Blogging Monthly Review: May 2022
May was a mostly slow month in terms of my blogging goals because I only had one big goal. However, there was one unexpected opportunity, which I will share with you a little more later on.
May is usually one of my favourite months of the year because it’s my birthday month. I love my birthday.
Even when I say I don’t feel like celebrating it, deep down I do. It’s the one day of the year when I want to be spoiled, feel all the love, and be happy.
But May was tough this year.
I went through a lot of challenges personally, and I knew it would be a physically tiring month which is why I only chose to focus on one goal in May.
After I discuss the progress of that one big goal in May I will focus on the lessons I learned after going through my tough time and how these lessons will teach me to be a better content creator.
My One Big May Goal
Keep up with posting 1 article a week on my blog and inside The Content Chest membership
I was able to keep up with publishing one post a week inside The Content Chest membership; however, for the blog, I missed one week.
That was a very stressful so I gave myself a break. Inside The Content Chest, however, I was still able to publish a curated playlist. This was a scheduled post.
In terms of my blog, here are the posts I published and an extended version of each post meaning it contains more information and extra how-to content is available inside The Content Chest:
What You Need to Know About Niching Down
What You Can Learn From KPop: Consistency Is Key
Blogging Monthly Review: April 2022
The way I now design my posts is to deliver initial value and you can access the full version of the blog post inside The Content Chest.
For example for my Affiliate Marketing For Beginners + Free Platform to Help You Start post, I share what affiliate marketing is and share what is that free platform you can use to start; but if you want to learn the process of applying for an affiliate marketing program, and how to use Skimlinks, as well as the best ways to promote your affiliate links, you can find that information exclusively inside The Content Chest.
Now let’s discuss what I learned last May. These are the lessons that can also be applied as a writer, blogger, and content creator.
What did I learn in May?
The importance of pacing one’s self
I already knew May would be physically tiring with an increase in house chores. Last year I experienced that same increased workload and I would get so tired I’d get palpitations.
This year, I took lots of breaks in between house chores to pace myself and not burn out early on in the day since I tend to want to finish as many chores as I can.
This attitude is also something that reflects in my work.
I tend to want to finish my tasks so once I’m done, I can relax but at times, especially the times when I have a huge workload, I get so burned out.
Now I know the importance of pacing and to apply this even when I work. I take lots of breaks in between tasks to ensure I don’t burn out as fast and can still work efficiently.
Challenge my negative thoughts
I like to think I’m a positive person. Over the years people have described me as someone bubbly.
However, I also tend to have extreme negative thoughts at times especially when I’m very stressed and overwhelmed which leads me to become anxious.
I’m working on challenging my negative thoughts. And it’s something my therapist has told me to do.
At times these negative thoughts also hold me back as a blogger and creator.
I doubt myself or overthink posting a video or blog post for fear that it’s too similar to what’s already out there. So I don’t post it.
I’m so used to asking myself what’s the worst-case scenario that I am making an effort to ask myself the opposite: “What could go right?”
Take it easy when things are too stressful
As mentioned earlier, May was a very stressful month where different aspects of my life were testing me.
Physically I had a lot on my plate. Mentally I had a lot of worries. Both my dogs got sick. The younger of the two (the oldest is 15 and the younger is 13) refused to eat for weeks (and she loves to eat!) despite bringing her to the vet multiple times.
Thankfully she’s okay now though she has been diagnosed with diabetes. At least she’s back to her usual disposition and is eating again.
Aside from that, other external circumstances were not good. I won’t delve too much here.
But long story short, there were so many things going on in my life and instead of taking it extra easy, I thought it would be a good time to also face an irrational fear head-on.
Looking back, I shouldn’t have done that. I still needed time to recover from everything and I was not ready to face it because so many things were already stressing me out. It only added fuel to the fire. Though one good thing that came out of that experience is that I went back to therapy.
As a content creator, I thankfully knew I had to step back this month which is why I only had one big goal. And while I was going through stressful things, I gave myself permission to take a proper break from content creation when it started to feel overwhelming–which was that time I didn’t post for a week.
My mental health is more important than sticking to a blog post schedule.
My June Goal
Have 10 members inside The Content Chest membership
One of the things I’ve been so excited about this year is launching The Content Chest membership, a supportive blogging community to help you build and grow your dream blog, and as a content creator.
Whether you call it a blogging community or a content creator community, it’s a place for bloggers, creatives, and content creators to come together, and learn to grow together all while supporting each other.
The Content Chest membership features exclusive content such as in-depth blogging how-tos like this Affiliate Marketing For Beginners + A Free Platform to Help You Start and insightful guides like the KPop Marketing Strategies to Help You Be a Better Content Creator as well as fun content that covers KDrama reviews and monthly playlists for those who also enjoy lifestyle content.
It’s both informative and fun because growing as a creative and content creator doesn’t have to be boring, overwhelming or lonely.
At the moment I have 4 members inside The Content Chest membership but would love to grow this to 10 members.
How do I plan to do this?
- Post strategic content on TikTok that promotes my membership
- Create pins to promote the membership
- Invite more people to become an affiliate for my membership
Grow my TikTok to 1,500 subscribers
Since I’ve been enjoying creating content for Tiktok, I’m focusing on growing this social media platform over the rest. It might be ambitious, but I would love to hit 1,500 subscribers this June!
How do I plan to do that?
- Look at my analytics on Tiktok and observe which type of content performs well since I’ve had a couple of posts go viral, and create more of that type of content while ensuring that the call-to-action would be to check out The Content Chest membership
Hire a dedicated virtual assistant
In May I decided to try a service where you can hire a part-time virtual assistant (VA) based on the tasks you need help with.
How it works is that every time I post a task, a virtual assistant is assigned to complete it. And 1 task credit is equivalent to 30 minutes of work.
If they need more time to complete the task, they ask you to deduct another task credit.
Since it’s on a subscription plan, depending on your plan, you get a certain number of task credits per month.
However, they also have a plan to have a dedicated VA per month.
Since I want to increase my marketing activities this month plus I’ve got a new freelancing project, I need help with a couple of tasks. So I think it’s time to try out a dedicated assistant.
My other wins for this month
- At the beginning of the month, my Tiktok subscribers were 800 and ended at 1023! Every time I record my TikTok growth I am amazed.
- Landed a new freelance retainer client and increased my monthly earnings
- I got invited by Tiktok to join their Creator Program (this was the unexpected opportunity I was telling you about!)
Now that things are much better compared to the stress of May, I’m excited to keep on creating especially the content on KPop marketing strategies and content that The Content Chest members request me to create.
What about you? What are the progress of your goals last month and what goals are you working on this month?
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