Business Plan for Kate Schmate?

“Belt Buckles” by Jane Heller

When I first started this blog in the summer of 2008, I was excited to make it a blog all about our growing family, a way to share stories about pregnancy, our children and our very planned life in our fun new home. But then, I didn’t get pregnant right away, but I had really enjoyed blogging in the meantime. So, I kept going.

Fast-forward to when I created my Thirty before 30 list which was around the Fall of 2010, I had hopes that maybe, just maybe, if I put in a lot of effort, I could have a blog that made money. I could have an awesome side business through readership and creating original content.

Then, I read quite a bit about advertising and selling ads on the off-shoot blogs of Design*Sponge (Building a Better Advertiser), Style Me Pretty (Backstage), and Creature Comforts (Guide for Better Blogging). All suggested having a much larger reader base and being able to devote more time than I could currently give to the blog.

After some long thinking and adjusting my priorities, I’ve decided to not pursue making money from my blog… yet. My readership has actually grown from when I started, and the numbers are steady and consistent. But they are not nearly where they need to be to start selling ads. Or rather, the numbers aren’t where they need to be to make selling ads worth my time and energy. Especially in this time period of my life… about to have a baby… the reason I was going to start this blog to begin with!

All of that to say, I have made adjustments to my “About Kate Schmate” page which are a huge improvement from what they were before. So check out my new summary and the highlights of the past three and a half years of blogging.

If anything, this Thirty before 30 list has taught me what I don’t want to do right now (tattoo, business plan, maybe fixing my posture… !), especially after thoughtful deliberation and research. I’m glad that this was on my list.