Motivational Monday

The curser is blinking.......  the page is scary and empty.  Can I do this?   Will anyone read this?  Does anyone care what I think? 

I am completely unsure, but I know that I will regret not trying.  "Do it scared" has always been a quote that spoke to me.  So, here I am, heart racing, completely unsure of what I am doing and how. I am doing it scared.

I have been a fan of reading blogs for years.  The blog that got me started was younghouselove.com.  It is a young couple that are my age and the love they had for their house and decorating.  When I first found the blog, I had also just purchased my first home.  I was so impressed and motivated to see what they were doing.  It was like peeking into the windows of their house, and they were ok with me peeking.  It was so cool!  I still read that blog to this day.  They have evolved and have moved on to a few new houses and a new city now.  But it's still fun to check in with the family and see what they are working on.  I follow a handful of lifestyle and Mom blogs as well.  Again, a view of someone's life and thoughts is like a real-life celebrity gossip magazine.  I love it!  

I tried to start a blog a few years ago but I lost motivation.  I am not sure if this one will stick either, but I really hope I can. I am going to try and start by writing once a week.  Seeing how that goes and adding more.  

In the lifestyle and fashion blogs that I follow, I always wished they would talk about work when they shared work attire.  I know, I know, who wants to talk about work, careers and workplace etiquette when they are home.  I wished they would give some pointers or lessons learned when they were showing me the latest career fashion.  What are tips to doing an amazing power point, how to negotiate a salary increase, how best to manage a department budget for a newbie.  That is the motivation and purpose of this adventure.  Showing the life of both sides, the career side of a working Mom and the fun side at home.  

The other thing that is motivating me is the mechanics and creativity of a blog.  Bloggers / Influencers have turned a hobby into a business (very few succeed). Some people make money by writing posts and sharing their opinion.  That is so intriguing.  The trial and error of what it would take to do that is fascinating to me.  It's all business, just a different kind.  The new skills and techniques to inspire and maintain viewership is a challenge.  But what a fun thing to learn how to do.  In order to attract brands and readers you have to be a consistent and an engaging writer.  I always envy my co-workers who can turn an ordinary email or statement into something compelling.  I can't do that, but I hope this outlet will teach me to be a better writer.  

The technical side is very interesting to me and a skill I want to learn.  I would love to be able to take what I can learn about websites, coding, spacing - to my career.  Instead of going to a class at night, I am going to try and teach myself by mode of this blog.  New college grads know how to code and have a higher technical expertise then I do since I have been out of college for 15+ years.  I don't want to be left behind, so I figured by forcing myself with a blog and documenting it would be a way I could learn and excel at work as well. 

Posting on social media and linking back to a blog, adding fun images, watermarking images, being a consistent voice - all challenges that I want to tackle.  Let's try a few techniques and see how they go.  Let's see what works and what doesn't.  I would rather try a new technique here then at work that has more influence and pressure to succeed.  

Step one.  START (and hit publish)