How To Make Your Blog Your Passion Project – Sandbox To Success Episode 37

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How To Make Your Blog Your Passion Project - Sandbox To Success Episode 37

Today on Episode 37, we’ll be talking all about how to change your blog to your passion project. You may be thinking that your blog is your passion project, but I’m going to challenge you on that. Most people start off blogging as a passion, and then get the first taste of a sponsored post. They then begin making choices based on what advertisers want or what others are doing. They want to keep up with the Joneses. Now in episode 36, I said you are the boss. Do your own thing. The flip side of that is that you do want to keep up with the “latest and greatest”. I’m guilty of it as well. We started Thinking Outside the Sandbox because I wanted to make sure other work from home moms had somewhere to go for resources. The family site grew from that. It started off as somewhat of a passion project, but it was always about making money.

How To Make Your Blog Your Passion Project – Sandbox To Success Episode 37

My passion project is Fat Fitness Girl. I’m sick and tired of going places and told I’m not good enough because of my weight. It’s not about weight; it’s about feeling good. I don’t update this blog as much as TOTS or podcast as much, but it’s my passion.

I want to give you some tips how you can have a passion project of your own!

Pick a Topic That’s Important To You

If you can’t think of something that’s really important to you, think of something that really makes you upset. What really grinds your gears? It may be something simple. For me, Fat Fitness Girl is a super simple concept. Just talking to women about being healthy without having to worry about fitting into a certain body type or losing weight. It’s hard to find a site about fitness that doesn’t focus on dieting, calories, or weight loss. I was passionate about creating something that didn’t fall into this category.

Give Back To Your Audience

For Fat Fitness Girl I wanted to give back by encouraging women that we can do it together. I have moments when I don’t like my own body, but I want to spread the message to other women that “nobody cares about that stuff but you”. Or, if someone else does care about that stuff, I want to empower other women to work together to find out how we can change that message.  Whether it’s a monetary contribution, volunteering, or just brining up others, you have to find a way to give back to your audience.

Look Down The Road

Will your passion project still be relevant 1,5,10,15 years down the road? I have a plan for Fat Fitness Girl for how I’d like to grow and expand my message. It’s a smaller blog with a small audience, but I can really impact those readers that I have. While I don’t have the time I’d like to invest in it now, I have a plan that will allow me to invest more time in it in the next few months. I’m looking forward to that.

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help

I know I’m not always the best person to know what I want and how I am. Sounds silly since no one is supposed to know me more than me, but that isn’t always the truth. Most people out there can agree with me. You may not know how people perceive you… ask them! If you want to start your passion blog about something like food allergies, and you’re in a Facebook Group or Community with other women speaking about that topic… talk to them about it! Find out there struggles, what they wish they’d known sooner, etc. etc. You have to get out of your comfort zone and start those conversations.

Grow A Community

Your passion project doesn’t have to be a life-changing project. It’s about growing as women. Although we connect a lot on the Internet, we’re also very isolated. I’m speaking now through a microphone with pantyhose on it in front the screen. I wish I could see you… but I can’t.  I wish we could sit at the table across from each other, but that isn’t the way things work. So we take this isolation that we have and flip it on its head. Turn it into a community. That’s what blogging is all about, making a community of women or men who are all doing something because they want to make money for their families or something like that. It’s all about paying the bills and those day-to-day operations, so we aren’t really feeding our soul. That’s where our passion projects come in. If your passion project doesn’t fit your current blog, it’s okay. It doesn’t need to be a big entity to make an impact. If you’re passionate about what you’re talking about, the readers will come. My readers on Fat Fitness Girl, readers connect with me more than they have on any of my other sites. They relate to me. Find a way you can connect. If you can make money on it…. That’s great. If you can connect it to what you’re already doing, awesome.

That’s it for today. If you go to our sponsors Submitowl.com, you’ll see its super easy to submit your domain to so many different directories. One flat rate fee and you’re good to go. That’s one less thing you have to spend time doing. Until next week, I hope you have an excellent rest of your day. I’d love to hear what all your passion projects are! Drop me a line, send me an email sandboxtosuccess.com and let me know how you’re doing.

“Until next time, thanks for listening to the Sandbox to Success podcast, with your host: Katrina M. Thom. If you like what you just heard, leave us a message at ITunes or Stitcher.  We would also love to hear what you have to say. Use the hashtag  #totspodcast to connect with us on twitter. Don’t forget to check out the show notes, which can be found at www.totsbusiness.com. Join us next time for another edition of the Sandbox to Success podcast. Have an AWESOME day!”

The post How To Make Your Blog Your Passion Project – Sandbox To Success Episode 37 appeared first on Thinking Outside The Sandbox.