A guest post by Naomi Dunford from IttyBiz who emailed last week to remind me (Darren) that today is ProBlogger’s 6th Birthday and asked if she could write a birthday post. Here it is!.
I’ve sat where you sit.
I’ve devoured the articles and the blog posts and the link roundups. I’ve agonized over whether I could afford that video camera or that conference or that membership program. I’ve felt like a fool for even hoping this blogging thing could ever work.
I’ve sat right there and I know how scary it is.
Maybe I should introduce myself. My name is Naomi Dunford, and I was just like you.
I was desperate, scared and pregnant. My doctor had put me on bed-rest. I had to leave work because I was fainting all the time. Even before he was born, we knew our baby boy would have health problems.
We had intermittent web access because I could only intermittently afford to pay the bill. My husband was making very little money in a job working nights and it was going nowhere. Things did not look good.
Then I found Problogger.
I read all the archives. (All the archives.) Read some Copyblogger. Read some Chris Brogan. Slept. Drank a lot of tea. Had some panic attacks and spent a lot of time thinking about how cool it would be to be a problogger one day.
You’re waiting for the bit where I say it got better, right? Where I say I dove right in and created a blog and hustled my way to fame and fortune? Sadly, no.
I did nothing. Nothing. For a year.
I had my son. Went back to my job. Left work in the middle of my shift on my fourth day back. Went down to one (sub-poverty line) income. Flirted with the idea of starting a business. Got one half-hearted client. Put our son to bed by myself. Ate a lot of rice.
But I kept reading Problogger.
One day, Darren mentioned he needed businesses to sponsor his third birthday giveaway. Sitting there, nursing my son in the middle of the night, I had a crazy idea. I could be a sponsor. I had no idea what I was going to give, but the deadline of Problogger’s birthday was enough to get me going and get my blog launched.
I decided to give some marketing coaching. I had to fill out a form to say who I was and what I was offering, and I wrote that IttyBiz was the “offshoot blog of IttyBitty Marketing”. IttyBitty Marketing? Please. We’d had the sum total of one client and to this day, they haven’t paid me. But I had to put something in there. I sent it off, and then all I could do was wait.
(The actual story of how I went from not even having a domain name to launching my site on a Technorati Top 100 blog in four days is pretty uninteresting, although there are some juicy behind the scenes highlights and an adorable picture of Xavier here.)
I launched the blog. I wanted to email the people who commented to enter the contest and invite them to IttyBiz, but I didn’t have their email addresses. (I ended up clicking on all their links and personally emailing them via their contact pages, a process that took two full days. We worked straight through the night.) I did the same with the other sponsors.
I got some readers. Not a lot, but some. I got a little bit of traffic. A few other bloggers said some nice things about what I wrote. My goal was to get a thousand subscribers before Christmas. I didn’t make it.
But I kept reading Problogger.
Let’s flash forward three years.
My blog now employs six people. We have over 20,000 readers. We’ve helped more than 1000 people quit their job. As an affiliate, we sold enough copies of Teaching Sells to fund a school in Cambodia.
My husband quit his job. We’re unschooling our son. We moved to England for a while. We bought a little house. We finally got a car. We went to Cuba and Ireland and SXSW and Blogworld a few times. I threw a party in Austin and Darren came.
We’ve had ups and downs. I got pregnant again and lost the baby. Burned out. Missed some deadlines. Had a few site crashes. Got hacked a couple times. Did some stuff I’m not proud of. Did some stuff I’m very proud of.
And we’re home. My husband kisses my little boy goodnight seven days a week.
But here’s the really crazy part.
Nothing special happened.
I didn’t just happen to get a column in the New York Times. Nobody invited me to be on Oprah. I didn’t conveniently score a book deal. Despite my repeated attempts, I’m still not married to Brian Clark. I didn’t do anything special. The gods did not smile on me.
I just kept reading Problogger.
The point of all of this?
Please don’t give up. I know it’s terrifying. I know you are under indescribable pressure to do something serious with your life and grow up and forget your crazy blogging dreams. I know that some days, this is the hardest thing you’ve ever done.
I know your family thinks you’re crazy. I know you feel completely alone. I know you feel like it’s never, ever going to work.
But what you’re reading here? It works. I promise. Please don’t lose heart.
Happy birthday, Problogger. And thank you, Darren. I am blessed to have you as my mentor and honoured to have you as my friend.
Naomi Dunford writes at IttyBiz.
wow – inspiring and comforting that it’s perfectly OK to spend a year (or *ahem* longer) reading and figuring things out!
Thank you for this – I am taking such baby-steps it almost feels like standing still some days.
Good lord, how am I supposed to code all teary-eyed now?
Such a good reminder of how hard and scary this world is. And how rewarding it is. I’m going to stop now before I get all sentimental publicly.
Thanks for sharing and Happy Anniversary!
Thanks, Naomi (and Darren) – this is *exactly* the post I need to read right now, a single mama dabbling around the edges of this blogging lark, reading and talking and playing with other bloggers and inspired tweeps, and juggling parenthood with full-time external university.
Recently, contemplating a blogging conference coming up in the new year, I’m wondering why the hell I even think I could or should call myself a blogger and attend.
And then I read your post, and it settles within me – this is my year of reading, of learning, of finding my place in the stratosphere. In your words, I can sense the rightness of what I’m doing, and forge ahead.
Thanks again for writing this, Naomi, and congratulations Darren, for six years of reminding us how from little things big things grow. :)
Naomi – I found myself truly moved by your PB B-day post today. It is a wonderful reminder of some basics…perseverance, optimism and gratitude with a little mix of humor. Love yours!
I, too, am so grateful to Darren. The informative content, gracious attitude and passion he demonstrates on a daily basis is much appreciated. I thought a clear explanation was beyond words, but you have done an excellent job communicating my admiration and indebtedness to Problogger too. So, thank you!
And a heartfelt thanks and Happy 6th Birthday to Darren! Congrats!
What a great post and timely reminder that not doing anything will not lead to anything. I’m trying to work up to starting something new myself and I have to keep reminding myself of this very thing everyday. Thanks so much for sharing your story.
Thanks Naomi for posting this article.
I am happy that you finally made it after such a hard road. Even if you haven’t got a NYT column, meet Oprah, write a book or marry Brian Clark, you are somebody for a lot us.
Personally, your article really gives me a breath of fresh air, which makes me keep walking.
Thanks and Happy Birthday Problogger!
Eugen
Thanks for sharing your back story, Naomi and for encouraging all of us to not give up.
I’ve felt like giving up many times but have somehow plodded through the past 4 years as The Mogul Mom. :D
Happy birthday, Darren/ProBlogger!! I hope your day involves lots of cake and I hope your birthday wish comes true!
Heather
The pair of you are absolutely brilliant. I don’t know absolutley everything about your lives (because I’m not a stalker) but when I first started down this crazy road I feasted on your content like a glutton. I confess we drifted apart for a many months (it wasn;t you, it was me, honest) but now I’ve found both of you again… and just when I needed you too. Yes, my family think I’m crazy and I think I’m crazy too, but I’m going to keep going until I’m where I want to be.
Thank you both very much.
Happy birthday!
Dave
I have to believe in karma, since about 5 minutes ago I was reading my Twitter feed, feeling sorry for myself and depressed. I actually said out loud at one point, “I don’t think I can do this business thing anymore.” Reading everyone’s glorious tweets and posts from the day was just adding insult to injury.
But I saw the tweet about this blog post. And, of course, I read it. And, uncharacteristically, some of what I read made me cry a little bit. Suffice it to say, this is what I needed to hear today.
I’m not sure what magic of the interwebs brought those words to me today just when I most needed to hear them, but I grateful that it did, and I thank you for sending out the message.
Wow and wow. This post actually choked me up.
It’s pretty simple ain’t it: You fail only when you give up.
Thank you, Naomi. Thank you for keeping our feet on the ground and reality close by. You’re great at that.
Because I like you so much and can only hope to have a super hit blog like yours someday.. I’ll start looking at ProBlogger more closely (he seems like a pretty darn good guy himself!).
Hi Naomi, Thanks for posting this article. I am in the same path where you were before. I am still struggling with my blog and my parents are thinking that I am nuts. But I am not gonna give up for sure. I don’t want my hard work to end up at nothing. I hope and I know that I can be a successful blogger one day.
Thanks again for this article Naomi.
Happy Birthday Problogger!
Sathish
an inspirational story of someone who didn’t sleep their way to the top!
seriously, I bet you just kicked the behinds of thousands of people who didn’t think they’d ever make it.
bravo! and congratulations on your success.
This is so close to my story, it’s downright scary.
But you already knew that, right Naomi? I forced you to relive it while IttyBiz was busy being my Problogger.
This is all so very cool. Thank you.
Naomi, thank you. It’s exactly what I needed to hear today. I bought my copy of “31DBBB” from you, and it was worth every penny, as is everything I’ve ever gotten through you. Hope you know how much I appreciate all the great resources here at ProBlogger — and at IttyBiz.
Happy Birthday, ProBlogger!
This is a post that I would not expect to read on Problogger (not enough tips and how tos) but I have not read anything more helpful and inspiring in a long-long time. Thank you Naomi for sharing all this and for not giving up.
Perseverance definitely pays off :-)) I have also noticed that you can reach the “highest heights” when you are not afraid to lose everything (because you do not have much to lose.)
This post inspired me to give my ecourse a try and see what happens. The worst thing that can happen is that I will not get any customers, but it definitely won’t be worse than what I have now – no customers either.
Thank you again Naomi for the post and Darren of course for 6 years of excellence!
Happy birthday Problogger and congratulations Naomi.
I am a newbie blogger that is looking to share a little of what I know with the rest of the world. Thanks for sharing your story.
What a lovely, heartfelt post, and exactly what I needed to read today.
Thanks for the encouragement, Naomi, and a huge congratulations to Darren on ProBlogger’s birthday!
Naomi, thanks for this wonderful story.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger right?
Just when I think Naomi couldn’t inspire me more. Thanks again for your transparency, honesty, and guts. It gives me faith not only in the fact that I can make it happen, but also that there are gobs of business people out there who understand and want the value of being vulnerable, strong, and sincere.
From the bottom of my scared shit-less heart, I thank you.
illana
makeness.com
Naomi, you rock! Your timing is impeccable. Two-years of effort got our site on to a new landing page and blogging platform launched just this week. It’s been a long haul. Your post hits home with us. Thanks for sharing it. :)
Wow this is a great post Naomi! So inspiring and just what I needed as I am building my business and blog. Sometimes it feels as if it’s moving as slow as molasses in the Antartica!
So much to learn and constant overload of information.
However, I have a vision and I KNOW with out a doubt I will be successful.
I am currently unschooling our children and trying to build my business. So I totally relate to your story.
Thanks so much for sharing. It is an inspiration for me to keep moving forward!!
Rosemary Nickel
Motivating Other Moms
&
Social Media Cupcakes
Fantastic, honest post and I’m sure you will never know that true number of people your words have/will help!
Congratulations & Happy Birthday Problogger!!
Naomi I’m not sure how you’re able to do this (actually it’s almost creepy) but your posts, even apparently your guest posts on other sites, are always right on time for me.
You have become my guardian blogging angel…and I know, you get called an angel all the time…but I mean it!
Thanks for this. Exactly what I needed at exactly the right moment.
Cheers all!
Wonderful post. I read every word and you brought me to tears.
I started blogging the year before I got pregnant with my daughter. She’s now 3 and I’ve replaced the income from my corporate advertising job from blogging and running a blog network. I employ one part-time person (who was able to leave her job at Wal-mart to work for me) and I pay a number of bloggers for running ads on their sites.
I’m still working too many hours to stay home with my daughter — she’s going to preschool now. My goal is to be able to double my income by next year so I can hire more help and start homeschooling my little girl. We’re also planning to move across the country to be near my family, and maybe even live part of the year in Europe. We could have never done these things if I had to hold down a corporate job.
It really is an amazing point in time and those of us who are lucky enough and smart enough and most of all, DETERMINED enough to not give up on blogging really can have it all.
Thanks for the post, and thanks to Darren for your wonderful blog. Happy birthday to you!
I’ll echo the wow’s and thank you’s. as I also needed to hear this inspirational message because I’m less than a month into my blogging (mis)adventure.
I’ll strive for nothing special to happen, keep (or start) reading Problogger, and see what happens… Thanks again!
What? No swear words?
Congratulations on the achievement, but more selfishly, thank you for the inspiration. I make it a point to read everything you write.
Thomas
Pretty nice birthday post. Really interesting story, I’d like to read more about these three flash forwarded years also, but never mind. I’ll never give up with my blog Die without Art. A few days before I added a new print “Set your goals high, and DON’T STOP till you get there” to my “office” wall. I’m satisfied for now.
Thank you!
Naomi, I’m so glad you persevered. At least 20,000 other folks are grateful you hung in there too.
And now we get to celebrate with you.
Happy birthday, ProBlogger and congratulations, Darren!
Thank you.
Inspiring post Naomi,
Just in time for me. Things are not so good in this moment, but thanks to remember me that i must not quit.
This is very cool. My friends and family think I’m crazy. I even had a (ex) friend suggest I was compensating for some personal problem because I was so focused on my blog.
I’m pleased I now know your back story, Naomi, because I’m one for context. Thank you for the support.
I only recently got turned on to Problogger and what a resource. Congratulations, Darren!
Naomi: This came at a time I really, really, RILLY needed it! I’ve been questioning WTH I’m doing plugging away for more than a year now, with finances dwindling and NYT not yet calling (although Dr. Phil’s office did once). My husband — a non-blogger, non-techie — keeps telling me to stay the course, but I get tired of staying a course that has such little progress. But THIS, this encourages me to keep going. Seems that one day that course will lead where I want it to. Thank you.
Oh Wow – I real live post about a real live person who writes a real live blog!!! The best encouragement on the WWW I have read in ages!!! Happy blog birthday problogger, I just love your blog and the help it has been to so many bloggers all over the world!!!
Thank you so much for writing this! Especially the parts about sitting and doing nothing for a year.
Your story is so gritty and real, like all your writing. Thank you!
Oh, and Xavier was one *cute* baby!
And you’re my role model for telling the truth! Really. I quoted you in a talk I gave recently because I could curse in front of the room quoting you, but not otherwise. I’m getting there.
You helped me out 17 months ago when I was sitting in my garden healing from knee surgery, needing to reinvent my life and not being sure where to go and experiencing a lot of what you describe. 20+ years in business for myself and starting over – it wasn’t pretty.
Thanks to you and this blog and a few others, I decided to focus on the copywriting I’ve been doing forever – ’cause I finally figured out that if I just do the part I actually really enjoy and know I’m good at, it would work out – somehow. And it has. I have some great clients, more money and more sanity.
I never comment – I just this morning decided I need to come out of the closet and stop being so damn stealthy all the time and here’s the opportunity to thank you publicly – (sorry – I’m really trying not to get all sappy on ya)….for being authentic and telling the truth and for being funny as hell in the bargain. You rock.
I’m a big fan and thank you for the inspiration. How many times have I thought that this is so much harder than I anticipated and wanted to give up. I will definitely keep moving forward.
I’m a big fan and thank you for the inspiration. How many times have I thought that this is so much harder than I anticipated and wanted to give up. I will definitely keep moving forward.
This was a very inspirational story! I’m glad that I read it! It just goes to show you that the saying is true and that you should never give up!
I’m going to bookmark this post and come back to read it whenever I start to get giveupitis. Which is at least once a day. Thank you.
And happy birthday, Problogger!
Wow… just wow. I read this post, then reread it, then bookmarked it. What a great breakdown of all the hard work and fear that goes into starting an online business or blog. Your post is inspirational and I’m going to come back again when I need the lift.
Others have said it better than I, but thank you so much for this well written and thoughtful post.
Seriously right on time! Thank you for sharing your amazing words.
Shay
This is one of the most awesome posts I’ve ever read. Naomi, I’ve been on the verge of giving up a few things lately and your post has helped tremendously.
Thank you, so much Darren and Naomi!
Never Never Never Give UP is my family’s mantra. You both continue to inspire me to keep moving forward with my dream.
Happy Birthday to your blog and here’s to another 6 years!
I want to write the guest post on your 12th birthday.
Continued blessings to you!
This one is going on my wall. Not my Facebook wall, my WALL wall.
Thank you, Naomi, for the inspiration. And Darren (both of you, actually) for all the how-to smarts.
Happy birthday, Problogger!
(**sniff**) Hey, James, when you’re done with that box of Kleenex…
Nice work! Keep it up.
Naomi, your story had me choked up. Seriously, what you went through in the beginning echoes some recent struggles and doubts I have had about my own blogging aspirations.
Your honesty in opening up and sharing your story is so inspiring and I thank you! Problogger is a wonderful resource for bloggers and I wish you and Darren continued success and prosperity.
Naomi, just found out about you yesterday through Chris Guillebeau. Going to buy your SEO Ninja book when I can afford it hehe. Subscribed yesterday to your blog and then you write this kick ass post. Love it!
Wow Naomi. I needed to read this today. Thank you for posting your story.
Thank you so much, Naomi, for writing this. I’ve been thinking so much lately about giving up. Nice to know I’m not the only one that’s felt that way.