feeling of, I have something to share. It doesn't matter if someone finds it valuable or not. I know some people will,

and I'm just going to share it as if it is valuable because I believe it is. And I'm going to share it like I'm an expert because if I'm talking about it, I believe I have some value to share, you know? Yeah. I think that's really important. And I agree with you. I didn't want, so I did what you did. I, I started like everything separate. Jennifer, I know you did too. Cause I wanted like my family and friends to have the opportunity to opt in or not. I didn't want to force that on them. In fact, I didn't even tell anybody. My sister, I think, called and she's like, is this you? I had shared a picture or whatever on social media. And she's like, what's happening? I didn't even tell anybody that I was doing it. I just kind of was like, this sounds like something

really fun that I'd like to do. Because I just started on Instagram to start. And then the blog came later. And I think that that allowed people... I didn't want to force what I'd like to do. Cause I just started on Instagram to start. And then the blog came later. And I think that that allowed people, like, I didn't want to force what I was doing on anybody, but if somebody was interested, then they could join in, join in what I was doing. And I think that that's been an important thing too. I'm I'd love to hear what you guys have to say about this, but not everybody like in your real quote unquote real life is going to be like your number one fan or your biggest supporter or get what you're saying. And so I think that the sooner that we can just say, this is not for everyone, but the people that it's for is who I'm talking to.

And I've had to learn that along the way to know, like my niche does not, it is not talking to the masses. Like it's talking to a specific group of people who need this content. And those are the people that I'm worried about finding it. Those are the people that I'm wanting to find it. It's not making sure that my mom has read all my blog posts and my sister, and they're buying the things that I'm selling. Because if, if it's not anything that's going to like actually like make a difference in

their life, then I don't want them wasting their time. So kind of taking off that pressure that, you know, all your friends in your life have to like follow your blog and, you know, be like this huge supporter, but knowing like it could be for them or it couldn't, that was a hard lesson for me to learn. I'll just say that. Yeah. I think you definitely have thick skin in this world. If you're aspiring to have a blog and to share and for it to grow, you're going to get the more it grows. And the more you share, the more, more you're going to hear. That's a little bit hard to swallow. And I think it does take a bit of thick skin. Yeah. I would agree. I think I did such a good job of keeping

them separate that I would almost get offended because I would have friends who either in real life or like on my personal Facebook would be like, I really need a simple slow cooker recipe for dinner tonight. And I do not know what to make. And I'm like, hello, come to my blog. Why would you not ask me? Literally exactly what I'm offering. So yeah, it's, it's kind of funny how that can evolve or like, even where you start with it. Like, I'm just like almost secretive about it with mine. I'm like, so don't want to like push people to come to my blog. And I don't know why, like, what would it cost them? Like you come or you don't, you can ask me or you don't, but I very much kept mine separate

and would almost be surprised when people didn't know what I did. Was I embarrassed? I don't know. I think that's a little bit of that. And a lot of people who start is the kind of a little bit of embarrassment about like, is what I'm sharing worthwhile or am I just repeating what everybody already knows, you know, or, but, but then there's things that, and I see other people share, think that everybody eats up and I'm like, oh, like that is not necessarily something that like, maybe that's

something that I knew or, you know, and you're like, see, so something that, you know, it doesn't matter if you, if you have this thought that like, oh, people already know this, or this doesn't need to be said. I think there's a lot of things that people will falsely assume don't need to be said or that are valuable to say. And then when they are said, it gets, you know, that's some of those things are definitely worth worthwhile and worth saying. And I think there's been several times along this journey that I've noticed that something that maybe I thought didn't merit a conversation. And then I'd ended up having the conversation and I was so glad I had it like, see, so think that we maybe falsely assume that we don't have something valuable to share. Guess what? We created the blog Depot just for you. The blog Depot is a nine module course that was designed for someone who thinks that they want to start a blog, but wants to build a solid

foundation and ask themselves the important questions before jumping in. In the blog Depot, we will help you understand what you need to build a successful blog and important questions to ask yourself. And we do it all with our self-paced online course and membership community. You get access to the course and community forum immediately upon signup. And as a special bonus, we do a live coaching call with Depot members every month. So you can talk to us about your specific questions and needs. We want you to feel confident when you decide to finally start blogging someday and the blog Depot will help you do it. It's only $47 a month, but if you sign up today and use code U B P 50, you'll receive 50% off your first month.

The link to join us is in the show notes, and we can't wait to help you build your solid foundation in the blog Depot. Kelsey, what's a piece of advice that you would give a mom that's in a similar stage of life that you're in who wants to start a blog? Like if you're, if you're speaking to the girl, who's like, I really want to do this, but I'm not sure I can with, with kids. What advice would, would you give a young mom? The advice that I would give would just be to just set it up and start regardless of if you think you have the time, just put your ducks in order or like get it going. Maybe just, I would just kind of set a short term. I'm just going to build this blog, just start it, just kind of buy the domain, write a poster to whatever's been on my heart that I've been thinking about. And then I'm not going to put

pressure on myself right off the bat, because that's kind of when you can get into a cycle where you, you work too much, your, your balance gets off, your family life suffers, you feel like it's not worth it. And then you crash and then it goes, it's something that disappears and you're not renewing your, your domain subscription a year later, you know? And so, you know, having endurance to keep it for the long haul and through the busy season of motherhood, when you start having babies and when you don't necessarily have the time starting it anyway, I just think that putting it off is what's going to keep it from ever happening, you know, and I think that I'm so glad I started it when I did, because it's something that I've loved having

throughout having my babies and staying home with them. And I feel like I barely have any free time during the day, but when I do, I'm excited to like, Ooh, what am I going to do? Matt, maybe Matt took the kids to lifetime this morning and I've got two hours of Reese's sleeping and it's a nice fall day. And I'm just going to open up my computer and start typing on this blog post that I've been thinking about. And it's been so fun to have that available. But if you don't start it, then it's not ever available. And it's something you just think about doing one day. And so I guess that would be my advice is just start it. Yeah. It'll take some time right off the bat, just a little bit of a push. But once you get it up, then it's a lot

easier to maintain throughout the busy season. And that's kind of been my effort is just, I don't have these crazy expectations to grow a lot right now in this busy season. My effort and my goals are more long-term and I have some short-term goals for like each year and each month that are very much within reason and goals that are not going to lead to burnout kind of endurance goals, you know, and that something that will allow me to just maintain a stride through this busy season until one day. Cause I know there will be a day when all of a sudden my kids are going to school and, or I just have one baby at home

and I've got all this time and not all this time, but a lot more time, you know, to be able to devote and then to already have it and already have a good working knowledge of it. I've already toyed around with it and grown a little here and there over my early childhood years when my kids are young. And now I can jump in a little bit more with book fee and put a little bit more intentional effort into it. And so that's kind of my advice would be to just start it and don't have a lot of expectations for yourself right off the bat, but just make it. And then you have it available for those times

when you're like, oh, I have some time. I'm going to use it. This sounds fun. I think that's great advice to set those realistic expectations in the season of life that you're in and just giving yourself grace in that season and knowing it might not be a season that you can write three posts a week. It might not be a season that you can write three posts a month, but knowing, like you said, that it's there and able for you to do it. Real quick before we sign off, I do want to chat a little bit.

You joined the bootcamp after already having your blog set up. So what kind of led you to make that decision? Means you had a blog that you started in 2017, and then you decided to join our bootcamp, which is how we connected. What made you decide to do that? You know, I, I had been, it was one of those seasons, I think after I had my daughter, yeah. One of my newborn motivated seasons after I had my second daughter. And I was like, I really, I want to push this again. I want,

I want to make this more of a business. I knew it was going to be several more years before I had the freedom to go out and do something in the world. And because I toyed around with the idea of going back to teaching, I still kind of do. And that's something I love about blogging is that it can follow me through whatever I decide to do, you know, but then I started thinking, you know, I think what I want to do, I just kind of been thinking more about specifically what I wanted to do when my kids were older. I think I had decided that I wanted to see if I could really do this blogging thing as my full-time business, my career beyond

when my kids are home with me. And so I started coming up with ways to set myself up for that. And something I realized is that I just didn't really have... I always felt like I wanted a tech support person. In any other job, when I'm struggling, I call the like I wanted like a tech support person, like in any other job when I'm struggling with, if I call the it guy, you know, or I call, or I talk to the seasoned, you know, my mentor teacher, if I'm struggling with lesson plans or, you know, and, and I felt like, I don't have that person. It's just me. That is, that's the boss here. And so I'm directing these questions towards me and I'm, and I don't know these answers. And then also at that time, I didn't have the time to be Googling and YouTubing all night long. Like I did early on when I didn't have kids yet, when I started my blog,

I just did all that on my own. And that was so, so much work. And I had the capacity because I was literally home stuck in my house for two weeks with nothing to do and no kids. So I had the capacity to literally YouTube stuff all day, all night, work on it all day, all night. But as a busy mom, that's not something I had. I didn't have the capacity to do that. So I was like, I've got to find kind of just a mentor. I've got to find some direction. I've got to find a coach, somebody who is really going to help me take this and give me, equip me with the tools, some strategies, learn a little more from people who have been there and have the answers I'm looking for. And so that's why I decided to sign up for the bootcamp so I could just get a better working knowledge of my blog. Cause I did already have a blog. I was already making posts and I hadn't seen a ton of growth with it, which I knew I didn't expect to because I knew that I'm

trying to keep it in its place through the season. And so I'm not expecting a ton of growth quick, but I just wanted to set myself up with an understanding, a deeper understanding of my blog, some strategies and tools so that when I'm writing blog posts, I'm getting the most out of the time I spend because I'd be spending most time writing blog posts and not know if I'm writing it in a way that's going to even make it most likely to be seen. With SEO or whatever, the stuff I didn't really know, I'm like, it'd be a shame if I'm putting in all this effort and I'm not putting in the effort in the right way. It's like I could put in the same time and effort in a way that's going to make the most of that time and effort, but I needed to be educated on what that was. And so that's where y'all came in.

I'm so thankful for y'all because now I just feel like when I do write a blog post, I know how to set it up with SEO. I know how to work my site better. I don't get stressed out because previously if something went wrong with my blog, like with my website, I would just, it would be a stressor and I would just avoid it for a while. Like, oh, I can't write that blog list because I still don't know what's going on with this. And now I have a better understanding of, you know, what, when things go wrong, what I can do to, to rectify the issue. And so that's been hugely valuable for me. I'm so glad to hear that. That's exactly why we created it was to empower women who want

to blog like, and save them time, like knowing that you're going to invest time in the bootcamp or whatever, but that you're saving them time overall. So yes, very thankful for all of what y'all taught me. Still very useful, even though it's been a year and a half at this point, I just feel like I've been able to take that and run with it and find more direction. Awesome. Thanks so much for joining us today, Kelsey. I know that, yeah, I know that our listeners are going to want to connect with you. So will you let them know how they can do that? Yes. Well, my blog is kelseybrownblog.com and my Instagram is at Kelsey Brown blog, and that's Kelsey with an I E and yeah, I'd like to say I'm on Facebook, but I'm just really not.

I do have a Pinterest. I go in seasons of posting more on that and not. So another thing that's on my future to do list, but anyway, find me on Instagram. I try to post on my stories as much as I can, kind of each day. And yeah. Awesome. Thanks, Kelsey. Thank you.

Yeah, 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.