The Ultimate Blog Podcast - 14. From Chef to Food Photographer and Full-time Blogger with Krista Stechman

Episode Date: March 22, 2022

Former student, Krista Stechman, is joining us on the podcast today. Krista is a blogger for “In Krista’s Kitchen” and joined the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp in 2021. We talk about her success as a n...ow full-time blogger.Krista has a unique journey to blogging that led her to becoming a successful now full-time blogger. Take a listen as we chat with her about Foodtography school, her success as a full-time blogger, and tips that she has to share.Thanks for listening! Connect with us on Instagram: @sparkmediaconceptsCheck out the show notes (link below) for links and resources mentioned in this episode!Thinking about starting a blog? Check out the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp!SHOW NOTES: www.sparkmediaconcepts.com/episode14

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast with Amy Reinecke and Jennifer Draper. We're on a mission to empower women who want to start or grow their own blog. This podcast is for women who want to learn blogging basics and who crave inspiration and encouragement. Whether you're just getting started or have been a blogger for years, we're excited to welcome you into this space where we are passionate about creating community over competition. We are bloggers who want to encourage you to believe in your potential, step outside the norm and step into a life where you create your own schedule, your own success, and your own story. Join us for weekly episodes as we navigate blogging
Starting point is 00:00:38 and work from home life, all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. All right. We are so excited to talk to Krista Stechman today within Krista's Kitchen. Krista joined us for the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp in 2021, and it's been really awesome to watch her grow and evolve her blog since she launched it back in 2021. So welcome Krista to the show. Thank you guys for having me. Yeah, we are so excited. So Krista's blog is in Krista's kitchen. And if you haven't ever taken a peek at her photography, I'm going to encourage you to do so. It is absolutely amazing. But behind every success story, there is where someone began. And that is what we kind of
Starting point is 00:01:26 want to shed light on today is where Krista started and how this dream kind of transpired in her heart. So Krista, if you want to just kind of give us a little bit about your background, where you started and how photography kind of played a role. Sure. I went to culinary school right out of high school. And then I was working as a chef my whole life until last October when I quit. But in the meantime, I started a page with my friends. We did photos at restaurants and we would post them. And then like the more I was on Instagram, I would just see all these different food photos at restaurants. And then like photography school page really is kind of like what got me really wanting to make my photos look a lot better. So finally I decided
Starting point is 00:02:12 that I was just going to like, just do it. I was just going to take the class, pay for it. Like really that's what I wanted to do. So I did. So I bought their course and then I kind of, I started that. It's been a little over a year now. And shortly after I started the photography, I decided if I was making all these recipes to take photos of them, like why not just start a blog too? I have a good friend that's a blogger that I've known for 10 or 12 years. So I kind of talked to her a little bit about it. And I mean, she basically said the same thing. Like if you're already doing the photos and the work, like why not just do the blog along with it? So that's how both of those happened.
Starting point is 00:02:50 I love that you had the desire for photography first, because a lot of people it's the other way around. They decide they want to blog and then they kind of panic and say, oh gosh, now I have to take photos, you know? And so that was the other way around for you, which I think is very interesting that we can all become bloggers for different reasons and in different ways. So when you were a chef, did you do any photography when you were doing your chef work? Or was it just working in the restaurant? And you've just always had this
Starting point is 00:03:20 love and passion for food? Yeah, I never did any photography when I worked as a chef. I always just loved cooking and eating. So that kind of came afterwards. It was, I mean, basically, I guess you could blame it on Instagram. I saw all the gorgeous photos on Instagram and then I thought I wanted to do that. And I saw that, I mean, it looked fun. And I also saw that people were getting paid to do it. So I knew that there was some kind of career in it. And honestly, I really just like blogging never crossed my mind like ever until after I started doing the photography page and kind of started chatting with my friend about it. I never really like, I mean, I obviously I know there's blogs, like I look up recipes. I just never put two and two together that like, Hey, I already do this. I could, you know, turn it into a blog and possibly make it into a career.
Starting point is 00:04:10 Yeah. So looking back now, is it funny the way that it's all kind of happened? Because I love it. You know, two years ago, you'd never probably thought about starting a blog. Right. Yeah. No, I, it is funny. Like it's crazy. Like how quickly and how your life changes. Like I never, I mean, when I was at my last job, I loved it. I literally thought crazy, like how quickly and how your life changes. Like I never, I mean, when I was at my last job, I loved it. I literally thought like, I'll just be here the rest of my life. And then shortly after I wasn't. Yeah. So now you work full-time at home blogging on your blog in Krista's kitchen. And so let's talk a little bit about that shift or that decision, because that's a really big decision to make make to decide to go from working for someone else to becoming your
Starting point is 00:04:51 own boss. So when did you know you were kind of ready to do that? Or how did you come up to that basically idea that, okay, now it's time for me to devote more time to my business? I mean, so when I started around January with the photography, it was just kind of like, I would do it on the weekend. I would post what I had more as just like a side hobby type of thing. And then once I started the blogging bootcamp, it was like, I just really didn't have a lot of time for anything. So I was
Starting point is 00:05:22 fitting stuff in where I could. I mean, like the first bootcamp call I did on my way home from work. So then I guess as time went on, like the more and more I wanted to, you know, do more for my blog. And then I was also doing the photography stuff on the side and it just got to be a little bit too much. So I just kept pushing until I got to the point where I was making enough money with the photography and blog stuff that I could actually quit my job. I wanted to continue doing both for a while, but it was just, I mean, it was just really too much. I was waking up at 5am going to work. When I would get home, I would cook dinner,
Starting point is 00:06:00 put the kids to bed, and then I would start working on photography and blogging stuff, you know, and get five or six hours of sleep and then go back. So I quit in October. So it was about 10 months into it. I mean, I just waited until like financially I would be able to. I'm sure that's been a shift, but so you started with foodtography school. Let's talk a little bit about that because I think that would be helpful for people who are wanting to start a food blog or maybe already have a food blog and they want to make their photos better or feel more confident behind the lens. So you found Foodtography School on Instagram? Yes, I did. And honestly, that's been like such a huge help for me. Like if you go back and look at the first little bit of photos that I posted on my Instagram to like compared to how they are now, it's such a huge difference. So at
Starting point is 00:06:50 that time I had like never touched a professional camera in my life. So I bought it. I bought a couple lenses that they suggested and I just like dove into it. And I do feel like I learned it kind of quickly, but their courses are, they're super helpful. There's tons of information, a lot of basic information kind of tells you how to use your camera and like the most important things that you need to focus on to take good photos. So I mean, lighting, composition, editing, all of that's in there. And yeah, I mean, I feel like, I don't know, I'm sure there's other courses out there. But without that, like, I don't know if I would have learned as quickly as I did.
Starting point is 00:07:30 What do you think drove you to spend the time to do that? I'm sure it was really difficult, given that you were working full time, you've got these kiddos. Did you ever feel like you were like, this is just going to be too much, I want to give up. And what kept you going and working through that course and making those improvements? Because I know it's not easy to learn photography and to learn it to the level that you have is definitely required an investment on your part. Yeah, it was really hard. And it's funny that you say that because there's literally like one thing that I kept picturing. I mean, I definitely, so I knew there would be more money involved. Like if I could master all these skills and do this and I would be able to stay home and spend more time with the kids, you know, go on vacations
Starting point is 00:08:15 whenever we want stuff like that. But I literally kept picturing, I don't know if you guys follow half-baked harvest, but her, like she puts on her stories, like her, she lives in Colorado and like the, her studio that she has and the land around it. I was like, okay, I'm going to do this. And then I'm going to buy something like that for like me and my family. And that's just what I keep picturing. And I'm like, all right, this is happening. I'm going to do it. I love that. Love it. I do. I really love that. You've like manifested this thing that you want, you know, and you have like a very clear picture in your head and you'll totally get there because your photos are amazing. So thank you. So foodtography school, let's talk a little bit about, did you have any guilt in
Starting point is 00:09:06 investing in this quote unquote hobby at the time? Because what I think holds a lot of people back is the money to get started in something like this, to master a skill or to take the bootcamp, for instance, and decide, okay, I'm going to start a blog and to invest in themselves. Was that something that held you back? Or did you have that kind of inner confidence from the start that you're like, I think I could actually do this? I just kind of had it from the start. I don't know. I, I get like that. It's like, once I decide that I want to do something, like I'm going to do it, I'm also like a very spontaneous spender. And I like, just don't feel bad about it at all. But I mean, it was like, I mean, the course is a little bit pricey, but the camera and the lenses were really what I was like, oh man. But that just like pushed me
Starting point is 00:09:50 even more like, okay, you have to make this work. Like, you know, you just paid all this money to start doing this. And I don't know. So I just feel like that pushed me more and more. It's kind of, I mean, that's like the same thing I did with your bootcamp. I saw it on stars stories, the skinniest dish. And then we kind of talked about it like quickly. I was working that night and then I was like, yeah, I'm going to do this. And then she told me how much it was. And I don't, for some reason, it's not like it's, you know, it wasn't ridiculous, but I was just expecting like a quarter of that price. So for like 10 minutes, I was like, Oh God. And then I was like, okay, I don't care. I'm going to do it. Like, cause I want to do this. That's hilarious. I just love hearing how it happened kind of quickly.
Starting point is 00:10:33 And you're not willing to doubt yourself because I think a lot of us can get stuck in that doubt. And then we never move forward. And instead you've looked at these things that you would like to accomplish or do and said, okay, well, I can do this. Like I'm going to have to do this, this, and this to get that. And so I can either spend my time being really scared or I can just do it and take the risk. Yeah. Which I mean, I've definitely done before. I am guilty of doing that, sitting there just thinking and thinking and like being too scared
Starting point is 00:11:02 to do something. But I have also like, I don't know, in the last few years just told myself like, stop, what is this? Like, I'm just wasting time. Like stop being scared of something. If you want to do it, just do it. Like I'm the only person stopping myself. That's true.
Starting point is 00:11:15 I absolutely love that because it's, it's so true. I mean, we only get so much time here. And if we have something that we want to do, like, why are we not doing it? And I know I'm guilty of all by the course. And then I'll give myself the excuse that I don't have enough time to do it. And you've made it clear that you can find the time because you were still working full-time, had these kids and you found the time not only to learn the photography, but to get your blog set up. I mean, gosh, how did you get that all in? Did you have a schedule? Did you just fit it in the nooks and crannies of your day? Yeah. I mean, I definitely had a schedule. I'm kind of like a psycho with schedules. I feel like
Starting point is 00:11:54 I have to have ever since having kids, I like need everything to be exactly where it's supposed to be like fit in a schedule at certain times. And I kind of go a little nuts when it isn't like that. But yeah, I mean, I basically just, it was like, okay, after they go to bed at night, like I, you know, this is when I have a few hours to work, I'm going to be tired, but then I have time to do it. I could listen to stuff in my car because I had an hour drive to work each way. So I listened to stuff then some mornings I would wake up super early on the weekend. It's like, you know, all this stuff that of course you probably would rather not do. But I mean, it was literally the only time my husband was also like super supportive and helpful, you know? So if I was like really stuck and like needed some extra time, like he would just take
Starting point is 00:12:41 care of the girls and I could like go to the basement for an hour or two. So that was super nice too. I think having that support is helpful. You know, I, I hope that, you know, all spouses can be like that when you go to do something like this, because I think not only as moms, but as women in general, we tend to fill up the time that we have, whether it's working toward a goal that we have or just getting stuff done that needs done for the home and whatever and working full-time and all that on top of it. So to have a supportive spouse, I think can make all the difference in the world and someone who obviously saw the vision that you saw as well. And so there was, I'm going to call it a short-term sacrifice for hopefully a long-term goal because you were able to quit your full-time job
Starting point is 00:13:25 in October. And now do you feel like you have to pull the schedule that you did in the beginning or is it a little bit more relaxed? Oh, it's definitely more relaxed. I mean, I definitely would say I'm working full-time right now, but it's not, you know, two full-time jobs. So yeah, it was like a short-term sacrifice. And I kept telling myself that too, like you're okay, this is just going to last for a little while until I can get to a certain point. So yeah. Was that your goal when you were thinking about this and you realized, you know, via your friend that you could, you know, make money on a blog or you learned that you could
Starting point is 00:14:01 have clients that you worked with via food photography, was it ever a goal of yours to quit the job? Or was that just something that you realized as you became busier that you were going to have to make a choice? Yeah, it was definitely not the goal in the beginning at all. I originally thought that I could do all of it. I just didn't realize like how much work it was going to end up being. Yeah. So it was really hard to do. I can definitely say that I miss it. I miss being in the kitchen. It's what I've done my whole life is just, you know, on my feet all day working in a kitchen cooking food. So I definitely miss that part, but it's also worth it. Like I make more money now I'm able to be home now, you know, I can take a lot more vacations whenever I want to.
Starting point is 00:14:47 I don't have to ask my boss if I can have a day off. Yeah. That freedom that you found in this. Yeah, for sure. So how have you been able to... So your blog is only a year old and you've been able to do that. How have you been able to earn revenue? If you don't mind me asking you this, is it with like brands or is it with sponsored posts or affiliate sales? How have you been able to kind of replace that income? Because I think what's important to note here, are you on an ad network yet? No, I'm not. Okay. So I think that that's really important for people to understand that Krista has been able to build revenue without having an ad network on her blog yet, that there are definitely
Starting point is 00:15:31 other ways that you can bring in income and have different revenue streams. So if you're willing to share any of those that could offer anybody some advice, I think that would be helpful. Sure. Yeah. Being on an ad network is definitely the goal, but in the meantime, so I feel like you guys said this a lot before about diversifying your income. And then that's also something like photography school really hits hard on. So originally I was shooting for bloggers. That
Starting point is 00:16:01 was like my only form of income. And then I added on doing brand work. So I would do sponsored posts. Now I don't do too much work for bloggers, but I do sponsored posts, sponsored reels. I do sponsored blog posts also. And then I do, let's say I have affiliate sales from a couple of different things. So it's kind of a mix right now, sponsored posts, reels, a couple of different things. So it's kind of a mix right now of sponsored posts, reels, blog posts, and affiliate sales. So when working with brands, did you reach out to them or did they reach out to you in order to kind of start this partnership that you've created? And do you work with generally the same brands? So they're long-term commitments or are they kind of like one-offs? So it's a little bit of both on both questions. At first, brands started reaching
Starting point is 00:16:45 out to me and then I would do some sponsored work. And then eventually, like once I got to a certain point, I felt confident enough that I could start reaching out to brands. So I pitch brands every week, all week. So that takes up a lot of time. It's definitely a lot of work. It's not just like all those brand deals fall in your lap. I do still definitely get contacted by some asking me to do work for them, but I also reach out because I just want to make sure that I have steady income coming in all the time. So some brands, it's just been once and that's it. There are a couple of brands though that it's been a longer term thing with them. So that's nice too, because like working from home like this, especially not on an ad network doing freelance stuff,
Starting point is 00:17:30 it's a little bit stressful sometimes, you know, because if I'm not like putting the work in, I'm not going to get a paycheck. So it is nice when you can find a brand to work with a longer term. So that way, you know, it just makes you feel good. Like, okay, I know I have some money coming in for the next however many months. Yeah. More of a guaranteed revenue stream there for a certain amount of time, at least. Right. Are you wanting to keep up the pace that you have right now with working with brands and doing sponsored content? Or are you hoping that once you get onto that ad network, you might be able to adjust the way that your work looks a little bit? Yeah. I feel like hopefully once I get on an ad network that I would maybe relax a little bit more with the brand work and Instagram,
Starting point is 00:18:14 because everybody knows Instagram's crazy. So, and it also takes a lot of time, but fortunately and unfortunately, like that's the way that I'm able to make money right now. So I do feel like that I need to keep putting time into it for the time being. I don't think that I would completely stop, but I think that it would be a little bit less than it is now. I think that's important what you just said about putting time and energy where you are going to see the most return because you have chosen to blog for a business. And not everybody makes that decision to blog for a business, but you have, just like Jennifer and I have as well. And so it's important that we understand that there's
Starting point is 00:18:58 a lot of different ways that we can earn revenue, but that doesn't mean that we all have to do all the ways. So we have to pick and choose what's important and what's the most kind of bang for your buck, so to speak, because you are a mom. And one of the reasons that you decided to stay home is to have that freedom back with your kids a little bit. And so the last thing you probably want to do then is fill your schedule to a point that you don't get to enjoy your kids at all. You know?
Starting point is 00:19:22 And so I think that that's important to say, you're spending your time right now where you're able to generate the revenue that you need in order to meet the goals that you've set for yourself. And that is Instagram. And we've not really kept it a secret that we think Instagram is important, but we caution anyone to put all their eggs in that one basket. But you do not do that at all. You are very consistent with blog posts and putting new content out there all the time, which I think you've chosen to do that in a really real and manageable way, which is inspiring and helpful for others to see that you don't have to be the best on every platform. You just have to
Starting point is 00:20:02 choose the platform to spend your time on that is actually where your people are, really. I mean, blogging is about creating a community. And so you've found a community and that's a blessing for you to have there on Instagram. And then hopefully they just come over to your blog too. And then I know that you work on, you know, SEO and organic keyword research and things like that. And so that's going to bring all new people over who might not ever even see you on Instagram. So yeah. Have you ever wanted to start a blog, but had no idea where to begin, or maybe you have a blog that you'd like to update and want some help to make it the best
Starting point is 00:20:44 it can be. We know that there are many people out there who have big dreams for their own blog that never happened because they simply feel stuck. The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp is an eight-week course designed to help you create a solid blogging foundation by teaching you how to treat your blog as a business, find your audience, design a website that is optimized for SEO, all while providing support via online coaching calls each week of the course. There's a private Slack channel for students as well. So questions will never go unanswered. The ultimate blog bootcamp will give you the tools and support to create a blog that has the potential to turn into a profitable
Starting point is 00:21:19 business. We are committed to helping each and every student feel empowered and confident with the foundational principles of blogging and the behind the scenes work that goes into it. If you don't want to blog alone, we can help. We keep each round small in order to provide each student the attention and support we believe you deserve during this process. Since space is limited, get on the waitlist today so we can help you with your blog. The link to join the waitlist is in our show notes or go to sparkmediaconcepts.com and click on the ultimate blog bootcamp. So you've been doing this for a little while now and looking back, I'm sure it's been quite a journey for you. For somebody who's thinking they want to either get into food photography
Starting point is 00:22:03 or potentially start a blog or kind of mesh those two together, let's start with the photography piece of it. And what tips would you give a beginning food photographer? Do you recommend they take a course and how do you recommend they get started? And, you know, is it worth investing in for them? So my recommendation, the only course I've ever taken is the photography school course. I've taken that and the advanced, the beginner photography course though, I think is just packed with information. I think that would definitely,
Starting point is 00:22:35 there was just so much stuff in there about lighting and composition. I mean, I had no idea where your light source is supposed to come from and that you can't have the other lights on in the house. It's just like all this little stuff that, you know, once you do it and your photo looks so much better, you're like, oh, wow, like that seems really simple, but you had no idea. And I mean, they go over composition and color story. I feel like those are all things and editing also, like they're just all things that you really kind of need someone to say, look, like, here's how you can do this. Here is how to do this. This is what's important. And then also like, just be easy on yourself because once you take
Starting point is 00:23:17 the course, it's not like magic. You're not going to just like, Oh, I'm a awesome photographer now. I mean, give yourself time, like, because also like the courses are great, but it's just like with any other job or anything you do, like experience is really the more you do it, like, you know, the more you're really going to learn and figure things out. So you definitely want to give yourself plenty of time to practice and grow your skill. And I think that's important too, to know that there's got to be like this point where you say I'm good enough that I can start sharing my work. It doesn't have to be perfect. Was that a scary point to come to as well? A little bit. I feel like,
Starting point is 00:23:57 so I had done like a little bit with my phone or like attempted to take nice photos, I should say. So I guess when I started my Instagram page, I felt that like they were at the time, like to me, they were good. Now, when I look back at it, it's funny because I feel like they're terrible. But yeah, I mean, just start sharing because also like there's always people
Starting point is 00:24:18 that are going to help too. And, you know, if you're posting a photo and it's overexposed, like, well, that's the other nice thing about the photography school is there's a specific Facebook group that you can join and you can share your work in there and then all these other people that have taken the courses can comment on your stuff you can ask for help and so that's super helpful but yeah I feel like I don't know it's just with like the blog and everything like just do do it, just put it out there, just start doing it. Because that's another thing. If you just keep
Starting point is 00:24:47 thinking like, well, let me wait till, you know, they like really look good or let me wait till I have 50 blog posts written. It's just like, you're never going to do it. So just start doing it. Yeah. I think that's great advice. I love that in the photography school, you're able to have that feedback on your photos as you do it. Kind of like the bootcamp, how we have... Now we use Slack to communicate. But just having that network of people, because I find bloggers are at home by themselves. So when you do these different things that kind of helps you create that network for yourself, that only helps you grow too by surrounding yourself with other
Starting point is 00:25:25 people who might know a little bit more about a topic than you do. And then you learn. And then what's so interesting is you took the blogging course from us, but I look to you as this guru of photography. So I've actually bought the photography course. I haven't started it yet, but I did so because of the feedback that you've given. And so I think that that's just really awesome how we can always continually learn from one another in this space and that people truly do want to see one another be successful and grow. It's a positive. I think it's a positive community to be a part of the blogging community because a lot of people just want you to win. You know, the internet's a big place. Yeah, that has been really nice.
Starting point is 00:26:08 I feel like it's the same with the blogging and the photography community. Like everybody's very supportive of each other. And it's just funny. Like you make all these friends that you never knew you would. And then sometimes you actually get to meet them in real life too.
Starting point is 00:26:23 So next week is Tastemaker Conference. So it's like, I'm going to be meeting all these people that I've been talking to online. So it's just kind of crazy. It'll be fun to finally meet them in person. Yeah. We used to go to conferences back before the pandemic. Yeah. You'll have so much fun. I think that going to the conferences as well is such a great way to like get up close and personal with those people that you have created those relationships with online, you know, and you already have this thing that you've already bonded over essentially, you know, and so, and you do the same job. Like a lot of people, when you tell them you're a blogger, you get this like, oh, okay, that's
Starting point is 00:27:08 cute, you know? Yeah. And so it'll be fun to be surrounded by those people for sure. Yeah, it will be. Other people definitely, I feel like don't really get it when you tell them. So yeah, that'll be fun. They think I just sit home all day and cook some food and eat it. I think
Starting point is 00:27:25 that's what everybody thinks. Snap a few photos real quick. Yeah, we hear that a lot in the boot camp. We actually just had our last call last night with the current round and somebody said that like we had no idea all that there was behind the scenes with blogging, like had no clue. Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest when I, when I decided to take your bootcamp, I had no idea, like you guys are saying all this stuff and I'm like, my God, like, what did I get myself into? But no, I mean, I'm happy I did now and you guys are definitely very helpful. So that was good. It would have been a disaster on my own. I think that's important to say though, like you have to, you, it's okay to ask for help,
Starting point is 00:28:06 you know? Oh yeah. Do you think you would have ever started your blog without the bootcamp? Oh no. Oh my God. I feel like, no, I am not like a computer technical person. And honestly, like even with you guys' help, like I feel like I asked 1000 questions because I could never figure anything out. And like I just even with your help, like my head, I just wanted to explode like every single night.
Starting point is 00:28:32 And like what my husband was even because I was like, I'm just going to see I'm going to see if I can pay them to finish this for me. And my husband is like, just keep doing it. Like, I know like it's terrible now, but like once you actually do it all yourself, once it's finally done, like you are going to be so happy. Like it's going to be the best feeling ever that you actually just did it all by yourself. So true. Yeah. Empowering.
Starting point is 00:28:59 So now having a year of blogging under your belt, do you feel like you've just kind of strengthened that muscle and feel more confident with it? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, for sure. I still get a little nervous when, you know, something pops up and it's like, oh, you need to go in here and do this code or do whatever. And I'm like, oh God, I don't remember. But yeah, no, I mean, it's pretty easy now.
Starting point is 00:29:24 I don't want to say easy, but I mean, you know. Yeah. But you have a resource now and you know where to go to if something were to totally crash, you know, you have like a game plan for what to do. Yeah. Any last minute tips you would share for somebody thinking about starting a blog? Well, I would say if you're nervous about it or you don't think that you know how to do it, definitely sign up for the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp. Seriously though, like, I had no idea what I was doing. And I definitely, if I tried to do it on my own, like I would have, I would have quit like an hour or two into it. So if that's the part that you're nervous about,
Starting point is 00:30:02 I mean, definitely sign up and get some help. And to just start it. Like, I feel like that's the part that you're nervous about, I mean, definitely sign up and get some help and to just start it. Like, I feel like that's another big thing is I wondered, am I going to have time for this? And it's just like, okay, do you want to do it or not? Like just decide and just start it and just do it. And if you can only put out, you know, one blog post a month when you first start on this better than nothing. And then I think you'll just get the hang of it more and more and, you know, get a routine and then you'll do it. Absolutely love it. Definitely invest some time into keyword research because like you guys talked about that at first
Starting point is 00:30:35 and I kind of thought that I was doing that, but I definitely wasn't doing it like to the extent that I should have been. So I feel like, I mean, you might as well start doing it immediately because I almost feel like, you know, half of the blog posts I wrote were for nothing now. Well, just think of it this way. They weren't for nothing, but you can always go in and just redo them because blogging, you don't always have to just be pumping out new content. Actually, Google likes it when we go back in and fix the content that we have on our site to make it even more user-friendly. And so it wasn't all for nothing because you learned. And I think that you talked about the first photo that you posted, the first photos that you posted,
Starting point is 00:31:20 and you think that they're terrible now, or the first blog post that you did. That's super important for people to hear that because when they are going to look at your photos, they're going to think she's in a completely different league and there's no way, but you started somewhere too. Like you started just like the rest of us, you know, and you've just chosen to put a lot of time and energy and effort into this because it's something that you enjoy doing. And I think that it's just always important to not compare somebody's beginning to somebody's middle or end. And that's essentially what you're saying there too, is it's just going to take time to grow. And then before you know it, you're going to look back and be like, oh my gosh,
Starting point is 00:32:00 I thought this was hard along the way and I was learning, but I didn't realize how much I was learning in this time. Yeah, that's helpful too. Sometimes when you feel like a little bit stuck or like you're not making progress or something to just go back a few months or six months and kind of look at what you were doing then compared to now. Yeah. It's always a little bit helpful too because you can even see like a little bit of growth. Yeah. Looking back can always help us go forward for sure. Thanks so much for joining us today. Yeah. Thank you guys for having me. Yeah. We're so glad that we have stayed connected with you. Krista's in our membership program that we offer to our bootcamp students as well. So
Starting point is 00:32:39 we get to see her twice a month on coaching calls as well in there, but I know that you guys are going to want to connect with her too. So Krista, can you please tell everybody where they can find and connect with you? My website is www.inchristaskitchen.com. And then on Instagram, it's at In Krista's Kitchen. Yep. All right. Thanks everyone. Thanks Krista. Thank you guys. Thanks so much for tuning in today. If you'd like to continue the conversation about blogging with us, please find us on Instagram at Spark Media Concepts. You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter where we share blogging tips and inspiration.
Starting point is 00:33:16 You can sign up by finding the link in the show notes. For those of you who are ready for the next step and want to start your own blog, join the waitlist for the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp. The link to join the waitlist is also in the show notes. Go out and make today a great day.

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