The Ultimate Blog Podcast - 82. What I've Learned in 10 Years of Blogging with LaKita Anderson

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

What can you learn from 10 years of blogging? Today, we are joined by LaKita Anderson to talk all about her blogging journey over the last 10 years. LaKita is the creator of Simply LaKita, a food blog that shares simple weekly recipes with a modern twist on comfort food. What began as a creative hobby, developed into a small business and she was able to grow her creative passion into a full-time business and leave her corporate career. Tune in to hear more from LaKita! Thanks for listening! Connect with us on Instagram: @sparkmediaconceptsCheck out the show notes for more information including links and resources mentioned in today's episode!SHOW NOTES: www.sparkmediaconcepts.com/episode82

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

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. Hey, welcome back to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. Today's episode is one that we have been looking forward to since March when we went to Tastemaker. And we were sitting in a training and we heard Lakita Anderson speak. And at one point, I looked at Jennifer and said, we need her on the podcast. And Jennifer agreed. So today that comes to fruition and we get to share her with you and we couldn't be more excited about it. Lakita is the creator of Simply Lakita, which is a food blog that shares simple weekly recipes with a modern twist on comfort food. She began blogging as a way to share her family recipes and love of food photography.

What began as a creative hobby developed into a small business, and she was able to grow her creative passion into a full-time business and leave her corporate career in 2016. And today, Lakita is going to share with you what she has learned the last 10 years of blogging. And it's going to be so good, you guys. I'm so excited. So welcome, Lakita, to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here today. Yeah. There's a lot of people who have been blogging for a long time, but it's not too often that we get to pick their brains. You and Jennifer actually started blogging the same year, both in 2013. And I think that there is a lot to learn from people who have stayed the course.

Because in that 10 years, there's been a lot of people start and there's been a lot of people quit as with anything, because blogging is not the easiest job we could ever choose to do. It takes a lot of grit and a lot of guts, I think, in order to do this job, but it is also extremely rewarding. And so I would love for you just to start, Lakita, by sharing a little bit more about what was that mindset shift in 2013? What made you decide to start this blog? In 2013, when I started blogging, it was just a hobby. I started as a hobby blogger.

I was working in corporate America. I was working in project management. And my job was a lot of, you know, crunching numbers, looking at spreadsheets, sending emails, making phone calls, and just not very fun. I didn't love it. And so I would find myself, you know, as a way to kind of just a creative outlet. I would come home in the afternoon and I would make my grandmother's recipes and my mom's recipes in my kitchen. And I found that I really enjoyed that. And then I wanted a way to share them, but also a way to share my family

recipes because they were written on like old note cards. And I just wanted a digital way to kind of archive those recipes so that I could have them, other family members could have them, my kids could have them someday. And a friend suggested a blog. At the time, I did not even know what a blog was. I didn't know they existed. So I ended up starting it just for fun. And then a few years later, a brand started reaching out to me wanting to partner with me. And I was like, I cannot believe that people get paid to do this. I cannot believe that people get paid to do this. I didn't know that was a thing.

So I was all in with that and very excited, very motivated. So I did work with brands for a year, just, you know, on social media, on different influencer type campaigns. And then after a year, I had literally like surpassed my corporate income working with brand partnerships. And so the mindset was, okay, you know what? If I can make this amount of money part-time, I should be able to make it full-time. So I made the decision in 2016 to take the plunge and just to bet on myself and just to leave corporate America and start working for myself. Okay. Biggest question here. Have you regretted it ever? Like leaving?

Absolutely not. I didn't. I thought I knew the answer, but I just had to ask it. I just had to ask it. That's awesome. I love that you said, I bet on myself because I think that that's so true when it comes to blogging is it really is up to us. Like we are the ones who sit down at the computer. We are the ones who come up with the ideas. We are the ones that put all these ideas into action and make it happen. And I love that you just said I had to bet on myself and you made it happen. And 10 years later, you're doing it full time and you're here to tell the story. Yes. Yes, definitely. It was scary at first, obviously,

but you just have to kind of just stay the course. I definitely planned. I didn't just jump out of my corporate job. I definitely was strategic. I planned because I saved a lot of the money that I had made from those brand partnerships. I was lining up other partnerships to pay me months in advance. So I was very, you know, laser focused on how I was going to make that transition. Were you ever hoping in those first couple years that somebody would approach you? Or did that kind of surprise you when somebody emailed you or reached out to you and said, Hey, we'd like to work with you? Did you even know that was a thing at the time? I had no idea that was a thing.

I was like over here with my head down, just posting my little recipes for fun. There was no method. I didn't know that there was like rules and things you had to do. So I was just enjoying myself. And so when a brand reached out, and I guess that was the good thing is that people gravitated to that. It was just, you know, It was just fun, no fuss, not a big deal. I didn't take it too seriously. So when brands started reaching out, wanting to give me money, I was surprised. I didn't even know that people were getting paid. So that was very eye-opening for me.

I never would have imagined this would have been my full-time career. If I would have went back to my tenure 10 years ago and told myself that, yeah, you're going to be doing this full-time, I would have been like, you're crazy. There's no way. I really love that you started it out of something that you were just passionate about. And that's clearly been the driving force in what's drawn people to you is that you did it for the love of what you were doing. And people could see that. Were people finding you?

Were you even tracking traffic? Were you gaining any email subscribers? What were you doing back in those early days? Because in the beginning, I started out just working with brands and on brand partnerships. So when I started my blog, I started social media as well. So I grew on that. So I think that's where people really found me. I was just sharing just what was going on in my life, what I was making on social media. And I think people really gravitated to that.

As far as my blog, I kind of had to build, I kind of did things backwards because I focused on social media, brand partnerships, and then I had to kind of go back and focus on my blog and build that out. So I don't think I even connected like Google Analytics until like 2017, 2018. I had no clue what I was doing in that area. So they were definitely not finding me on, you know, straight from my blog, from any search engine because I was not connected. So there's that part. You know, what's so important about that though, is that you were still finding success by not doing all the things. Yeah. And I think that, you know, yeah, that was six years ago, seven years ago, whatever. But I think that that is still true today. That's a lesson that we try to coach our students in is you can't do everything at the

same time. It's physically impossible for one person to do all that you would need to do for... If you did it all, quote unquote, the right way with blogging. There's so many platforms to be on. There's so much content you could write, email, welcome series, all these things. We have all these things we can do. You've just shared it. I did what I loved first and then it naturally kind of gravitated

in these other areas. And I think that that's still true today. I think that that can still hold very true today. Find where you're most passionate about and then add on once you get that figured out. Yes, definitely. Because I feel like the technical stuff, as long as you can captivate your audience, you can tell a story that people enjoy hearing, you can always go back and do all the technical stuff. You don't have to get that perfect out the gate. Yes, you do not have to have

the most perfect blog. You just have to launch. We do recommend having a self-hosted blog if you want growth and all of those things, which I'm sure you agree with. Yes. But it doesn't need to be like, this is going to be my forever thing. Just get something out there. Just get it out and start going. Because you can't grow what you don't even have started. Now, I did. Whenever I started out, I did start off with, you know, WordPress and self-hosting because my friend that suggested I started the blog, she was like, this is how you should start. So if you ever want to monetize or do anything with it later in life, she was like, and I look

back now and I'm like, you know what? I'm glad that I made that decision. That was, that was huge. Yes. I'm glad you had a good friend like that. Yeah. That was a nice friend. Yeah. Yeah. Those things are fixable down the road, but boy, when you start it off the right way, it's a lot less work when you do make that choice to be like, okay, I am going to make this into something and I am set up and ready to do that versus having to move yourself over

to another platform. Yes, absolutely. I totally agree. Plus, if you never even decide to monetize it or go that route, it's just nice to be able to have a platform that is yours that you can do whatever you want to do. You can post anything that you want to post on it. So I'm always an advocate for, you know, betting on yourself, on yourself, putting yourself first. So Lakita, what's one thing that you wish that you knew 10 years ago when you started? What is one thing that you wish that you could go back and tell yourself? The one thing I think I would go back and tell myself would be to trust my own voice. I think when I started,

I started as a hobby. I was just doing it for fun. And then along the way, I think you start to get, make other blogger friends. You start to get in blogger groups and things like that. You go to conferences and I think it becomes very loud. The blogging space, there's a lot of different voices and there are a lot of people saying a lot of different things. And it's very easy to get distracted. It's very easy to second guess your own voice and the reason that you started. It's easy for you to just, you know, stop what you're doing and start doing something else that's totally different that you may not want to do. And I think when I started, I knew what I was doing, but along the way, I started doing things that I just saw other bloggers having success with. So there were things

like wordless Wednesdays and let me tell you just random things before I give you the recipe. And I was doing that because, oh, other people were having success and that's what they're doing in the blogging group. So let me do that. It turns out that wasn't a very good idea. So I ended up having to go back and fix and remove and just undo all of those things and go back to the reason why I started in the first place was just to be a food blogger and just to share recipes. So I would tell myself 10 years ago to just trust yourself. Just, you know, we don't all have to look alike. We don't all have to do the same thing. That's, you know, like your audience will find you and will gravitate to that special thing that you have to

offer. So just trust yourself, trust your own gut, trust your own inner voice. Oh, I love that so much. I think that's so good. I really do. I think that's encouragement to whether or not you're just starting. I think it's encouragement to those of us who've been blogging for a long time. And I think it can honestly be used in a lot of different areas of our lives. Listen to your gut. Listen to that inner voice that we have inside of us telling us this is the way that you should go or this is not the way that you should go. And trust that. And know that... I think sometimes that path isn't always very clear along the way, or you might see somebody who's surpassing you or growing faster than you, or whatever.

But remind yourself that you're on your own journey just as they are on theirs. And you're on the journey that you're supposed to be on. And you're sharing what you're supposed to be sharing. And I think when we can really dig deep into our own authenticity, I think that our audience feels that and our community feels that. And we can grow more of a community when we are authentic and we're true to ourselves because we're not trying to be something that doesn't feel natural to us. Yeah, for sure. I couldn't agree with you more. I think a lot of us get into the, we fall into the trap of wanting to grow big. Everybody wants to be big.

We want the big numbers. We want the big social media following, the big, you know, page views. Like that's what everyone wants. But it's like, sometimes it's important for you to step back. And so maybe you can't be big, but maybe it's more important for you to grow wide and

go deeper with your audience. You know, it amazes me that I have people that have been following me since 2015 and 2013. And, you know, they've been able to see my son grow up and graduate college and, you know, feel like they're a part of that. So, you know, just, you know, just love on your audience, love on the people that. So just love on your audience, love on the people that you have. And it's like, you build those relationships and it's not always about the numbers. Yeah, and you've really stayed obviously focused on that

while also being able to build this into a business that is your full-time job now. So once you realized and you started getting these partnerships and you're like, this is nice and I could do your full-time job now. So once you realized and you started getting these partnerships and you're like, this is nice and I could do this full-time, what things did you put into place to set yourself up for success or to figure out what the next steps were to really turn this into something while still saying, saying authentic to your audience and your brand? You know, I don't think I really knew what I was doing in the beginning. So I don't think I put a

lot of, you know, strategic things in place. Like I said, I just came from the hobby route, just having fun. So at some point when I left my job, I think that's when it became real. Like, yeah, it's just me out here doing this and I have to make money because I'm not going to get a regular paycheck. So I have to figure that out. So I think for me, I learned to really sell myself. I got really good at pitching myself and making those connections with brands and their PR companies and things like that. So that helps me a lot. I think I got really good at just building relationships and following up with people. That definitely transitioned from my corporate job.

So it was a little easier for me. But I always say it's really important to follow up with people that you meet because you never know where that's going to take you. As far as technical things, I think I was a little late to the party with technical things. I was one of those people, I was like, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing.

And then it's like, I didn't start investing into a lot of tools until it was like, okay, I have to, I have to do this. I have to get this theme. I have to get this plugin. I have to get this plug in. I have to do this or my site is going to break. So I definitely think that, yeah, that was one of those things I was literally winging it because I'd never planned for this to be a business.

So I didn't have a strategy and I didn't come from a family that were, you know, no one in my family was really entrepreneurs. So nobody could like hold my hand and tell me what to do. So I definitely had to figure it out as I went along. I love that you're talking about breaking the mold. I mean, that's, that's what you're saying. Like you, you didn't have this, you know, this checklist of like, I'm going to do this and this and this and this, you didn't have the checklist. And while a checklist is great, a checklist does not automatically equal success. It means that no matter if you have the checklist or not, as long as you have that drive and that grit that I said earlier, inside of you,

you can figure it out and you can get it done. And you can be successful. And you can even build a business that you didn't know that you wanted to build. Right. Which is what you've done. And I think that's really encouraging. I started similar to you. I started on Instagram with zero intention of blogging at all. Jennifer's like, you need a blog. And I'm like, no, I'm not blogging. I don't want to blog. And then what do you know, like 2 years later, I was blogging. But I think a lot of people out there are doing that right now. I think that they're growing on social media. And they are like, Nope, I don't want to blog. And it just feels like something that for me, at least it felt like I just don't want to do something else. I didn't I didn't want to learn something else. I and I didn't have the confidence. So that's something I wanted to ask you about. I think having that confidence is really important. And you said you just got basically

confident at pitching yourself. Was that something... Do you just have that natural confidence? Or was that something that you had to fake it till you make it kind of thing that you're like, okay, I want to go in full time with this. I have to pitch myself to brands. So whether or not I feel like I can do this or not, I'm sure as heck going to show up like I'm going to do the very best job. Like how did you do you just have that natural confidence? Or was that like a learned skill as well? Yeah, definitely don't have that confidence. Or I didn't, you know, when I came out, that was not a thing. I think that I definitely was a fake it till you make it. And I think, you know, having to be responsible for

your own livelihood is very motivating. Yeah. So I just learned, I think, I think it was really in the practicing because I'm pretty sure the first, you know, few brands, you know, make probably the first 10 brands I pitched. It was horrible. I'm sure I fumbled through a lot, but, you know, it was like getting up, you know, and just continue to do it every day and working those numbers and getting better and better about talking about myself and, you know, who I am and what I can do. And I think that was just something that took time and just practice. You just have to practice. And I think every day I would just try to practice pitching myself to somebody. Yeah, you can't wait till you're perfect at things.

Sometimes you just have to give it a shot, see what happens. Yes, absolutely. And a lot of brands I would cold pitch. So I think that really helped me out, you know, because it was like, oh, I'm not good. I was very comfortable with, okay, I'm not really losing anything by, you know, because it was like, oh, I'm not, I was very comfortable with, okay, I'm not really losing anything by, you know, trying to sell myself and sell them on an idea. So, you know, if I get something out of it, well, great, but this is a great time for me to still practice. And a lot of times, you know, like I said, it was building that relationship. So

sometimes, you know, whenever I pitch them, it was wrong timing or something going on with them. But, you know, just being nice to people and just staying connected with people and wanting to build that relationship, they don't forget that. So a lot of times people would circle back, they would go and work at other companies, work for other brands, and they would remember me and they would circle back and be like, hey, you know, it didn't it didn't work out then, but I definitely have something now that I think you'd be perfect for. That's awesome. I think that just in this whole community, this industry community is really important. And networking is really important. Showing up as yourself. And in my years of different jobs that I've had, something that I've heard a lot is the fortune is in the follow up. And so just because someone says no right away, like you just said, it doesn't mean that

it's a no forever. It just means a no, not right now, maybe. And so continuing to keep those connections by being authentic and all that. And networking, I think, is just a really important lesson for all of us blogging, that networking can open so many doors that you might not even realize. And it's a really fun part of blogging. I think it's one of my favorite parts. That's one of the reasons we love the podcast so much is because we get to hear all these different stories and how people have made this work and how they've been successful and what they're learning and how they're teaching. And it's just so fun to be able to do this and share that with people. So in your tenure here of blogging, what do you feel like has been either the biggest or the hardest lesson that you've had to learn in this time?

Oh, I think there are so many of those for sure. Oh, I think there are so many of those for sure. But I think my biggest and hardest lesson in 10 years, just not being flexible, as flexible. I think the path I started on was the one that, you know, it's like I started and I got stuck and I just was like, OK, this is how it's going to be forever. And when things would change, I wouldn't change or I wouldn't change as fast as I needed to. So I think that was the biggest thing that if I could change anything, I would change that. Because I think that we think of ourselves as bloggers and it's like, oh, I'm just a blogger. Oh, I just I'm just an influencer and that's that. But we have to kind of get in the mindset of a business owner and almost like we own a mini

tech company. And so when you put it in that mindset, if you own a tech company, tech is always changing. There's always something new. Like you think about when I started in 2013, I started with an iPhone 4 and now we're on like what, iPhone 14, 15. So you look at like that change in that 10 years and it's almost like if you look at your business as a tech company then you have to always be ready to change you know and I know there are a lot of things that you know are coming up down the pipeline now that you just have to be very adaptable and ready to change and not so set in your ways. And the way that you do things is the way that you'll always do things, you know, like just don't be afraid to embrace change. In this industry, change happens a lot and it happens often. So definitely just be prepared

that that's, that would be the number one thing that I would tell myself in the beginning, I would tell anybody that's beginning anybody that's kind of plateau, just, you know, go ahead and just don't be afraid to change things. Implementing keyword research and competition analysis into your content strategy is a surefire way to improve your chances of people finding your content. And we love how simple KeySearch makes it to find keywords we actually want to use in our posts. KeySearch is a powerful keyword research tool that makes finding relevant, low competition keywords for your blog simple and easy. If you think optimizing your blog and doing keyword research has to be hard, think again. Give this powerhouse tool a try and see how much easier it will be to create content for your blog. Not only is it reasonably priced even for beginning bloggers,

but you can use our code for 20% off your subscription. Click the link in our show notes Yeah, I think that a lot of the bloggers that we've seen that have given up have done so because they're like, hey, what I'm doing isn't working anymore. And so I just I'm not going to be able to grow. I'm not going to be able to make this into what I want it to be. But that's not even true. You really just have to look at what's happening. And I think it's a hard balance because you don't want to just jump on every new trend that comes out. But I think you have to look at it with the lens of having the experience and knowing what is worth testing and what maybe you're not going to test. For me, people have had great success with TikTok. I'm out. I'm out. I don't care how successful it is. I'm out. I'm not doing it. But Google Web Stories, sure, that makes sense for me, for my brand, for my business.

It's something worth investing time to learn about and seeing if it helps. So I think that's so true. We have to be willing to try the new thing, to adjust and find that balance and staying true to who we are while still adapting and changing and letting ourselves be open to new things as our blog starts to grow. Yeah, absolutely. And blogging is like, even just looking at the food blogger space, like I had, if I was to pick out 10 food blogger friends, like we all focus on different things. None of us focus on the same thing. It's like so many different things that, you know, different ways you can go about just being a food blogger. And that's just one industry. So it's like,

don't be afraid to do something different, which kind of goes back to the trust your voice, trust the reason why you started and just kind of always keep that in mind. So after all of these years and making those adaptations and adjustments along the way, what does blogging look like for you today? Do you still work with brands? Have you monetized in other ways? And how do you spend your time? I definitely pull back from working with brands. I think after I worked with brands so long, I kind of got burnt out. And you find that you're just dealing with contracts and meetings and negotiations. And it was great. It paid me well. But I think you just kind of get

burnt out. And then just the way you look at how you're creating content. So, you know, I would create that content, I would post it on social and that would be that I got paid for it the one time and I'm done with it versus, you know, if you go with, you know, ad revenue, putting that on your blog, then it's like, you know, I can get paid for a recipe that I created back in 2013. So, and I don't have to touch it all the time. So I think it's just about what you want to do. I think for me, because I had worked with brands over so many years, I just started to get burnt out. So I just pulled back and I don't really work with brands much now.

I do every now and then if it's a brand that I just love and it's just a natural fit I will work with them but for the most part I just focus on just content on my blog and that's really it I don't even really focus a whole lot on social media I'll kind of peek in and out you know to say hey and connect with my audience but it's not like my number one focus right now. It's about building like my platform and my, my blog. And that's just the thing that I've just decided to focus on. So that's what kind of works for me. I think that's encouraging to hear. Because as with any business, we don't love every aspect of

it. And so I think it's important to recognize if something is serving you really well right now, it doesn't mean that you have to do it forever. You may want to. But if you don't, that's okay too. You can find other ways to generate revenue. Because as you're growing your blog, you're just continually putting out new content that's going to continue to serve you and serve your audience. And so I just think that's encouraging to hear you say that, that brands is what got you to where you need to be. And then once you got there, then you realized, okay, now I am burnt out and I'd like to go in a different direction. And that was available to you. You didn't have to quit just because you needed to pivot a little bit. Because I think one of the

most beautiful things about blogging is that we do get to show up in the spaces and in the ways that feel the best to us. And if we're at a point that we can, we can hire out the things that we need to that either we're not good at or we just don't have the capacity for to do when you reach that level that you are able to do that.

And I think that was something that as I started blogging, I didn't really understand that. I thought that all bloggers were doing everything. And I was like, how in the world is this going to happen? And I came on as Jennifer's virtual assistant for Pinterest is how I came on to help her with that. So I knew that they were getting a little bit of help. But I just didn't realize how much help was available to bloggers too in order to help because you nailed it. And I've never heard anybody say it like that. But we really are... We have our own mini tech company. I've never had anybody say it like that. But when you said it, I was like, exactly. That's exactly what we have here.

And I think too, what you've said is having this business of blogging. It is a business. And when you take off the hat of like, this is a hobby, or I should be able to do this all by myself. And when you put on the business hat, then you can look at things differently and be like, okay, what needs to be happening in my business in order to make myself successful? So was there ever a time that you kind of had to make that shift in your mindset? Like, okay, this was a hobby. Now this is a

business. And what did those decisions look like? Did you hire anybody to help you? What did that look like for you if there was that shift for you? I know there was that shift for you. But when that shift happened, what did that look like to bet on yourself? for you. But when that shift happened, what did that look like to bet on yourself? That shift looks scary because I think it was easy for me to reach a point to be able to pay my bills and take care of myself and my family. But it's different. It's really different when you become responsible for someone else's livelihood. And so I think that's when I was like, you know what, this is real. This is real. Like me failing, I could probably just close everything down and go back to a regular job, no good deal. But when you become responsible for other people's income,

it's like, yeah, I can't do this anymore because she's going to need lights next month. And I'm going to make sure that I'm doing the work to make sure that happens. So I think that was like the biggest, but you know, I think that's when I became very strategic about my business. And it was like, okay, you know, it wasn't a hobby. I wasn't emotional about things. I wasn't too attached to like old blog posts and things like that. So certain things I was doing, if it wasn't generating revenue, then it was like, okay, well, let's just cut this. Let's just take this off the table. Let's just not do this anymore.

And I think that was the biggest change. I think the biggest, scariest thing I did was when I transitioned from working with brands, I was like, you know what? I don't want to do this anymore. Yeah. And then you look at how much money it was generating. And you have, you know, people that you're responsible for. So it was like huge to say that.

And I was like, you know, I just don't want to do this anymore. And I know that that is going to be a huge blow to my business's revenue. But I just don't want to do this. I don't love it. I hate it. I loathe it. I don't enjoy creating the content. I don't enjoy talking to the brands. I just, and I hate seeing the content out there in the world. So it just doesn't feel good anymore. So let's take this off the table. And that was when I was like, you know, is this really smart? Am I really doing the right thing? Because you see that that money is just going to just go away. It's not going to come in anymore. But I was like, you know what,

I knew that that was going to happen. But I said, you know what, I'm going to again, bet on myself. And I'm going to focus on blogging. I'm going to focus on building my own platform that I can control. And we're just going to see what happens. I know in the beginning it's going to be hard and things are going to be different. We're going to have to, you know, maybe let some things go, some tools that we don't utilize as much. But I knew that, you know, if I put in the work and the focus that it was going to turn around and it did. So I was definitely happy with my decision. Like last year during the holidays, usually it's a big time quarter four is a big time for,

you know, ad revenue for most bloggers and it's a big time, but it's also a time that, you know, you can kind of just take the breaks off and usually just relax. But if you work with brands, you're very busy. You're very busy every day. There's something that needs to be done. And it's a very busy time to the point where I would miss like holiday parties and time with friends and families because I had to work on brand partnerships. I had to work on these campaigns. They had to go out.

But last year, it was just nice. It was just nice just to sit back and enjoy the holidays. And I didn't have to do anything. I was just present with my family. And that's when I knew, you know what? I made the right decision. That's fantastic. I imagine if you would have stuck with forcing yourself to do it because of the money,

you might have burned out. You might have given up. You might have decided to shut the whole thing down versus trusting your own instincts and following what felt right to you and pursuing that path. I mean, you didn't do it blindly. You obviously had a plan and you knew that there were other options, but you did, you took a risk and it paid off for you. Yes. So yeah. Yeah. Like we said, if you look at it as a tech company, that's what tech companies do. They take risk all the time. They're always, you know, pivoting into new things. So it was scary. That was like one of my most scary moments, but I was like, you know what, what do we have to lose here? You know, we can always go back to working brands if this doesn't work out in six months.

Yeah. Yeah. I guess that's the beauty of it is you always have options. You can always go back. You can always change. You can always pick up something if you have to. And I think what you're showing is you can just be resourceful. You just figure it out as you go. You know what you got to do and you're just going to do it no matter what. That's right. Because as bloggers, we wear so many hats. We do so many things that, you know, it's like, don't be afraid to, you know, go and do something else. Like I said, you can easily pick out 10 food bloggers and they all focus on something totally different and they all get paid very well doing something that they love. So don't feel like you have to just do one thing

to make money and that you're just, you know, that's just the way it is and how it's always going to be. Like you can definitely change and pivot into something else. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that's really encouraging for anybody listening who might be just starting out. Because I think in the beginning, we ask ourselves that question, how am I going to make this work? How is this actually going to happen? Or sometimes our spouses might be like, what are you doing? What is happening here? Or maybe friends or whatever, they just don't understand this. But as you do it more often, then you do begin to realize the opportunities really are pretty endless here. And I think the industry just keeps kind of exploding in all these new different ways that we can generate revenue and make an impact.

And I appreciate so much what you said about being able to enjoy the holidays last year, because I think that's really important. We interviewed someone and they said, your time is money too. And so think about how you're spending your time. And is that worth the money that you would be making too? And that kind of... You just answered that for yourself there. You kind of made that switch. My time with my family is just as important as all the money I could be making. And so you have to ask yourself, what are your goals? What are your goals with blogging? They don't all need to be based on monetization. What are the other aspects and the other blessings that blogging can bring into your life? I'd love to hear this for you. For me, it was a schedule. I wanted to be able to be there for my kids. That's still the thing. That is still the thing. I want to be there. I want to be present.

I want to be in the home. And that was a big driving force for me. So what was one of those driving... A couple of those driving forces for you that maybe weren't based on income? But what does the blogging lifestyle bring and benefit and has it done for your life? The same thing, just my time, having time freedom, you know, just being able to kind of create your own schedule. That has been like the biggest thing, being able to show up for my family, being able to be there for their events and things that they have going on. Or maybe if I'm personally just struggling and going through things, being able just to pull back. I know I had during my blogging time, my father ended up getting really sick. He ended

up having to have heart surgery. He was in the hospital for like a month. And for a month, I didn't post anything on my blog. It was like everything was just shut down. I wasn't even in the mindset to even think about that. And it was just nice that even though I didn't post, even though I didn't do anything, you know, my income didn't change. hit, I was still had a paycheck to be able to take care of the things that I needed to take care of. And so that has been the biggest, you know, blessing being able to just, you know, focus on the important things, being able to put my family first, especially whenever I need to put them first. Like that's been the biggest thing that I, I can never imagine. I would not have been able to do that. You know, if I worked a corporate job, you know, I would not have been able to do that if I worked a corporate job. I would have had a certain amount and I would have had to get back to work and that's just how it is. So yeah, definitely. You can't put a price on that. No, you can't. Have you had to implement some boundaries there? Because that's something that we hear a lot. And something I think that Jennifer

and I both struggle with, quite honestly, is since we do work from home, you can easily work all day, every day, because we love it, right? So what kind of boundaries have you had to put into place there? And has that shifted in your 10 years of blogging? What does that look like for you? Oh, yes. Definitely have to put boundaries because it's like your living space and your workspace are together. So it's kind of blurry. And then when you love what you do, it's hard for you to shut it off or it's hard, you know, it's hard to pull it back. So I definitely, because I think there was a time where, you know, when I first started, I was working a traditional job and I

would just kind of blog, work on blog things when I could on the weekend, early in the morning, after work. But then when this became a full-time thing, it was like, oh, I can work on this all the time. So let's work Monday through Friday and let's work on it on the weekend. And then I quickly got burnt out very quickly. And I was like, I can't do this. So I tried to just go back to my corporate schedule. So basically I work like Monday through Thursday are like my intense days that I work. I can work 10 hour days. It's fine. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I try to be off. And if I have to work on Friday, I try to work, you know, half a day on Friday, but definitely I shut everything down on the weekend. The weekend is like my time to do what I want to do. I'm not going to check an email. I'm not going to do anything that's blog related. Like business is closed. The doors

are closed. And I found that me doing that just made me be able to show up more and give my all like Monday through Thursday. So I would tell anybody out there, definitely create those, some sort of schedule, whatever schedule works, you schedule works for you and try to stick to it. Try to find a way to kind of bookend your day and say, okay, if your office is in a separate area, maybe close the door and we're not going to go in there anymore until Monday at eight o'clock. That's when I'm going to show back up to work on my business. And I found that that has made a huge difference. If you need to, you know, put your phone on, do not disturb at a certain time, or you need to shut your computer down, which is my biggest thing. I will turn the computer all the way off. Yeah, that's good advice. Yeah, that's like, shut it down. Like, if you know, five o'clock is the stop time, five o'clock, you know, I'm stopping and I'm turning the computer off. I'm not going to even look at it. And I don't even have my work email is not on my phone.

So I would have to literally go to the computer or I would have to log in through the browser to look at work emails. And I think that setting those boundaries has really been helpful with me. that setting those boundaries has really been helpful with me. You've almost sort of put physical boundaries into place along with those mental boundaries because you'll have to stop and actually think, what am I doing? Because it's easy to mindlessly pull your email up on your phone. And then before you know it, you're caught up in doing something for work versus if you don't even have access to it. And you have to take that then you have to like,

take that step back and be like, No, I told myself I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. Yes, absolutely. Because you'll find yourself that I would find myself if I left my computer on, I would be like, Oh, well, let me go check something really quick. And then it's like three hours later. Oh my gosh, I am notorious for that. You guys, I put my kids to bed and then I'll come to my office. I'm like, Oh, I just wanted to check on one thing. And then the next thing I know, my husband's like, Amy, you come into bed. I'm like, Oh my gosh, how long have I been in here? Like you don't even, you like lose sight because it is enjoyable. Like I enjoy it, you know? And yeah, I think you've offered some like really wise advice here. Like you've kind of coached me today. So thanks. Yes, definitely strict boundaries.

And like I said, the turn the computer off trick has definitely helped me tremendously because it takes effort. It's like, I have to boot the computer back up now to do that. That's not worth it. Yeah. That makes so much sense. And I've never heard anybody say it before. So tonight at five o'clock, I'm turning my computer off. Yeah. I think that's such great advice. I think a lot of what you've shared today has been really, really helpful. And you've offered it in, I think, such an open mind way of be willing to learn, be willing to grow, be willing to shift and change, set those really important boundaries, bet on yourself. That's one of my favorite things that

you've said is to bet on yourself. And I think that we all need that encouragement in this space because we are selling ourselves. We're not just selling the content that we create, but we're selling all of these gifts that we have and that we can share with the world. And so thank you for that encouragement today, just to bet on yourself. And I'm really thankful that you bet on yourself 10 years ago, so you could then share this wisdom with all of us. It's been really helpful. So thanks so much for all that you've shared today. Thank you. Yeah. And Lakita, can you please tell our audience how they can connect with you?

Yeah. And Lakita, can you please tell our audience how they can connect with you? You can find me on my blog. It's simplylakita.com. And all my social handles are at simplylakita. Awesome. Fantastic. We will put all of that in the show notes so you can connect with her easily. Thanks again for coming today. Thank you for having me. Thank you.

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