My Two Years of Blogging! – How is it Going, Really?

It literally feels long and short at the same time.

Although, I can’t believe it’s been two years since I purchased my domain name.

I can’t believe it’s been two years since I realized that I made a mistake when choosing my domain name (the original domain name was “selfless secrets” which I regretted immediately).

I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since I took 5 months to customize my blog because perfectionism got to me.

I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since I told the world I had a blog, with so much fear inside me.

I can’t believe it’s been 2 years where I was excited at the possibilities, but also frustrated at the same time with all the technical things… oh wait, that’s still me.

I feel like 2 years is a good year for me. It still feels like I’m a beginner with more to learn, but at the same time I’ve gained so much experience (almost 140 blog posts!).

But how is it going, really?

Look, I remember the first few blog posts I published. I was terrified. Putting myself out there was scary because to me, it felt like I’m pretty much giving myself room for judgement. Even though I spent time writing those blog posts, I was scared that it was going to get judged (and most people wouldn’t even tell you to your face!).

But now, every time I write my blog post, as long as I’m proud of the work I did and I know it could add value, I’m going to publish it. Success or not, judged or not, “viral” or not, I wrote that blog post and I’m proud of it.

And also, some of the things I wrote in my one year of blogging blog post and 100th blog post are still true to me today. Especially through the not-so-easy moments. These lessons include:

• Consistency is everything – Not just with how often I’m posting, but also with what I’m posting.
• It’s okay to have unproductive days every now and then – And I’ve had many of them! Most of them, I really needed it to prevent myself from burning out.
• It’s more about managing your energy than managing your time – I knew that I had the most creative energy in the morning, that’s why, I write blog posts in the morning.
• Taking care of your health (sleep, exercise) counts as being productive – I even wrote a blog post on this here.
• Pursue passions for me, and not for other people (otherwise it’s a waste of time) – I pursued my passion to write a book, and then another one (which will be coming soon). I pursued my passion to create a resource library to further help people. While the purpose is for other people to benefit from them, at the end of the day, I’ve done it because I am truly passionate for it.
• Comparing myself to other people will not do me any good – I find myself still reminding myself of this, especially during times when I see bloggers who had started after me already making lots of money and grew their audience faster than mine.
• One way to get over fear is to actually take action – Yep, still true! I was scared of publishing my first book. I got over the fear by publishing it. I was scared of launching my Free Resource Library, I got over the fear by publishing it.
• Mistakes are not a bad thing when you learn from them – Still very true! Made a few technical and personal mistakes along the way. Quickly moved on and they became lessons.
• Motivation is not reliable – There has been times when I needed discipline or something else to work on my blog, motivation wasn’t helping 100% of the time.
• Celebrate small wins – Always, always, always.

Now, another year later, I’ve learned more lessons. I’m still not an expert, but I still feel like my experience and what I’ve learned from it can still help someone!

Top 5 Lessons I Learned

1 – It’s Okay if You’re “not where you thought you’d be by now”

This is my longest point… the rest is short, I promise.

To be honest, this doesn’t just apply to blogging.

I thought by September 2022, I would be graduating from my law degree. Well, I failed multiple classes, and it’s going to take a while for me to graduate now.

With blogging, I thought that by 2 years, I would be making a lot of money from this blog. The truth is, it’s barely any.

I thought by now, I had monetized my blog through paid products. When my first book Small Steps to Progression was published, I said that a paid book would be released soon… and I was telling the truth.

But the first few chapters of that book I wrote, I wasn’t happy with, so I scrapped it. So, I started again, and it was something I was proud of. But even though I made the time to work on it day after day, it’s still a work in progress.

Some people may say it’s because I’m procrastinating on it. However, if you know the full story (which you don’t), there’s a lot of logistics and work that goes into self-publishing a paid book that’s not just writing.

But instead of getting upset at myself for not completing it by the goal date I set for myself, I switched my mindset around it.

Instead, every time I reached the goal date, I just celebrated the wins and what I was able to accomplish. Then I set a new goal date (to help me create a sense of urgency and not delay it any longer).

For example, the original goal date for the Free Resource Library was my 21st birthday, March 30, 2022. I didn’t complete it on time BUT I almost completed 8 out of the 10 resources. I only had 2 left! I celebrated the fact that I was able to create so many free resources during that time frame.

Then, I set the new goal date for the end of June 2022. But of course, life circumstances popped up such as moving places, my grandma passing away, and being overseas for a couple of weeks, it was delayed. But all the resources were completed and all that was left was the launch date. It was finally launched in August 2022, well ahead of the September 2022 goal date!

So, it’s okay if you missed reaching your goal at a certain date, celebrate what you were able to accomplish instead!

2 – My blogging friends/ content creator friends are amazing!

I started making new blogging friends and social media friends (who created self-improvement/personal development type content) online, and it was the same in my second year of blogging!

I love meeting new friends in the personal development/self-growth/self-improvement space because we can all support each other, and also talk about similar things we go through as content creators. Shout out to my incredible blogging/personal development friends… you know who you are!

3 – Forget about going viral, focus on adding value

I remember in my first year of blogging I got caught up on going viral on social media with my blog posts or social media posts.

But it was only in my second year where I learnt that the priority should be adding value instead.

Like what I mentioned earlier, I would only post blog posts that I’m truly proud of. If I feel like it will add value to someone, then I’m going to post it. Now, I’ve done my job.

Because you have to think about the other side. Your target audience don’t care if your content goes viral or not. They’re only going to care if it adds value to them. If your content is valuable, your audience will see it whether it goes viral or not.

4 – It’s okay to pivot when it feels right

When I started my blog, I was writing about these things:

• Personal Development
• Productivity
• Lifestyle
• Study
• Blogging

But then, I switched to these:

• Personal Development
• Productivity
• Self-Care
• Habits
• Routines

In my second year, those 5 remained the same, but I added these content pillars:

• Self-Love
• Self-Date
• Main Character life

And when exactly does it “feel right”? To be honest, that’s an answer that’s different for everyone. For me, for weeks I kept wanting to talk about those three content pillars but was afraid to step outside of the main five categories I usually blog about. But since I kept thinking about it, it was already a sign of me to make a bit of the pivot.

The pivot happened, and I’ve been noticing that a lot of people love the self-love, self-date, and main character life content!

5 – How to deal with copycats

Okay this is just funny since I’m writing this blog post just exactly one week after my first copycat incident. This Instagram account literally copied word-for-word my work. I gave them a nudge on Instagram, also telling them about my website’s terms of use page which addresses copyright.

Luckily, I’m reassured that shall similar situations happen again (and they will), my work is already legally protected through my website terms of use that my lawyers drafted for me. With that particular incident, mentioning my website’s terms of use page was enough for them to take the post down (then block me).

And also, I took lots of screenshots. Because of course, the account ended up blocking me. They ended up taking down the post, but I still have screenshots of their original post that they copied.

But anyways, the copyright and legal side of things are often overlooked in the world of content creating. So, for any of my content creating friends out there, it may be worth thinking about how you can best protect your work from copycats.

Lessons I Haven’t Learned… Yet

And then, here are some lessons that I haven’t learnt yet.

• How to make money with this thing – I haven’t made a lot of money to the point that it’s my main source of income… but I’m getting there. I have a good feeling that my 3rd year anniversary blog post will share some progress with this.
• How to use Pinterest and other social media platforms – I’m still not on TikTok, and my Pinterest is really inactive. Hopefully in Year 3 I would make progress on either of these.
• How to keep celebrating the small wins – There has been times during this year where I felt like “I should’ve been X, Y, Z by now” (like what I mentioned in one of the lessons). But I’m learning how to keep celebrating the wins no matter how small they are.

Top 5 Personal Favourite Blog Posts

Now, here are my top 5 personal favourite blog posts from the last 2 years. If I’m being honest here, I’m quite proud of the blog posts that I have wrote recently. After all, after 2 years of blogging, you’re expected to get better with writing content, right? So, this list are filled with blog posts mainly from Year 2 of having this blog.

1 – 10 Powerful Lessons I Learnt from Travelling By Myself

One of my more recent blog posts, this is my favourite blog post for this year’s blog anniversary list.

I enjoyed writing this blog post because it allowed me to reminisce on my solo travels and what I learned from them.

2 – My “Self-Discovery” Routine (that kickstarted my personal growth)

This is my second favourite blog post because it talked about one of the things, I love most… self-discovery!

I talked about what helps me discover more about myself and build a better relationship with myself in the process.

And there was some good feedback with this post which was a bonus!

3 – How to Plan the Perfect Self-Date

Doing regular self-dates changed my life and built an incredible relationship with myself. It made sense for me to write a blog post to help people plan a self-date that they will enjoy.

Aside from the great feedback I got from this blog post (both public and private feedback!), I did finish writing the blog post feeling like it had a lot of value in it. I always want any blog post I write to have some value in it. This particular blog post stood out to me in terms of value because I felt like I never read many blog posts before on how to plan a great self-date.

4 – 20 Tips to Have a Better Relationship with Yourself (collaboration with Skye of Thriving and Inspiring)

First, this was another one of my favourite blog posts to write because it was a collaboration with one of my blogging friends, Skye of the Thriving and Inspiring blog.

And second, I also really enjoyed the topic as well since it was timely for me. This blog post collaboration was written earlier this year, and it was the year 2022 that I focused a lot on building a better relationship with myself.

This was definitely a standout from the last 2 years of blogging! I’m still applying a lot of these tips!

5 – 21 Things I Discovered About Myself at 21

And last but not least, the last blog post in my Top 5 blog posts for the 2nd year anniversary of my blog… this one! (I’m not going to repeat the title again 😂).

I loved writing this blog post as well, because it allowed me to reflect more on my 21 years of living. My favourite blog posts to write are where I write about my personal experiences or share my personal discoveries. And also, I did a blog post for my 20th birthday, 20 Lessons I Learned Before I Turn 20, and I realized how much I loved these types of blog posts!

Let’s keep an eye out for the 3rd year anniversary blog post. I may mention my next birthday blog post in the Top 5.

What to Expect in the Next Year?

Year 3 is definitely going to be a BIG year for my blog. The first 2 years were me learning about myself with this blog. I spent the first 2 years figuring out what I love writing about most, my content, my vision, and my goal. After countless lessons these past 2 years, I know what this year will be. Here are the 2 main BIG things to expect in Year 3 of this blog:

New Book Released… like actually

I know that last year I said that I will be releasing a new book by the end of this year. BUT things came up, things changed (I changed my mind about what book I wanted to write), and I’m okay with that!

The good news is that there has been A LOT of progress made with this next book. I’m closer to finishing this book than starting it. Safe to say that by the 3rd year anniversary blog post, this book has already been published.

I’ll share more later.

More Paid Products Coming Your Way!

Yep, we’re opening up a digital store here on the blog! If you have access to the Free Resources Library, you are probably already familiar with the digital resources there (the mini e-books, journals, templates, workbooks).

The digital store on laurenbarri will have more exclusive digital products that you’ll be able to purchase! If you thought that the resources in the Free Resources Library were amazing, wait until you see what we have in store… in the store (get it?).

Stay tuned for this!

I’ll Leave it Here

I’m happy to say that I feel like I’ve grown both on a personal level, and in a professional level. I’ve grown as a person as this blog has grown. I’m so excited to see where else this blog can take me.

I’m not where I wanted to be by now in terms of where my blog is at (mainly, money wise). But I’ve still have come so far since I first launched this blog into the world.

I want to say to anyone who has big goals of their own that the best part about working on your goals is the person you’ll become through it. Since I started working on my goals for this blog, I’ve felt how much it had helped me grow as a person.

Don’t forget about the personal growth you’ll experience when working on your goals. Yes, making progress and results feels amazing, but seeing how much you’ve grown also feels amazing too.

Take things one small step at a time, and focus on progress over perfection…

Lauren 😊

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1 Year of Blogging!

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10 Powerful Lessons from Travelling By Myself

My Self-Discovery Routine!

21 Things I Discovered About Myself at 21

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