Hi guys! Maybe it’s just because it’s almost the new year, or maybe because Riese is one year old now and I feel mentally like I’m coming out of the first year haze, but I’m ready to mix things up here on the blog and to focus on growing vs. just maintaining my businesses (both the blog + the AnneTheRD private practice).
Photo credit: Rachel EH Photography
I’ve been thinking about doing a big blog redesign for years and years now – and I’ve decided the new year is going to finally be time for me to act on it! I haven’t updated my blog look much since starting it in 2009 (!) and I’d love to make it more user-friendly and visually appealing for you guys. I’d also like to organize and showcase all my recipes a bit better so it’s easier to find seasonal recipes and posts when you first come to the blog. So – I’d love to have your input on this process! If you see any website designs you especially love and find super user-friendly, please share! Or if you just have thoughts on what you like to see visually on blogs/websites, I’d love to hear that too. I’m thinking of having more of a website landing page with my seasonal recipes and relevant posts featured, and then from there you can choose to go to the recent/new blog posts (vs. just having my new posts come up right when you go to the blog), but I’m open to hearing thoughts on that. Also, if you know (or are!) a great blog designer, I’d love those recommendations too.
The other thing I’m considering is switching from 4 to 3 days a week of blogging to streamline and focus the content a bit more. I am thinking it may make more sense to blog on Mon/Weds/Fri vs. the current Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri so that I have more time to make my posts great vs. just scrambling to throw something together some days.
I will likely keep Monday as a weekend recap post (if you guys enjoy those posts – do you?!), have Wednesday as a recipe or topic-based/themed post, and then Friday would be some Fri Faves/an eats + exercise week in review/randomness. What do you think? What would you like to see more or less of here on the blog? (e.g. weekend recaps, recipes, random throw together meal ideas, running/fitness weeks in review, friday faves, etc etc)
This has been a weird year for my businesses. Incredibly, revenue-wise, this will be my biggest year yet. But mentally and behind the scenes work has felt very chaotic and disorganized, and I haven’t been proactive at all about bringing in new work. Obviously that’s to be expected while trying to juggle being a new mom and running two businesses (and going from 5 days a week of working to 3), but in the new year I really want to focus on being more efficient and organized again with the blog and to be more proactive in terms of growth vs. just waiting for things to come to me. I don’t regret letting the business take a back seat over the past year, and I’m grateful that financially it still grew even with me sometimes phoning it in, but I know that won’t necessarily last, and I don’t want to let all the hard work I’ve put in over the years slip away.
Another thing I’d like to do better at in the new year is really owning my success. Yesterday while Riese was napping, I was cleaning up the kitchen and listened to Ali on the Run’s recent podcast on building confidence. I’m generally a pretty confident person, but I have found myself downplaying what I do/my work a lot, especially now that I’m working part time vs. full time. (I wrote a post kind of related to this years ago: On Feeling Like An Imposter and Doing Things That Scare Us.)
When someone asks me what I do, I have noticed that I tell them I’m a Registered Dietitian with a private practice – oh yeah and that I also do some blogging. I know that the reason behind this is because I think people see a private practice as a “real” job, while blogging is viewed as more of a hobby. But here’s the thing: this is not just a hobby or something to downplay. Yes, the blog is often “fun” work. But it’s a ton of work, takes up the majority of my working hours, makes the majority of my income, and it is a “real” job. Over the past 9 years I have single-handedly built my blog into well over a six-figure business, and when I say it like that, I realize that’s pretty amazing. Time to allow myself to own it.
I sat down to write today’s post intending to write about eats and exercise as usual, and then this all came out instead. So – check back tomorrow for some Friday faves and eats/fitness from the week. See you back here then!
