May 2018 marks the end of my 2nd blog monthsary! Just like in my first blogging update, I get super transparent about this month’s wins, fails, and how we all can learn from this entire experience.

Note: Like before, this isn’t an income report. I will, however, be releasing some in the future once my blog ages a bit. This blog is just a month-old, after all!

Read My Other Blogging Updates

• April 2018 (how I found my niche, grew my email list by 2,275%, and monetized my month-old blog)

Monthly Blog Update: May 2018

May Wins (and how I got them):

• Getting 1,000-pageviews a day on average (yes, just on the 2nd month of blogging)
• Doubling my email list – and planning a switch in email service provider?
• Launching my private Facebook group community for creative solopreneurs
• Gathering interviews with prospect clients for my first mentorship program

May Fails (and what I learned from them):

• Not investing in proper tools to automate my blog? (And why this worries me as I face next month vis-a-vis vacation plans!)
• Not showing up to do the work (or how I didn’t take my own advice to show up 10 minutes a day)

Plans for Next Month

• A goal-setting planner in the works? (See the beta mockups!)
• Doing a test drive for my mentorship program? (And sign up for the waitlist!)

Mind of Mica Stat Counter:

• Previous Month’s (March 14-31) View Count: 8,097
• Previous Month’s (March 14-31) Unique Visitor Count: 5,678
• This Month’s (April 1-30) View Count: 32,119
• This Month’s (April 1-30) Unique Visitor Count: 23,880

Again, if you want to skip ahead to a particular section, by all means, go ahead! Now let’s get this highlight party started.

May Wins

Getting an Average of 1,000 Pageviews a Day

Traffic has always been and will always be the first important step to a profitable blog.

I published a post on how to make money blogging, complete with all the different ways to monetize any blog in any niche – but it’s worth noting that all those monetizing strategies won’t amount to anything if you’re not getting any traffic.

This month, my blog was getting its first taste of 1,000-pageview days, and for a while, that streak went unbroken. I’m pretty happy, especially considering this is only the 2nd month I’ve been blogging.

And because traffic is a dessert we can’t quite get enough of, I’ll be telling you about the exact steps I took to land me all these 4-figure days as a new blogger.

Creating Valuable Content in My Niche

As I said in my first blogging update, I narrowed down my niche to creative businesses and side hustles.

So I sat down and brainstormed about possible topics to blog about related to that niche. That meant posts on starting profitable side hustles like a blog, managing a creative business even if you had a day job, and all kinds of posts about staying productive and setting goals.

When you can pinpoint possible problems that your target readers are experiencing, you can craft solutions for them in the way you’re most comfortable with.

That might have also meant experimenting with different headlines, header photos, and even excerpts per blog post. I’m still new to the blogging scene, so I haven’t tried to update old posts just yet – but I’m giving myself another month before I start, so I’ll be sure to include that endeavor in one of my future blog updates!

Using Pinterest to Get Organic Reach

In case you haven’t heard:

Pinterest isn’t a social media network. It’s a search engine.

A visual search engine.

That means a lot of people go on Pinterest every day to search for just about anything under the sun. And no, Pinterest isn’t just for pinning DIYs and recipes. It’s also for bloggers, freelancers, and business owners to reach their audience.

I’d never even used Pinterest before blogging, so I had to invest in this handy Pinterest course to help me get started.

The course taught me how to leverage Pinterest and make the best kinds of pins that would turn Pinterest viewers into blog visitors – and some of those visitors even turned into email list subscribers. Not bad for an inexpensive investment!

Doubling My Email List Subscribers

Okay, here’s a secret: that Pinterest masterclass course I mentioned above?

It led me to take an email marketing course that, when I used together, delivered a Pinterest-MailChimp tandem that was so epic that I’m consistently doubling my email list subscribers every week.

And you know what they say for blogs and online businesses:

Your money is in your list!

So of course I put in a lot of focus on building and nurturing mine. I knew how important this part of blogging was, so I did make the investment to learn some introduction to email marketing as well as how to hit the ground running using free tools.

Since my blog is pretty young, I also did invest time and energy into creating multiple opt-ins to turn visitors into subscribers. I thought long and hard about different kinds of content upgrades, free classes, and what-have-yous I’d offer. And I do plan on seeing how these do in the long run, so I can make adjustments or remove any low-converting opt-ins if necessary.

Again, if you’re interested to taking the exact MailChimp course that helped me grow my email list, here’s my link to enroll.

If you do decide to use my link, shoot me a message and I’d be happy to do a free 60-minute blog audit with you, where we can talk about how you can start a profitable blog (or how you can grow your current blog if you have one already).

Side note: But as my list keeps growing, I have been considering making the switch to Mailerlite. I like how it has the features of popular email service providers like MailChimp (and more), but is easier to use and is more affordable.

Launching My Private Facebook Group

Towards the end of May, I decided that I wanted to get up-close and personal with my subscribers and blog readers by inviting them to join my private Facebook group, the Solopreneur Support Squad.

I started it specifically for creative entrepreneurs – so that means bloggers, freelancers, and people with creative businesses. I wanted to create a community that just cheered each other on, so inside we share the ups and downs of creative entrepreneurship, as well as answer each other’s questions and just overall be awesome together.

If this sounds like the kind of community you want to be a part of, just follow the link here to request access. I just have a few questions you need to answer (it’s not a quiz, I promise!), and then all you have to do is wait for us to welcome you into the community!

Side note: I do intend to keep this group as intimate and engaged as possible, considering how difficult it gets to manage big groups. However, still feel free to hop in any time!

At the time of writing, this group is small – just the way I like it – but we’re always open to seeing more passionate, driven entrepreneurs like you join us to get all the support we have to offer.

Gathering Research for My Beta Program

I mentioned in last month’s blogging update that I planned on launching an intensive mentoring program to help creatives turn their creative entrepreneurship dreams into reality. And one big win I had this month was finding a startup mentor who coached me through the initial beta process.

He recommended that I do a series of interviews with people whom I thought were prospects to this program, so I did exactly that. And the results from the interview were really insightful!

I normally hate doing research work, but my degree in communications has taught me the importance of sitting down and collecting data. So research before launching anything? Big necessity!

My reason for wanting to start this coaching program is more than a way to earn money through my blog – I really envision it as an avenue for aspiring creative entrepreneurs to hit the ground running. So it meant a lot of digging and probing for problems that these budding solopreneurs had and needed solutions for.

If you’re a current or aspiring creative entrepreneur that’s struggling with things like how to get started, how to market yourself or your business, and how to make consistent sales, you might also be interested for when the program comes out!

Just sign up for the waitlist below, and you can be first to hear about exclusive announcements and even special prices for when the program is out.

May Fails

Not Investing in Automation Tools

I’ll be the first to admit that, this early in my blogging journey, I’m not too keen on shelling out too much on tools – especially on automation tools.

But this month, I saw how I really needed to automate, especially if I wanted to consistently grow my blog and biz. And because this month was also a really busy month for me, I knew I could have invested in certain tools that could have done the work for me.

One such tool I know I need but haven’t gotten around to investing in yet is Tailwind. Since my blog traffic really banks on Pinterest, a handy scheduling and re-pinning tool could really save me a lot of time.

You see, my Pinterest strategy is mostly manual pinning, which I don’t mind doing. But, hey, sometimes life happens, and I don’t get to pin as consistently. So end result? Less pinning, less traffic to my blog.

And I’m particularly interested in making the investment to Tailwind soon, especially since I’ll be traveling next month. I definitely won’t have time to manually pin all the time, so I’m still talking myself into making the big jump!

Not Showing Up to Do the Work

May was a busy month for me, especially outside blogging where my real life was happening. And, long story short, a ton of things went out of control (like getting bit by a dog – crazy, right?). So I ended up ignoring the advice I always like to give people.

I stopped showing up to do the work – and that was such a big mistake.

I didn’t even commit to my usual 10-minute rule! But I’ve learned to never underestimate how real life works and am much more committed to getting things done, no matter how slowly. Like I love to say:

Progress is progress is progress.

So I’ve definitely learned from this hectic month! Especially since I lost potential traffic by failing to consistently share my posts on Pinterest – and maybe even that led to greater missed opportunities to grow my blog? – I’ve vowed to commit and show up. Even if it means just doing one thing that takes 10 minutes or less to accomplish every day, that’s still something.

After all, I always tell people to show up and do the work, so I intend to keep on taking that advice.

Who knows? Maybe those lost days of 10-minutes each could have led me closer to my long-term blogging goals… But I suppose we’ll never know. But now’s the best time to catch up!

What’s Next?

A Goal-Setting Planner  – NOW AVAILABLE

I recently published a post on how to focus on just one goal at a time (especially if you’re a multi-passionate, goal-getting millennial or millennial-at-heart), and the free worksheet I offer in the post has been doing really well for my subscriber list.

And after talking to all kinds of creatives and entrepreneurs who want to do so much – but think there’s so little time – I’ve just created a goal-setting planner based on how I manage all my goals.

As a little sneak peek, I base it off all my project management experience, which is the approach I take to manage all my goals. Everything is meant to help you define your goals as well as how you’ll achieve them – and of course, how to know if you’re on the right track with those goals.

Grab your copy with a special discount below!

Beta-Testing My Program – NOW CLOSED

With my research work to the program nearly done, I do plan on launching it very soon. So of course, I plan on doing a beta test!

Like I mentioned before, if you’re a creative entrepreneur looking to grow your business (or are an aspiring creative entrepreneur looking to get started), you might want to be a part of this program. In it, I plan to teach you how to actually get started on your creative biz, plus giving you tips on managing your biz online.

So in a nutshell, the program is out to help dream-chasers turn their creative biz goals into creative biz reality.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may get a small commission if you decide to purchase through my links at no extra cost to you. The commission helps me keep me doing what I do, so thank you very much!