<3 Your Community Blog Tour:: I Hate Blogging, A Sob Story

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My good buddy Racheal Cook of The Yogipreneur is a business wiz and a marketing genius. One of my favorite things about her is that she knows there are a million ways to market your business and attract a tribe, but not all marketing is created equal, and most importantly, not all strategies work for every business.

 She created the ♥ Your Community {both the Blog Tour and the Program} after doing some research last fall for this post – The Ultimate Guide to Your Sweet Yoga Career. She was incredibly disappointed by the lack of real, valuable, implementable content to help heart-centered entrepreneurs attract, engage, and nurture a community of raving fans.

So she collected 30 of us heart-centered entrepreneurs to share our success stories and tales of woe when it comes to our community building and marketing strategy. Cool, right?

My Community Building Tale of Woe::

The truth? I was super super resistant to the idea of blogging.

I felt like I should do it, but I really didn’t want to. I didn’t feel like I had the time, or anything useful to say. I already felt like I was drowning in work, and the idea of adding one more “To Do” item to my list made me angry.

I don’t function well when I’m feeling the energy of “I should, but dooon’t waaaant toooo…”

So I didn’t write. I just refused.

I knew that writing a weekly newsletter and blog would be a great way to offer free useful content to my community, but it just seemed like so much work. Also, the idea of having a rigid schedule that required me to write creatively every Monday night sounded impossible.

And then my graphic designer took it upon himself to feature a blog prominently in my new website. And he basically said, “Get your shit together and start blogging…”

So I sat with my resistance a little bit. I looked underneath the hood of it.

I didn’t do anything about it right away, but I did start keeping notes and ideas for potential blog topics. I started to realize there was a lot of content that could serve as quality blog material. If I took a yoga class and the teacher did something that I really didn’t think was skillful, I’d write it down. When a fellow teacher emailed me to ask for advice about teaching private clients, I wrote it down. When I had a great success with a new therapeutic technique with a client, I made a note of it. When I finally had it with one too many Skinny White Girls Hoping to Inspire With Their Advanced Asana and Green Juice Cheezy Instagram Pictures, I realized there was a public forum where I could vent about it. {Fun!}

Once I had a long Google Doc of ideas to blog about,  I sat down early one Sunday morning with a cup of coffee {special treat!} and started writing.

By the afternoon I had five new blog posts, and five new Teacher Newsletters that went along with them. And it had been fun!

So that is my system now. Once a month {or once every two months} I sit down with a cup of coffee and a long list of blog topic ideas. I pick and choose ideas from the list that are grabbing me at the moment. I also post on Facebook and ask for Blog Post Topic Requests. I always get lots of great ideas and suggestions!

I’ve only been blogging really regularly for a few months now, but the benefits have been immense and measurable.

1. The more I write, the more clear I get about my message and ideas. It forces me to articulate energetic ideas, and that makes me better able to speak about them when asked on the fly.

2. My community is happy! Every week I have awesome yoga teachers email me and comment on the blog. They thank me for sharing my thoughts and opinions, and offer lucid insights of their own. More learning for us all!

3. My list has more than doubled in the last three months. Is that a high metric? I don’t really know, but it seems like it to me! People are sharing my articles and blog posts, and word about my work with teachers is getting out there!

4. I am happy!  I am so honored to have such a fantastic community of yoga teachers to hang out with, and more than happy to create and hold the space for us all to connect.

Let me know friends:: Are there community building tasks you feel like you should do, but don’t want to? Do you write a regular blog or newsletter? Ever had any resistance to that process?

Big thanks again to Racheal for inviting me to be part of her ♥ Your Community Blog Tour!  Don’t miss yesterday’s incredible post from Cerries {of The Brand Alchemist}, or tomorrow’s from Kate {of You and the Yoga Mat}!

17 Responses to “<3 Your Community Blog Tour:: I Hate Blogging, A Sob Story”

  1. Racheal Cook

    THANK YOU for sharing this Francesca! It’s been so awesome to watch your message become clearer and clearer – and to see you really step into this new role as EXPERT teacher of teachers. So much love to you!

    Reply
    • Francesca Cervero

      Thank you so much for your kind words and for inspiring this blog tour!

      Reply
  2. Hari-kirtana das

    Thanks for reminding me, and all of us, that systemization can, and often does, help rather than inhibit the creative process. Now, where’s that list?

    Reply
    • Francesca Cervero

      Yes, go get that list! I can’t wait to hear what you come up with!

      Reply
  3. Lauren Kelston

    I recently started blogging when I was blessed with an opportunity to participate as part of the Head to Toe Wellness community. My blog, Everyday Yoga, has been an excellent challenge for me. I definitely face resistance and “doooon’t waaaannnnaaa”, but I’ve noticed when I buckle down and just do it I have been cultivating ideas and inspiration that carries me through the week and into the classes I teach. That’s the super fun part! I’m not sure how many people I’ve reached, but as a new teacher it’s been a wonderful outlet. Once my personal website is up and running I will link everything together and maybe even add another writing section…ooooo scary!
    Thanks for sharing and enlightening, I really appreciated your contributions!
    xoxooommmm
    Lauren

    Reply
    • Francesca Cervero

      Yes, Lauren, writing can be hugely inspirational for our teaching practice. So excited to hear you are taking the plunge into some new territory!

      Reply
  4. Claire Koepke

    I feel similarly about blogging to expand professionally and personally thus have always found an excuse not to do it. Thanks for your truth and inspiration, Francesca! I’m going to look under my hood of resistance too 🙂

    Reply
    • Francesca Cervero

      I’m so glad to hear it, Claire! I’m really looking forward to hearing what you have to say in your blogging!

      Reply
  5. Wendy Weymann

    Thank you for this refreshing blog post Francesca! I had to giggle when I read “Skinny White Girls hoping to Inspire….”
    Thank you for stepping forward as a leader in the yoga community.

    Reply
    • Francesca Cervero

      Haha, yes, sometimes Instagram can be the worst! Thank you for your support and for being a part of this wonderful community.

      Reply
  6. Lynne

    Thanks for the idea of writing a month of blogs at one time. That’s a great suggestion.

    Reply
    • Francesca Cervero

      You are so welcome! Honestly a little hit of some caffeinated coffee is the secret to blogging 😉

      Reply
  7. Stacey Herrera

    Isn’t if funny how we resist the very things that provide the greatest opportunity for transformation? I’m so with you… right there with you.

    I’m so glad that you started blogging… and glad that I discovered your work. <3

    Reply
    • Francesca Cervero

      I’m glad you found me too! Always let me know if there are some questions I can help with.

      Reply
  8. Mandy LeBaron

    Thank you so much for your openness in this post! And for taking the leap to start blogging so that I could get inspired by your amazing action 😀

    I’ve been in the EXACT same place, collecting ideas for months, finding inspiration everywhere. But I get completely shut down by the daunting task if writing every week and as a result I haven’t really started. The idea of sitting down once or twice a month and doing it is so insanely inspiring and EXACTLY what I have been looking for!

    I’m ecstatic to have finally had the aha! on how to write my blog in a fun, inspired, effective and enjoyable way that fits perfectly into my life!

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    Reply
    • Francesca Cervero

      You are so so welcome. Like I said to Lynn, that jolt of caffeine really does help start the creative juices flowing!

      Reply

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