Looking to start your own blog? I started my blog in 7 days while working full-time as a lawyer.
People provide guides, step-by-step tools for creating a blog, which no doubt is helpful but I want to provide something more valuable to you. Something unique that very few think to share in such depth and detail as I am about to.
As I embark upon a journey to successfully create my blog, I will share with you my digital diary, details of my first seven (7) days including personal strategies, thoughts, and tips that allowed me to launch my very first blog while working full time!
Table of Contents
Day 1- Thinking to Start a Blog
It was a Monday and before this day began, the night before, I went to sleep ruminating over the idea of starting an online business.
I have owned and sold retail businesses before but this time, I wanted to explore the online realm.
What is a blog?
For those of you who do not know, the term “blog” originated by combining the words “web” and “log” and the word today can be used as a verb as in “to blog” (i.e. submit posts online), you get the idea!
I did not know I was going to create a blog yet!
I woke up the next morning and as I was watching some YouTube videos, I stumbled upon a YouTube video of two six-figure bloggers.
I got intrigued and kept watching one video after another because their success from blogging was so inspiring!
They were making $100,000 from not just one blog but two blogs!
I watched a lot of YouTube videos that day of successful bloggers and read several blogs online.
In today’s world, someone has already done what you want to do and if you are smart, you will use your time wisely and follow their techniques rather than re-inventing the wheel yourself.
Let’s face it, time is money and as it is, working full-time as a lawyer, I do not have the luxury of time on my hands to start from scratch.
I have learned over the years how to work “smart” by maximizing my limited time.
I loved Alex and Lauren at Create and Go because I found them VERY REAL and trustworthy.
I took the time to study their websites along with other bloggers but kept finding them more professional and trustworthy than the others.
I read their blog posts and watched their videos the entire day (excluding working hours) but I was so passionate and eager to learn that if I couldn’t read, I had their videos playing in the background when I showered, during my drive to work, and certainly during my lunch hour.
This truly provided a lot of valuable insight into the blogging world and got me excited and motivated to start my own blog!
More research on blogging
Although this information online was helpful, I felt it was broken in the sense that you had to sift through a lot of information to extract what was beneficial for you.
None of the videos or online material encompassed an action plan that I could just implement from start to finish.
It felt like I was on a scavenger hunt just trying to piece the different steps and information together to create my own chronology on what I should do first, second, and so forth.
This inspired me to create my own journal on the blogging process with the end goal of providing you the exact thought process and action steps that produce results.
Each day is an opportunity and by breaking down your goal into daily steps, you will achieve your desired results sooner than you realize.I soaked in all the information from online like a sponge and even read a couple of books on the subject to familiarize myself with the long term value of creating a blog.
Here are the two books I recommend you should read:
Starting a blog when you have no clue and
How I replaced my day job with blogging.
Both were great. I devoured them.
Next I decided to purchase this blogging course from Create and Go because I knew it offered the best value and showed you how to go from a beginner blogger to a six-figure blogger.
If I was going to start this blogging thing then I might as well go all in and invest in the best resources and tools out there!
4 Reasons why I decided to Start a blog –
- LOW UPFRONT COST – based on my prior business acquisitions, blogging is much cheaper to start and depends on your hard work rather than upfront capital. Your initial investment is not very high and it’s very affordable to start a blog.
- GLOBAL AUDIENCE– you can reach and make a positive impact in the lives of so many people in different countries. Your audience is limitless and can grow over time. You are not limited to one specific location and can connect with anyone online. In today’s growing digital age, honestly, it makes sense to have that kind of online presence and impact.
- AUTONOMY– this is by far the biggest reason for me because you have complete freedom over your time. I imagine this being one of the most important reasons for many people to be self-employed, whether that’s through blogging or any other online business. You can decide when to wake up, sleep, and work from basically anywhere in the world. You are free to set your own working hours and can structure your daily routine according to your will. You can’t do this if you have a traditional brick and mortar business.
- REVENUE– blogging is not a quick-rich scheme as everyone says but it has endless potential. Nothing is quick rich – if you put in the time and effort, you will succeed and that potential alone – seeing several six-figure bloggers out there was sufficient to motivate me to invest my time in this.
Day 2- Idea Phase (AKA Figuring out My Blog Niche)
I woke up with my mind brewing with new information and ideas about my blog.
By now, I was convinced that this was the right course for me to start my blog if I was serious about becoming a six-figure blogger one day!
I also knew I needed a planner to stay organized and productive if I was serious about turning my vision into reality.
I purchased this nice planner to get started because I knew if I wanted to succeed, I had to be super productive with my limited time! There are so many cool planners to pick from. I also like this one below.
I have always used planners and before upgrading to the PRODUCTIVITY Planner, I used the BLOOM Planner. It’s less expensive than the Productivity planner and you can check it out here-
BLOG ELEMENTS
In a nutshell, everyone talked about a successful blog containing these 4 elements at least, if not more-
- IDEA: An ongoing stream of interesting, captivating, information, valuable content that solved a problem for someone. This content should be easy to read and visually appealing at the same time because most people have a short attention span! Also making sure to choose a profitable topic for your blog, something you can write about for long term.
- AUDIENCE: A large and ever-growing audience and followers that would be interested in the subject matter. Hence, social media activity (Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc) is important.
- INCOME: Multiple sources of revenue. If you are interested in monetizing your blog then multiple streams of income such as affiliate marketing, advertising, selling products and services, etc need to be utilized so your monthly income is not contingent upon just one factor.
- CREDIBILITY: Your credibility as a blogger is extremely important for people to respect and trust you. Be honest with your audience. Nobody wants to read or watch your content if you are someone that does not deliver much value or someone who does not have conviction in his or her words. Blogging is a long-term phenomenon and so it takes time to build and maintain your audience.
I spent most of this day on the “idea” or some people call it your “niche” part.
Let me tell you, it was not easy!
I jotted down everything from my personal to professional skills to really discover what I wanted to write about and how I wanted to help others:
- business skills
- professional model
- teacher
- writer
- now a lawyer
I never forget in college what one of my favorite professors said to me, “BRILLIANCE COMES WITH A PRICE.”
What he meant was when you excel in so many things, it becomes difficult to focus and pursue just one thing at a time.
I was facing this dilemma once again because I knew I could write about a lot of topics considering my diverse background and life experiences but like they say, you have to take one step at a time.
I went through the first course in the Pro Blogger Bundle watching the videos and taking notes.
My mind was supercharged with different ideas and some were good, which I may still implement in the near future for another blog.
I decided to give my mind a rest and sleep on this because the best ideas sometimes come during your sleep!
Day 3- LIGHT BULB Phase
Sleep is equivalent to water for me; I need lots of it at times to calm my hyperactive mind. Because I was thinking constantly for the last two days about “what I should blog about”, I needed the rest!
It was worth it because the idea just came to me!
I decided it was going to be “SELF EMPLOYMENT (LEGAL + BUSINESS AND BLOGGING TIPS)”.
I know ever since I was a kid, I have been working for myself in one way or the other, and this is something I can totally talk or write about endlessly.
This way I could combine my business and legal skills to truly empower others with the tools and information they need to succeed in their self-employment journey and ultimately become their own boss!
I purposely didn’t want to narrow down my niche because it was too soon to do that. Once you start blogging for few months, that’s when you learn how your blog posts are performing.
I knew if I needed to, I could always change my blog niche later but for now, I liked writing about business and legal tips.
Everyone should work for themselves in some shape or form even if it’s just to supplement your full-time income.
The tax benefits alone are enough to motivate you to be self-employed.
Read my other helpful posts here – 7 great reasons to be self-employed and 7 tax tips for the self employed here.
Anyhow, I was ecstatic about the fact that my blog niche idea came to me so quickly!
I honestly thought I would have to brainstorm for another week or something.
Same day, I finalized on my domain name. I wanted something short and simple and “ASelfGuru.com” was born.
The thought was that you are A Self Guru when you are the master of your own destiny and hence, in charge of your future! This became my blog’s tag line.
Side note: You should do a trademark search of your blog name to make sure you are not infringing upon someone else’s name and business.
That night, I also wrote couple of blog posts including this post which became super popular once I launched my blog.
See the key is don’t overthink everything! Just act on your ideas.
Day 4- ACTION Phase
So far, we have been just talking about ideas and my thought processes but they are not enough.
We can sit here and daydream all day but I am a firm believer in taking massive action just like Tony Robbins teaches.
YOU HAVE TO AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN!
I did not want to waste any time in purchasing the domain name and picking the hosting company.
I went with Bluehost as most bloggers do and they have been good to me!
This was an important day because I took care of –
- all the online registration related to my domain and hosting,
- put together my blog expense spreadsheet which I got for free with this course (you should keep track of all your expenses from day one and be organized so when it’s time for taxes, you have everything readily available),
- even wrote some more blog posts, and
- played around with WordPress because it seemed like a foreign language at the time!
I only have 3-4 hours each day to work on my blog after work so this day flew by!
But I will say this, it was worth it!
I went to sleep with a huge smile on my face because I had already made huge progress.
Per the course, this process alone takes people WEEKS to finish and here I was zipping through it!
I think it’s because I was so passionate about getting started with my blog and a little impatient too 😀
Pro Tip: Join our Facebook Group to connect with me and other go-getters, bloggers and entrepreneurs. You will love being part of our supportive and collaborative environment!
Day 5- EMPTY POCKET Phase (Blogging Expenses)
I call this day “empty pocket” phase because that’s all I did, spent more money on blogging.
I had already purchased this course but now it was time to buy the other things I needed to run a successful blog.
Beginner Blogging Expenses
I spent $1000 to start my blog, which included:
- signing up for my hosting with Bluehost, domain,
- theme for the website,
- Tailwind, to automate my Pinterest and Instagram posts
- PicMonkey to create graphics
- all in one business platform including the email marketing service,
- this Canva 101 course to design beautiful graphics for blog posts and social media
- I also invested in some Pinterest templates because I didn’t want to waste time designing ugly pins (I’m no designer here)
But I have kept track of all these blogging expenses for tax purposes.
The most expensive thing was this blogging course.
So why did I decide to purchase an expensive blogging course so quickly?
Because it goes back to the principle that “time is money” and I do not have a lot of it!
I could sit here and surf the internet and probably figure out a lot of this by trial and error but is that really the best use of my time and resources?
Definitely not!
I don’t believe in wasting time and although it was an investment, I knew I would learn so much from it.
This was still nothing considering the law school debt I owe which is no less than a mortgage payment every month!
You have to spend the money to receive value and when you are in school or college, you don’t even blink when it comes to spending the money on your education and books.
So why should blogging be any different?
I am not an expert in blogging, at least not yet so why not learn from the experts?
That’s why I decided to invest in a quality blogging course that produced results and I couldn’t be happier!
Because of this course, I have been able to launch my blog within 7 days!!
The entire process (from the idea phase to the launch phase took 7 days only as you can see here). It would have taken me at least MONTHS if I had not taken this course.
I wasn’t bogged down with technical difficulties and I wasn’t confused or frustrated either like some beginner blogger who try to do everything on their own.
I watched the course videos for 8 hours straight after work (got very little sleep that night!) because I couldn’t wait to get started!
That’s how I am. When I am passionate about something, I give it my all.
As for the WordPress theme, I decided to go with Divi (elegant themes) even though it was more expensive than the others recommended in the course.
Another huge progress this day was creating a logo for the website and a favicon (which is the little thing you see in front of your site name). This last part was fun!
I enjoyed creating the logo and favicon and it was a nice way to end the hectic day.
Day 6- LAWYER Phase (Blog Legalities)
This day was spent on drafting, revising, and finalizing my legal pages for the blog. I also wrote a couple more blog posts.
I’ve more than 8 years of experience writing legal pages and all kinds of business contracts, so this step was easy for me!
At least I did not have to spend more money on a lawyer to get these done! Being a lawyer does have its benefits 🙂
I see some bloggers and online entrepreneurs making the mistake of not having legal pages on their site or thinking they can just grab a free legal template. Don’t make this legal mistake!
Read my post here to see why free legal templates are not enough to protect you.
Read my other post on 3 ways to legally protect your blog and online business here.
You will learn why you need these 3 legal pages on your website from day one!!
You must have three legal pages on your website before you launch your blog. These are:
Make sure to comply with the law and protect yourself legally BEFORE you launch your blog.
I have helped thousands of entrepreneurs already with their legal pages so check out my Legal Bundle here to get done with professionally written legal pages within 30 minutes, without losing your hair or getting lost in the legalese.
I have simplified the entire process for you and see what other bloggers are saying here.
Click here to read more.
Day 7- LAUNCH Phase (Finally!)
Here comes the most exciting day (7th and the last day of my blog launch journey!!)
By now, I had a total of 7 blog posts ready to publish. I didn’t care if they were perfect or not, at least I had some content written.
I could always tweak it later.
Next thing I did was create all my social media accounts and linked them to my website.
I configured my email marketing service with ConvertKit.
It was very easy to setup and perfect for beginner bloggers.
Update: After starting with Convertkit as my email marketing service, I quickly switched to Kartra instead because it’s the best all in one business solution.
What I love about Kartra is that it allows you to literally do EVERYTHING you need for your business without spending hundreds of dollars every month.
You can do –
- email marketing,
- creating awesome opt-in forms,
- lead pages,
- sales pages,
- membership sites,
- hosting of your products and
- even an affiliate program!
Try it for just a $1.00 here (that’s what I did) and I never went back to any other email marketing service again.
Kartra saves me money and also landed me my first sale!
I have also tried others like MailChimp but once you learn all the capabilities of Kartra, it’s a no-brainer to stick with it. You simply save tons of money!
Oh I also want to emphasize that in order to stay organized and accomplish a giant goal like this one, you must get into the habit of writing your “to-do lists” and maximizing your time!
Stay on track, create discipline and finish your tasks daily.
Hold yourself accountable or join our Facebook group to connect with other go-getters to stay motivated and inspired!
I will admit that this 7th day was extremely exhausting for me considering the fact I got no break in these 7 days!
I worked nonstop on my blog every single night while also going to work and taking care of everything else in between such as grocery shopping, cooking, etc.
I am glad I was able to reach my target of starting this blog within 7 days though!
Final Thoughts – How I started my Blog in 7 Days and Here’s my Blogging Progress
The Pro Blogger Bundle changed my life completely. How to start a blog has never been easier.
Fast forward a few months and read how I make $20,000/month blogging now!
The Launch Your Blog Biz course in this bundle showed me step by step, video after video, how to launch my blog successfully in 7 days. It was so easy!
Then the Pinterest Course in this bundle showed me exactly how to set up my business account with Pinterest and bring massive traffic to my blog. I even had one pin go viral in my first month. Here’s my secret for creating viral pins.
Then this course in this bundle truly scaled my business because it showed me exactly how to create my own digital products within weeks!
Here’s my detailed review of the Pro Blogger Bundle, so you could see what I liked and didn’t like.
Side note: all these blogging courses paid for themselves when I made $3700 in just two months of blogging!
Read my first blog income report here.
The Pro Blogger Blogging course, unlike the FREE ones out there, was definitely comprehensive and provided a realistic timeline about the entire process that I could implement step by step.
Other Helpful Blog Posts:
- How I Made $3700 Blogging in 2 Months
- How I Made $20,000/month Blogging in My First Year
- 7 Habits of Self-Made Millionaires
- How to Blog Legally
If you found this personal post and my experience helpful and gained some insight into starting a blog, then please pin it and comment below to tell me about your blog journey!
4.5
Everyone wants to be different and stand out so what stuck out to me the most was the bit on day one where you mention following others techniques rather than re-inventing the wheel yourself! It was kind of like an “ah-ha” moment! I enjoyed this post – different than others of this type that I have read. I am sure there are several on your page I would enjoy/benefit from reading (I am self-employed and recently started a blog)!
Awesome, love to hear this Carlie! Good luck with your blog!
Very motivational post, Amira! I have been slow at times to get things moving with my blog, but this helps a lot. Also great to hear your perspectives on the Create and Go courses. I’ll look out for your coming reviews 🙂
Thanks, Christen! Good luck with your blog! Yes, I will be posting my reviews of the Create and Go courses soon
I think it is amazing that you were able to create a blog in seven days while working full time and coming from personal experience I praise you. I was working two jobs alongside my blog and running a social media group so I know how difficult it can be. I like how you split each step into phases like the launch phase.
Aww thank you, Ana for taking the time to read this and providing such positive feedback!! It means a lot to me because you are no less than a role model yourself! I admire what you have accomplished so far! Also, you are absolutely right about this being not easy. It takes a lot of time management, multi-tasking and of course passion to do this!
I totally agree. Blogging isn’t a get rich quick scheme but it is fun to do. It’s really easy to set up a blog and the expenses are not large which is great.
You definitely thought everything through here. I am not sure I could have done better. I spent at least as much as you did that first year. Although some of it was with equipment and not on the blogging courses. I’ve always been curious about them.
Thanks, David! The blogging courses have been instrumental in teaching the inside information that you don’t know when you are starting out. They provide the insight and step by step direction which makes me more productive rather than having to spend time researching this information on my own!
Very well planned moves before your blog went live. I must admit that I did none of these until I got into the blogger’s block. That was when I carefuly planned for my blogging activities and did as much research as possible. And I’m grateful to the blogging communities on Facebook since I would have known less of that without joining them.
Thanks Darlene. Wish you much success ahead!
This post is so relatable! I’m working full time too and only started blogging recently. I literally went through each of these phases haha!
Love,
Claudia
http://thatsmeonline.net
That’s awesome! I read one of your posts earlier which was insightful. Will check out your blog more to read about your blogging journey so far!
I’m still pretty new at blogging—boy do I wish I had this list months ago, when I was still figuring out how to get started! Excellent post 🙂
Thank you, glad you found it helpful.
I love your thought processes & how methodical you were. Very obvious you are a highly intelligent woman.
haha thank you, Michelle! I’m very organized and definitely methodical 🙂
This is so inspiring Amira. I love how you detailed your blogging process in different phases.
Thanks, Suktara! I’m a detailed oriented person (comes naturally with the lawyer profession :)) Glad you found the post inspiring!
Great post! It’s loaded with information and helpful tools. Thank you!
Thanks, Holly!
Hi Amira
Your Post Are Interesting And Motivation For Newbies Who Want To Start a Beautiful Blog But Can not Start It Easily. Your Post Is So Helpful For These People …
Thanks For Telling Your Great Blog Story….
Thank you! I’m so glad you found it helpful and appreciate your feedback!
You’re a super woman Amira. I also work full-time but my blog only has 14 articles so far. But I’ll learn a lot from you!
Thank you. That’s so sweet of you, Mary! Yes, I’ll admit I’m a workaholic lol but you are doing great too!
This is a good reference for those who want to start blogging. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Herah. Glad it helped you!
You are a rock star Amira. It took me a month or so to have everything ready. May be because I did not spend much money on buying any courses. I have learnt it over time that you need to spend money where you can save time so I am investing the money in some courses where I believe I need help. Time is money especially in blogging. Your blog looks great and your income reports prove it. Keep up and congrats on all this success.
Thank you so much, Nadia! Time is a precious commodity and I don’t have a lot of it with my full-time job, so it was definitely important for me to invest in the right blogging resources and courses to start my journey painlessly 🙂 Glad to see you making great progress with your blog and can’t wait to see more!
This is a great and in-depth post about starting a blog. Great info for those who are new to the process! I actually learned a couple things I didn’t even know myself.
Oh really? That’s so great to hear, Jessica! Thanks.
The lightbulb phase is the best! Such an exciting time to have found that thing that “clicked” for you!
Yes, definitely! Thanks, Kari!
Very helpful and informative site
Working full time while having a blog is definitely a challenge since finding time to just create content is a struggle but the legal resources on this post made taking care of my legal pages so fast and easy. The legal bundle is a life saver for sure.
So glad to hear that, Sue! Thank you for your valuable feedback on my Legal Bundle.