Hi! How are you all doing?
Me, I’m doing fine. . . busy as usual.
Sometimes I forget that you all don’t necessarily know what is going on in my life just from what I write here on Frugal Upstate. I try to keep the topics here pretty tightly related to frugal living. I know that’s why most of you read and what you are interested in hearing about. Trust me, I always see a change in my readership numbers when I stray too far from frugality for too long.
But there are a lot of other things going on with me, so I thought I’d fill you all in.
In the summer of 2008, Yankee Bill and I had sat down and had a heart to heart. Buddy was going to be starting school that fall, which meant that both children would be in school from 8am-2pm each day. What did we want to do? I could have gone back to work full time outside the home, but we both felt it was important that the children to be able to come home after school most days and have me be there. We narrowed it down to two options-either I could search for part time work outside the home that allowed me to be home most afternoons for the kids or I could try to leverage my blog & online presence into an income.
Yankee Bill is a wonderful guy, and he just looked at me and said “Honey, you choose which ever will make you happy.”
(*pause for an “awww”*. He really is the best!)
So I decided that I would look into how I could turn my online life into a career. I left myself open to the possibilities-there were many directions all of this could take. We decided that come fall, when Buddy went back to school, I would start really putting my effort into it.
Apparently God approved of my plans. In July I was contacted to become a founding member of the Walmart Elevenmoms group. This was not a paid position (still isn’t) but it started the ball rolling for me. I am still a member of that group, which has morphed and changed over the course of the last 14 months or so.
Long story short, by becoming a member of the Elevenmoms I have met some fabulous bloggers, started co-hosting a radio show, come to the attention of a lot of PR folks and brands, become very active in social media in general, started speaking on social media and consulting on social media strategy. After a year of working hard and reinvesting my income back into it, this really has become a career for me.
So how does this all affect you, my loyal readers?
#1-I have gone from being a Stay at Home Mom to a Work at Home Mom. This may seem like a small difference, but let me tell ya, it’s HUGE. Overall it means I have less time. In many cases with frugality one trades time for money-and since I have less time I am spending a little more money. We are eating take out occasionally. I am relying on prepackaged meals for the family when I travel. I have had to buy bread instead of making it some weeks. I am doing less “experimental” frugal projects. Does this mean I am no longer frugal? Heck no! I have just moved into a different phase of my frugality~and you all get to go on it with me.
#2- I’m sure you’ve noticed over the course of the last year that I have implemented advertising on Frugal Upstate. I know some folks hate advertising, but I figure you can just ignore it. It would silly for Frugal Upstate as a business to not avail itself of that revenue stream, even though it isn’t huge. Although I will do the occasional sponsored post, what I will not do is put ads into the posts themselves. I find that annoying as a reader and won’t subject you all to it. I also have currently opted out of any of those ads that scroll across your screen and then hover there till you hit the X, even though they bring in more revenue, because I find THOSE to be incredibly irritating.
#3-By coming to the attention of so many brands & pr folks I have had the opportunity to start doing giveaways. Honestly, it is amazing how many folks want to give me things to review & give away! I know that some of you aren’t that fond of them, but for other readers it is an opportunity to get an item for free that they might otherwise not be able to afford, or might not “splurge” on for themselves. I have tried when possible to work in frugality to giveaway posts so that there is additional value to you guys! Sometimes that just isn’t going to happen though.
#4-By co-hosting the Frugal Coast2Coast, Lynnae and I have been able to create a library of over 40 podcasts on various frugal living topics. If you have never listened you are missing out! We do stick pretty strictly to money saving topics 🙂 You can view those by going through the “on the radio” tab up top there. You can also find us on itunes and download the episodes to your computer or mp3 player. Just search for Frugal Coast2Coast and we will pop up!
#5-I have gotten many more ideas! Lynnae and I are working on a couple of joint endeavors-we will be publishing a joint newsletter soon that will feature not only the best from both of our blogs each month, but also articles and info that is NOT on either of our blogs! If you haven’t you should sign up for the Frugal Coast2Coast newsletter! We have some other interesting ideas. .. so stay tuned.
What does all of this mean to me professionally?
#1-Lots more travel. People keep offering to send me to events! Buddy, Princess & Yankee Bill have been holding up well to my travels. This fall in particular is jam packed-but the kids are in school during the days and will just head to after school care the evenings I am gone. Yankee Bill can grab them after work and all will be well. Of course I miss them while I am gone, but it has been very worthwhile business wise. Even with the traveling, when I’m home since I am working out of the home I get to spend lots of time with them, make it to all their events & practices etc. A corporate job wouldn’t be anywhere near this flexible!
#2-I incorporated. The overarching business is now Upstate Media LLC. I will be interested to see how this effects our taxes this year.
#3-Speaking engagements. I have been speaking on local groups on frugality, and at larger groups on various issues to do with social media and blogging. I really enjoy public speaking and the opportunity to make money doing something I enjoy so much is fantastic! Now if someone would just pick up our radio show to be syndicated and broadcast. . . if you have a point of contact to share for that sort of thing feel free to contact me!
#4-Videos. I don’t know if I ever would have gotten around to making Vlogs if the Elevenmoms program hadn’t given me a push. I love doing it-but the editing process is pretty time consuming for me. Keep your eyes out for more videos in the future.
#5-Consulting. Honestly? This is where my best opportunities lie career wise. Although I will always continue writing at Frugal Upstate, the people with the money to spend are the brands & the PR companies. And they need help coming up with comprehensive social media strategies. I have consulted Fortune 500 companies such as Walmart & Hershey’s with social media strategy (as well as some smaller folks) and found I have a knack for it. As my consulting ramps up it will consume more of my time. . . I may eventually have to reduce the frequency of my posts here on Frugal Upstate, or else start featuring some guest bloggers.
What’s been happening personally?
I’m trying to go through the house and get it all organized prior to my trips. The kids rooms had gotten completely and utterly out of control this summer. As in “I can’t see your floor and would be embarrassed to have anyone see it” kind of out of control. This week I was finally able to dedicate the main part of 2 days to raking out and re-organizing their rooms. I think I threw out 2 garbage bags of trash and moved at least 4 garbage bags of outgrown clothing and toys down to the basement. With less stuff in each room they will now have a better shot at actually keeping it straight. Now on to the 3 separate areas we store craft supplies for the kids!
My shoulder has flared up again (MRI this week. Whee) so I’ve slowed down a bit on certain projects. The garden produced pretty well this year-except for the tomatoes which got blight. I’ve spent a bit of time making pesto, canning relish & pickles and freezing carrots & beans. We’ve already had one frost advisory, so the items left in the garden probably won’t make it much longer. My flower boxes all along the front porch have already dried up, so I’m in the process of moving them around back for storage. Usually this is the time of year I tie corn stalks to the porch posts and drape my fake fall leave garland, but we might be repainting the porch. I’ll wait and see what exactly the plan is first.
The kids are growing like weeds.
Buddy is in 1st grade now and has a male teacher for the first time. This seems to suit him particularly well as he is a very active boy! He is at least one grade level ahead in reading already and has discovered the “Captain Underpants” novels at the library. We also signed him up for pee-wee soccer~which luckily for me only involves 2 hours a week-1hr of practice & a 1 hr game. Lately his passions are reading, legos, and playing in the incredibly awesome treehouse that Yankee Bill built them this summer.
Princess at 8 has decided that she wants to be fashionable and spends a lot of time picking out her clothes, her barbie’s clothes and her doll’s clothes. I have already had to reinforce the “no play makeup worn outside of the house” rule or she would have snuck out in eyeshadow. She also discovered real rollerskating (not rollerblading) this summer and has become excellent at riding her bike.
Yankee Bill continues to balance work, me (next most important thing of course), motorcycling, pool league etc. Hunting season is rushing towards us-so he’ll be a conference widower for a bit, then he’ll be gone and I’ll be a hunting widow. I guess it all works out in the end eh?
So that is what has been going on with me professionally/personally! Tomorrow? Back to your regularly scheduled posts on frugal living!
Elizabeth says
Jenn, I’m so happy for you! The opportunities that can come from blogging are truly amazing.
I was invited to an event with Nestle but it overlapped my trip to IZEAFest so I had to decline. Otherwise I haven’t been invited to anything else. Trips are fun, but there’s enough going on here at home to keep me occupied. Not that I would say no to an event if I could actually make it 🙂
Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening says
Captain Underpants is pretty popular around here, too.
TJ says
I didn’t realize Buddy and Kaia are the same age! Her room is just as bad, and we are slowly working on it. I would love to dedicate more time to shoveling it out (literally), but I have contractions after just a few minutes of bending over to clean it. I’m not quite ready for these boys to arrive, as I’d like to have the house clean, and their older siblings rooms picked up before guests come by to visit and help. Luckily my mom is coming over this weekend to help do some cleaning.
I think it’s great that you are able to be a WAHM! I hope you enjoy yourself and the time with your kids.
TheAngelForever says
Congratulations on all of your success. Love reading all that you have to share here, on Twitter and any other locations.
TopazTook says
Thanks for sharing all the updates! I like the frugality info, but it means more to me when I get to “know” the blogger/s personally. Congratulations on all your success! (And *thank you* for not acceptiing those ads that hover there with the x.)
Elisabeth says
I was originally critical of your participation with the Wal-Mart thing. (I was the one you actually devoted a whole post about my, uhm, criticisms.) But it’s been over a year since all that happened and I just wanted to say that I am happy for you.
For a little while, things seemed to be less posting and more giveaways but now you’ve struck a graceful balance between all the aspects of this blog.
I am very happy for you to have been able to turn something you enjoy doing into a way to earn some extra cash. Who wouldn’t want to make money from a thing you love doing?
By the way, I would love to see some more guest posts. It brings a new, unique perspective to things.
I hope things continue to go well for you and your family.
God Bless!
Jodi - Mom's Favorite Stuff says
What a year you’ve had Jenn! You deserve your success!
Idaho Jill says
It’s just so fantastic to read a story like this – I love reading about other people’s success! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Amy says
Congrats on all of your success, Jenn! I am so proud to see you blossom into the savvy work-at-home mom that you have become. As long as you stay true to your authentic voice on frugality, that will not only continue attracting your readers, but it will attract companies too.
We have so much to talk about! I can’t wait to catch up at Blog World!
Again, so proud!
Erin from long island says
So wonderful to finally know your “story!” You have certainlymade some leaps and bounds, congrats! And, seriously, thank you so much for not putting in those f*#@ing pop-up adds. I hate those mose then I can say
Amanda @ Mrs.W's Kitchen says
This is really awesome, Jenn. Congratulations!
Anne-Marie @ This Mama Cooks! says
Jen, sometimes it’s just as important to be frugal with your time as it is with your money. If you need to spend more money with take out or convenience food, but you “earn” more time with your family or working on your social media projects, then that’s being frugal, too.
Congrats on all your success!