Building A Business While Growing A Family

I persevered through many setbacks and struggles trying to build my business. Many nights the electricity went off because I’d forgotten to pay the bill or lacked the monies to do so.

I also remember sneaking access to the neighbor’s internet because mine had been cut off. My life was simply disorganized and I did not have a blogging plan.

In the Beginning

Surely, I possessed an archaic blogging system. I watched many sunrises from my computer desk while crafting blog posts and learning new technologies. Yes indeed, every goal has a cost. Every dream requires dedication and sacrifice.

I’d sacrificed many nights of sleep just to make this business work being in full pursuit of my goals.

My 6-hour routine which began at midnight was simple: laptop – kitchen – bathroom – repeat. My spouse often found me asleep either at the computer desk or on the couch, the result of pushing the limits of my body.  

Yet, my family didn’t understand neither believed in the beauty of my dreams. But now, I fully understand how Joseph (biblical character) felt when he shard his visions with his brothers.

Managing my entrepreneurial passion while growing my family presented many difficult tests. The impromptu family emergencies and never-ending career obligations.  I just never had enough time!  

When these distractions occurred, it was easy to feel burdened and overwhelmed. There were numerous instances when I actually quit and relaunched again the same day.

Hey, it took a firm resolve but I was careful of what I said when talking to myself. My efforts had to pay off and there wasn’t any room for excuses.

I learned the hard way but you get to learn the shortcut.

This article offers insights into how you can build a business while growing a family and succeed at both.

Definition of Business

A business is defined as an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional activities. The term business also refers to the organized efforts and activities of individuals to produce and sell goods and services for profit. (Source: Investopedia.com)

I often regard myself as an enlightened entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur is an individual who conceives and evaluates a particular business idea and sees to it that the concept materializes regardless of the challenges faced. It is up to him to carefully strategize and take conscious steps toward the actualization of his goals for the business. 

How to Start an Online Business

When it comes to starting a business from scratch, it is quite normal to feel hesitant, particularly at the conception stage.

Undoubtedly, the business world is rapidly evolving. Business owners now make use of online platforms to fast track their business success. Unlike traditional brick and mortar businesses, online businesses have a wider reach.

An online presence gives your business credibility. It allows your target audience to confirm your business ‘exists.’  Your online interactions with other customers afford a peek under the hood relative to the quality of customer service you provide.

So, how do you start an online business? Consider the following steps:

• Self-assessment: It is recommended you conduct a self-assessment with regards to the proposed business venture.  Can you identify any elements that can be improved or exploited to achieve your predefined goals?  Particularly, who are you? What are your accomplishments or strengths? What are you passionate about? Are you able to access the required funding and resources to launch your business?

• Define Your Avatar: Most successful online business owners started by first determining what their online community craves. Having a single persona in mind for a blog will make fleshing out your editorial calendar much easier. So, focus on solving a particular problem. The time spent solving this problem in a step-by-step manner will increase traffic to your site.  

• Validate Your Business Idea: Market validation could be achieved via a survey of people in your target market. These surveys are used to test the product concept against a potential target market. Conventional wisdom suggests that a market validation should always be done before introducing a product. So, take a closer look at the concept, analyzing the pros and cons, the marketability, and other related aspects.

• Prepare a Business Plan: A business plan is a written document that describes in detail how a business—usually a new one—is going to achieve its goals. A business plan lays out a written plan from a marketing, financial and operational viewpoint. Business plans are important to allow an individual or company to lay out its goals and attract investment.    

• Setup a Website: A blog can serve as your online headquarters or hub for content, including posts you create. Creating a blog surrounding a topic that is in high demand and becoming an authority can have great benefits.
  • The blog helps your company’s brand awareness, visibility, and it introduces your new products and services online. It also serves as a link between you and your clients. Not only are you able to share with the world solutions to their problems, but you are also able to monetize it.

• Cultivate Leads Via Email Marketing: Email marketing allows you to segment your customers into different lists based on their preferences to send highly personalized content. From crafting the perfect headline to images that resonate with your customer, and valuable content that helps your audience, email is the perfect channel to drive engagement.

• Drive Traffic to Your Website: Build your content with laser focus around solving one problem. Additionally, you can launch new products, create online courses, and write guest or roundup posts.

• Search Engine Optimization: Optimizing the blog for search engines can be beneficial because improved search engine rankings often lead to increased blog traffic. Boost rankings further by researching and using relevant longtail keywords naturally throughout the blog postings, also incorporating these keywords into the title, META and image tags.

• Promote Your Brand: Write copy that sells. Also, share your content in many places and be sure to include your blog link in your social media profiles. Don’t forget to share your blog posts on social media right when you publish them. It’s also acceptable to share your brand-new posts more than once

Launching an Authority Blog

If you are unfamiliar with them, then you must be asking yourself the question – “What is an authority blog?”

What Is an Authority Blog?

An authority blog is a first-class website that is respected by well-informed people in its industry. It is a website that presents valuable, purposeful and useful content in a manner that people are actually delighted they discovered it and eventually share it with their network.  

Authority blogs publish trustworthy information and link to other trustworthy websites.

But how do you establish authority?

Obviously, authority is the ability to secure trust by providing immeasurable value. Would you like to learn how to do that? Would you like to learn how to create a profitable blog that provides an endless profit stream?

Building an authority blog actually requires a bit of work?  It’s all about maintaining a clearly-defined focus and delivering what the market requests. 

7 Steps to Launch an Authority Blog

Don’t even bother trying to start an authority blog until you have figured out the answers to these questions.

1. Can You Find A Profitable Niche?
2. Did You Choose the Right Blogging Platform?
3. Do You Know How to Establish Longevity?
4. Can It Pass the Authority Test?
5. Will Your Idea Rank Favorably Versus the Competition?
6. Does Your Idea Satisfy the Product Test?
7. Can You Skillfully Fuel the Content Machine?

Launching an authority blog is the result of creating a high-quality site that benefits a very specific target audience.  It is the site that visitors trust and is ranked high by search engines.

New bloggers are advised to focus on no more than two sources of traffic. Consider free traffic from search engines using SEO and referral traffic from site visitors via word of mouth.

Arguably, eighty percent of social media networks, emails, blog comments and certain things you do, really don’t matter. Focus on writing quality blog posts and making small investments that increase your website’s value.

You must be serious and committed to the business of blogging. Develop your game plan to become skilled at content creation, email marketing, getting traffic, (SEO/keyword research/ social media), and blog monetization etc. Learn how to effectively utilize “To Do” Lists.

Grab our free printable and finally learn how to schedule daily, weekly and monthly blogging tasks.

Continue to systematically improve your blog by revisiting your core pages, homepage, etc. and tweaking how well they’re aimed at your target audience.  

Don’t be afraid to outsource, especially technical issues with your blog. Don’t know what outsourcing entails?

Outsourcing is a business practice in which a company hires another company or an individual to perform tasks, handle operations or provide services that are either usually executed or had previously been done by the company’s own employees.

Therefore, you may decide to outsource house chores or business tasks such as website creation, graphic design, email newsletter, content marketing or social media management.

Furthermore, you can add structure to the business of blogging by employing the use of S.M.A.R.T Goals., which are outlined below.

Why Do Bloggers Need SMART Goals?

S.M.A.R.T goal setting, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Based, is an effective process for setting and achieving your business goals

If you’re growing a family and just launched your blog, then you may have young children or teenagers who still demand your attention.

Mom Bloggers, in particular, often juggle a million demanding tasks, which are not limited to cleaning house, cooking dinner, folding laundry, paying bills, etc.

This could possibly limit the available time you can afford to work on your blog. However, your ability to focus on the right thing is paramount. Don’t allow yourself to be so easily distracted by social media.

Building a business demands effective time management. You must establish a clear structure and boundaries as ways to minimize distractions and interruptions.

Consequently, subscribe to using S.M.A.R.T Goals to ensure you are focusing on the right things that will move your blog forward:

• Specific – Is it specific enough? What are you trying to achieve? Describe in detail.
• Measurable – Is it measurable? How can you measure your progress? What numbers?
• Attainable – Can you realistically accomplish this goal? Set yourself up for success!
• Relevant – What are the necessary resources you need? Do you have what it takes?
• Timely – What is your deadline? Can you accomplish the goal in this time?

Follow the outline above and you’ll be surprised that your site could actually become an authority blog,

…even while you are sleeping!

Achieving Balance in Your Life

Finding balance in your life can be difficult to do, especially during these hectic days. There’s family and work obligations, plus extra-curricular activities for your kids and unexpected situations. It’s no wonder that you’re feeling out of balance and overwhelmed!

So, how do you balance business and family life? Below are great starting points to get you on the road to a well-balanced life:

• Your family must always come first: Your family is your support, foundation and all you’ve got. Spending time with your family relieves stress and keeps you grounded. Their positive energy can serve as an emotional boost for you to be effective in your business transactions.

• Establish a daily routine. We all live in a society of rush-rush, convenience, and got-to-have-it-all or do-it-all. Perhaps, you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the extracurricular activities you’re involved in. So, determine if there are activities you can cut out to make your life more balanced?  As you look at each activity, ask yourself:
  1. Is this activity necessary for my wellbeing?
  2. Can I live without being involved in this activity?
  3. Is this improving my life or is this overwhelming me?
  4. Is this helping others or is it purely for self-gratification?
  5. Is this going to help me achieve my career, family, and personal goals?

The answers to these questions will help you clean up your schedule and continue to enjoy the things that are really important to you and your family.

• Work when everyone else is sleeping: There’s something peaceful about working when everyone else is sleeping. I wrote many of my articles after midnight. Alternatively, get some sleep. Then rise early enough to secure your first win. Remember that successful people do what unsuccessful don’t do.
• Maintain physical and mental fitness: Prevent conditions such as heart disease and diabetes by maintaining a healthy body. Physical fitness is just as important as mental fitness, and both help you to maintain independence as you age. So, don’t neglect your health. Be sure to exercise regularly, stay hydrated, and adopt a reading schedule.

Balance in life is something that requires constant attention and resilience. Don’t let the busyness of life get in the way of living your life to the fullest. You can accomplish it when you work at it. Keep trying and you’ll be amazed at the stability that comes your way.

The Power of Sleep

Sleep is a fundamental, often overlooked, component of every person’s overall health and well-being. Sleep is essential to achieving balance in your life. Particularly, because it primes the body for another day and facilitates the required repair.

Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety.

It’s believed that sleep-deprived entrepreneurs (those sleeping less than the recommended 7 hours a night) lose about 11 days of productivity a month. Can you believe that?

Yep, working around the clock and running ourselves into the ground, doesn’t serve us well in the end.  Avoid the temptation to work until 2 a.m. every night.

Those sleeping less than 6 hours per night have repeatedly been shown to be at an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Preferably, you are encouraged to get sufficient rest to help prevent excess weight gain, heart disease, and increased illness duration. During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health.

Along with nutrition and exercise, good sleep is one of the pillars of health. Your growing family and budding business need the healthiest version of you.

Therefore, if you want to build a profitable business while creating more margin for your family, don’t overlook the power of sleep.

In Summary

While it is true that building a business while raising a family is difficult, it is not an impossible feat to attain. Undeniably, there are blogging mistakes to avoid. Nevertheless, your willingness to give it a try might perhaps be your first step.

The secret is to define success on your own terms. It’s you alone that fully understands what you want and why you want it. Therefore, be honest with yourself about what you want from your business. Equally important, also be honest about what you are willing to sacrifice to get it.

Build a successful business with these resources designed to help you launch and grow a profitable blog.