My Blogging Journey
Photo by Shelly Borga.
Guys! Today is officially “Launch Day” for this little blog of mine, and I could not 👏🏻 be more 👏🏻 excited 👏🏻! Welcome to my corner of the universe. I’m so glad you’re here.
For my first post back after a bit of a hiatus (5 years! 😲), I want to pull back the curtain and provide some insight into my blogging journey because I feel like to outsiders looking in the path appears disjointed at its best and flakey at its worse. Which kills me because I am so the opposite of flakey IRL. Yes, I promise I’m self aware enough to realize hardly anyone is even aware of my starts and stops (or cares), but I also know there are a few people who have kept up with me online since the beginning. Some are real life acquaintances or people from high school, and there’s also some who’ve followed me for years on Instagram but have never met me in person (most of these types are from Austin’s blogger community). I figure people might be curious, and to be honest, putting all my thoughts into words after all this time will be therapeutic for me.
After that’s out of the way, I’ll wrap things up by summarizing my intentions and goals for the blog moving forward, just so we’re all clear from the beginning where my heart’s at with this thing. ❤️
First, a bit of history. I started blogging in 2014 under the name “Liz The Austinite” - mainly as a creative outlet, side-hustle to my day job working in Texas politics. I mostly posted fashion and outfit content. My cousin Abby was the one who got me thinking about starting a blog. I think she said something as simple as “Have you ever thought about blogging? You would be really good at it.” And so, I did. (Side note: Thanks Abby!) At the time, I was pretty ignorant re: all things social media and thought if I started my account under a pseudonym, no one from work would be able to find me. LOL. That lasted less than a week. I still remember when a former co-worker found me via Instagram’s “explore” page. At the time, I remember being SO embarrassed. 😳 Less than a week in and already busted!
Despite that initial embarrassment, I kept it up pretty consistently for about a year. Then, for a variety of reasons - summarized below - I called it quits. In no particular order…
I changed jobs to a slightly public (and political) role at a state agency. | Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t that important (trust me, lol). But my job was public facing enough to where, for example, if a reporter wanted to make a stink about it, someone probably could have. I could schedule every post out in advance, but there would still be the appearance of me, you know, hawking designer clothes on the state’s time. Even though I always kept everything above board, it didn’t pass the smell test. I didn’t want to deal with that blowback personally or put my (awesome) boss in that sort of situation. Bottom line… I was (rightly) concerned about perception within my day job industry.
I cared WAY too much about what other people thought. | Like WAY too much. I could write an entire post about this, but I’ll save that for another day. Suffice to say, people are haters! I wish we lived in a world where everyone was supportive, no one made negative or harsh comments, and people didn’t line up to see you fail. But that’s just not the case. I learned a lot about certain people in my life during that time. And honestly, it’s happening again today, I just care MUCH less. 👸🏻
My husband wasn’t fully on board. | To flat out say he was “unsupportive” would be unfair. It’s more complicated than that (again, our industry). He’s a really private person and didn’t like me putting my life (and thus, his life) on the internet for all to see. It didn’t help that people at work would give him a hard time about it. Also, he got really annoyed having to take my picture all the time. 😅 But, after a lot of discussion, we’re both on the same page now. As he told me the other day, he’s “leaning in to the blog!”. He still doesn’t love all aspects of it (and you won’t see much of his face around here), but he’s absolutely supportive of me/the blog now. Love you, babe! 🥰
It stopped being fun and turned into work. | For the record, blogging is a LOT of work. It isn’t easy. I got bored posting solely about fashion and outfits all the time. My heart just wasn’t fully in it.
Fast forward a year to 2016. I left my state job to help my husband with his business. At the time, I planned to start blogging again, but the business took off so I put all my energy into helping him. For about a 2.5 year period, my life was fully consumed with work (like, too consumed... honestly, there were some dark times for me in this period). It got to be too much, and I finally admitted I wanted out. Now, in 2019, I’m no longer client-facing and I just handle our company’s bookkeeping, payroll, invoicing, etc., which takes about 20 hours/week. Eventually, the plan is for me to be out altogether.
We’re finally up to present day! 🎉
Once I went part-time, my intention (AGAIN) was to start blogging. Last August, I even had a photoshoot with my photographer Shelly. And then I got pregnant. I had a really tough 1st trimester with morning sickness and was basically laid out on my couch for 2 months. Then, once I made it through those first few months of pregnancy, I got the nesting bug and consumed myself with getting our house ready AND we just so happened to start a gut renovation of our downtown office at the same time. 🙃 Needless to say, there just wasn’t time. Oh yeah, and I’ve been - you know - GROWING A HUMAN. It’s a lot of work, people!
And now Launch Day is finally here! 🍾 I’m THRILLED about it. Am I crazy for launching less than a month away from my due date? Maybe. Time will tell I guess. I don’t think so though. I happen to think the timing couldn’t be more perfect.
Alright. Now that all that’s in the open and out of the way, I’ll touch on my “plan” for the blog.
A few people have asked what I’ll be posting about, and my honest answer is… whatever is going on in my life. This is a “lifestyle” blog, and www.LizLeeWhite.com will be more personal than Liz The Austinite. Topics will include: pregnancy, motherhood, fashion, home decor (yes, I will be sharing before and afters of our home renovation), health/fitness, travel, Bravo TV, and just general updates on me and my little family + whatever we’ve got going on in our lives.
To wrap things up here… #goals.
Blog Goals
Blog first and foremost for me. | Never forget that I do this for my own happiness, as a creative outlet, and as a way to document - and share with those who care - the important moments in my life. Avoid the temptation to get caught up in the numbers or comparison game, whether it’s money or how many Instagram followers I have or “Likes” I get. Don’t get me wrong, I do want to grow a (hopefully, one day) large community of followers (see next bullet), but I want to do it gradually and the right way. I’m not in a rush! I sincerely believe that if I stay true to me, the readers and followers will come. 👍🏻
Grow a community and connect with my readers/followers. | Create quality content that’s inspirational and pretty, but also keep things real and authentic. I’m going to try not to shy away from being vulnerable (when it’s appropriate) and balance that with not over-sharing. My life is amazing and I wouldn’t trade with anyone, but my life is far from perfect just like everyone else. I’ll keep things pretty, but I promise not to hide the ugly.
Eventually make some money off this thing. | Yes. I do hope this blog is profitable one day. The good news is, until that happens, I don’t need the money. That’s good news because it means you’ll never see me partner with a brand or share a product unless I truly love it and believe in it. I promise not to be one of those accounts that’s constantly throwing products in your face. I commit to holding out until I can do quality partnerships, even if it takes years. I hope it opens doors I never knew existed.
Finally, thanks SO much to those of you who have sent me kind and encouraging messages over the past few months. I love to hear when people enjoy following me on Instagram because, to be honest, it is still so scary for me to put myself out there (even if it doesn’t appear that way)! I’m excited to build upon my small base of followers with this blog.
I hope you’ll join me for the ride. 🏎️