You’ve been toying with the idea of starting your own blog for years. You have ideas, plans, maybe you’ve drafted a few posts already. But somehow you’re still unsure whether starting a blog is the right thing for you to do. When you feel like blogging is calling you strongly, but you’re not completely sure you’re ready to answer, here are some signs it’s time to finally start your blog.
You can’t stop thinking about it.
If you’re always getting new ideas, gathering inspiration from everything around you, waking in the middle of the night with your mind full of visions for your blog, it’s a sign that you’re ready and inspired.
You keep hearing that you should do it.
If your close friends and family are urging you to finally pursue your passion, maybe they’re on to something. These are the first people to see potential in you and your idea and they’re the first people to (voluntarily) join your support system.
You’re unsatisfied with your job.
Maybe you don’t hate your job, but it no longer challenges you. If you’re dreading going to work more and more each day, getting your blog off the ground and monetizing it the right way will let you leave your job much faster. If nothing else, it gives you a creative outlet to add some joy and sense of fulfillment to your life.
You enjoy learning.
Building a successful blog takes skill that you probably didn’t learn in school. Writing for the web is different from writing for academics and you’ll have to hone your writing skills to capture an online audience. You’ll also have to learn your blogging platform (I recommend WordPress), get good at promoting and social media, study your analytics, and come up with monetization strategies. It sounds like a lot, because it is. But, if you’re passionate about your idea and publishing content online, this will all be worth it.
The idea of starting your blog excites you.
And the excitement doesn’t fade. Some of your good ideas may come and go, but if you get one that sticks and won’t go away, it may be a sign that this is your idea. Now the question is, what are you waiting for?
You keep thinking you’ll regret it if you don’t.
Life is too short to live with regrets. What if you sit on your blog idea because you’re not sure if it’s a good enough, then a few years later someone else has become successful from the very same idea you doubted.
The risks no longer terrify you.
At first, the thought of starting your own blog is scary. As you weigh the risks and come up with a contingency plan, you become more at ease with the thought of running your own blog. Your fears never completely go away – impostor syndrome affects even the best of us – but you feel braver about your blog once you have a solid plan for success.
The timing may never be perfect. You’ll always be able to come up with reasons not to pursue your idea, but if it’s something that’s weighing on you, taking the leap may be the best decision you ever made.
