Wow…what a year it has been! Two years ago I swallowed hard and hit publish on my first ever post, aptly titled, I should Start a Blog. My goal right from the start was to blog for a year, see what the response was, and then make a decision on next steps. After reflecting on what I learned my first year blogging I knew that the next step for me was turning my blog into a business and I thought I would share some of the highlights from my year 2 Blogiversary, as I went from hobby to full-time blogger!

This past year…and in particular the past 9 months…have been pretty crazy. I honestly have a hard time believing everything that has happened in such a “short time”…but I’ve also worked incredibly hard and I’m not afraid to say that. A few highlights from this past year…in no particular order. 😉

I started working with sponsors

When most bloggers start out you look at the “big bloggers” working with all sorts of brands and companies and think wow…they are so lucky! The truth is they have probably worked incredibly hard to get to that point. In the beginning, they don’t just show up at your door…you have to actively pitch to them. So…earlier this year that’s exactly what I did. I started sending pitches or ideas to different local businesses that I was interested in working with. Not all will say yes…but you will never know if you don’t ask. 😉 I will be forever grateful to the first few people who supported the blog through ad space and sponsorship…and I will never forget how exciting it was to start getting paid as a blogger. 🙂

I registered Simple Local Life as a business, opened a commercial bank account and joined our local Chamber of Commerce

I knew if I wanted Simple Local Life to be a business and continue to grow…I needed to treat it as one. So earlier this year I registered it through the Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stocks …and then opened up a separate bank account…and decided to officially join our local Chamber of Commerce. All of these actions felt empowering and really solidified the mental shift I made when I decided to really turn this into a business.I have some big lofty goals for Simple Local Life that constantly swirl around in my head…all of these steps felt necessary and will contribute to making it possible.

Simple Local Life got some media exposure!

Simple Local Life was fortunate enough to get noticed by a few media outlets this year. Sheldon Macleod interviewed me on his call-in show on Radio 95.7 last December to talk about my Top 10 Go-To Holiday Recipes post. LighthouseNow our local community paper did a feature on me turning my blog into a business, last February and this summer I was pretty excited to meet Nikki Jabbour and be interviewed on her show The Weekend Gardener on Radio 95.7 about my gardening series with Elspeth and Wile’s Lake Farm Market.

I was also interviewed by Andrew Button of Mash-Up Lab as part of their Lightening Talk Series to talk about lessons I had been learning along the way. All of this media exposure was amazing and I am so appreciative of them taking an interest in what I was doing.

I network with and am part of an amazing community of East Coast Bloggers

This is such a big highlight for me. Blogging is mostly a solo gig…and that’s hard…because I generally like being around people. I probably wouldn’t be where I am today with the ECM Media group of bloggers and their support. I’ve met so many friends…and just finished spending another awesome weekend with a lot of them at BlogJam. I didn’t know ANY of these people 2 years ago…and the connections and friendships I have made since, have been one of the greatest gifts to come out of blogging.

I get to highlight and showcase some of the amazing things happening here on the South Shore!

Letting people know about a new place that has opened, or help promote a festival or event that is happening are some of my favorite things. They are always well-received and people seem excited and supportive of the initiatives and people making things happen. I love it…and love writing about it. My post on The Barn Coffee and Social House opening in Mahone Bay has been one of my top viewed posts this past year. 🙂

I did my first Facebook Live

March 24th I sat down at my table and did my first ever Facebook Live video. I was nervous, shaky and basically a wreck….and then I told everyone I would be back again the NEXT DAY…doing another one…after a freezer meal cook! Sweet Murphy! Over 1000 people watched me sweat literally and figuratively…and it basically changed everything.

I never wanted to even BE on my blog…I just wanted to write and post pictures, but the engagement and views on video…especially Facebook Live…are impossible to ignore. It’s crazy to me that video or Facebook Live are now a big part of the work I do, but it seems to be working. People are responding to it. The reality is that more people watch my videos than actually read my blog posts. I have to go where the people are. Oh my…LOL! It’s been crazy, nerve-wracking…and fun. 😉

I brought on Simple Local Life’s first Contributor!

*Note I said “first…” 😉 This just happened this past week and I am so excited! People love the recipes on my blog, but the reality is that the busier I have gotten blogging, the less time I have to do recipe posts. So I reached out to Vicki MacDonald, well-known in our community as an amazing cook and she will now be a recipe contributor on the blog several times a month. She has sent me a fabulous list of ideas and potential recipes including her first post for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls…and I am just thrilled! I know my readers are going to love her recipes as much as I do. 🙂

I’m not going to sugar-coat it…blogging full-time is an incredible amount of hard-work. You have to be self-motivated, driven and continue to put yourself out there, but as I told several new bloggers I talked to this weekend at Blogjam…if I can do it…you can too! When I knew I wanted to work full-time as a blogger…I made a mental shift..and started actually treating it like a full-time job. As most business owners or entrepreneurs will tell you….that generally means more than full-time…but it is empowering to build something yourself and watch it grow.

I am so excited about everything that has happened this past year. I am SO glad I hit “publish” on that first post and just started! None of this would be possible without my readers who leave comments, send me messages, share my posts and come up to me and say “Are you Simple Local Life?” 😉 There would be no blog without all of you and I am eternally grateful to each and every one of you. A HUGE thank you as well to all my sponsors over this past year who saw value in what I do and in some cases, took a chance on an “idea” and supported me and Simple Local Life. All of those first sponsors helped give me credibility and experience and I will never forget it.

Today is another busy day, but I want to mark my Blogiversary in some way…besides this post. 😉 So watch for a Facebook Live tonight at 8:00pm for a personal thank you and little give-away…to show my appreciation…to thank you and to celebrate.

I can’t wait to see what the next year brings! xo