One Year Blog-Aversary!
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It’s Meg’s Adventtures one year anniversary! I can’t believe it’s already been one whole year since I started on this crazy journey of mine. Last year, when living back at home for a few months and just having this deep desire in my heart to leave and explore the world more, I did hours and hours and hours of research of how to live a full-time nomadic lifestyle and support yourself financially. There’s lots of different routes you can take to do this, but the one that stuck out to me the most was blogging. I’ve gone on some crazy adventures and I love being able to share those with other people.
I could talk to you all day, every day about all the adventures and travels I’ve gone on and things I’ve experienced and what I’ve learned from them! So why not start a blog so I can basically try to do that for a living?!
Unfortunately, when making this decision, I had absolutely no idea of what I was getting myself into! Before purchasing my domain, I had drawn out the design that I wanted for my website. Knowing absolutely nothing about technology and web design, I honestly thought I would basically be able to copy and paste everything exactly how I had drawn it out and that would be that and then I’d start making money. I still laugh at myself for thinking that because that could have not been farther from the truth! Everything I had read about starting a blog was how easy and user-friendly BlueHost and WordPress are, so I was expecting this to be a walk in the park.
Yep, it was not. At all.
In my first week of buying my domain, there were definitely lots of tears cried because I was so frustrated and discouraged. Designing a website is so much work and it seems completely impossible if you have absolutely no experience with it. I watched hours and hours of YouTube videos, just trying to figure out at least a little bit of what I was doing.
After two months of doing nothing but designing and organizing my website, I finally had a design I liked and I was finally able to start what I actually wanted to do, which was writing. I was able to finish a few blog posts in each category, and on March 12, I finally published my website!
Again, after reading all the blog posts about how easy it is to start a blog and how easy it is to make money with this blog, that’s exactly what I was expecting. After publishing it, I sat and waited for the inflow of cash. Ha! Again, that couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
All of these famous bloggers really need to start writing about the actual reality of blogging full time. It is not a walk in the park. It is not just an easy way to make money from home. And it is not something that just happens overnight.
Turning a blog into a business takes SO much work. The question I get most is how can you make money from a blog. Well, there’s a few different ways. Probably the easiest way is using advertisements on your website. When someone clicks your ads and buys something, you get a small commission. It’s really similar with affiliate marketing. If you promote a company or a product and someone purchases something through one of your links, you get a part of the profit.
I have generously been approved by companies such as REI, Amazon, and BearButt. However, of the maybe ten companies that I’ve been approved for, I’ve applied for about a hundred more. When you are a beginner blogger, it is incredibly difficult to find affiliates who will want to partner with you since you don’t have much to offer them if your traffic and subscribers are pretty low.
I received rejection after rejection after rejection, which was completely disheartening. After almost 8 months of blogging and working daily to try to build my traffic and gain approval from more companies, I was just completely discouraged. I didn’t even want to continue to try to make it into a business.
So instead of stressing constantly and not even enjoying working on my blog, I decided to not worry so much about affiliates and advertisements and to just keep writing and build it as I go. This has made blogging so much more enjoyable.
I still do want to eventually make it into a sustainable income, but I will start focusing more on advertising for myself and increasing my traffic before applying for more affiliate programs. I have found ways to make a small income each month and since I’m hard-core budget traveling, it is enough to sustain me.
I have learned so much this past year from this journey of starting my own website/small business. I’ve learned that it takes so much more work than I anticipated. But, it can become something amazing if you put the time and effort into it. I’ve also gained many skills from it, like learning how to edit photos and videos and how to add code to a website. It is so much work and I honestly wish I was able to post more, but it’s a long and slow process of trying to master so many different skills all at once!
Even through all the stress and tears, I still absolutely love blogging. I genuinely love writing about my travels and adventures and sharing my stories with so many people. I feel like I see the world through a unique lense and I love writing to be able to give you guys a glimpse into my mind. My absolute favorite part of traveling is meeting people who come from a million different backgrounds and just getting a glimpse into their hearts and minds and just learning to see new perspectives and ways of life. Traveling is opening my mind up to new things and I want to use my blog to hopefully open up more people’s minds about different world views.
Blogging gives me a new perspective on traveling. I now travel not only for myself, but also for my readers. In my travels, I have had some of the absolute most amazing experiences of my entire life and I want to share that with others to encourage yall to also have some incredible experiences.
The sole purpose of my website is to share experiences and encourage everyone who reads it to live a more fulfilling life by traveling and experiencing all the world has to offer. If I am able to encourage just one person to step out of their comfort zone a bit and have an amazing experience in some way, then it is enough. I write everything for yall. To give you travel tips, guides, and encouragement.
From all of my travels over the past few years, I have gradually expanded the size of my comfort zone and because of this, I have been on some amazing adventures, and I just want to be the person to tell you that it’s possible and to inspire you to also work on expanding your own comfort zone!
I put so much passion into my writing and I love that I am able to give yall a glimpse into my heart and my soul. Writing is more than just giving travel tips, it’s about sharing genuine experiences. Solo traveling has been the greatest thing I’ve ever done for myself, and maybe it could be the best thing you could ever do for yourself too, but you just need a bit of encouragement to embark on that journey. Well I’m here to be that push for you!
Go do something crazy, something amazing, something you’ve always dreamed of doing. Start finding a way to make it happen! I want to be that voice for you, to tell you that you will not regret following your dreams and finding a way to make them a reality.
If you are someone who reads my blog regularly, thank you! That means the world to me. But I don’t want that to be it. Just reading it and going on about your life. I want to be the voice that tells you to stop listening to the constant “no’s” of the world and be the one to fight back and say “yes!”. Yes, I’m gonna follow my dreams. Yes, I’m gonna live my life how I want to live it and not how the world tells me I’m supposed to live it.
And that’s why I will keep blogging and sharing my adventures. Because of yall! Because I want to be encouragement and inspiration for yall to live more fulfilling lives.
Thank yall SO much for reading and supporting me. Now go and live the most fulfilling life possible! That is the reason I keep writing!
If you enjoy reading about all my adventures and travels and want to support my blog financially, I would greatly appreciate that!! To do this, you can scroll down a bit and visit my Patreon page (just click that little orange button!) to decide how you want to support me. Thanks so much and remember to make every day an adventure!
A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it isn’t open
-Frank Zappa
