This might seem like a funny title to you, but let me explain. I currently work for Keller Williams Realty. One of our founders, Gary Keller, wrote a book called “The One Thing.” We talk about it frequently in our team meetings, and on our closed Facebook group. This book encourages you to figure out what your big “why” is…why do you want to become successful? What is your motivation? Why create freedom? For me…it’s travel and freedom.
HO-HUM
I was thinking about this today. My husband is self-employed as a hair stylist. Once in a blue moon, he has a really late start to his day. Today was one of those rare days. We woke up when we got done sleeping (not to an alarm). Breakfast was when we felt like it…not rushed because we had to leave for WORK. Then he informed me he was going to clean the kitchen. I had a ton of other chores to do since we went camping this past weekend so I told him to go for it.
LIGHT BULB
I know this is all mundane, but my point is this…it hit me that here we were in the middle of the day, cleaning our house, enjoying each other’s company, and getting stuff done! I thought to myself, “man, I wish we could do this all the time!” No, not clean the house, but just doing what makes sense to us. I want FREEDOM…freedom to do what comes naturally, and FREEDOM to travel more!
Do we need to do chores? Then, we do them. Do we need to run errands? We run errands! Do we want to have lunch with one of our adult children? Then we do that. Do we want to hop on a plane tomorrow and go to some sandy beach somewhere, then we do it! I guess what I’m trying to say is that I enjoy spending time with this man, and I would love to do this full time. While I know there’s nothing wrong with this, it is sadly, not our reality at this given moment.
MY BIG WHY – TRAVEL AND FREEDOM
SO, my big why is that I want to spend time with my man! We want to travel more, not just in the US, but all over the world! He and I have so enjoyed having our little camper and going all over our beautiful state together, why not go see the country together in our little camper? Why not go see the world together? There’s so much we want to do, but we need to create the freedom to do it.
I know many people have the same desire. I read it online all the time. My friends talk about it…even my kids and siblings talk about it. I want to be different. I don’t just want this desire to burn inside of me and not do anything with it! So, what’s the answer? Well…I started a blog!
YOU CAN TOO!
Are you interested in starting a blog or some other form of online income? If so, why? Define your reason for wanting to. Write your reasons down. Make a goal board, either physical or on Pinterest. The steps for starting your site aren’t hard and they are laid out for free on numerous websites! It just takes some effort. Check out some blogger courses. Create and Go has some great ones!
It all starts with an idea. Write it down, pen it out, set some goals and start your research! Pick something that you know well. What is it that you can’t stop talking about? What do you know that others WANT to know? For me, it’s traveling near and far. For him, it’s making money and saving for our vacations. A travel blog seemed like the right thing for the two of us, so we started this one.
Choose your domain name. There are many parts to building a website, but the first is to choose your name. It can be anything, you will drive the traffic to it. Making up the name doesn’t have to be complicated. There’s nothing magical here. Write down words that have to do with your subject matter. I came up with “Home Is Where We Take It” because, during the summer, we’re gone A LOT in our camper or on a plane! Use my domain name finder to check availability:
Choose your host. Think of this as a place for your website to live. Basically, if you’re building a home, it needs to be built SOMEWHERE. The domain name is the address (which tells people where to go), the host is physically where it lives (which computer it lives on). I like Bluehost.com. It is cheap (only $3.95/month) and reliable (can handle LOADS of traffic without slowing your site down or crashing altogether).
Install WordPress. You don’t have to use WordPress, it’s just one of the most popular content management systems with lots of plugins and extras for just about any type of website you want to build (it’s EASY software to use)! Most website hosts have a one-click installation, so it should be easy to do.
Choose and install your theme. There are TONS of themes available for WordPress. I like to use ThemeForest. They are a great company that has been around for a long, long time. Their themes are affordable, and usually easy to understand. There are free themes you can use as well, but almost every one I’ve ever used is clunky and difficult to learn. Specifically, I like their Avada theme. It has LOTS of options as far as different feels, and it has plenty of tutorials on YouTube.
Finish setup according to your theme. This step varies with each theme. Most themes will have a homepage or some kind of support page that will show you how to setup your page to look like theirs. There are many, MANY videos on YouTube about this. There’s no need for me to reinvent the wheel here.
Begin blogging! Obviously, this is an oversimplified list. You will need to either make a logo or have one made for you. You will need to set up social media. You will need to set up an email funnel for your website and probably a thousand other little things, but this is the nitty gritty, bare basic list that will get you up and running!!!
I hope this list helps you! I hope it motivates you! I know blogging isn’t for everyone, but it can be done by anyone! It’s not difficult, just time-consuming. That’s all I have, for now, folks! I want to leave you with a quote:
It’s never too late to start over. If you weren’t happy with yesterday, try something different today. Don’t stay stuck, do better! ~ Alex Elle
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