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Take time out and find some inspiration

Nine months ago I was having a coffee with a friend when he told me he was starting a blog.

“A blog,” I thought, “I want one of those, but I’ve never had the guts to just get up and do it.”

The stars must have been aligned right that day or something weird was going on because I went home and did it. I started a blog and it has changed everything.

I’d been a stay at home mum for far too long. I knew that I needed to find an outlet for my skills and I was beginning to feel like a drag on household resources. Don’t get me wrong I had been freelancing and doing the odd voice-over ever since I gave up work as a BBC Radio Journalist but it didn’t feel like my own business.
Now all that was about to change.

Getting to grips with Wordpress, my chosen blogging platform, was a frustrating business. I found it easy to publish posts but I wanted it to look good and in my inexperience the first “theme” I picked was hideous.

Using trial and error I managed to fight my way through it, falling on articles in online magazines like MASHABLE and reading my way towards expertise. It soon became clear that a blog was not enough. I needed to promote it and that only meant one thing, Twitter.

Off I went again, seeking out and learning as much as I could, spending hours looking for people to follow, getting distracted by fascinating articles and wrestling with Twitter backgrounds and picture sizes. As soon as I got to grips with one thing I would find another to obsess me. Was my blog interesting enough, did the picture show the real me? What was my call to action going to be, what was my product?

It’s vital in such a journey to have an end goal in sight and getting my bright new shiny business off the ground was what it was all about.
Gradually, by working on my marketing efforts as if it were my job I started to turn virtual online contacts into people that I could hook up with in the real world. A whirl of networking ensued and then things began to happen.

I made a couple of key contacts and asked outright for my first bit of work. I felt so cheeky doing it, but it worked.

Now I have a steady stream of press and pr work as well as editing and copywriting jobs. What’s more my own journey has qualified me to offer social media and internet marketing advice to people just like me.

So if you know you want to do something but are hesitant about taking the first step, please, take a leaf out of my book and just do it.

Ten Tips to Take Away

That’s enough about me. What lessons can you take away?

1. Take every opportunity that presents itself, you never know which will be your break-through moment.
2. Have confidence in your ideas; if you have always wanted to do something you really should try it.
3. A blog is a great starting point for any business. Writing about what you do helps to clarify your ideas and pulls people in.
4. Don’t forget to publicise your blog using social media like Facebook and Twitter.
5. Try to write blog posts and Twitter messages that people want to share. If they find what you say useful and interesting they will pass on the link to their friends and you reach a new audience.
6. There is no substitute for networking with people in the real world; social media just makes it easier to meet them.
7. Don’t write people off too quickly, it is often the quiet ones who will call you up later and offer you work.
8. Find a mentor. Learning from others who have gone before you is invaluable.
9. Give something back. Recommending others and passing on links to their blog will stand you in good stead.
10. Just do it.

Good luck!

Lucy

Follow me on Twitter @LucyThorpe

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