The Ultimate Blog Podcast - One Year In: Natalie Kalmar’s Journey to Growing a Fitness & Foodie Blog

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

Are you thinking about making the leap into blogging, but feeling nervous? Or maybe you’re in the early stages of your blogging journey and need a little encouragement. Take this episode as the inspiration you’ve been looking for! In this episode of The Ultimate Blog Podcast, Jennifer and Amy sit down with Natalie Kalmar, a fitness and foodie blogger and member of the Ultimate Blog Roadmap community. Now that she’s one year into blogging, she’s sharing her journey from the corporate world into blogging, how she’s grown, and the lessons she learned along the way. 🔗Click here and check out the show notes for this episode!

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. This podcast is the podcast we wish we had when we started blogging. I'm Amy Reinicki. And I'm Jennifer Draper. Our episodes dive deep into how to monetize your blog, sharing unique insights and practical tips. We bring you in-depth interviews with successful bloggers and experts who offer valuable, actionable advice.

Our mission is to educate, support, inspire, and empower you in your blogging business. Welcome to The Ultimate Blog Podcast. Some of our very favorite episodes to share with you are episodes that we get to sit down one-on-one with members from our membership. And today we get to do that with Natalie Kalmar. And it's going to be a really inspiring episode that I think is going to speak to a lot of you. Natalie has been blogging for a year. And I think oftentimes you can turn on a blogging podcast and you hear these major success stories like, I'm making all this money and I'm doing all these things and I'm doing all these things

and I've had all these sponsorship opportunities and sometimes I think it's really important to be like, hey, this is where I started and this is my first year in and this is what it looks like. And Natalie is going to share what this first year has looked like and we are so glad that she's here. So Natalie, welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast.

Thank you so much. I'm so honored to be here. It's actually completely surreal because I was a listener of this podcast. I didn't even have a blog and I started listening. So to think that now I'm on the podcast, it's really like a pinch me type of moment. So thank you guys so much for having me.

I just got chills. Great, we're off to a great start. That could mean that tears could come later. So, I love that. I love that. I think that that's inspiring to anybody listening who's maybe been in the same position that you've been in, Natalie.

You never know where your journey could take you. So let's kind of dive into that a little bit. I would love for you to share with our listeners about your blog, how you got started, and everything that you speak to on the blog. Yeah, so I worked for a large corporation for a really long time, 17 years, and I'm a mother of three.

And at some point, 17 years in 17 years in the job had evolved and also I had evolved and it just didn't feel like a great fit anymore. And I found myself just feeling like I needed to make a change and it wasn't quite sure. So I took a break from work. I quit. I said, I'm going to focus on my family and I'm hopefully going to find my journey, find my, my passions again, what I really want to do, how can I take the skills that I did in my

corporate job and kind of convert them into something that I feel great about. And so I took a break and over the year that I was just focused on my family, I recognized talents in myself, you know, that I enjoy writing, that I enjoy creating, that I have lots of ideas, that I enjoy writing, that I enjoy creating, that I have lots of ideas, that I like networking, and I also love to work out, and I love group fitness, and I love the community that comes with group fitness, and I'm passionate about my hometown of St. Louis, which I've lived away from

for 13 years, and moved back right around kind of this, all of this time of my evolution, if you will. But I also, at the same time, as much as I love working out, I also love to eat and I enjoy dining out and I am not some like crunchy fitness person that tracks their macros all the time. I believe in balance. And so I wanted to find a way to bring all of that together.

And I kind of was noodling all of these things. Well, what if I started a blog? Would this name even be available? And all of these things started to come together. The name that I wanted was available on Instagram. The domain was available. I found your podcast and I started listening to it. And it just gave me actionable ways.

There was like a three day kind of intensive that you guys offered. I think that was free and I did that. And then I quickly became a member of the bootcamp and I started building my own website. And if you could like looking back, if someone would have told me that I was gonna build my own website

and know how to do so many digital marketing tools. I mean, I just would have never guessed. So I'm so appreciative of all of the guidance that you guys have given me through the ultimate blog bootcamp and now the ultimate blog roadmap. I mean, it's just been such a journey. But yeah, I joined the bootcamp,

I guess it was fall of 2023. And it took me some time to kind of, you know, build my website and figure out my niche and build my logo and do all of those things. And I officially launched my blog. It was about a year ago, January of 2024, late January. And that was actually one of the scariest moments, I think, is actually putting yourself out there and telling the world, like, I'm doing this.

I'm taking a leap. I believe in myself and I'm gonna jump. I remember telling my husband at the time, I wish I could just fast forward six or nine months, because the act of going on like my personal Facebook and being like, hi friends, this is what I'm doing now was just terrifying, just so terrifying. But I do think you have to kind of be vulnerable if you really want it to, you know, you want people to know about it and you want people to find you and you want people to see what you're

doing. So I remember that was just a terrifying moment. So if any of you are listening or going through that, it is worth it in the end. And here I am one year later, and I'm so glad that I took that leap. And it has been absolutely such a journey. So yeah, I mean, We can relate to the terrifying. I think we've each done that ourselves in that Or the question of what do you do and you're like a blogger? Water and they're like what would you say? And you know you finally get to a point like I'm a blogger and I'm a blog coach I've learned over the years to be like really confident in that and so it kind of definitely comes with time But when you first do kind of share hey, this is what I'm doing, it's becoming more normal, I feel like, than it was several years ago. But it's not, hey, I work at a bank or I am a teacher or you're like, oh, you create content. Okay.

And so it is that shift. But I think what I hope that people hear on the podcast is that it's a viable career option. Like you left a corporate job to come and do something that lights you up. And what I love is that you said that that you changed, like the job was no longer serving where you were and that you changed and that you took that leap and were willing to kind of bet on yourself. I got chills when you said that actually, that you're willing to bet on yourself because that's a hard thing to do, especially as a mom and especially when you have a family and having had a career. So what was that final push you feel like that was like, okay, I think I'm going to

do this. What do you think? Do you have a recollection of that? That day that you're like, I'm just going to do this? What do you think, do you have a recollection of that? Like that day that you're like, I'm just gonna do this. I think it was all around the same time when I was going through your three-day program that was like, what do you, you know, kind of what are the things that you would need to put in place? And at the same time, I had a concept. And then when I found out that the handles and the domains were all available, I was like, this is a sign. This is a sign.

I meant to do this. I found this podcast for a reason. This idea in my head that's been swirling could become something real, you know? And so I just decided, it was also great timing in my personal life. My kids were just starting to go back. They were pre-k,

which was a full day program, you know, nine to three. Obviously, I still wanted to be flexible. I still want to do pickups. I still want to do drop-offs. I want to be available for the family first and foremost, and this allowed me to do it in my own time, at my own pace, be my own boss, and so it just felt right in my gut. I feel like there's such a big, steep learning curve when you take on something like this. And I'm assuming your background was not

in like website development and coding and all of that. Did any of that piece of it feel like a roadblock at all? Or were you just, you know what, I'm going to have this attitude, I'm going to tackle this. And how did you kind of go about breaking down, learning all the new things that you had to learn just in order to take this from concept to that day when you're like, okay, it's scary, but I'm going to share it now. Yeah. Well, one of the things that I kind of realized is no, you're right, okay, it's scary, but I'm gonna share it now. Yeah. Well, one of the things that I kind of realized is, no, you're right, in my corporate career,

I did not learn anything about website development, digital marketing in that sense, but I was in marketing, I was in sales, I was in education, I was comfortable writing, I was comfortable communicating, I was doing a lot of video development and video production, back house. And so all of that stuff I knew could potentially come into play with the blog.

But the point of getting the website up was such a big hurdle that I just, if I had not found the ultimate blog podcast and then the boot camp, I would have never, I don't think I could have ever gotten to that point where I would have actually had a blog. I mean, you guys made it so simple and so easy and don't get me wrong, you have to put in the work. You have to go in there and you, I Google things now more than I've ever Googled things, like how to do something.

I watch a ton of YouTube videos, but you kind of have to have that mindset where you're gonna figure it out. You're gonna, you know, you're gonna ask people. We have obviously our chat function within the group where I can, I know I can ask you guys if I run into a hurdle and I can't figure it out on my own. So, but, but certainly, I mean, the roadmap and all the courses that you've built in there had made that part of the process, which felt so daunting, just something achievable. And I knew that by the end of the six weeks

or by the end of the eight weeks, like I was going to have my website that I could then put the writing that I wanted on there or work on the videos on social and all of that. So thank you to you guys. It wasn't as daunting as it would have been without you. I think it takes that belief in yourself for sure because there's two ways that you can

really go about starting a blog and that's you can hire somebody to start your website for you and create it and do all that. Or you can kind of DIY it and do it yourself, which is obviously what Natalie is talking about, what we help people with in the roadmap. And there's obviously a huge price difference there versus somebody like setting up your blog for you, that's gonna be several thousand dollars. And I think that a lot of people get stuck on that starting block of,

well, I can't afford several thousand dollars for somebody to do this, because I don't even know if this thing's gonna make money, or I have no tech experience, and so there's no way I could do that and I want to have a just a real honest moment here the three of us who are sitting here today did not graduate with degrees in IT we were not website designers before we were not coders like none of it like at all I

mean we all speak for myself I'm 42 and so I there was none of it, like at all. I mean, we all speak for myself, I'm 42. And so there was none of this when I went to college. There was no, like now you can get degrees in this. You couldn't do that. I don't even think blogging existed in 2000 when I went or anything like, did it exist in 2000, Jennifer? Did blogging exist? I don't feel like blogs-

We have to look at the original blogger, the Pioneer Woman when she launched her blog, which was probably in the early 2000s. Yes, is when those very first blogs came out. But yeah, I mean, gosh, when I was in college, I mean, we had to go to the computer lab just to be able to access the internet. Oh, yeah. Definitely nothing when I was in college. Yeah. So that's what I want to say is you can always reinvent yourself. You always can.

You can learn a new skill. You can do a new thing, but you have to be patient with yourself in the process and know there is going to be that time period that you have to allow yourself to be a beginner. I just said that to my son yesterday, and giving people that permission. Like you have to allow yourself to be a beginner when you're starting something brand new, whether you're a 13 year old middle school boy,

or whether you're a 40 something or 30 something year old mom who's thought that your whole life's purpose was to do this one thing, but then you might have this mindset shift and be like, hold on, I actually want to do something different with my life. Know that you have the capacity to do that. So Natalie, I know there's been a ton of growth for you over the last year, and I would love

for you just to kind of talk about what that's looked like. What did you think blogging was versus what you now know that it is? What would that kind of shift be over the last year and what you've learned? Yeah. I mean, gosh, a year ago, I look back and I think about getting on some of these calls and just feeling like I had so much to learn. I couldn't keep up with what everyone in the group was talking about. And now, a year later, I feel like I have learned so much and I've been able to kind of grow

and trust my instincts a little bit more. So I think initially, you know, as a blogger, I thought, you know, I'm gonna write these beautiful articles and the world is gonna find them. And, you know, I'm gonna make money doing with ads, and that's gonna be kind of my journey. But as I've learned, it's a business, and you have to make it into something.

And I think one of the key things that I've realized that has been important for my business and for my blog is old-fashioned networking, talking to people, meeting the owners of these establishments. My blog is a lot about working out and eating out in St. Louis, and so I'm constantly looking for fun ways to get fitness in, trying out new group fitness classes. I'm looking for great places to eat out. And so I make it a point as much as I can to talk to the people that go to these classes regularly, to meet the instructors, to meet

the owners, to connect with them, to connect with them on social media and in person. And so I think that has helped me tremendously build relationships and kind of plant seeds for what I hope will be the next steps in my blog, which is to kind of grow with sponsored posts and freelancing, helping them build with reels, Instagram reels and things like that. So I think, you know, hopefully they add revenue will come one day, right? But I think you do have to think outside of the box about how you're gonna bring in income. Freelance has definitely been an important part of me earning revenue over the last year and I think it will continue to be something that's

important. But it's in the industry, it's in the niche that works with my blog, so they kind of go hand-in in hand and they wouldn't work without one another. So that's been kind of a cool learning, I think, for me. And I mean, also the importance of search engine optimization, I've seen just such growth on my Google clicks just in the last even several months. I've been really trying to wrap my head around and search for keywords that make sense, that make sense

for me as a niche writer to write about and I've been kind of just taking more time to research and to write about those things and I do see it paying off and so I think that's really important to do. And I think you just have to kind of set yourself up for groundwork, you know, of where you want it to go. One of the things that's really been successful for me in my blog was not something that I ever thought I was gonna do going in. So I wanted to write about food,

I wanted to write about fitness, I wanted to be, you know, a local resource here in St. Louis. And what I found was as I was meeting these people and I was going around to these different establishments, lots of different fitness studios offer fitness events. And so, you know, they have a pop-up in the park, you can do, you know, bar at the brewery or whatnot. There's all these really cool fun fitness events that are happening all over St. Louis and different parts of St. Louis and

it's there's you know no barrier to entry. Anyone can come you don't have to be a member you can pay for your ticket or sometimes they're free and they're happening everywhere. All of these studios a lot of them are having them and so as I was going around, I realized like, I was very in the know about a lot of these fitness events, but outside of that, you really have to know somebody who knows somebody to know where to go, right? And so there was this kind of opportunity to round up

all of these fitness events and put them all in one place, right, because some of them are hidden in Instagram stories and some of them are on Eventbrite and some of them are on Facebook events and they're just scattered all over the internet or maybe not even on the internet at all. And so if I could figure out a way to round up all these fitness events and put them all in one place

and be the destination for fitness events in St. Louis, one, it would help me because I like to attend those types of things and I think they're an amazing way to build community and to hopefully I'll help somebody else do the same. Right. And so I don't know how I figured it out, but somehow I figured it out how to embed an Excel document into a WordPress webpage. Um,

and I remember the day that I figured out that I could do this. And I was just so jumping for joy, so ecstatic that I learned something new on my own and that I was just, you know, that I could build this resource that I had in my head. And it's been such a great resource and such an awesome. What I do is every week, I update the list with fitness events that I find that are happening all across St. Louis. And then I post the list with the with fitness events that I find that's that are happening all across st. Louis and then I post the top five I select

what I think are the top five the most interesting fun unique events that people should attend and I post the top five in my Instagram stories and it gets a lot of shares and it allows me to connect with a lot of local businesses here in st. Louis and meet a new audience and connect with also new followers which then hopefully they can click on the link in the Instagram story and see the full list of events that are on the web page. So it's driving clicks to my website as well. And when I first started this, it was May of 2024, I hadn't started email yet, But now that I've started my email

marketing through Kit, I mean, it's just a great, it's basically a built-in freebie that people get every week in their inbox, they get their top five writing, you don't want to miss a story. If you miss a story on Instagram, it's gone in 24 hours. This is in your inbox, it's dedicated, right? So that's been a really key thing that I never set out to build when I first started the blog but has become a very important part of my blog. And I'm creating a lot of wonderful content around it as well, and hopefully helping St. Louisans have more fun and get variety in their workouts.

I hope you're enjoying today's episode with Natalie Kalmar. And if it is inspiring you to start your own blog, in their workouts. I hope you're enjoying today's episode with Natalie Kalmar. And if it is inspiring you to start your own blog, we want you to know that we are here to help you. One of the biggest challenges that new bloggers face is figuring out how to do everything. And many of them feel like they have to do it all by themselves. And we want you to know that you don't. That is exactly why we created the ultimate blog roadmap.

This program gives you the step-by-step guidance that you need with our expert advice, along with a supportive community to help you build, to help you grow, and to help you monetize your blog with confidence and support. We help you from the beginning, from choosing your niche, to designing your site, to creating content that connects. We are going to walk with you every step of the way.

If you are ready to finally start your blog like Natalie did and do it the right way, we would love to have you join us inside the Ultimate Blog Roadmap membership. All you need to do is visit ultimateblogroadmap.com to learn more and sign up today. We can't wait to see you inside. I just want to point out something that you're doing that I think that anybody who's a beginner here should really, really hear, and that is that you do a really good job of listening to what people want. You have put yourself out there in ways that you are able to talk to people

and get information from your audience. You're getting to know those people and you're putting that first. And that is what's serving you so well and allowing you to set yourself up for success. And it was like, you don't necessarily know the perfect way to share this information, but you're gonna figure out a way to share this information

that people need in your spreadsheet, and you're gonna get it out to them, and they're gonna come and they're gonna sign up because they wanna know, and they're gonna appreciate it. And so I think that that's one piece that we often miss to come and they're going to sign up because they want to know and they're going to appreciate it. And so I think that that's one piece that we often miss when we're first getting started is really getting to know those people and what they want and what they need. And you've done a really fantastic job of that.

So I hope everybody really heard that. And just, you know, you just want to take that extra step and put yourself out there and get to know what people are looking for. You have a unique audience and you have a unique niche that you're working in. But I think that for anybody getting started, just getting to know your niche and know your business and know what you're about is so helpful. And you've done just a really fantastic job of that. So I just really wanted to point out that, every week when you are, every month when you're on our calls, you're always thinking ahead,

you're thinking about these things. And I just personally find it inspiring. And I hope that lots of other new people listening will find it inspiring too. Thank you so much. And I will say that, the know, the fitness events listing, because I see how it helps me connect with so many different people

and that it is a valuable resource, I've decided to make some upgrades to my website to hopefully be able to bring in revenue by providing this resource. So there's a plugin that I've discovered, it's called the Events Calendar, and it basically will take my ugly, but functional, Excel spreadsheet and turn it into this beautiful calendar

or a list view. You can upload images to it. You can have a featured listing. You can even sell event tickets through this plugin. And so I'm in the process of upgrading my website now, so I'm hoping that in about a month from where we are today, it will no longer be a spreadsheet. It will be this beautiful new website offering, and I'll be able to kind of tap into some of those relationships that I've built over the last year and

ask if they'd like to be a featured listing. Ask if they want to be part of an email blast or a featured post on Instagram for their upcoming events. And so I hope that that will again just be another way that this business can grow in 2025. I was just writing some notes as you were talking there that I want to make sure that that you know. Sometimes I think that these episodes are like pep talks for you guys, too, like just so we can have that one on one time to be like, OK, this is what we like are so excited about you doing. But I hope that honestly, people get get out of it as well, too. The first thing I wrote down was community and connection.

And a lot of times as a blogger, we are sitting at home alone behind our computers. If you're, you know, in a group or something that we always recommend that because that just allows you to be connecting. But what you've done is you've taken that a step further by going out into the community and creating a network with people in your community. And so there might be some people out there who's I don't wanna sit at home and like just blog by myself. I want Natalie's story and her vision for her blog to inspire you to like think outside the box. So yes, she has a website, she has a blog,

but this website exists for events happening in the city that she lives in. So think about that, think about what important events or just things that are happening in the city that she lives in. So think about that. Think about what important events or just things that are happening in your city that you could share as well. So if that's something that's important to you or exciting for you, or if that's something that,

if you find that your friends are like always asking you, like, hey, have you heard about, like this is an idea for somebody who's wanting to start a blog. Okay, so that was the first one, is that you're networking with people in your community often in order to then essentially fuel the content that's on your blog. And the second thing I wrote down was that you are and have been focused on progress over perfection. You said, I figured it out. I got an Excel spreadsheet. I knew how to put it on my site. It was ugly. I didn't

care because it was functional and it served the purpose. But now as you've grown and evolved, now you've found a plugin that can give it a more professional feel. But you didn't let that stop you from starting. And I think that that's the key that you have to focus on when you're starting a blog is we can get really, really stuck in, it should look like this, or I have to be just like this, or I know that there's other people out there doing something similar, Natalie, so you could be like, well, I'm not just so-and-so, so there's no point in me even trying. And that simply is just a lie that you're telling yourself that's preventing you from getting started. And I love that you're like,

okay, no, it wasn't perfect. No, I didn't love everything about it because you were obviously still looking for another way to house it on your site in a way that fit more what you wanted it to look like, but you did it anyway. And I think that that is so, so awesome. You did it anyway. And that's something that is so, so awesome. Like you did it anyway. And that's something that we have to allow ourselves

to be that beginner, to get this stuff on the site, and just start communicating, just start connecting in a way you just never know where it can evolve. Like Natalie has said, you know, where I was a year ago is not where I am today. And I think that you probably have different dreams and goals with your blog today than you did even a year ago is not where I am today. And I think that you probably have different dreams and goals with your blog today than you did even a year ago. And so do you see kind of that shift as well

and your potential like from where it started? Do you have other ideas like, oh, do those ideas keep kind of like springing to life? I guess is what I'm trying to ask. And like you're finding yourself to be even more motivated as you continue down this road? Yes, I have. I will say that when I realized that I wanted to do this,

you know, a little over a year ago, I was super excited and super motivated, but also feeling overwhelmed, right? But here I am today. And while I still have so much to learn in so many different ways that I could continue to evolve and grow my business, I feel even more excited than I did then because I feel like I planted the seeds

to actually make it happen now. I feel like I can kind of just take off this year and like when I think about where I'll be seated next, you know, next year at the same time, like how much more will I have accomplished? And what new kind of avenues for growth will I have figured out by then? Because like I said, that wasn't even part of the plan.

And it just was an idea that I was able to actualize. And I have a few other things that I would love to actualize if I can find the time or figure out how to manage that maybe will come to life this year. And that would be really awesome. I think it's fun just to watch that maybe will come to life this year. And that would be really awesome. I think it's fun just to watch that evolution happen as people start to figure things out with their blog.

And then you start to dream bigger and make space for that and start asking yourself those important questions, where else could this take me? One thing I want to ask you, and I'm kind of putting you on the spot here because we didn't talk about this at all prior, but I want to mention here that you're still a mom and you still have three kids that you're raising in a family and a husband and everything that comes along with that.

So blogging does look very different to be working at home and creating this business at home versus going into an office. So how has that shift been? Are there any tips that you would give somebody who's maybe a new blogger who might be in that season as well to like make sure because when you're starting out as a blogger, you're not making money in the beginning. That's a process that will come in time, but you're not making money in the beginning. So is there any tips that you could provide somebody who's kind of at the start and might be where you were a year ago and like but you're not making money in the beginning. So is there any tips that you could provide somebody who's kind of at the start

and might be where you were a year ago and like where to focus maybe their time or their energy on as they're like raising a family and maybe even have a full-time job? Yeah, I mean, I think the struggle is real to try to figure out how to do it all and still prioritize the things that you set out to prioritize your family, of course, right. But for me, what has worked is blocking out time on my calendar to do specific tasks. I think that has really

helped me stay on point. If I don't put it on my calendar, it's not going to happen. And it's honestly, if I even if I do put it on my calendar, it still might not happen, but at least there's a reminder there that I'm supposed to be doing this. My time, you have to figure out what works for you, but I do find that during the day, I'm being stretched thin, right? I'm trying to run errands

and take care of the needs of my house and also be on calls or write an email to my email list or start a new blog post. You kind of have to figure out what you can manage in a day. For me, sometimes when the kids go to sleep, I can get a lot more done. I find that working at night after they go to bed,

especially if I'm writing, because I really need that focus time, sometimes during the day, my mind is in too many places and I'm being pulled for this or that and I find it harder to really write a blog post. But at night when there's nobody around there's no distractions that's easier for me. But yeah I mean I think you just don't put too much pressure on yourself because you'll drive yourself crazy. Do the things that matter most. I would definitely recommend doing your keyword research

because like I said, I think that has paid off for me, especially now, and I'm gonna continue to do that. So if you can learn that earlier in the process, you'll probably see growth faster. But yeah, I mean, I think everybody's going through it. And listen, when you start to, when you start to find your footing and maybe you're starting to bring in a little revenue like side gig income, this or that, get help. I don't think it's bad for you to get help. I recently started using a virtual

assistant to help me with my fitness events listing, because as successful it is, it's a beast to update this spreadsheet every single week. I mean, there are a lot of events and it's very detailed. The event links and the times, you don't wanna mess any of that stuff up, so you have to really be focused. So I recently started hiring a virtual assistant

to help me five hours a week. And that allows for me to do the other things that I want to do with the Shizz Write blog post. And it actually I was not able to start email marketing and start really communicating via email until I got this virtual assistant to help me with this one project. And so I do think when you're able to invest in yourself you should and you shouldn't feel bad about it. And just remember you know you know for right, I'm bringing in more income as a freelancer.

And so I'm taking some of that income and I'm investing it into my business. I believe in myself, I'm going to invest it into me, and I'm going to hope that it'll pay back twofold. You've mentioned freelancing a couple of times, and I think that that's a really good encouragement to anybody who's listening, that when you do start a blog, sometimes you gotta get a little scrappy with how you're gonna make money.

And freelancing is a great option because you're learning so much on this journey, so much. It's just incredible. We're actually gonna record a podcast episode that'll be coming out in March. And it's about how to use what you're learning as a blogger into other areas of your life. And so as we talk to bloggers and especially people who have taken the roadmap and we've watched them just grow immensely with what they know how to do, all those things and

those skills that you're learning, you're able to then utilize in other aspects of your life or utilize as a freelancer. So Natalie, what do you do currently as a freelancer? So I'm doing a couple of things. So one, I had one of my Instagram reels go viral. It was for a local restaurant in St. Louis and they were a newer restaurant and the reel was really successful.

So I reached out to them and I said, listen, like you don't have a lot on your Instagram page, you know, you're getting a lot of new visitors to your page from this reel that we collaborated on. I think we should get some more content up there. And so I was able to get some, a little bit of freelance work from them building some additional content for their Instagram site, building some more Instagram reels for them on the side. They are not on my Instagram, they are on their Instagram, and so that is one way that I've done some freelance work. And then I found an app, it's a fitness app that is a great synergy for me. They're kind of like is a great synergy for me. They're kind of like an app that connects personal trainers. So if you are in Kansas City and you want a personal trainer that's nearby that you can see virtually or in person that focuses on specific things, say

it's, you know, rehab therapy or postpartum or whatnot, it will connect you with a personal trainer that has the right skill set and meets you where you are. And so I, it's a startup. They're based in Atlanta. I actually met her through Instagram. We were both kind of following some of the same people. And she and I had a networking call. And she does a lot of the techie stuff, the backend stuff. And my background is all sales, education, marketing, and so we have this kind of instant synergy. I love what she's doing with her app and it works really hand-in-hand with what I'm doing my blog because I'm constantly meeting different group fitness instructors, personal trainers, gyms, and so I'm helping her do a few things. I'm

building videos for her website and for her Instagram, and I'm also helping her do a few things. I'm building videos for her website and for Instagram and I'm also helping her connect new people to her app so that she can build a database of additional personal trainers and things like that on her website. So it really works very synergistically with the blog which has been really nice and it's been you know a great source of revenue for me and I'm helping her build her business while also helping me, you know, it just works so well with my own business. So that's been, and that, you know,

I came out of a corporate job and I could have easily called up my peers and said, all right, I'm ready to start working again. You know, can you throw me some hours? Are there any projects I can help you with? And that's fine too. And maybe one day I will do that if I need to. I know that those contacts are still there, and, but I really made an effort to go from a

cosmetics career into something that was me right now, which was fitness. I want to, I want to make a splash. I want to be present here in St. Louis. I want to have a footing here, not in some, you know, world that I lived in in my 20s and 30s. And so yeah, so I think for me figuring out what I could freelance in took some time because I felt a little lost coming out of my corporate career because I think when you're in a corporation you kind of grow in a way that there's a path, right? You're following the path and you're sort of zig and zag a little bit and people your, your peer, your superiors will tell you, Oh, well,

you're really good at this and you're really good at that. And this is what you should be doing. And so you kind of just fall into this path and then you're like, but what am I really good at at the end of the day? Like've told me I'm good at this but am I really good at this like I don't really know so it took me some time after I left to really realize how to utilize those skills and a freelance capacity that wasn't in cosmetics anymore and what I realized is that I have skills I like to write I like to communicate those are things that I'm good at. I also am creative and I have a visual eye

and I like to put together videos and I have ideas and I think I can help people make those things outside of this corporate career. So I think you just have to figure out what are the things that you enjoy doing? What are the things that are easier for you that aren't for somebody else, right? So the person that

I'm working with, this app, like she's not savvy on social and she doesn't understand as much on video conceptualization. So those are things that are easier for me. I can still step in and help her pretty quickly and easily and it's a it's a bird, you know, in the same way that I'm hiring a VO to help me, she's high, I'm helping her. So it's a win-win. I love that. I think that's awesome. And I think it goes back to the community and connection. Like you're just really good at that. I mean, that's a gift in and of itself is that connection with others and that networking and asking yourself like, how can we help one another? And that's, that's what you've done. Just, that's what you're doing with your,

with your blog. That's what you're doing as you're freelancing. And it's just been a really exciting thing to be able to listen to you today. Share, share, because I didn't know some of that stuff that you were doing, which is really awesome. And just, just watch this, this grow. And I hope that Natalie's inspired one of you who's maybe been listening to the podcast for a while to just take that leap of faith today and say, okay, I'm gonna trust myself and I'm gonna offer her up

because I think she'd be willing, but Natalie would probably love to talk to you about getting started blogging and any advice. And so if they wanna to reach out, Natalie, about that or about maybe they live in St. Louis and they want to make sure that they can find out about all these cool events and restaurants and everything, can you please let them know? Yes, absolutely. You are welcome to reach out to me. I hope I can be a resource for you. I would be honored to help anyone through their blogging journey. I think that's what's so cool is this network, this community that you've built of bloggers too, where we can rely on each

other. I mean there's a handful of people in the ultimate blog roadmap that I know I can reach out to if I have a question. And I think and we've we've worked through hurdles together. We worked through email marketing together. So that was really cool too. But certainly hit me up. You can find me on my website at fitnessfoodiestl.com. You can send me an email at natalie at fitnessfoodiestl.com. You can find me on Instagram at fitnessfoodiestl and also I'm on Facebook.

So they're all fitness Foodie STL, hopefully pretty easy to find. And yeah, I would love to continue building a community of blogging friends. So please reach out and let's support each other. Yeah. Thanks Natalie. Thanks for being here today and being so vulnerable

and sharing your journey. It's been fun to listen to. Thank you guys for all that you do for us people, us dreamers around the country. Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about building your blog, visit theultimateblogpodcast.com backslash newsletter to get signed up for our email newsletter.

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