Baby Got Balance is One!

I need to preface this post by saying that last week was actually the one year anniversary for Baby Got Balance, however the universe was trying to make sure I understood how hosting issues work and my site was down!  Frequently.  All should be fixed now but we’ll just tack that on to the list of things I’ve learned this past year!

You guys.  Baby Got Balance is one!  I can’t believe it’s already been a year but I’m super excited to have had BGB grow the way that it has.  I’ve enjoyed sharing my experiences and look forward to continuing to grow and evolve with y’all!  Thanks for being a reader, a supporter and part of my community.  Happy birthday, BGB! I can’t believe it’s been one year since we launched (and what a year it’s been!).

In honor of BGB’s first birthday I’ve put together a list of a few things I’ve learned in my first year blogging. I hope that you enjoy reading and are just as excited for this next year as I am!

I found support in places I never would have thought

I found that I already had people in my life, however far into the peripheral they were, that were already interested in what I had to say.  If I’m being totally honest this really rocked my world!  A couple people I hadn’t spoken to in years were some of my earliest supporters.  Wow!  It also felt good because when you’re first starting out (if you’re anything like me) you’ll be full of doubt as to the validity of your opinions/ideas/just about everything and this will help to show you that you are actually overthinking things and people (already in your life, your real life!) are already interested in what you have to offer.  So rad!

The opposition the universe will provide to this wonderful bounty of support is that not everyone will be on board…..and that’s ok.  While it felt good knowing I had a secret support system already there I also faced the fact that I can’t measure my worth on other people’s less than stellar reactions.  Crazy, right?  Just like everything else in life you can’t wow ‘em all, which is fine.  Just do you.

I had to take a hard look at how analytical I can be

Let’s talk about starting BGB.  That sh*t took forever.  Seriously.  I went through every single thing dozens of times, tweaking and re-writing and editing and comparing to established blogs (pro tip:  DON’T DO THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE).  I thought if I could just figure out a better layout for my homepage or learn more tricks in Lightroom or reword a paragraph just so it would make me more legit.  I would have a valid opinion and would be taken more seriously.

Guyyyysssssss.  It was too much.  I can be too much.  While my being too much has brought me some professional success it’s also the reason I almost scrapped BGB before I launched!  Chasing perfection is never going to yield the results I want.  I realized I had to let go and learn as I went, which meant taking a pretty deep dive into the blogging world without much know how.  And that’s OK.

You can’t go it alone

You need community if you’re serious about your blog, even if it’s a (serious) hobby.  You need folks who have been there, who know how to get over those hurdles and who have done some leg work.  You also need support when it comes to building an audience.  I had no idea about blogging groups or networking until about half way through 2019 but I’ll let you know that it’s changed the way I feel about blogging as a whole.  You’ll find that some are less than helpful and some are super sales-y while some provide just what you need:  support, advice, community building and more!

Finally, I need to give an Honorable Mention to my technical abilities. It might seem simple but I had no idea how to do any website work when I started BGB and I have done almost everything myself. My site might occasionally be glitchy (see preface!) and not looking quite as polished as I would like but I’ve done it my damn self! Seriously, I have only asked Mr. BGB (who works in the tech industry) for help maybe twice this past year. I’m evolving and learning and Baby Got Balance is, too!

I hope that you’re as excited for this next year as I am! I’ve got some incredible content on deck and some pretty great trips already in the works. I’m also (hopefully) going to be finally shooting photos with something other than my iPhone. Seriously, all my photos have been taken with my iPhone up to this point!

Thank you again for reading and being a part of the start of Baby Got Balance!  I’d love to hear from you about what you’re most looking forward to this coming year and what you’d like to see on BGB – leave me a comment below or send me a DM!

Cheers to another year!