Some of you are probably asking yourselves, “why would she try to make a career out of blogging?” Great question, thank you for asking. I should give you all some context, especially if I’m asking you all to support me. You have the right to know what you’re supporting. Is this girl just some lazy person who wants to stay home and do nothing and make money all day? Does she secretly hate her job and just doesn’t want her boss to know? Or, is there some other reason behind the blogging? I will do my best to answer any questions that I think you might have, and if I miss one, please leave one in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer it to the best of my ability.
Okay, let’s tackle that first question. Am I just some lazy person who doesn’t want to work for money? Heck no. If I was like that, I would be living off the government’s money and just pretending to look for work. I may not love going to work every day but honestly, who does? And for anyone who has even attempted blogging, or looked into it, this is not one of those get rich quick schemes either. It’s a lot of hard work, especially in the first few months, even the first year. You need to build your site, get traffic to your site, and put out content regularly. So, if I was just choosing blogging because I’m lazy, I chose the wrong career path.
Do I secretly hate my job and just don’t want my boss to know? No. First, my boss is amazing and supportive. She encourages me, guides me, corrects me, and brings me back to earth when my dreams get a bit too out of this world. In fact, it was because she allowed me to start writing blogs for the hotel that I found out I actually have a passion for writing blogs. I never would have seen myself as a blogger if I had not started there. Now, with the hotel blogs, my only role is to come up with the ideas and write the blogs. We have a very talented young woman who makes the posts and gets them on the hotel website. Don’t worry, I will be getting her help making mine better too. The job itself is trying some days, but that’s the case in any hospitality job. You get those people who are just amazing and you can’t wait till they come back, and you get those that after they leave there’s a huge sigh of relief. That’s hospitality. Do I see myself working as an Assistant Manager at this hotel for the rest of my life? No, and that’s okay. It’s not my dream job, but right now, it is the right job for me and I’m extremely thankful for the job, my boss, and the wonderful people I get to work with. And just another bit of proof on how amazing they are, they all are supporting my blog. I get feedback from them and it is so encouraging. So, again, no I do not secretly hate my job.
So, why blogging? I did touch on it a bit on the page about me, but let me go more in depth here. Ever since I was a kid I have loved writing. I used to have a binder with stories that I would start writing, dreams of one day being a famous author bouncing around my head. I would say the author that inspired me the most was Brian Jacques. I loved reading his Redwall series. The way he could write and make you visualise what the scene would look like was brilliant. I tried taking a course online to help me reach my dreams of being an author, but unfortunately, I wasn’t motivated enough and dropped it because I was just throwing money away. However, the passion I had for writing never quite left. On and off again I would start writing novels, hopes and dreams of publishing them spurring me on. My biggest struggle, I would get a new idea, get bored of the novel I was working on, and dive into a new one. I only ever finished writing one novel, but it never got further than that. Honestly, I’m glad. I went back to it after a few years and was mortified at how bad the writing had been. Maybe one day I’ll publish a book, but I know I have lots of growing as a writer to do first.
With the dreams of publishing a book put on a shelf, I tried to think of other ways to write for money. I looked up different options, but nothing really stuck out to me as something I could passionately do. “But didn’t you say you’re passionate about the NHL? Why not become a sports reporter?” Good question. Honestly, the thought never really crossed my mind. I don’t have anything against reporters. I have a friend who is a reporter. I just don’t see myself reporting. And let’s be real here. When I watch a game, I’m not thinking about questions I should ask, I’m just enjoying the game and cheering on one, or in some cases both, of the teams. Well, that puts the reporter off the shelf.
As I mentioned earlier, I started blogging for the hotel I work for. I really do enjoy it, but there was still a little something that was unfulfilling about it. What was the missing piece? I wasn’t writing entirely what I wanted to. I have to write things that will express the views of the hotel. I have to make sure that whoever reads it the blog doesn’t get a bad image of the hotel. I have to make sure that the blogs are something my boss wants on the website. Again, she does give me lots of freedom with them, but there are still some restraints. This is fine, but I really wanted to start writing my own stuff as well. So, after some thought, talking it through with friends, and praying about it, I decided to give blogging a shot.
What are my hopes and dreams for this? Well, as I have mentioned before, I am hoping to make a career out of this. I would love to be able to blog full time and have that be my only source of income. I have a dream of being a travel blogger. I love to travel, but don’t make nearly enough to make it a regular thing. I have hopes and dreams of going to places, revisiting places, and still being able to work while I travel. “Why not become a flight attendant?” I don’t get to choose where I go, the airline does. I want to go wherever I want, and stay as long as I want. The freedom that comes with being able to work wherever I want and whenever I want sounds so refreshing after having done only shift work where your schedule is never the same day in and day out. I will admit, I also would love to travel around and watch hockey games in different cities. I do have a hockey fan bucket list and on it is to watch a live game in all 32 hockey cities. I could do that with blogging. Those are some “selfish” reasons for wanting a successful blogging career.
However, it’s not just for me that I want to have this success. I want to do this for others as well. I hope that my blogs inspire others whether it be in the area of health and fitness, or chasing dreams, or taking care of themselves. We live in a time where mental illness is everywhere. You can toss a coin into a crowd of people and hit someone who suffers from mental illness. Now, I am fortunate to say that I have not been diagnosed with any mental illness, although some people think I should get tested for ADHD. However, I have so many friends who suffer from anxiety or depression and it breaks my heart. I’m not a therapist, but I hope to inspire people to take care of their mental health. I also want to support charities more. I do give monthly to World Vision and Canadian Red Cross, and I try to tithe at my church monthly as well. I want to do more. There are so many charities and groups out there doing all they can to help people, save animals and nature, and raise money for research that saves lives. I know it’s impossible to help every single one, but I want to do more. I also want to be able to help the people in my life when they are struggling, whether it be with financial aid or having the time to be there for them when they need someone. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like saying I wish I could come help you but I’m working. I have family that lives in other parts of Canada and I would love to visit them more. I have friends in different countries. I would love to go visit them. Some people might say, this is still all about you, and to some degree I suppose it is. However, I don’t think that wanting to help others is selfish. Why not give of my finances and my time to benefit someone else? If I’m successful with blogging, I can reach that goal.
I could go on about all the hopes and dreams I have with blogging, but that might be too long. Now, some of you might just shrug and say good luck. Some may think my dreams are stupid. That’s okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, I’m hoping there are some who read this and are pumped and want to cheer me on and help. So, how can you help? Share my blogs with others that you think would benefit from reading them. Share them with anyone you think would want to support it. In the, hopefully near, future I hope to partner with Google AdSense to make money that way, so disable adblock for my site. When I have enough traffic, I hope to partner with different sites and get affiliate links on my page. Check them out. And don’t worry. I’m not one of those people who will partner with just anyone for money. If I don’t love the products, I’m not partnering with them. I’ll eventually get a subscription for you to subscribe, but currently still working on figuring that out.
I will try not to be one of those in your face people and have so many ads and affiliate links that you can’t enjoy the blogs, and I understand if you might not want to do anything other than read the blogs. That’s okay. Even just reading my blogs is supporting me in that small way. So, to those of you who just plan on reading the blogs, thank you. For those of you who are ready to support me in hopes of reading travel blogs, thank you. And for those of you who read one blog and then decided you didn’t want anything to do with this site, that’s okay. I know that blogs are not for everyone. Well, I’ll leave this here for now. Thank you again for taking the time to read my blog and I’ll hopefully see you back here for another one. Until then, have a fantastic day everyone.