Vegan Momma

My website, Vegan Momma, has hit the 200 mark for its RSS feed. I find it shocking especially since I dropped off the blogosphere for quite some time. When I again started back, blogging I checked my stats because I was positive there had to be a glitch somewhere but sure enough my traffic kept increasing.

So why did my numbers increase while I was away? What kept people surfing onto my websites even when I took the unexpected break came down to the terms they used to reach my website. Lots of people were looking for articles about health and fitness, but there were other topics that came up also. Veganism was a hot topic. Vegan Momma is a mixed bag and I like it that way. At times, I don’t know what I’m going to write about but I’ll definitely write something.

Now that I’m back I’m back into the thinking mode and figuring out things I want to do here on Vegan Momma, some of them you’ll notice within the next few weeks and others well they will take time. I’ll definitely be writing about health although I’ll save the bulk of my health related posts to Healing Yourself Naturally and The Raw & The Cooked but since not everyone visits those websites I’ll write down my thoughts here also.

Oh by the way although smaller my numbers didn’t drop on those sites either. Two bloggers that do a great job with their niche sites are Pete of My GPS Camera Phone and Tim of Vitamin Stuff. Tim also has a health blog check them out when you have the chance the information is focused, but you get a full course buffet every time you visit. They talk about all sorts of things related to those topics, and I know their sites will continue to do well.

I’m passionate about health and fitness and its something I write about and study daily. Regarding health ad nutrition at times, I really have to think about what I write because I don’t want to come off as preachy. I’m not, yes I’m Vegan the reasons behind that are for the animals and because I honestly know that I can be healthy as a Vegan; however, I also know that you can be healthy even if you aren’t you just have to make healthy choices.

At times, I have to stop myself when I hear people talk how they’ve “caught a cold” from someone since it really doesn’t work that way. We have more control of our health than many of use realize, and we do have the power, in many cases, to control our health. I wish people would realize that.

I’ve started speaking locally about health and nutrition in my area and naturally that makes me excited. I consider it a labor of love since I’m not being paid to do it the places I’ve been speaking at really cannot afford to pay me, and I would not ask them; however, I think it’s a message that needs to be heard by many and I’m simply trying to do my part to get the word out there.

On average, Vegan Momma, Healing Yourself Naturally, and The Raw and The Cooked along are contacted daily by people looking to improve their health. I always enjoy those emails because it shows me that people are searching and are seriously looking for ways to improve their health and how they view food.

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Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

This past Monday I was going to write something about Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King day is a recognized holiday here in the United States. However, I could not bring myself to write anything about this man. As I briefly stopped by some of my favorite spots on the blogosphere, I noticed his famous I Have A Dream speech plastered everywhere. Each time I saw it I couldn’t help but think if the poster or those who commented on how great a speech this was truly got the full meaning of what he was trying to convey. One of the many characteristics I’ve always admired about Martin Luther King was the respect he had for those who thought differently than himself. That’s something I try to incorporate into my life. It’s not always easy but knowing I want the same treatment from others I make a practice of following my own example. Martin Luther King was a compassionate man who’s views inspired to take action and turn their dreams into a reality.

I posted one of my favorite quotes by King at the beginning of this post. In real life and, online I’ve seen many fall into these categories. Alliances are drawn because of their beliefs on a wide range of issues. Sometimes the views held are inaccurate. I always believe there is a better way to deal with those who think differently than ourselves than negativity. It’s easy to agree with those who think exactly like us. That takes no effort the true test is giving respect to those who think differently than ourselves.

Think about the way you treat those who think differently than you when it comes to politics, religious, lifestyle choices, race, education, or socioeconomic status. I could list more, but I think you get the idea. Do you treat people who think differently than yourself differently or do you give them the same respect as those who think exactly like you? Perhaps we should focus on listening to one another. We should be willing to listen to views besides are own in doing so we might understand why people think differently than we. Instead of attacking each other we need to spend more time building one another up and yes respecting those who think differently than ourselves.

I don’t care what others are saying about you or the group that you are affiliated with. Lashing out at the person or group keeps the negativity going. Guess what? You might always have someone that unfairly judges you. Knowing how unfair this is modify your own behavior and treat those you come in contact with as individuals. Think about your actions and the effect it they can have on others. It’s time to break the negative cycle

Question: When judging a person or a group? Do you need to change your views?

[tags]Continuing the Dream[/tags]

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Over the past few weeks I’ve been devoting my free time to studying. I had a test yesterday. I’m happy to say I’m still maintaining my A+ average with my courses. For those who aren’t aware I’m pursuing my Master’s Degree in Traditional Naturopathy. I’m enjoying the studies and although much of what I’m studying is familiar to myself I still need to need to do additional research.

Responding To Comments & Blog Visits
Some of you might have noticed that my posting, commenting, and blog visits have been extremely light. My apologies for not being able to respond to comments or visit as I normally do I should be back on track towards the end of this week. I’ve been visiting some of you mainly the ones I have been communicating with via email over the past few weeks, and I’ve also been trying to comment on those who don’t receive as much traffic.

Exercise Updates
In my prior posts about exercise, I mentioned that I officially met R in the gym a few days ago. Guess what? I saw him the next day, and now I have another workout partner. I usually work out with D the first three days of the week, and now I’ll be working out with R on the remaining days. I mistakenly thought he was a bodybuilder he’s not. He’s a boxer and is training for an upcoming match. Amazingly his workouts are more intense than the ones I have with D so I have no excuse not to be in competition form.

Software News
I recently discovered an offline blog writing program called MarsEdit 2. I you are on a Mac I highly recommend that you check it out. You can try it out for thirty days for free and the copy is fully functional. As much as I love WordPress I dislike writing online. MarsEdit 2 addresses that issue. Initially, I was doing all my writing in Scrivener however since I loaded MarsEdit 2 to my computer earlier today I’ll be using it for my blog posts. I’m not sure why it took me so long to use an offline blog writing program. With the amount of blogs I have you would think I would have taken care of this a long time ago. Yes this post was created in MarsEdit 2.

Hiring Updates
As of today I have a writer for one of my websites she will most likely be coming on board this spring. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity although she is new to me her work speaks volumes. I’m truly impressed with what she has to offer. I’m paying her a flat fee along with a % of the websites profits.

As the profit increases, and I believe it will, so will her pay. That website has the potential to do very well. I’m already getting a taste to its potential and I rarely post on the website. That tells me a lot. Hiring a writer will take it to the next level. It will free a lot of my blog time and will give me a chance to market my websites and write in other places.

One mistake I see many people make who are interested in making money online is they don’t treat their online activities like a business. It is. You need to have a plan and at times you might have to take risks. You might have to make sacrifices.

Support Makes All the Difference
Thankfully my family and friends are supportive so they don’t feel offended if I don’t have the time to hang out with them. The exception is my daughter. I always make time for her. Their support is wonderful I appreciate they realize how challenging it can be to be the sole supporter with my daughter. As harsh as it sounds I don’t have time for people who aren’t willing to understand the importance making my businesses successful. That is added stress I don’t need.

One of my friends doesn’t have that support and some of his family and friends complain about his lack of time. That’s added stress and something a small business owner, or anyone for that matter, doesn’t need. I’m one of his biggest cheerleaders.

A Business Is Challenging
The money isn’t going to magically fall into your lap. You have to work for it and look at the bigger picture. If you think you can make it up as you go you might not get far and you most likely won’t do as well. I’ve passed people that have been doing this longer than myself; however, when I’ve questioned their plans they didn’t have any. Running my business usually doesn’t feel like work. I love what I do at times sure it can be challenging. Please read Catherine’s post 16 Truths About Starting A Small Business.

Freelance Updates
Projects are going well, and I enjoy the clients I work with the past few weeks have been challenging mainly because of my studies and my brief time I wasn’t feeling well but bounced back with plenty of rest and some natural remedies but thankfully things are back on track. I’m thankful.

New Freelance Website
My new website is averaging 35 unique visitors daily not bad for a website that is three weeks old. I don’t spend a lot of time marketing it I don’t have the time; however, I have left comments on a few websites that has generated traffic I also have received trackbacks, links, and I received my first award last evening. Freelance writing is a business. I’m treating it like one.

I’ve learned a lot during my three years of blogging. I’m at the point where I know what works, at least for me, and I won’t make the same mistakes as I did with Vegan Momma.

Thank You
I would like to personally thank my readers for stopping by Vegan Momma even when I don’t always have the time to return the favor or comment. For those who’ve known me for any length of time realize I’m not like that I enjoy interacting with others and recognizing my readers because you are truly appreciated. Anyway thanks I’ll be visiting your virtual homes soon.

[tags]freelance writing, hiring updates, exercise, traditional naturopathy[/tags]

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The end of the year is always a good time for me to reflect on the goals I’ve set for myself throughout year. Setting goals seems to be something I’ve always done. Yep, I even did it as a child. Of course my goals then are a lot different from the ones I try to achieve now however they were still important to me and I remember feeling a since of pride when I accomplished them.

Actively working towards something has always encouraged me to do my best. It gave me a clear vision of what I wanted to fulfill, and the goal was something I had researched and known that fulfilling it was within my reach. I owe a lot of my success to having a well thought out plan. Usually, I’ve met all the goals for myself but sometimes I have fallen short. It feels great reviewing what I’ve fulfilled, and I also learn a lot by reviewing the goals that I didn’t achieve.

December 6, 2007 makes a year that I’ve been working for myself full-time. The goal I set for myself last year, even before I made the leap to working for myself full time was simple. I didn’t want to go back working for someone else. I guess I could say I’m fortunate, that’s definitely part of the reason I’m still working for myself; however, the main reason is I adequately planned for it.

Freelance Writing

Another big goal I had set for myself was to start freelance writing. Well that was hard for me although I enjoy writing I don’t think of myself as a “writer” getting past that obstacle that I had built for myself was challenging but I moved forward and although it’s near the end of the year I’ve taken on a few projects as a freelance writer. I actively sought out a few “real writers” and many of them have been supportive but I wasn’t dependent on them. Realizing they have lives like myself I knew I couldn’t use them as a crutch. I could not base my performance on them.

As myself most people are busy and I knew these writers wouldn’t be able to devote a lot of time to hold my hand through the beginning stages of the freelance writing process and so I took the initiative and ventured out into the great unknown, exploring, making mistakes and coming away with a lot more knowledge. Guess what much of the information I was looking for could be found on the internet! Imagine that! ;-)

A few days ago I sat thinking about the ways I could offer my services as a freelance writer. The more I thought about it. The more I realized the answer was connected with Vegan Momma. I receive a lot of solicitations from people, on a weekly basis, who want to advertise on my website. Many websites I actually enjoy but their products, mostly, don’t match what I write about. I know that’s shocking since I write about almost anything. Two days ago I approached a few of them, via email, seeing whether they needed writers for their websites. Guess what? Some of them actually did, and I’ve received more freelance work.

Many failed “projects” that I have encountered have come from lack of research and planning. I don’t receive too many of them now because I’m extremely thorough and long before I reveal an idea to others I’ve examined it repeatedly in my mind. I don’t get discouraged by “blocks”. I never like that term. I like to think of it as a breakthrough. Sometimes it can be difficult, but I’ve realized if I have a positive attitude and actively think of way I can move forward whether in the same direction or on another path not only have I triumphed, but I’ve gained added experience in dealing with my obstacles.

One of the main reasons businesses fails is that the people don’t have an effective business plan. If you think about it this can be applied to other areas besides business. Think about the goals that you’ve set. Did you plan for them accordingly and did you continually push yourself if you didn’t initially succeed?

Question: Did you set any goals for 2007? Have you met them?

[tags]freelance writing, resolutions, positive thinking[/tags]

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This morning as I was blasting through my leg exercise routine at Bally’s Total Fitness, I couldn’t help but reflect about all the transformations that my websites have been going through. I started with Vegan Momma. I kept that one for almost one year before I started thinking about writing about things other than veganism.

I had my doubts, but I took the plunge and made changes. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. In doing so I opened my website up to more readers you know those out there that doesn’t think the way I do when it comes to my eating lifestyle. In real life the majority of the people I interact with aren’t vegan and since vegan momma feels the most like hope, most likely because I’ve had it the longest.

I love Blogging/Writing

Over the past few years I’ve learned a lot about blogging. Through blogging I rediscovered my passion for writing. Even as a child busy with sports and outdoor play I somehow mange to write. I still have my notebooks, and books that I created, where I would pour my thoughts into. Many goals I’ve set for myself as a child I have reached.

I now work for myself. I also have a secondary income (online monetization) that pays the majority of my bills. I believe I’ll be able to fully support myself from my secondary income before Spring 2008.
The most important thing with blogging is that I’ve met many great people along the way. What more can you ask for, right? The more I blog the more I realize I enjoy it and that knowledge makes me want to do more. It’s caused me to explore other options.

Making Money Online Doing What I Love, Who Knew?

Online web monetization is something I picked up and ran with this year. I officially popped my monetizing cherry in August. Did I just write that? The first few months of online monetization I was all over the place mainly because I was listening to what everyone else was saying about making money online instead of focusing on the ways I would accomplish it. I soon realized that what works for someone else will not necessarily work for me.

Back To the Drawing Board

I decided that to be effective online I “Opal, You really got to change your game plan and do a much better job of branding yourself. How did I do that with my business. I thought outside the box and put in a lot of time. I did that with my personal websites. It’s working. Although I heard, some people say that you couldn’t make money online with a low traffic blog I didn’t believe them since I honestly think if you have great content and people can find you via keywords you might get a sale or a click. I was right.

Blogging Without Pay

Yes, I definitely would blog if I didn’t receive any type of monetary compensation. It’s something I honestly enjoy doing. I view it as a platform I can write about my views, things that I’m passionate about and interact with others along the way. What more could one ask for?

Monetization Updates

Affiliate Marketing

With the upcoming holidays, what can I saw affiliate marketing is doing very well for me. Amazon is still bringing in a steady source of income for me. I’m very happy with what I’ve been earning.

Google Adsense

I received a huge jump in adsense recently. I’m very happy with this. I’m not a big fan of Google, but I still can make money, effectively, of their adsense blocks. I like that. It’s still too early to tell whether this will be my average weekly earnings from now on, but I firmly believe it will be. Please note I have adsense on three websites Vegan Momma doesn’t make too much although recently it has increased simply because I started using my keywords.

Its Better To Give Than Receive

I have numerous awards to hand out. Over the past few months I’ve received quite a few from my blogging buddies. Although I wasn’t expecting them, I truly do appreciate it and will be passing the awards onto others. I’ve been dragging my feet on publishing them because, well, I dislike being in the spotlight; however, I do enjoy putting my readers in the spotlight.

You know some of my best ideas happen during my fitness workouts. Hmm, I wonder what idea I’ll come up with tomorrow. I can hardly wait for my workout.

Question: Why do you blog? If you monetize your wesbite would you still blog if you weren’t getting paid?

[tags]exercise, fitness, make money online, Adsense, affiliate marketing[/tags]

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