Hey There, Chelsie

Blogging & Business

Three of the BEST Blogging Investments to Make

It's been a hot second since we talked blog and business, but as I get ready to make some (hopefully) major shifts in how I run HTC in the future, I decided it might be a good idea to sit down and have a little chitchat about blog investments: namely, the ones you should make! Now, don't get me wrong. You don't have to spend a lot of money to run a blog and you can run a successful blog without these investments. I started Hey There, Chelsie during my mid-life crisis (which happened in my early 20's, so I'm glad I got that over with) when I realized I didn't want to pursue a career in my degree field. I hit rock bottom in terms of my self-confidence and felt like . . .

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Blogging & Business

How to Use Trello to Organize your Blog or Business

A couple weekends ago, I was asked to be on an influencer panel and share some of my personal insight and views on running my own business. One of the questions that was asked at the panel was "What is your favorite app you use to run your business?" Without missing a beat, I pretty much shouted "TRELLO!" at the top of my lungs. Yes, I am that freaking passionate about Trello and I couldn't believe that almost no one else at the panel had heard of it. Trello is my lifeline. Sounds dramatic, but it's true. I would be one hot mess without it - and I sing it's praises to all of my clients, friends, and fellow business owners. Basically, if you run a blog or online . . .

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Blogging & Business

Why I went Back to a 9-5 (and how I keep my biz & job organized)

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com on behalf of the Paper + Packaging Board Man, has it been crazy town over here. I keep saying to Dustin: "When things slow down, let's tackle this project" or "Let's wait until things slow down before we start working on that project." Turns out, things have not slowed down in months. I'm not complaining (much) because it's mostly been the good kind of busy - but I'm not going to lie, it's been hard for me to keep my head from falling off with everything I'm trying to juggle - especially now that I'm working a legit 9-5 real-world job again. ICYMI, I was promoted to full-time at my job at the beginning of . . .

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Blogging & Business

Happy Birthday, HTC! 10 Lessons from 4 Years of Blogging

FIRST OF ALL - WELCOME TO THE NEW HEY THERE, CHELSIE! I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate FOUR YEARS of blogging than by taking a HUGE step and hiring a designer to custom design my website. If you are in the market for a custom site, I cannot recommend Amanda at Alpine Lane Creative enough. She somehow took all of my random design requests and created this beautiful site that is better than I could have dreamed. And let's just talk about this being my 4th year of blogging. FOUR YEARS!?! FOUR YEARS?!?! I seriously cannot believe that I've been doing this whole blogging thing for four freaking years. Sometimes I get so caught up in the "now" that I forget . . .

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Blogging & Business

I’m not an Expert, I’m on a Journey - Repositioning HTC for Success

It’s been a busy couple weeks as I’ve adjusted to my new job and work schedule, managed two busy schedules with just one car while we waited for mine to be fixed, went through most of my remission tests, bought a lot of furniture, and watched a lot of HGTV. I've neglected HTC on so many levels because "I've been busy" but the truth is, I've been in a bit of a rut. And yes, I've had a lot going on in my life, but I've also had a lot of down time that I've filled with HGTV, so I really can't use my business as an excuse. I’ve been thinking a lot about Hey There, Chelsie because I’ve been away from it more than I had planned, basically for the last 6 months. I know I . . .

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Blogging & Business

15 Ways to Improve Your Blog

* Affiliate Links may be used at no additional costs to you I've been in the blog slumps over the last couple weeks, but really, it's mainly due to Instagram. I know I shouldn't let a social media platform dictate my happiness, but after working hard to build an extension of HTC there and seeing my engagement go down because #algorithims, I've been feeling pretty woe-is-me. But, I decided that I needed to stop throwing a pity party and focus back in on where everything started: my actual blog! I had to remind myself that one: Instagram does not make the world go round. While it is important to my brand and story-telling, I don't own Instagram and I could wake . . .

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Blogging & Business

3 Ways to Monetize your Blog on your Own Terms

*Affiliate links are used in this post at no additional cost to you. Before jumping into this post, I first want to say that it's no secret that I make a bit of money off of HTC. It's been an absolute joy and pleasure to see something that I love and am so passionate about actually put a little bit of fun money into my pocket and help me grow my space here. That being said, I hope you all know that ANY time I get paid, it's for the right reasons (as in, it's in collaboration with a company I love and trust and would recommend to you regardless.) Your trust and my relationships here are far more important to me than making money off of my blog. However, I want . . .

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Blogging & Business

Blog Hosting 101: Why I Left Bluehost for Siteground

When I decided to take blogging seriously, I decided I wanted to switch from the Blogger.com platform to Wordpress. I had no idea what I was getting myself into - I just knew that I wanted plugins! So, I jumped into the process head first, made a lot of mistakes (like signing up for wordpress.com instead of wordpress.org - YES! There is a difference) and spent a lot of extra money that I didn't need to if I had just done more research. So, today, I'm putting together as much information as I can about self-hosting your blog, along with why I left Bluehost for Siteground in hopes that I'll be able to help both new and seasoned bloggers! What is Self-Hosting? I'm . . .

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Blogging & Business

The 2016 Blog Report: How I Grew My Blog Following by 224%

Last year I did my first comprehensive yearly blog report for my blog and it was really eye-opening and motivating to see how far I had come. I knew after putting together and sharing the 2015 Blog Report, it would become an annual post to put together and share. Although it's a little terrifying to dig into my stats and to be this transparent with my success (and failures) with my audience, it's also really rewarding and refreshing to see how far I've come. I belittle myself and my success because I forget to look at the big picture! Taking the time to look back on my blog for the whole year gives me a bit of a reality check - and shows me that I am successful and . . .

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