We get quite a lot of questions about blogging and how we got to where we are today. That being full time bloggers (we love saying that!). We dare you to ask us about blogging when you meet up with us… we could talk your arms and legs off about it.
Let’s just say, first we fell in love with everything health and wellbeing, then it was social media, then it was blogging and now we are learning all we can about business so we can create a successful one. Success equates to a lot of things for us but in this post we are talking about financial freedom.
We’ve learnt so much through our journey with The Merrymaker Sisters. We’re more than happy to share with you the tools and resources that helped us. But the number 1 requirement is passion. We say it all the time, FOLLOW YOUR BLISS aka your PASSION, your DREAM!
“Find ‘the thing’ that you can’t stop thinking about and make a business, blog (or both!) all about it!”
We started The Merrymaker Sisters in February 2013 and before this we knew nothing about blogging or business and we had a very limited understanding of health and wellbeing. We knew no one in these professional fields. We didn’t get a leg up.
What we’re trying to say is… if you want something bad enough, if it’s your passion, your bliss and you work every day towards it, you will get it. If you want out of the job you hate, you can do it. No ifs, no buts.
Health and Wellness Blogging.
If you’re a health and wellbeing blogger we believe it is important to have some form of network and credibility behind you. This is why we joined The Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN). It’s an online course where you learn from amazing international acclaimed teachers (think Deepak Chopra, Mark Sisson and David Wolfe etc.), covering over 150 different dietary theories, core business and marketing skills as well as social media. You can join up here or you can read about our personal experience with IIN. Joining IIN has led to many personal breakthroughs and business opportunities. We are so grateful for IIN and one of our greatest mentors, Joshua Rosthenal (founder of IIN).
Other Health and Wellness resources.
We follow quite a few other bloggers and health professionals. Really the list could go on and on. But our 2 all time faves…
Sarah Wilson. She studied IIN and built an I Quit Sugar empire. What an amazing woman! If you haven’t checked out the IQS site, it is an amazing example of a thriving online business bringing a lot of good to the world!
Mark Sisson, pretty much the Primal King.
Be a ProBlogger.
Pro Blogger. Far out. Where do we start? The best thing we ever did was go to the ProBlogger conference in 2013 (and 2014 and every year to come). When we first started we also read at least 1 ProBlogger article a day. It’s a blog about monetizing your blog.
If you are serious about blogging, ProBlogger is a must visit website. They also have amazing online resources and eBooks like 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and Blogging for Your Business. The eBooks are filled with simple action items to create a thriving online business or blog. ProBlogger is for everyone, whether you’re just starting or if you’ve been at it for a while.
The ProBlogger community is the home for bloggers to come together to collaborate, learn and network in a private, supportive and authentic environment. These words are directly from Darren Rowse (founder and general amazing guy, yes, another one of our mentors) and the ProBlogger team and we love them. This community will give you access to even more blogging resources (some AWESOME free plugins), webinars and forums. Yes, forums where you can ask a question and you will get an answer usually within the next day! We will be life time members. You can join up here (it’s only $27 a month or $199 a year… an investment worth every penny!).
Get a mentor.
Find a mentor, stalk one out if you have to! We feel super blessed to be able to pick up the phone or send a quick email and get a reply from amazing bloggers, business people and key influencers. People who inspire us and who want to guide and advise us (yes, it’s amazing and blows our minds sometimes that these people want to help us).
But we also have mentors who we follow online or by simply reading their books. An inspiring book is pure awesome and has the capacity to change your life. These are some of our favourite online guys (they’re on rotation!).
Chris Ducker. Learn to build your dream business with the help of virtual staff. We heard Chris Ducker speak at a recent conference, he made an impact, so YAY new online mentor!
Matthew Michalewicz. Author and Entrepreneur. Read his book, Life in Half A Second. A motivating book on achieving success before it’s too late. A great fire in belly book.
Pat Flynn. He writes all about Smart Passive Income (we all want to learn about that, right?!).
Marie Forleo. Run a kick-ass business you love! She’s really funny too!
Build a Blog.
These are the programs and tools we use to build www.themerrymakersisters.com
WordPress. The place to build your blog. WordPress makes it easy.
If you are serious about your business/blog you’ll want to purchase your own domain name (so you get rid of the .wordpress in your URL address) as well as arrange third party web hosting. We recommend Blue Host or Net Registry for domain names as well as any web hosting services. These guys are great with the service they provide as well as immediate support when required.
When developing your site you will need to pick a wordpress theme. We use Newspaper theme for this site, it’s nice, simple and mobile responsive. Find our more about Newspaper theme here.
We use MailChimp for our weekly newsletter and to build the all important subscriber list. Its easy as paleo pie, simply drop content in and schedule away. We will say it again… START AN EMAIL LIST NOW! It is your most valuable asset to any brand, product, business, organisation etc.
Did we mention, start an email list now!
The Communicator Plugin. This is seriously one of the best plugins! It helps you create pop ups (that are actually pretty!). Not just any pop up, you can create timed pop ups, exit pop ups and sign up forms all over your blog or website! You get this plugin for free when you sign up to the ProBlogger Community.
The StickyBar Plugin. This is the bar at the top of our website. It drives people to purchase products or sign up to that all important mailing list! Again, you get this for free when you sign up to the ProBlogger Community.
The Broken Image and Link Finder Plugin. Again, another plugin you get for free when you join the ProBlogger Community (we told you it was good!). It helps locate any broken links or images in your entire blog! Great for when you need to do a clean up!
Helpful Digital Tools.
Dropbox for storing and sharing digital documents. A must have for when you travel a lot and need access to all of your documents! You simply log in to Dropbox online from anywhere and wa-lah! All your documents right there when you need them!
The app called Todoist. This app is amazing! It’s free (you can upgrade to premium for a fee) and it’s a digital ‘To Do’ list that your whole team can access and you can even assign tasks to different people. No more paper To Do lists everywhere! Get it. It will change your life.
We’re definitely learning new things everyday so we’ll keep adding to this post as we go. We’d love to hear your feedback or any further questions you might have! We want to help you as much as we can to follow your bliss!
Always merrymaking,
Emma + Carla
Some of the links included in this post are affiliate links, which means we receive a small commission from any sales (you should think about affiliates too if you’re starting a blog!). This helps fund our website, to keep us merrymaking!