The Things That Get You Successful Won’t Necessarily Keep You That Way
Read more about: Entrepreneurship, Overcoming Obstacles
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Lately I have found myself in a bit of a conundrum. I love this blog and my other two blogs, and all three have grown exponentially since I started them. I did all of the things that you are supposed to do as you grow a blog:
- I actively participated in the blogosphere, commenting frequently, linking generously and subscribing to way more feeds than one human should ever have to track
- I responded to as many of the comments on my own blog as I possibly could
- I found my voice and infused much of my own personality into my writing
- I put together great projects such as last month’s highly successful Group Research Project
- I networked like crazy with other bloggers and have a very close circle of friends all over the world now
- I found many ways to monetize my efforts and finally the rewards are not only coming, but on a steep incline every month
In short, I’m both proud and grateful for getting my blogging career to the point it is today.
So where’s my conundrum?!
I have found that business as-is not a very scalable business model.
- I cannot respond to the 30-50+ comments left every day anymore, which both saddens me and also decreases participation in the conversation on both sides
- I spend every Monday digging through 200-300 (or 400+!) emails from the previous week
- Writing for three blogs is very time consuming - and coming up with 3x more fresh ideas is at best a stretch and at worst downright stressful
- I have advertisers willing to pay for more impressions - but in my current business model, I do not have the time or resources to create more content
In short, everything I did to grow this blog also grows a blogger’s time commitment to the blog, and as the blog gets bigger than me, I have been really stretched lately as I try to accommodate the growth.
So how do you take a blog to the next level?
There are way more growth factors than I can touch on in this post, but it really has boiled down to this:
In order to grow, something must change.
I’ve been talking privately with a lot of brilliant blogger friends lately about this issue, including Dawud Miracle, Edward Mills, Easton Ellsworth, Char Polanosky, Gayla McCord, and Ari Garber and I talked about this for hours last night at Jeff Pulver’s Summer Party.
We talked about shifting focus and tightening up the niches on the blogs, taking on regular co-authors, and even spinning the site off into a larger magazine-style site. Ari and I started with the question:
How do I grow the blog without putting more of ME into the site?
It got a little scary when we realized that in order to really break outside of the box, we had to ask questions that we really didn’t want to ask, such as:
Is eMoms at Home really the right vehicle for my business goals? (I think it is, but I’m not sure I want to blog here until I am 90 years old)
What would this blog be really worth if I wanted to sell it tomorrow? (It’s worth practically nothing without me, and that’s both a blessing and a curse)
Do I even know where my time is going? (I don’t, because I haven’t tracked it)
Do I even know where my most profitable time is spent? (Generally speaking, I do, but at a detailed level this requires some scrutiny)
I bet you’re wondering again why I bring this up. It’s because at some point, EVERY entrepreneur will either outgrow their current business model or hit an income ceiling running business as-is IF their business model isn’t scalable. What’s a non-scalable business model?
Service professionals who bill on an hourly basis -OR- when business revenue is directly tied to hours.
In other words, it comes down to one thing: Time.
I’ve coached some of my service professional business clients through this process, but I haven’t had to take on this classic entrepreneurial challenge in the context of blogging. I have a lot of ideas and answers, but as Dawud gently put it to me on the phone yesterday, the growth path before me requires an inherent risk - as much of a risk as it is to start a business in the first place.
I’d love to hear what you think , especially regarding what is most important to you as you read a blog dedicated to helping you succeed in your own home business endeavors. You are all talented entrepreneurs and business managers in your own right, so I ask you -
- What else would add value to your site experience here on eMoms at Home?
- If I could clone myself 10 times over, what more would you want from me?!
- What kinds of things could this site provide to help you increase your own bottom line?
- What kinds of things could this site provide that would make you happier and more balanced parents, entrepreneurs, and people?
Sparkplugging Founder Wendy Piersall is dang passionate about helping people start & grow a business while maintaining life balance (somehow).
Dawud Miracle has one focus: to help you get it. The it? How your website, and blog, can change the way you do business. You can find out more at 
Teresa Morrow manages online book publicity and event promotion for authors, speakers and writers with her company 
* What else would add value to your site experience here on eMoms at Home?
– I think that the reader community as a whole has grown in parallel with eMoms as it has morphed into its current state. Self-help sites really are a dime a dozen but the atmosphere fostered here really sets it apart and I think it’s fair to say a large part of this site’s draw is you and your personality.
* If I could clone myself 10 times over, what more would you want from me?!
– More comments!
But I think co-author’s and other site contributors is definitely a great idea! If you can surround yourself with like-minded professionals who share your passion for personal development it would be great for everyone.
* What kinds of things could this site provide to help you increase your own bottom line?
– I think the content is already here, but like you alluded to in your post, growth will be inevitable. Welcome it with open arms!
* What kinds of things could this site provide that would make you happier and more balanced parents, entrepreneurs, and people?
– An expanded range of contributors who would be able to relate self-help concepts across all types of jobs/situations/environments.
I am now just starting the growing phase at ground nilch. This post is interesting to me though, so I wanted to comment, so that it gets into my tracking.
Sometimes I’m content with my “general topic” blog. Automatic conundrum limits.
And I’ll try not to be offended if you don’t reply to me anymore. 
Way to rub it in Derrich
You know my opinion from when we talked about this earlier. Closest you can come to cloning yourself is to hire some like-minded bloggers.
You can only spread yourself so thin before a time comes when you are struggling for post ideas or not happy with the quality you are writing at due to the sheer amounts. I agree with Robyn about getting some like minded bloggers in. Even if its just someone who posts once a week it saves 1-2 posts for you for that day and gives you free time to prepare the coming up posts on the following days; relieving stress…
Collaboration is the right answer like in all other business. In the beginning, a business is small and so is manageable by single person. As it grows (become heavy), business owner need to find other shoulders to share the load. How to find those shoulders could be a question to ponder though
You have certainly touched a very important note Wendy.
When you compare blogging to a very successful business model such as franchising it lacks the systems generally speaking that can be run by trained people. Can you train people to run your blogging system and still make it profitable? Maybe.
For now I would say no. You have created a dependancy on the blogs success with you as the main ingredient. You know that. Good.
Can you sustain this level of success long enough to create residual forms of income from the online programs your involved in…. We hope so right?
Maybe you need to start looking at the other options and continue to get that future time stamping in order.
What I find truly great is the fact that you are engaging your readers. Without the readers your blog would lack having a purpose.
I like the idea of having other authors who wish to get involved. What’s in it for them? Showcasing their success in area that your readers are asking for.
Maybe you can find a way to classify your email by creating a specific email format. Just like on the phone you pick 1 to send positive feedback only, 2 to ask a question and 3 to give you money.
Each component to blogging success might have to be broken down. I would love to know how much time we really spend online. I think my time has come to pay more attention to my blogging so it can really pay me huh?
Great engaging post Wendy. I wish you much success in finding the “right thing”. Ultimately YOU will need to remain passionate. Find the way and keep looking for the solutions that will come before you. Those mentors you have are priceless by the way.
I loved your course, ten days to a better blog. It helped me a great deal and I would be willing to pay for more step-by-steps. I certainly understand your quandary.
I still question whether the typical stay-at-home mom, myself included, can really make this work. I have so appreciated a blog that focuses on moms blogging specifically (for monetization) and would love to see it even more emphasized on this blog.
Oh so true. All businesses reach a point where they have to change or just become as I’ve heard ‘the walking dead.’
I am fairly new to blogging but from what I can tell you have amazing ’stickiness’ to your site. You communicate honestly and openly and have a very warm online personality. I guess the question is how can you leverage that stickness.
I agree with having guest posters from time to time as a way to free up some of your time. I personally find it a challenge to keep up with my blog because I’m also managing development of a software product as well as keeping up with the books, managing PR and marketing, etc.
Have you considered going down to one blog (your favorite one) and focus on that and then put yourself (if you haven’t already done so) on the paid speaking circuit?
Have you considered creating a product that you can sell for say $10 that all new bloggers would die to have? You could formalize your free e-course and then ask people to pay $10. I’m sure you could get many people to give a testimonial…I’m hoping in the next 10 or so days I’ll be one!
I’ll have to think more about this as I hope to face this problem one day.
This is a great article, I have just come across your site from ProBlogger and it is wonderful so far. Just in reading this first article I have learned something. Whatever you do keep doing it!
Though you’re not at the stage of Mashable or TechCrunch, surely it does not hurt to maybe do some research on how they handled the growth. I was reading Mashable back when he had only “hundreds” of subscribers and now he has 150K.
I am certainly not qualified to discuss business strategies, but to me, when your blog reaches to a certain level (and I don’t know how you would quantify what that level is exactly) you need to start treating it like a business, in every sense of the word. You would need external resources.
I think that a team of like-minded writers (as suggested) is a great idea. More than that, when I worked for Toronto Life magazine years ago as an intern, I would answer their emails, because the CEO was obviously not going to do it… if you know what I mean. Re-organizing the blog, the way your get your emails, what kind of mail you directly need to respond to, are all just little examples of how you can free your personal time. Your blog is becoming a business entity in itself, I think maybe you need to step back and run the ‘business’ and not the ‘blog’.
shaz
Though you’re not at the stage of Mashable or TechCrunch, surely it does not hurt to maybe do some research on how they handled the growth. I was reading Mashable back when he had only “hundreds” of subscribers and now he has 150K.
I am certainly not qualified to discuss business strategies, but to me, when your blog reaches to a certain level (and I don’t know how you would quantify what that level is exactly) you need to start treating it like a business, in every sense of the word. You would need external resources.
I think that a team of like-minded writers (as suggested) is a great idea. More than that, when I worked for Toronto Life magazine years ago as an intern, I would answer their emails, because the CEO was obviously not going to do it… if you know what I mean. Re-organizing the blog, the way your get your emails, what kind of mail you directly need to respond to, are all just little examples of how you can free your personal time. Your blog is becoming a business entity in itself, I think maybe you need to step back and run the ‘business’ and not the ‘blog’.
shaz
(ps -> I tried to comment as ’shazia mistry’ and I think it got lost, do you moderate comments? anyways, you can delete that one if you find it!
)
Wendy, at this point in time you seem to be a one woman show. And your blogs are essentially - you.
Have you considered hiring out some of the “behind the scenes” work? An administrative assistant, of sorts. That person can screen your emails, do research for posts, maintain your schedule, answer phone calls and set up appointments. Then you would have more time to focus on blogging.
And don’t forget your home obligations. Hiring some household help could also ease the burden.
Wendy,
I have been so swamped myself lately with building PDP that some of my other blogs have suffered as well, so I know exactly how you feel.
From a content standpoint, I agree, getting guest bloggers is a possible solution, although since you have built this site around your personal brand, you’ll always have to be around a corner somewhere.
Since I write mostly about self improvement/personal development, I obviously look at Steve Pavlina and his business model. Now that his audience is huge, he only writes a few times each week, yet he makes mad cash. On the other hand, he also does NOT have comments on his posts, and he is very tight about responding to email as well.
The bottom line is that you’ll have to find a middle ground, or else drop some of your responsibilities.
On that note, I have you on my list to do a guest blog or two for once I am completely out of the woods myself, so I’d be happy to help if you’re willing!
First let me say that after a full day on the road (8 hours in a car), I opened up Google Reader and yours is the first post I wanted to read. I have about 60 or 70 feeds, and this isn’t even my “niche” - but your blog is just that good.
Having said that, you’re obviously at a crossroads. I echo other commenters who suggest bringing on like-minded bloggers.
Developing into a magazine-style site sounds interesting, but I wonder if it won’t be more work? Unless you are able to bring people on board with you and delegate out. But even that, I worry that will dilute the Wendy we come here for.
I highly recommend reading this month’s issue of Inc. magazine if you haven’t. It has many many stories of things that both worked and didn’t work for entrepreneurs in several different industries. And many of the stories focus on this exact point - a crossroads.
I say do whatever you feel is best for you personally Wendy! As long as I still get to finally meet you at some blogger meetup /party than I will be a happy camper!
Yes Wendy, I think the best way for you to manage it all is to treat it more like a business, as Shaz suggested above. Think about columns that others can write and edit, hire a Virtual Assistant to handle the backend stuff like emails and commenting. Focus on cultivating a team of like-minded people and pool your creative resources.
NorthxEast recently discussed this very issue - their blog has grown dramatically over a short period of time and they outlined how they intend to manage their growth. It’s a fascianting read:
http://northxeast.com/general/building-a-superblog-pt-2/
Best of luck!
I agree with what others have said before me. Look in your feed reader, make a list of people that you enjoy reading and see who can be hired to help you out.
As others have mentioned, my first thought was that you could have someone that could act as a filter for much of what you have to go through each day.
Likewise, having a network of guest authors can be a great resource to free yourself from some of the posting requirements. However, this can be difficult as many blogs are not the same without the main author but I have seen it done successfully in a few places.
It might also be possible to have people that simply assist with some of the behind-the-scenes work such as researching posts, site maintenance, etc.
From the time that I have been reading your site and getting to know you a little bit, I am confident that you will evaluate the situation and find the direction that you need.
I’m sure there are anxious/nervous feelings as you ponder your next steps but just be sure to step back and smell the roses and appreciate how far you have already come!
Hi Wendy,
You also need to ask yourself WHY do you want more and more? Is it more attention that you want? And where does that feeling come from? (the past?)
Is it more money that you want?
And then when you have more, do you think you won’t want more?
With your current Alexa ranking of 27,093 I can see that there are thousands of daily visitors and obviously a lot of revenue too.
So, before you stress yourself out totally, figure out what exactly do you want and what will make you happy.
And then you will see whether more and more is the right answer.
Great article!!!
Hi,
I think there are generally two ways for a blogger when the blog gets bigger than the blogger. Let’s call them the “Yaro Starak”-Way and the “Steve Pavlina”-Way.
Yaro explains on http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com how he is going to transform his blogging from self employment to a real business, in a way that he works mostly _on_ the business, and not as much _in_ the business anymore. He wrote a series ob zhis topin on his blog starting at http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/616/professional-blogging-as-a-business-model/
The other way is what Steve did when his blog hit a popularity where he couldn’t manage comments anymore: He simply put comments off, while leaving trackbacks on. This way, discussions were still possible, but “outsourced” to the blogs of his readers. He noticed absolutely no effect on traffic, and was able to grow his blog literally to infinity (millions of readers per month, high 5-figure monthly income, …). His Blog is at http://www.stevepavlina.com
Based on what your personal goals are, you might chose one or the other way - or a mixture of both…
Hey Wendy
I understand what you’re going through. It’s been my experience that when we begin a business, we can’t always plan - or even see - how it’s going to evolve. Yet I’ve always held the position that we set out to create something and our market/audience decides (for the most part) what we’re going to become. Where most entrepreneur/solopreneurs make mistakes is in not evolving with their business.
I’m going through this myself. I’ve built a very healthy webdesign business where I’ve focused more on helping people utilize the web to grow their business than I do in site design. The result is that while people still are asking me to build their websites, they’re also wanting my knowledge and expertise in building their business through their website. This has led to much more consulting and coaching than I ever considered. And it’s happened so quickly I haven’t had the time to update my website to inform people that I’m now coaching and consulting. Yet, I’m moving forward with it - even though it’s outside of my original business plan. And it’s scary, a bit. As I transition, I have many questions about how my business will look. But as I keep moving forward, they’re getting answered. Just not always in the way and time that I would like.
Wendy, you know I love you. You’re a dear and kind friend. And I know that you know how to trust your heart. So as you move forward, trust your heart. Let it shine the way for you. You know your mind/ego will try to get in the way. But no matter. Just keep listening to your heart. And know you have support.
Wendy… I feel your pain. “In other words, it comes down to one thing: Time.” It’s tough giving up co-authoring, but that’s the way that we started our blog and it has made a huge difference. Like you, we have asked questions, changed as we move forward and hope maximize our TIME.
You do a great job here at e-Moms and I hope that you’ll discover all the answers that you are seeking.
I plan to mention this in our Friday “Who Said That” and maybe some of our readers will provide additional insight.
What a catch 22! It’s great, Wendy, that you’ve had the kind of success you have had. But you know you can’t keep doing this full steam (and why would you want to? you’re supposed to have FUN as an entrepreneur).
You definitely need to hire help. Maybe a VA to go through your hundreds of emails? Someone else to handle advertising? Growth is only growth if you let someone else help you with the responsibilities of your business. Otherwise you get in your way.
* What else would add value to your site experience here on eMoms at Home?
Perhaps podcasts with marketing and entrepreneur advice. A good opp to pull someone else to do this.
* If I could clone myself 10 times over, what more would you want from me?!
More of what you do well!
* What kinds of things could this site provide that would make you happier and more balanced parents, entrepreneurs, and people?
I think this site is great. I really wouldn’t change it at this point, but I think you need help managing it. YOU are what makes this site great, and when you’re spread thin, we know.
I really liked Tomaz suggestion:
“So, before you stress yourself out totally, figure out what exactly do you want and what will make you happy.”
I think you should take a step back and decide exactly what you want to accomplish, what your true goals are, what will make you happy. Then come up with a plan.
I have been struggling with this same question. I really hope you come up with a great solution.
Hi Wendy,
I resonate with the questions Tomaz asked…it really all comes down to what your priorities are, what you want, and why you want it.
I appreciate that you have asked us what we want from you, but are you the type of person who cannot say no? I don’t know you personally, but you seem very very nice, caring, and I wonder if you might just need to set your own boundaries with how far you want to stretch yourself.
Something else — do you have an intern or anyone who is helping you? Do you have someone who you can delegate to, perhaps they can go wade through your emails and give you only the ones that you need to see, or they can at least organize them for you.
Someone else could take care of other tasks for you, perhaps running reports you use, checking affiliate balances, whatever tasks you can delegate out.
I might be way off track, but I hope that something I’ve written can help. I think you’re doing awesome and I’m glad that I found you through Problogger. Whatever you end up deciding, I have a feeling you will continue to keep growing in your success.
No offense but perhaps your not thinking about your blog the right way. Rather than seeing your blog as the only business you can do why not us it as a stepping stone? What about writing a book about blogging? There is heaps of info in the internet yes but it’s all over the place. Or speaking tours about blogging? Or a consulting business for women who own their own ebusiness, or for businesses to use blogging in their marketing?
Of course it could mean scaling back to maybe one or two blogs.
I just mentioned this as the key point of one of my posts. It resonates from the comments more so than your posts. If you aren’t having fun, why do it? If you are, that’s all the more reason to continue, regardless of the outcome, you can always find other ways to make money.
Narcolept, that’s a very good point. I think it’s also important to not bail immediately though, if you’re not having fun like you were before, because it probably won’t Always be fun.
Just as long as overall it is. 
Hi Wendy,
great article, and one that is very relevant to my own situation - I am nowhere near as successful a blogger as you, yet I’m hitting much the same sort of wall. Darren’s advice on ProBlogger was great, and I’m looking at similar things from a leveraging perspective (blame Tim Ferriss for that
).
Thanks once again for writing something that will change people’s lives for the better.
Best regards, Andrew
Thanks for this, Wendy. I’m a one-woman show too, and am beginning to bump up against the “I can’t cram any more stuff in” wall.
If you go the “occasional guest post” route, I don’t think that would be a problem for your readers, but you should think through exactly what you’d do with the freed-up time.
I only say that because I know I personally WOULDN’T think that through, and would still be frazzled even with guest helpers.
Sheila, you make a very good point about having a plan for the increase in free time as without a plan it would be too easy to see that time disappear with nothing tangible to show for it.
Geez louise, you have to scroll down forever these days to get to the comment box here!
Great way to open the floor for feedback, Wendy. I’m sure you’ll find a solution to your personal unclonability. I like what Robyn said.
Easton, if you are on a PC you can hit the “End” key to jump to the bottom of the page. No more scrolling!
Wendy, I love your site, and my bunch of blogs is only just beginning to ripen, but my immediate response to your questions is, if you are successful (implied in the post title) then why do you need to grow?
Phrases like “the walking dead” are just that, phrases. They would only mean something if the only alternative to growth is decline. You really do have a successful blog and that need not change if it doesn’t grow bigger. How much money is enough anyway? Is Rupert Murdoch really happy?
Anyway, preaching aside, Success Online above mentioned franchising as a scalable business model. If you do need to grow, could you not franchise in some way by becoming a sponsor of other blogs - helping them to get set up and then promoting them in your blog for a fee?
Or, similarly, how about starting a network a la Darren? The network members could share the load of all the blogs. You could then probably afford to pay for some shared writing and secretarial staff.
Regards from Down Under,
Mal Dow
W-
Congrats for being at this opportunity for decision making!
Following the advice of eMyth book, I give the following comment:
Create systems that will help this blog to run without you. That way you will have a company, not a life-style business that causes burn-out. Perhaps you become “Martha Stewart” and have 8-10 solid dependable guest bloggers and you have your featured post only 1x a week, but it all feels like your brand…
Here’s 3 quick tips that you could do that would help you out with content:
Do more interviews. Send people questions and have them answer them, instant post.
Remind people of your favorite posts from the past in a category post such as Here’s 3 posts about ….did you see these?
I find that I can talk a lot faster than I can type…so why not do a call once a month in lieu of writing? I bet it would be a smash hit and you could charge money even, I’d pay!
Best of luck as you follow your heart…you taught me how.
Whew! I didn’t have time to read everyone’s comments, so forgive me if I’m repeating…
I think the questions you ask are great ones, primarily the ones about your goals and your direction. You probably wouldn’t be doing this blog until you’re 90 (eGrandmomsathome!), so it’s a pertinent questions.
So much boils down to what you love. What your passions are, and what you want out of it all. It’s been said before, but it’s true.
You asked what we wanted… I’ll probably be the odd-man out here, but I could do with fewer posts (every one boos; Wendy sighs with relief…); I find myself nervous to click on your tab in my feed reader, when I haven’t come by in a few days and see 8, 12, or 20 posts.
It’s all good; I love your voice and everything I see here; I share all this just to say, don’t wipe yourself out on my account.
(love ya!)
Wendy:
I agree with whoever it was who said that they read your blog no matter what - I do the same. Other blogs can pile up in my reader, but not yours. Being here is like having a coffee with a good friend.
One suggestion I have (in addition to the long list of great suggestions above) is to feature success stories of other “regular folks” bloggers. They could be done interview style which might make them easier.
Keep us posted, we’ll be here.
If you want to go beyond self-employed and grow your business, you’re going to need hired help. Finding good people and giving up some control can be tough. But growth is rarely easy.
You seem to be lacking direction, not sure which way to turn. Think hard about the life you want to build. Then go lose yourself for a while and forget about all the emoms chatter. Hopefully you’ll be able to hear the sound of your heart in the stillness.
Just had to say what a nice conundrum to have. Big goals are certainly admirable but is bigger always better? I think not if it comes at the expense of one’s own desired level of personal happiness. Just a thought.
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