Working on my business

Turns out we won't be able to pay off our credit card debt before Baby Brother 2.0's arrival.

I discovered this on Valentine's Day after Luke filed our taxes and I created budgets for every paycheck through June. We were so close, dammit--just a few hundred dollars away--but alas, Visa is not the only entity that needs our money. We are furiously pumping dollars into our HSA for my ob/gyn and hospital bills and into short-term savings to cover unexpected expenses during my maternity leave and transition back to work. Our goal to get out of credit card debt is going to take longer than we planned--probably into the beginning of the New Year, unfortunately--but at least the end is in sight.

All of this got me thinking about ways to bring in more money.

I've mentioned several times here my eagerness to explore launching a freelance business I could manage in my "spare time," but right now, it's not going to happen. For one thing, building a client base will be more difficult than I first thought. My original plan was to reach out to some of the advertising, design, and printing vendors I know through work, but I recently learned this type of relationship is regarded as a "conflict of interest" by my employer, so good-bye to that idea. Now, I could still go after like-minded companies to land similar types of projects, but when in my day am I supposed to network, set up introductions, attend client meetings, and just plain be available for questions or immediate needs? My work is flexible, but not THAT flexible, you know? Also, I doubt one lunch hour per week day would be enough to manage those things, and most people are not up for conducting business face-to-face after 5 p.m.

I'm sure some more efficient ways to iron out these details details would present themselves with a litle bit of pre-planning, but at this point in my life, I'm not willing to explore them. It would be easier to apply for a nights-and-weekends job at the Gap and be done with it, but right now the whole point is to increase our income while maximizing our time together as a family.

So I've got a different plan. As the great Monica Gellar once proclaimed in the second season of Friends when she invested her last few unemployment dollars into MGE stock, "I'm going to bet on me!"

In my particular scenario, "me" equals this blog.

Before I had kids, I was able to pay a lot more attention to this here little site, and the unintended (but very welcome) result was a two-year stint at Parents.com. What a wonderful opportunity as a writer to be paid for sharing my thoughts and experiences with pregnancy and motherhood. It's also how I came to know some pretty awesome people.

On the flip side, Mom-101 spends a lot of time talking about appreciating your value as a blogger and not underestimating your worth, and I think that was my biggest failure with Parents.com. Not in the sense that any additional efforts on my part would have kept the community from shutting down, but in hindsight I see that my fear of being labeled a "sell-out" for taking that gig kept me from publicizing my content and making it more accessible to long-time readers. I didn't Tweet links or start a Facebook page because Some People don't like that. But you know what? Some People do, and that includes me. I think it's helpful when the bloggers I follow on Twitter share their newest post, I'm among the first to "like" a Facebook fan page for a blog I love, and I don't think twice when somebody decides to implement advertising on their site. I have preferences on how those things are done, but I don't object to the acts themselves. So why have I always been so much harder on myself than the Internet trailblazers I so admire? Hell, I couldn't bring myself to keep a list of Parents entries in my own damn sidebar. God forbid I give the impression that I believe my writing is actually worth READING.

What it comes down to, I think, at least for me, is that for the longest time the majority of online content was published purely for recreation, without any thought given to financial gain or career opportunities. You blogged because it was fun and didn't assign any value to it beyond random shits and giggles. These days you can host ads, write sponsored posts, receive corporate sponsorship to attend a conference, freelance for other sites, and optimize your posts for keywords that apply to your "desired market." You can manage your personal brand just like the big wigs do over at Best Buy, Amazon, and Apple.

I work in marketing and communications, so I'm pretty familiar with the concept of branding. I've just never really done it for myself.

Thankfully, marketing can be done tastefully and with respect for the end user, but compared to established creative industries like music and book publishing, blogging is relatively new to the concept of for-profit strategy, and the community is still mulling over that proverbial line in the sand when it comes to deciding how far is too far. And opinions vary drastically. To some, blog links on Twitter are tacky. For others, partial feeds to increase site click-throughs are grounds for cancelling a newsfeed subscription. Then there are those who simply ignore any bells and whistles that don't appeal to them and keep on doing their blog-reading thang.

My problem is I've been operating all these years on two potentially faulty assumptions:

• That any reader in the history of the universe who encounters my blog is against any form of self-promotion, and
• That that those opinions should heavily influence how I manage my blog.

Obviously, neither has to be true.

As is the case with so many areas in my life, I need to stop worrying about what other people think and start trusting my own gut when it comes to making decisions, whether they pertain to my boobs or my blog or whatever.

A long time ago, Molly and I talked about trying to launch a mom-centric website of sorts, but neither of us had a concrete idea to pursue, and currently I don't have the mindset to commit to starting something brand-new from scratch. However, this blog has always been important to me, and I never regret the time I spend updating. I certainly don't need another reason to spend more time here, but if there is even a small chance I can take something so personally fulfilling and turn it into a financial opportunity, well, why not at least try?

I have no idea where this will go. I am open to incorporating ads, though I have no idea which network to use, and I could earn twenty bucks a month or nothing at all. I'd love to land another freelance gig but have no idea how to go after that, as Parents was handed to me on a silver platter. I don't feel comfortable writing sponsored posts at this time, and there aren't any resources available in the Frema-Useless Clutter household for blogging conferences or other networking events.

I can...start a Facebook fan page, though, right? That's easy. That's free.

So, all of THAT to say this: I'm going to start a Facebook fan page!  You're trembling in your boots with excitement, aren't you? I can totally tell.

Comments

[Erica]

My boots just fell off from all the trembling :-) I am excited for you and hope that it will work out just how you need it to! I first found you on the Parents blog, and I actually remember wishing that you had a link to your other blog. I had to go to all the work of googling you. No hard feelings, hahaha.

[Jen L.]

Rock on with your bad self! You know, I still very much consider myself a "fledgling" blogger, but after BlogHer last year, I stopped worrying about a lot of the things you mentioned here. Everyone wants people to read their blogs and there are a LOT of us out here who LOVE your particular voice. So promote away, I say. I'll be the first to LIKE you on Facebook. And seriously, I still mourn the demise of your Parents blog--it's the thing that introduced me to the blogging community. You have a great talent for writing about tough issues with humor and personality and also for sparking great discussions. I say cash in on it, my friend. Best of luck--you know I"ll be here reading.

[Brandy]

Go for it! The very few times I have felt a blogger was "selling out" only happened when I had to look at the pictures of their AMAZING new mansion sized house while they talked about they're AMAZING family and then I read about the hundreds of thousands they made from advertising each year. And now I no longer read that blog. Otherwise almost every blog I read these days has advertising and a facebook page and that is totally great. I saw more power to you and wish you the BEST of luck! :-)

[Grandma Molly]

Starting a free Facebook fan page is a great idea. Maybe later you can work on some of the other ideas.

[rkmama]

I say go for it! The coolest thing about great bloggers is that they ARE their brand.
I always wondered why you didn't promote your work on Parents here and vice versa- I remember being SO excited when I found your personal blog after months of reading Parents but I wasn't sure if you wanted Parents' readers coming over here because you seemed to keep them separate. Too bad you got stuck with me anyway :).
All this to say- this is your space and making it work in your favor is a smart thing- and the obvious choice at this stage in your life when more ambitious undertakings are more stress than their worth.

[Bren]

Yeah! Bring more Bree on!!! I LOVED your Parent's blog and searched to find this one just because your writing style is so wonderful. I read through your entire archive (before I had kids! oh extra time - how I miss you!). You promote and promote and promote your venture and I will be there!

[Dan "the Man"]

Sweeeeeeeeeet! Am I the first gentleman to be writing here?!

I am totally trembling with excited for you and your facebook stuff - and the possibility of bringing the genius of Molly (or whom I call "Aunt B")!!!

I just happen to know somebody who works from our dining room table trying to do the same thing - you two should connect.

I also know this crazy-whack therapist who has made a go at the blogging/networking/writing/megalomania thing after much research, reading, and riting... I'm sure he would loooooove to share all his resources and research!

[AJU5's Mom]

Do what you want to do int he blogging world. Maybe start by adding a few ads on here - I don't think any of us would mind. Even if it is only a buck or two a month, it is something that would help pay off the debt or give you and Luke money for a "date night" every once and a while.

Oh, and I can hear you on forgetting the cost of a new baby - it is so easy to forget about those bills!

[eva]

Definitely do the FB, teh tweeting, whatever it takes. No one will ever judge you for making a buck, other than those of us wishing we had the balls and talent to do the same:) Plus, there are way more sell-out-y ways to make a buck than DOING WHAT YOU LOVE!!