Sometimes I wonder why I qualify myself as a healthy living blogger when I post food like chili dogs and pizza and when I notice the last 5 recipes are basically dessert recipes.
Then I talk to someone about the cookies I made with almond flour or bring up a yoga pose in regular conversation and get a blank look. Or I make something like Double Chocolate Frozen Banana Soft Serve (recipe to come!!) and try to explain to Dave that the icecream he’s eating is actually made from bananas.
Those are the times I realize that I kind of need healthy in the blog title in some way. Even if it’s behind “semi.”
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately.
Like about my blog and what my goals are and what the heck I’m doing with my life. Deep thoughts, yes.
This post isn’t going to get all sad or dramatic, but I want to bounce some things off you guys.
Help Me Brainstorm!
I have a variety of interests I want to figure out how to meld together:
- I’ve always wanted to be a writer. More specifically, write a book. Truth be told…I’m not sure I’m that good. My writing is so simplistic and when I read other blogs with beautiful word-smithing and story telling, I really wonder if I have what it takes to do more than short blog posts and/or keyword articles. Trust me, freelance internet writing doesn’t always pay the greatest…especially for the amount of time that goes into it!
- I’ve also had my sights set on helping people (women specifically) with body image, health, fitness and their relationship with food.
- I’m also getting more into foodie photography and having fun with recipe creation again.
- I also recently got my NASM certified personal training certification and haven’t done a darned thing with it.
How do I meld this all together? My thought was through blogging, but can I really make money from this without killing myself?
Should I change my blog name and focus? Start all over?
I’m totally open to your input, but here are some things I came up with that will both help others AND be worth my time (read: make money helping others and doing what I love).
1. Offer personal training services on the blog.
I’ve seen other bloggers do boot camps or one-on-one training via skype or just written programs. I think the first step here would be to get my feet wet by offering my services for free in exchange for an honest review. Any takers??
2. Create an e-book.
The topics on my heart right now involve body image and a healthy mindset regarding food and fitness, but I also know I LOVE cookies and thought it might be fun to do a cookie ebook! What do you guys think?
3. Take a photography class.
Let’s face it: in the blogging world, especially the food blogging world, photography is KEY. I struggle with this aspect (although I’m getting better) and would like to learn from an expert. In person. So someone can literally show me how to change the settings!
4. Take a cooking class.
I am so much more comfortable whipping up cookie dough than I am putting together a from-scratch dinner. Sadly, I don’t think Dave and I can live off of cookies. I think part of the issue is that I never really learned how to cook. I would especially love to learn how to cook seasonally and how to can/freeze food so I can save some money for Dave and I.
5. Write more posts from the heart.
Okay, all of my posts are genuine and I always try to write about my life in each post and a little of how I’m feeling, but I want to do more posts specifically on body image and thought processes. Does that even make sense? Sometimes I filter a liiiittle (it’s so hard not to!) especially in the past few months when the pageviews and comments have been increasing. It’s like how you act around 3 or 4 close friends versus on stage in front of a crowd.
6. Include more fitness-specific posts on the blog!
I’m not sure if this should be in the form of weekly updates on what I’m doing at the gym (slash in my apartment or out on the running trail) or with fun workouts. I know I do my race recaps, but I do more than the Bacon Chase and/or mud runs. 
7. Get certified as a nutritionist.
Part of my struggle with finishing my RD (aside from the fact that we could be moving to a different state at any time) is that I don’t necessarily believe everything that the government teaches. I really would love to dive into a holistic nutrition program, but this probably wouldn’t end in a degree..more like a certification. Any ideas on what program to look into? I know IIN is a good one..what do you guys think?
I am so grateful for my set-up now, so I’m definitely not complaining! I feel like I have a good balance of time with people at my café job, and time at home to myself (hi, I’m an introvert ) with freelance writing, house-wife-ish duties (yay laundry, groceries, cooking and dishes!!) and some new opportunities to make money on the blog (finally! after 4 years!).
The thing is, I still feel like I could be more focused and purposeful. Not spending my days being “busy” but productive and moving forward. You know?
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Tell me….
Your thoughts! Please and thank you! 
PS I’m all about Pinterest this year, so I would LOVE IT if you could pin one (or two!) of these images! Pin with me!
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I feel you! I have been struggling with where I want to take my passion for health and food and nutrition with my future career as well. I’m currently enrolled in IIN and I LOVE it. I don’t think I have the option now in life to devote all my time to making my health coaching and nutrition consulting business a full time gig, but just what I’ve learned from the school alone has been irreplaceable. I have grown as an individual, it’s even helped me focus more on my own dreams and aspirations, it’s helped me with my lifestyle and diet, and I’ve gained some business knowledge as well. I love it and recommend it.
So good to hear a review from someone in the program! I agree that even if I didn’t make a career specifically as a health coach, it would still help me as a person and in the health/fitness industry! Thanks for sharing and glad you’re learning so much! 🙂
I think many of the above options would work for you, but you would need to distinguish yourself significantly from say, all the other Ebooks and personal trainers out there.
Really the only question I have is your statement about the RD – from what I understand, it’s a professional certification and not a governmental one, and plenty of RD’s disagree with government nutrition standards. Are you feeling this way because your particular program is supportive of the national standards? Maybe it would be worthwhile to check out other RD curriculums if that’s what your heart was set on. To be honest, I’m very skeptical of the whole integrative nutrition program, it seems very snake-oil to me. I could definitely be wrong, so I need to do more research, but it really doesn’t seem like any of those folks are taken that seriously by professionals.
Super long comment, but your post really resonated with me because I’m looking at grad school programs 🙂
So I can only speak for my schooling in Nebraska, but government recommendations were definitely stressed. I like the rounded approach and I just know IIN teaches a variety of thought process on nutrition so it seems like an interesting program. I never want to work in a hospital or work with tube feeding or any number of other things that would be taught in a traditional dietetic program.
We should def chat more tomorrow! 🙂
I can completely relate to what you’re going through, because I went through the same thing last year. I was thinking about going on to pursue my PhD in psych, but my heart wasn’t really in it anymore. I had a tonne of passion for holistic nutrition and helping women overcome struggles with body image, so I took a leap of faith, pursued that, and now I’m running my own private health coaching business 🙂 I went through IIN and loved it, and now I’m going back to school to become a registered holistic nutritionist. At the end of the day, I think you’re really the only one who can answer the question of what you should do. It’s definitely possible to make money from both blogging and coaching, but it takes a lot of grit and hard work in the beginning.
Congratulations! I didn’t know you had finished the program! I’m glad to hear a good review. I need to send ya an e-mail about all of this! 🙂
I totally relate to what you are feeling/thinking/wondering. For me its important to have a schedule that I can be sane with. While I think its great that you have your NASM at this point your blog posts tend to focus around your recipes, I feel like at this point recipes and photos are your strong suits. Not that you can’t be strong in personal training, but I wouldn’t offer a free review until you have a little more experience (if I had someone reviewing my yoga sculpt class at the beginning it would have been ugly!) I definitely wouldn’t rebrand, as I think you have put a lot of wonderful work into semi-healthy and i wouldn’t want you to lose that. It seems to be that your photography work is wonderful, and you can keep getting better by experimenting more, I”m not sure that a photography class would benefit you (unless it was food-specific). I think a cooking class is a great idea! Also, could you meet up with someone at kowalskis and get some kind of collaboration together?
So many great points, Katie! I like the whole “do what you know” aspect. I really do want to put that certification to good use…just trying to figure out how exactly without leaving my current job. And yes the rebranding thing would be so much work and seemingly years of work down the drain….
Kowalskis to do a cooking class or take one? We need to chat more about this either way! 🙂
I would love to read more “posts from the heart!” to start, I love learning about bloggers actual lives!
As for a photo class, I totally would do that! I need one to, my food photography is no bueno!
As for an ebook? Everyone is doing it, so why not give it a try or at least see how some planning goes! Cookies are fun 😉
And you don’t need to take a cooking class! Cooking is taught by just getting in the kitchen and experimenting! I have taught myself through the years with no help, but me! Just keep getting in there and playing around!
I totally agree with going the holistic approach, with nutrition and I think that would be such a great skill to have under your belt!
Whatever you do, I will totally support you girl! XOXO I am always here to chat!
You are awesome. I forget sometimes how young you are because you’re freaking wise!! I love all of these ideas and your support means the world to me!! <3 <3
I feel like I could’ve written this post myself, because I’m sort of in the same spot in life. I’m making money from my blog and freelance work, but not enough to quit my day job. Right now, my day job is nannying, so not what I went to college for, and that stresses me out because I have student loans to pay. My husband and I are also considering starting our family soon, so I don’t know if it’s the best time for my to jump into my career when I’d prefer to work from home when we have kids. As you can see I’m NO help, haha! It just feels nice that maybe you can relate! I guess I’d say, continue with your day job, and pursue your passions on the side until you figure out what you really want. I would love to read your ebook, if you decide to do that!
So many people are working in different fields than what they went to school for..it’s crazy! And I totally get the whole “do I start school now even though shortly x will happen?” I also feel like I would want the option of working from home with kids so building up the blog and freelance stuff helps that possibility. Ah life! 🙂 So so glad you can relate!
Hi Amanda! Have to disagree with the commenter who said IIN is “snake-oil”. It’s SO NOT. It is what you make of it and offers a very inclusive view of the nutrition world i.e. no one way of eating works for everyone, so you explore all different nutrition philosophies through the program. Please reach out to me if you want to discuss more.
I would definitely start by creating an eBook based on what you already know about fitness and/or baking, maybe something like “Semi-Healthy Indulgences” It would be cool to combine that with some kind of fitness content because that really embodies what you’re all about as a blogger. The balanced world of fitness and food! You could start with that and go from there. When we’re heading toward a place of growth, sometimes we feel like we want to take all these big leaps when really what we need is to take some first steps so as not to get overwhelmed and go from there.
This is all off the top of my head as I’m typing, but I hope it helps. Please reach out. We could set up a Skype coffee date to brainstorm more. I’d love to ask you a few Qs about blogging too 🙂 xoxo Marissa
Have to disagree with the commenter who said IIN is like ‘snake oil” It is SO NOT! It’s a very inclusive approach to nutrition, i.e. no one way of eating works for everyone so you explore all of the different nutrition theories. Let me know if you want to discuss more.
In terms of first steps, you should start with what you know and build from there. So an ebook called “Semi-Healthy Indulgences” paired with some kind of workouts would be so cool and would really embody what you’re about as a blogger. Sometimes when we’re in a place of growth, we want to take big leaps but you’ll get further if you start with some small steps.
I’m totally into Skype coffee dates these days so let me know if you want to brainstorm more together. I have some questions about blogging I’d like to ask you. Would be great to connect again since it’s been almost a year since we were at HLS. xox Marissa
So glad you commented, Marissa! I’ve wondered how health coaching was going for you!! Seriously great advice with starting with what you know. Thank you thank you for pointing out that we don’t always need to go to extremes to better our lives!!
Look forward to chatting with you tomorrow!! <3
Tell me about it sista!! We need to have a Skype date to talk about life, blogging goals, etc. I’ve been thinking a lot about these things too, and I know there are so many opportunities out there, I just need to figure out how to grab them. ALSO, you are fantastic writer and I would read any book that you wrote, and not just because I love ya. (Even though I do!) Okay, this is all. Love your face. Keep writing, keep blogging, keep being awesome. xoxo
It’s so true that there are opportunities out there for us and we ALL have something to offer. Especially you. Because you are awesome and I love your face back. We totally need to Skype!!
I have had my ACE personal trainer certificate for awhile now and haven’t done anything with it either. I travel a lot with my full time job that when I am home I don’t want to have any commitments but I will some day put it to good use:)
You know, at least we learned a little more about fitness, right?? Never hurts to learn!
Amanda – you have a lot of things going for you. A lot of skills. I think it’s a matter of aligning you vision and values with your goals. Then you can leverage the skills you do have and identify the ones you want to expand on. However, you have many viable ways to make an income with your current skill set. You have all the answers you need. It’s just a matter of tuning into what your heart is telling you. The put a plan into action.
Ps. I think your blog name works 🙂
Thank you so so much, Tara! I think I know this but my challenge is focusing on one or two things at a time and/or making a decision about what I want to do most! Sometimes I think I have ADD ha!
I’m thinking we should have talked more about this when you were here last weekend…aside from knowing what I’m doing with the next year of my life, I don’t know what it looks like after…and I’m still trying to figure out how to pay my bills that won’t stop just because I’m traveling the country for a year for charity. I’m also hitting the point when my NASM cert is expiring and need to figure out if I’m going to renew…plus the expenses that come with that. Oy vey…
We should have! I’m sure your plans inspired me to think more about it though. 🙂 We will chat more about this in Iowa I’m sure!
I agree with you on the whole government reccomendations and what they teach in school, but I just had to bite my tongue and go through it to become an RD. Once you cross that hurdle you never have to again!
I like the idea of focusing more on holistic nutrition and never ever wanted to work in a hospital. There’s always options out there once you get your RD certification. But I know that’s a big commitment and change but something to think about!
Very good points, lady! We need to chat soon!!