Blog Visions 2010
I jumped into building niche sites without much of a plan, except that I wanted to make enough money that I could stay home with my son, rather than putting him in daycare.Nearly every parent would like to do this, but for parents of special needs children, sometimes staying home is the only option. Right now, there’s no way I could hold down a “real” job – I have no one who can look after my son for more than an hour or two at a time. So, I would need to leave my son in the hands of a daycare worker who probably couldn’t understand a thing he says and who has probably never dealt with a child who has sensory processing issues. (You can read a bit more about my story & son if you’d like).
So far, I’ve been able to stay at home, but with the US economy the way it’s been (and it really isn’t getting any better, despite what you hear), I need to step up my efforts and make a bit more money to rebuild my emergency fund, contribute monthly to my son’s college fund, and have to “mad” money (we all know it sucks not have enough room in the budget to take our kids to Chuck E Cheese and the Zoo!).
I haven’t formalized a plan – I’m really not the formal plan type. But I do think that jotting down some goals and notes can help even an unorganized gal like me a bit more focused on the prize, so here goes!
Goals:
- To remain a work from home Mom so that I’m there for my son whenever & where ever he needs me
- To have a monthly income that doesn’t just cover the bills, but that also allows me to pay for my son’s therapies that aren’t otherwise covered (thank you Mom & Dad for covering this right now!), and to contribute to an emergency fund, a college fund, and a mad money fund (sorry, non-profits, you’ll have to be happy with my time rather than my money) – I’d like to be putting at least $100 into each fund a month, plus the monthly therapies bill – so I need an extra $500 a month – doable!
- To start a WordPress theme selling site (in the works – Juicy Themes – opening soon!)
- To start an ecommerce site (in the works – Oogie Boogie Baby – opening soon!)
- To create a tutorial site for people who want to build a niche blogging income, but have technical questions (started – you’re at the site now!)
So, those are the major goals I have for 2010 (my business related goals – didn’t think you really wanted to hear about my weight loss, house decorating, and gardening goals). Now I need to outline a plan that will help me accomplish these goals. Again, no formal plan yet, just some notes:
- At least one tutorial per week on Niche Blogging for Non-Techies
- At least one new theme every other month at Juicy Themes
- Write a formal business plan and marketing plan for Oogie Boogie Baby – and stick to it!
- Stop buying domains until I’ve taken my current sites from Day 1 to at least Day 120 with The Niche Blogger program (that’s through Month 4 – Month 5 starts in on stuff you don’t necessarily do for each blog)
- Start at The Niche Blogger’s Month 5, Day 1, and complete the program through the last day of Month 12 (ack! – heavy duty marketing stuff!)
- Get over my issues with marketing and get my sites marketed – this isn’t Field of Dreams – people don’t magically come just because you built a site!
That’s it for now. Obviously I could go into more detail about what I need to do, but, like I said, this is an outline. Will doing these things bring in an extra $500 a month? Can’t say for sure, but getting all this done certainly can’t hurt!
Perhaps now that you’ve read my blog vision for 2010, you’d like to read the visions some of my fellow bloggers have. We’ve all started niche blogging businesses for a variety of reasons – money, kids, laid off, etc.- and each of us has a unique take on what working online from home means to us and the world around us. You might find some stories and visions that resonate with your own situation.
As a unique way of looking at what blogging really means, a few of us gathered together our thoughts on how blogging can change the world and our individual lives. This is what we came up with:
“Can A Blog Change the World?” by Ruth: “Blogging as an opportunity to use your voice for what you truly believe in, changing your world for the better”.
“My Blogging Vision” by Lisa: “When I started blogging back in October of 2007, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I’ve seen a lot of changes in my life since then yet my vision for my blog remains the same.”
“My Blogging Journey” by Stephen: “Life has been a journey of twists and turns for me. As an introvert it has sometimes been a little bit too stimulating…if life has taught me anything, it is that the world is an amazing place with so many struggles, challenges, opportunities and stories from real people.”
“At the Speed of Blog” by Steve: “What I have seen in the way mankind has changed in the form of communication during my lifetime.”
“All About Me” by Donny: “All About Me – Well maybe not all. I wanted to take a minute and give everyone a chance to get to know a bit about who I am, how I got here, what I hope to accomplish and why I am looking to Internet Marketing and, more specifically, Niche Blogging for income.”
“Turning Dreams Into Goals” by Donna: “For the past year my dream has been to make enough money working online so that both me and my husband could work from home. We have a business that I currently run from home and I wanted to turn that over to him while I created websites.”
“Why I Blog and Why I’ll Continue to Blog” by Michelle: Inspired by others who ‘care’, I got to thinking about the world we all live in and how we have this amazing communication channel we know as the World Wide Web: I wondered if by blogging, can I change the world? Here’s some of the thoughts that quickly came to mind”
“Blogging to Change the World – My World” by Leslie: “Blogging can be a hobby, something you do for fun. For me, it changed my world for the better. It made my life the dream-life I always envisioned.”
“Niche Blogging” by Loren: “Making goals, missing goals and maintaining blogging relationships.”
