Blogger Recognition Award

 

Hey loves!

Wow! I’m super excited.  Last Friday, I received nomination for the Blogger Recognition Award.  Basically, this award is given in the blogosphere to bloggers for their contributions.  To qualify, you have to be recognized by another blogger for your work.

I remember seeing this maybe seven months ago and wondered how could I get recognized for my work.  And then, on Friday, July 14, 2017, I received a message stating I was recognized.  Wow is all I can say. I am truly honored that my words are having an impact to so many of you!

I’ve been doing my best to take my blogging more seriously and have so many things in the pipeline for all of you.  This nomination by Flawless Fabs has given me the fuel to push harder and to keep going! So thank you doll for nominating me!  Check out her site at:  https://www.flawlessfabs.com/.

WHEN ACCEPTING THIS AWARD YOU MUST:

1. Thank the nominator and provide a link to their blog.
2. Write a post to show the award.
3. Write a brief story on “how my blog got started”.
4. Give 2 small pieces of advice to other bloggers.
5. Select 15 bloggers to pass the award onto.
6. Tell those nominees they were selected via a comment.

HOW IT ALL STARTED:

A breakup, that’s how.  Lol. I mean I wish I could tell you I just had some vision out of nowhere to inspire and influence people but nope.  I mean, from childhood, I’ve always wanted to be a writer but it was really this tragic breakup with an ex of mine that pushed me to wanting to encourage others.  My first post detailed the breakup (which you can read here).  Basically, I was in an emotionally and verbally abusive relationship.  I found myself sleeping with knives under my pillow because I was afraid of what he would do to me in my sleep.  I finally broke up with him and went to counseling.  It was then that I knew my story was meant to inspire others.  People-especially women- needed to know and understand their worth so that they never found themselves in the same situation that I was in – or worse – six feet under.  Thus fueled this desire to inspire and influence others, especially women, to walk in their greatest potential – bold and confident in their worth, while adding some style and flare along the way!

MY ADVICE TO OTHER BLOGGERS:

Believe in YOUrself.

Yes you read that correctly. Believe in YOU and believe in YOUR vision. The one thing that made me very nervous about blogging was that I didn’t want people to judge me for my past experiences and mistakes.  However, one thing that I committed to on this journey was to be completely honest and vulnerable so that someone else out there is inspired to perhaps take a different stance or path than I did. I didn’t just want to be some blogger talking about stuff and no one could relate to it. I wanted to be relatable. Transparent. And inspiring.

Believing in yourself also means investing in yourself.  This means, you may have to buy a camera, computer, podcast equipment, video software, etc.. You may have to read some self-help books, books on entrepreneurship and website design.  If you don’t believe in your vision enough to invest in yourself above then why would someone else?

Don’t give up!

As you start to create your blog, you’re going to find it easy to get discouraged.  Maybe you’re not attracting the audience you want or perhaps  you are but it’s not the amount of people you want to reach.  Maybe people don’t believe in your vision.  Maybe they don’t believe in you.  Perhaps you have writer’s block or just simply don’t know what to write about.  Whatever negative thoughts you have, you tell those thoughts to go away! You got this.  You are a voice in this world and you deserve to be heard!

Additionally, find your blog mission statement. The Bible says in Prov 29:18a, “where there’s no vision the people perish”.  Therefore, everyone needs to have a blog mission statement so that you know what you’re striving towards.   My blogging statement is identified in bold above but I’ll list it here again: I Am Me is a lifestyle blog dedicated to inspiring and influencing others – primarily women – to walk in their greatest potential – bold and confident in their worth while adding some style and flare along the way.  When you have a vision, it’ll make you realize what you are fighting for so that you don’t give up!

I could go on and on about blogging tips but I plan to do a series about that here in the future so stay tuned.

BLOGGERS I NOMINATE:

Here are some bloggers that have inspired me on this journey!

1. Queens Chase Purposely
2. Blue_Jewelette
3. Notes from Wanda
4. Jay Colby
5. Sweet_Tea_Thyme
6. I Am KeyvaJo
7. Jamie Dreams Big
8. Pretty Entrepreneur
9. Kristen Shane
10. Garland of Beauty (Instagram)
11. Alex Temblador
12. Hey Girl Mel
13. Rose Orquiza
14. Live in Color Blog
15. Burden Free