It's not about the money!

A few days ago, I had an email from a reader of my blog asking if I would mind if my patterns and tutorials were used to make things to sell on Etsy or in other market places. My reply was that I don't mind at all.

I don't claim that any of my tutorials are original ideas or exclusive in any way. 

There are hundreds and thousands of sewing tutorials available all over the place - for many of the same things. I've simply written tutorials for things I've wanted to make - in my own style. I am a teacher and I love teaching - writing and sharing sewing tutorials is just that - a form of teaching. 
To know I've helped people understand how to make something and encourage and enable others to make things too is something I find very rewarding.

I love when I get emails and messages from people who have used my tutorials to make things and proudly show me pictures of the resulting finished item.

Selling Hand Made

As far as making things to sell goes, I give kudos to anyone who can manage to create and hand make things and sell them. I have tried - not very successfully to make and sell my own hand made items.

I started out with a market stall trying to sell 'Bubba Rugs' which I'd made. These rugs were baby rugs with pictures and designs on them made with lots of different textured fabrics. 

Admittedly I only did one market stall with these and only sold two rugs - they were to two ladies who thought their dogs might like them!

I did sell some more of these rugs through word of mouth, but mostly I gave them as gifts to friends.

A few years later I tried again, with a market stall selling things I'd handmade with a friend . Our stall was called Jembellish (this is where my blog name came from!). I really enjoyed our monthly market stalls as we always had a lovely day chatting and catching up together. We only ever really sold enough to cover our costs and after a couple of years stopped our stall.

I  had an online Madeit store for a while and sold a few items from it.

 But 'selling' and promoting things for sale isn't something I enjoy or am good at. I find pricing my items difficult. Since I upcycle and largely 'use what I've got' in terms of supplies, my materials cost next to nothing and so it is just my designs and my time I'm charging for. How do I put a price on that?

The things I had for sale in my Madeit shop were priced inclusive of postage. Postage in Australia is very expensive, and I didn't want people to purchase something from my shop only to find that it costs more to post the item to them than the item itself cost. This again reduced the profit for me significantly.

In short - I don't feel it's worthwhile me making things to sell as I don't believe people will pay a high enough price to make it profitable.

Anything that I make, you can probably buy a cheaper version of the same thing in the shops for just a few dollars. Made overseas from cheap plastic, bright and colourful and does the job.  

How do you persuade people to pay significantly more for a handmade version?  Those who hand-make things themselves understand the time and effort involved and so the value of the finished product - but then those people are also the ones who can make things for themselves rather than buy them!

There are people who successfully hand make things and sell them for a decent profit and make a living. Hats off to them. I truly admire these people but that is not the direction I have gone in, nor want to go in.

I'm much happier trying to inspire and encourage people to make things for themselves or use things they already have instead of continuing to buy cheap manufactured things from abroad and perpetuate these industries.

It's not about the money

 I don't want to be always looking for the cheapest version of things, the cheapest way to do things, or what will make me the most money. I don't want my focus to be on money, and it isn't.

I've recently made a few teddy bears from old school and sports uniforms. I made one as a school trophy and another as a sporting team mascot. 
The others I made for my daughters and a friend as a gift.  

The teddy bears were so well received and appreciated and I have had requests for more to be made - and people telling me I should make them to sell.  However, when I point out the hours it takes for me to make each bear, and if I even just made minimum wage for my time and nothing else to cover materials, the cost of the bear would be more than people would be willing to pay.

I'm happy to make things for people as gifts, or to help out, but making things to sell isn't what I want to do or feel comfortable doing.

So what does that say about me when I'll happily sit for a few hours and make a teddy bear to give to someone at no cost to them, but I won't spend that same time making a teddy bear to sell?  I like that people appreciate the things that I make - and money doesn't come into it as a factor. There's no need to listen to anyone saying things are overpriced. I'm sure they would for a $100+ teddy bear that's made out of an old uniform!

I like that the things I make have a value that isn't counted in money.

But I do need money

Although I don't sew and blog for the financial reward - the fact does remain that I do need to make money. We need to pay the bills, buy food, support our kids and be able to afford to do the things we want to do in life.  I would dearly love to be able to do this by means of my blog and doing what I love doing and feel passionate about.  I feel like I'm achieving something worthwhile with this blog. I'm teaching people to sew and create, inspiring others to upcycle and 'use what you've got' - saving money and the environment in doing so.

By doing what I do personally I know I'm making a small difference in the world and by sharing and spreading the word via my blog, hopefully that small difference will be magnified and spread further and wider in turn making a bigger and bigger difference.

I have spent a few years now, building up my blog, the free sewing tutorials and upcycling inspiration. I've put countless hours into this with no real (as yet) financial reward.  I know I can't put this much time and effort into my blog indefinitely without making some money. But I don't want to make money from sponsored posts - selling things for big companies and promoting products, when my whole ethos is to 'use what you've got' rather than just buying things! 
I shall have to rely on other means to make money.

What I am selling

Although I am not focusing on selling my physical creations, I have created two e-books which I hope will inspire people and create change in the world.  Although all my sewing tutorials here on my blog are available for free, I have put a small price on my e-books to try and cover the costs of running my blog and to see if it is possible for me to sell a concept and idea rather than just 'things'.  

 My first e-book is a complete set of sewing tutorials for making a set of Eco-Friendly shopping bags, that all fit inside a stylish, upcycled handbag, so that you will never forget your reusable shopping bags again, and never need to use a plastic bag again.

The cost of this e-book is just the cost of a cup of coffee 

AU$5. I priced this book low and affordable in the hope that lots of people will buy it and make the bags - again helping to make a bigger difference in the world!

I have been asked if I would make a set of these bags for someone and they would pay me for it. However, when I pointed out the time it would take me to make the set and the cost of my time - even at just minimum wage levels - people aren't willing to buy at that price. Which is why I encourage people to make things for themselves - at a cost of nothing other than their time.

The tutorials I make are as detailed, clear and simple as I can possibly make them, and I truly believe that anyone with basic sewing skills, a machine and a little patience can make these bags themselves.
To read more about this e-book, and 'share a cup of coffee with me"  go here!

My second e-book is one I have been requested several times over the years to create, and finally did. It's a book to teach your kids to sew.  

But I wanted it to be different and to teach and encourage more than just the 'sewing' itself, so this e-book shows how to 

"Teach your kids to sew with a pair of jeans". It details how to upcycle jeans, use the fabric and various 'parts' of the jeans to sew and create. Teaching the value of 'using what you've got' and that you can create things you need and want from the resources we have available on hand. The answer is not always to just spend money and buy things.

This book is priced a little higher than the first at AU$10, but I still believe it provides great value for money and is more than just a collection of sewing tutorials.
To learn more about this book or even purchase a copy - go here!

Making millions?

Nope - not yet anyway!  I sell a couple of books a month, and I have Google ads on my blog. Some months I do better than others, but mostly I do little more than cover costs.  I've chosen to stick with a Blogger blog which is free.

I do have a dream that one day, I'll find that one post - or the right person will stumble across my blog and send it viral, causing a clicking frenzy on my e-books for sale, and the small amount of advertising I do have on my blog.

I firmly believe it is possible for me to make a living from my blog, which encourages people to 'do things themselves' and 'not spend money'!

I have put hours of my time and effort into building this blog - creating content, and trying to inspire, encourage and motivate.  But I know I'm really trying to 'Create my way to Success'  in an unconventional way.

I will get there one day, somehow!

This is me!

So returning to the original question that sparked my musings about what I do - YES, please do use my tutorials and patterns to make things to sell. And if you manage to do this and make a living or even a little extra money from it, do let me know and I'll be the first to cheer you on and support you!

Teaching is what I'm trained to do. I teach casually - both English as a foreign language, and now also learn to swim classes.

I find teaching rewarding in the sense that I can help people learn how to do things for themselves and how to continue learning beyond my teaching.

This blog is another use of my teaching skills and I love it.

Hopefully, that magic viral post will happen soon and I can continue to spend my time motivating, inspiring, teaching sewing and the principals of 'use what you've got' !

How about you?

What do you do? and why do you do it? I'd love to hear your stories and thoughts too.

Trying something different!

Taking a break from my blog is always a good time to reflect. The recent school holidays gave me a couple of weeks with minimum blogging and lots of quality time spent with my girls. 

Once they returned to school, I then took a week to get reorganised and refocussed with what I'm doing and where I'm going with my blogs.  

Taking stock I kind of felt like it was a case of Dream Vs Reality.

The Dream

 for me is having one or more successful blogs that I enjoy producing and that bring in a decent income, at least equivalent to what I could earn if I went to work for somebody else.

The Reality

 of this is that I have 3 blogs (this one, Be Our Best and A Fitter and Healthier Me). 

I love producing them and working on them, so that's a definite plus, but as for earning an income?  $100 - $200 a month isn't quite a salary. It's a start but not quite enough to reflect the hours I put in....YET!! 

Unfortunately I seem to be stuck at this 'level' of traffic and income for my blogs and have been for a while.

So, I'm still figuring out how to turn my dream into a reality.

A quote that has been in the forefront of my mind lately - and I've put up on the whiteboard above my desk is:

"You will never change your life until you change something you do daily."

I feel this quote reflects the changes I have made over the last couple of years with regard to my fitness. Instead of just doing whatever exercise I felt like, I decided that in order to make the improvements I wanted, I needed to be more focussed. 

I began to follow exercise and running programmes which told me what I needed to do each day. This was different to the exercise I had been doing and aside from enjoying the discipline and order of having set workouts to do and check off my plans, I began to see much better and more measurable results than I had previously.

I'm still following fitness programmes and plans and have started to document my learning and progress on my newest blog - 

A Fitter and Healthier Me.

In the case of my fitness, I changed what I did daily - and it really did result in a bigger positive change in my overall life.

Replicate this success

So this is what I need to do with other areas of my life. In order to make more progress, I need to change something I do daily.

Another quote I have up on my whiteboard just now is:

"Successful people ask better questions and as a result they get better answers."

So I've come up with a new plan of attack to try to make my own dream a reality. My plan very simply is...

To ask better questions on a daily basis!

What kind of questions should I be asking?

To figure this out I've been looking again at trying to nail down exactly what it is I do (and want to do) and why. 

This is something I'm constantly working on.  

I love sewing and have produced over 100 free sewing tutorials for my blog. I also have a particular interest in and passion for upcycling - reflected in my ongoing linky - 600+ clothes upcycling projects, my current clothes upcycling challenge for 2015, and of course the e-book I produced last year for making Eco-friendly shopping bags - largely from upcycled materials.

But what I do is more than just sewing and upcycling. I love when I can motivate others to have a go and do things. I'm a big fan of people doing things for themselves - not just handing over responsibility to others. I feel particularly strongly about this in terms of things you can make instead of buy.  I was brought up with the mentality of  looking at things that you want, and figuring out if you can make it yourself.  Some of this I think was borne of financial necessity, but there is also a certain satisfaction in solving your own problems and making things more personalised too, rather than always just buying a solution. This approach is often more environmentally friendly too - using supplies you have already got rather than always buying something new.

Use What You've Got

This philosophy was what spurred me to start my second blog -

 Be Our Best. When a friend was telling me she was considering getting a special tutor for her daughter to help her with her school work. Her daughter was only in grade 1 at the time. 

I feel that particularly in primary school, there is so much we can do with our kids to help them with their school work - that doesn't involve just workbooks and extra study. Playing games, baking with them, going places, reading books - there are so many simple everyday activities can help develop those basic skills taught at primary school. I wanted to share these ideas and what we do with our kids on this blog to show once again that the answer isn't always just to spend money and buy a solution...in this case a tutor. A better way to look at things is to 'use what you've got' - be that supplies or games or simply time and imagination.

Crafting with a purpose

My sewing and crafting is also something I like to do with a purpose. I either make things my girls want - like pencil cases, aprons, toys and bags, but also I find fabric in charity shops, remnant boxes or perhaps old clothes and see the potential of what it can be turned into - something useful!

So essentially, I've decided that I'm going to look at what I do in a different way from now on, because:

"Success comes from doing things differently."

My new plan of action

Problem.....Solution!

Each day I will focus on a particular problem - be it a crafting supply I need to use up in my stashbusting goal for 2015,  clothes I need to transform into items to sell for my girl's school carnival, an item that my girls want to buy - (there are mutterings of a new fancy pencil case just now), or even left overs in the kitchen I need to transform into a tasty meal or snack. Some of these problems I may be able to solve in a day, some may take a week. 

I'll also be taking this approach for my other two blogs - identifying 'problems' and finding solutions. So things my girls need help with  - perhaps homework, after school activities, challenges they face etc; and finally with my fitness blog - I'm constantly trying to learn and improve my fitness and diet, so looking at that as problem - solution will work well too.

Finally, I'm a big fan of Anthony Robbins - who I find to be a great motivator, and I often listen to his CDs in the car. One thing he identifies as important is that 

"you should never leave the site of a goal without taking a step towards it."

So - here's the first problem I'm going to work on with regard to my creative blog. This is something that will help in both my stashbusting and my clothes upcycling challenge for 2015.

I found these notebooks, pens, pencils and erasers on sale for literally a few cents a (long) while ago and bought them with the school carnival stall in mind.

So I've decided to finally get around to using them up and combine them with making something using the old clothes stash for the school stall. 

My first thought is something like these

Mini Notebook and Pencil folders:

I shall have to adapt it somehow since I don't have coloured pencils, and the pencils and pens I have are longer than these folders - plus I have the erasers to use too. Any suggestions are very welcome!

You can follow along with my progress with finding solutions to my 'problems' here on my blog - but also on Facebook where I share plenty photos and inspiration.

How about you?

Do you have a 'Dream vs Reality' situation too?

What are you working towards and do you have a plan in place to get there?

Jill

How posting a recipe changed my whole blogging outlook.

My Lightbulb Moment

Who would have thought that Cheesymite scrolls could have such an impact?

I don't usually post recipes here - in fact I think I've posted maybe 2 in the 3 years I've been blogging. Posting this one was a spur of the moment decision to share a little of my Australian life with my readers.

Doing something a bit different turned out to be a great thing to do. I had some nice comments about the recipe and it really got me thinking.....

What I feel I should do

I feel like this blog is about sewing, upcycling clothes and my blog learning - not about food and recipes.

I've set up my facebook page where I post more about my daily life and other snippets. I've kind of felt like Facebook is the 'social' side of my blog where I share more variety - but the blog itself is more focussed on the sewing, upcycling clothes and blogging.

I read a lot about blogging to try and learn and grow, and one thing that I find being said all the time is that you have to specialise and find your niche. Don't try to do everything, you must choose just one thing to concentrate on.

Now I struggle with this as I have several things I'm interested in and like doing, and enjoy the variety of doing different things, BUT I also want to have a successful blog, so feel like I should specialise more.

Tricky...

Three Blogs, Three Separate Topics

This blog - Creating my way to Success, was my first. It has evolved over the years and is one where  definitely spend most of my time and efforts.

Some of you may know that this is not my only blog. I also have 

one where I write about things I do with my kids, education, fitness and fun. 

That blog is called 

Be Our Best

I have also recently added another new blog to the mix - a Wordpress one this time (the other two are both Blogger). I decided that it was time to learn about Wordpress, took up an offer of free hosting for a year, and since I'm interested in fitness and health and learning lots about that at the moment, it seemed an appropriate topic to use for my new blog.

That blog is called: 

Fit and Healthy Me

Now I always have the problem of what blog to put my time into. Sometimes I feel more like one than the other, and sometimes just have more to write about on one topic than another.

I've tried to find a way to organise my time to cover all three blogs - setting aside different days for each topic, or times of day, but I still haven't managed to work out a way to run three separate blogs to my satisfaction.

My Solution

So what can I do about this dilemma? Am I spreading myself too thin? Should I just stick to blogging about one topic?

NO - because I don't want to do that!

The title of this blog shows how I like to do things 

Creating MY WAY to Success

So what I've decided to do, is to stop thinking of my blogs as three separate things.

I've changed the page buttons on the top of my blog to include one that takes readers to "Be Our Best" and another that takes people to "Fit and Healthy Me". 

All three topics are connected by ME - and this blog is all about how I am Creating my way to Success. That includes what I'm doing with my kids, and my fitness.

It might not sound like a big change - just adding links, but by making them "page links" to me it feels like they are much more a part of a whole rather than separate 'bits'.

I've also decided that having separate Facebook pages for each blog is silly. My main Creating my way to Success Facebook page is all I need, since I'm already sharing a variety of things on there - all I really need to do is think of it as my overall blogging Facebook page and not worry about trying to keep up with so many different places!

It's the way you look at it

It's all about perpective. I haven't changed the fact that I have 3 blogs about 3 different topics. 

Thinking of my 3 blogs together rather than separate, I've got a fresh excitement about them.

I sew, I upcycle, and try to help my kids with their education, fitness and development and I'm also learning to look after my own health and fitness too.

Life is about a balance, and I think I've finally found a way to balance all the things I want to do in mine.

So maybe I'll post more recipes, who knows what else I'll learn or figure out! My blogs will certainly be more intertwined from now on, and I feel like I can share better who I am in doing this. The next few weeks are going to be fun as I explore my blogs from this fresh perspective.

So how about you? Do you try to stick to your blog niche? Or do you blog about lots of different things? Do you have more than one blog - and how do you balance it all?

Setting the bar higher

 Regular readers of my blog will know that I do like to set myself 

goals and challenges.

 I may not always achieve these goals, some fall by the wayside, 

but it doesn't deter me from setting more and trying again.

As Thomas Edison said,

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."

So once again I have reset and re-evaluated my goals.

I have worked out quite a comprehensive plan of attack for the 

growth of my blogs throughout the rest of the year. It's clearer than 

any plan I've made before.

I've tried to be as specific as possible - with things broken down 

into 6 monthly, 3 monthly, 1 monthly and weekly goals and tasks. 

Then each week I will work out a timetable and schedule in all my 

tasks to make sure I achieve each of my weekly goals.

In working out my goals this time - this quote I found recently 

really did make me think hard about what I'm doing..

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."

 –Albert Einstein

In writing this very detailed plan of action, I'm challenging myself more than I've done before with my blogs.  Each time I've drawn up a plan, it's been much shorter - or not so focused; but equally each time I've done this I've learnt something.

In the past when I've set my goals and plans - I've published them here - to help keep me accountable.

This time I'm not going to do that.  

As I work through my plans and achieve each small goal, I will share and post what I do and learn, but keep the bigger picture to myself for now.

By breaking my tasks down into monthly - then weekly - then daily, the idea is to keep up my motivation - small tasks to achieve regularly so I can see constant learning and progress.

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither

 does bathing.  That’s why we recommend it daily.

–Zig Ziglar

This plan I've worked out - draws on what I've learned and done over the past few years. It draws together all aspects of what I'm doing and enjoy doing - my different blogs, interests and skills.

Time to raise that bar higher than I've done before - and believe that I will reach it. 

Time to really push myself way out of my comfort zone!

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve 

always gotten. –Tony Robbins

GO!

New blog look and a picture of me!

Hello!

Yes, this is me!

I've shied away from putting pictures of myself on the blog for a LONG time now, but have finally gotten over my shyness and decided to change my profile picture!

Today I've been sprucing up my blog a little so this is just a part of that!

I changed my header and the page buttons at the top.

I've also changed the pages a little, and added some new ones to reflect more what my blog is about.

I've updated my About Me page and shuffled things around a little in general.

Last week I began this process and reorganised all of my free tutorials, making clearer links and more pages with the tutorials grouped into themes.  In just the week since then, I've noticed a growth in my blog statistics - and that my visitors are hanging around for longer, which is great!

It's good to see a positive result from a lot of hard work, and this motivated me to finish making those little changes that I've had in my head for a while now!

How about you?  When was the last time you did some blog housekeeping and updated things in your space?

Phew! Well that's today's work done - time to finish up for the week - on to my daughter's hockey match now!

Enjoy the end of your week and do come back tomorrow for the next installment of 

Upcycling Clothes item by item.

How I grew my blog - A 3 year story

Every now and then I get an email from a reader asking how I grew my blog to the level it is at, and asking for advice to help grow their own blog.

I'm always so flattered and amazed when I get these emails - to think that people are looking up to my blog, when I think how much I look up to other blogs - and how many people I have emailed to ask for help and advice.

It feels good to be able to pass on what I've learnt and help others.

I thought it would be a good idea to try to collect all my knowledge and ideas together in one post - to try and show how I've grown my blog to this level - and what that level is, in terms of number of visitors, page-views and also income.

So here goes:

In the beginning

I started this blog in April 2010 - so almost 3 years ago.

It started out as an addition to a website and market stall that a friend and I were running to sell our handmade goods.  A blog was just something that we thought we 'should' have - but we really knew nothing about it. 

By May, my friend and I had both really taken to blogging and decided that we both wanted our own blogs so she set up her own -and I took over this one for myself.

For the next year I explored the world of blogging and my own creativity. I loved being able to connect with other like-minded people. To see so much amazing creativity out there and to have a space to share my own creations too - and to receive some feedback on them too.  I began to post my own tutorials. As a teacher - I loved being able to share my knowledge - and the challenge of finding clear, fun and interesting ways to teach others things I had learned.

My blog as motivation

I found that my blog was a good motivator for me to get things done.  That was the beginning of the Round Tuit linky party - the idea that it would motivate me to get around to doing things and hopefully inspire others to do the same.  That linky party is still running nearly 3 years later - and I get motivation and inspiration from it each and every week!

I have also used my blog to record challenges I have set myself - and so keep myself committed to complete them. All of these challenges I have successfully completed and seen great results from!

The first was a 45 day challenge to myself to get fit and healthy.

Then there was my clothes upcycling challenge - where I decided to work my way through my bag of old clothes and post an upcycling project a day for one month.

The following month I challenged myself to learn more about blogging and take action to grow my blog throughout that month.

I also used the principal that it takes 21 days to form a habit - and decided to train myself to be a tidier person - keeping my house surfaces clean and tidy!

Action taken to grow my blog

Over the past couple of years I have tried several different things to grow my blog, including - working with other bloggers on things like  my Creating Success Around the World series of interviews with crafters; Christmas collaborations and guest posts.

I have joined forums, explored social media

I linked my projects up to other linky parties.

I joined in blog hops and I shared my journey.

I educated myself about blogging by reading lots of other blogs and using Google to search for anything and everything I wanted to learn - how to make my blog look better, how to gain more followers, how to get sponsors for my blog and how to make money.

I've hosted Giveaways, gained sponsors and joined in events and challenges.

So what was key to making my blog grow?

Every little thing I have done has helped in some way.  I have learned slowly and largely by trial and error.   

I don't know if I could have achieved the same growth in my blog to the level it is at now, in a shorter span of time. My feeling would be that it is possible with a lot more focus and intense work on it than I   put in over the past 3 years.

My enthusiasm and work on my blog has come in spurts, and my focus often moves away to my family and other things that are going on in my life.

Some weeks I spend every day blogging, maybe 5 or 6 hours a day, and then sometimes more time in the evening and weekends. 

Other weeks I get caught up with other things - housework, kids sports, my exercise plan, and barely do any.

Long term rewards

For the past couple of years, I built up to trying to have a post go out every day.  Sometimes I set up several posts in advance, other times I was literally writing a post every day.

Towards the end of 2012, I had a busy time at home, and slacked off with my blog, only posting around 3 times a week.  What I was surprised to notice, was that my traffic did not change.  It made me look more closely at what I was putting my efforts into on my blog and what was bringing results.

Most of my traffic comes from other websites (for example Allfreesewing) referring people to my free sewing tutorials.  And also to my linky of 600+ Clothes Upcycling ideas.

These two things are well established on my blog now - the tutorials  have been posted and promoted and I no longer need to work on them to keep the traffic coming, which is gratifying that all the work I put into making them and setting them up, is now paying off.

Sometimes I've posted a tutorial thinking it's a really good one and will be popular - only to be disappointed that it doesn't get much of a reaction or many people visiting the post.  Then later - sometimes weeks or months later, it will get featured somewhere - on a free pattern website, or on a larger blog, or someone might 'stumbleupon' it, and all of a sudden it's crazy popular overnight!  Once this has happened, it often creates a base to continue bringing in a steady stream of traffic over a long term period. I still get plenty traffic from tutorials I posted over 2 years ago.

Making money from my blog

As I have watched my blog steadily grow, and knowing how much of my time is going into it - I have tried to get some kind of income from it - as a recompense for the time spent - but also with the idea that:

"If you can make money doing what you love, then you will never have to work."

I added Google Adsense adverts to my blog early on, but it was nearly 2 years before I actually received any money from that.  Now I can see the clicks and money made slowly growing as my readership grows.

I also took on sponsorship from relevant companies, once I felt my blog was big enough to provide a large enough platform to give my sponsors a decent exposure for their money.

To know when to approach sponsors, I simply looked at other blogs of similar size to mine, and took my lead from examples.

I began charging a small amount, and have slowly increased this amount as my readership has grown and I have felt I have more to offer my sponsors.

I currently make around $150 per month from my blog.  Not much - particularly considering the hours I'm putting in, but it's a start and at least I know it is possible to make money from my blog - and I can see the relative growth in dollars in relation to the growth in my   readership.  I now need to focus on growing my readership to proportionally increase my income! 

To sum it all up

So how have I grown my blog over the last 3 years?

1. I've posted about things I'm interested in and passionate about - and become part of a community of like-minded people, slowly building up a presence and a blog full posts that show who I am and what I do. - in short I've slowly found and narrowed down what is my blog's niche.

2. I've built up a large resource of free sewing tutorials. As I have learned sewing tricks and techniques, I have tried to put these into a  format that seems clear and easy to understand to me, in the hope I can share my knowledge to help others create things too!

3. I've focussed on not just sewing tutorials - but my passion for upcycling. I've done lots of upcycling projects myself, featured many others and once I'd proven my interest and ability in that area, I created the ongoing linky for everyone to share their wealth of clothes upcycling ideas.

4. TIME - I have put in endless hours to build my blog up to what it is today.  It has been a hobby for me, which has meant I've put in time when I can, but other things in life have and do take priority.

What's next?

I am currently a stay-at-home Mum, and fit in my blogging between looking after my family and the house.  As the kids get older and more independent, I will eventually have to look at returning to work.

My goal and dream is that by that time, I will have established my blogs so that they are providing my income and I will not need to got out to work for someone else - in their terms and hours.

It's interesting for me to have written this post and to take stock of how I've worked on my blog over the past 3 years, and the relative success I've had with it.

One thing that has become very obvious to me is that the time put into my blog is not consistent.

I believe to succeed in what you want in life the two most important things are:

Persistence and Consistency

I definitely believe I have shown persistence so what I need to work on is my consistency.

Last year I completed an exercise programme on DVDs. It was a 9 week total body conditioning programme which not only took my fitness to a whole other level but also taught me a lot.

Until I followed this Insanity workout programme, I had exercised a lot - quite regularly and considered myself quite fit.  But I'd approached my fitness in the same way as my blog - I fitted it in when I could - did what I enjoyed, tried to do things that would help me improve.  But I was blown away by the differences in what I found I could achieve with a focussed and consistent plan!
I learnt the importance of sticking to something regularly, the importance of having a structured plan, and also of having a 'what next' idea for when you complete the plan!
So now I have decided to implement what I have learned, and start a structured and consistent plan for taking my blog to the next level, just as my fitness has been taken to the next level!
If I want my blogs to bring in an income comparable to a 'job' I might otherwise go out to do, then I need to stop viewing my blogs as a hobby and start to think of them as my business. I need to find the time to work on then consistently and regularly to get the results I want!
Tomorrow - I am going to post about this plan. As I mentioned earlier - I have found my blog to be a motivator for me - the challenges I have done successfully have been so thanks to posting about them and being held accountable to completing them by promising to post regularly my progress and results.

Phew!  That was a long post!  I hope it has been interesting to read and provided some insight into the growth of a moderately successful blog.
I believe anyone can grow their blog and make an income from it - if you are willing to put in the time and effort.
The more you can learn from others and can apply that knowledge, the faster your blog growth will be. I hope I can inspire others to follow their dreams, and believe in themselves and the possibilities out there!
Onwards and Upwards!!