Hey There, Chelsie

Blogging & Business

On Being in Limbo (Both in Blogging & Life)

I feel like I've been in limbo for a while now and it's starting to wear me down and I just need to chat about it. Thanks in advance for just being a sounding board. A few months ago, back when we were in Arizona, I had such a clear vision for my life and my blog. I was working tirelessly day in and day out on growing my online space and presence. I attended countless webinars, poured over a dozen daily emails from blogging gurus, and spent a lot of money on courses, classes, and systems. I found myself so motivated by the connections I was making online and the money I was actually able to make off of it. I felt happier than I had ever been, being my own boss, . . .

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Blogging & Business

HTC Happenings, Updates & Favorites // May

It's been a while since I just sat down and shared what's been going on in life and behind the scenes here at Hey There, Chelsie. Today I just wanted to chat about life lately, where my head's been at in terms of my blog and share some of my favorite reads from the month! Thanks for being a pal and just catching up with me today! Happenings: // We're finally getting used to Dustin's job and the lifestyle that comes along with it. Although it's been a huge adjustment to having a husband who is gone from 12-10:30 weekdays and 9-6 on Saturdays, the risks of leaving his other job and coming here is totally paying off. Dustin and I recently paid off ALL of our credit . . .

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Blogging & Business

6 Reasons why I Follow Your Instagram

My grandmother bought me my first digital camera when I was in the 8th grade, right after they started to become mainstream. Holding that clunky little thing in my hands sealed the deal for me: I was totally bitten by the photography bug. I spent years taking photos of my friends, wandering in my back yard trying to perfect the macro shot of flowers and trying to get my sisters to model for me so I could practice portraits. I finally was able to upgrade to a DSLR in college and enrolled myself in several photography classes so I could learn the ins and outs of the manual mode and composition. I'm definitely not a professional by any means, but I definitely am . . .

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Blogging & Business

Blog Boss: Getting Back to My Roots

It's time for me to get real honest about my blog for a second: When I started blogging back in 2015, I was in the middle of a mid-life crisis. If you've been around here for a while, you probably know the story already, but here's a brief recap: I got a degree in English education, taught high school English for a while, loved my kids but didn't love the politics and had a freak out about what I was going to do with my life. I started blogging as an outlet for myself and it slowly evolved into what it is today. Six months into my serious blogging journey (and because of certain life circumstances that prevented me from finding another "real life" job) my husband . . .

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Blogging & Business

Refresh Your Blog: A Free eCourse

  Oops! This course has been taken off the market for the time being so that new and fresh content could be added. Make sure you are signed up for the Hey There, Sunday weekly email so that you will be the first to know when it comes back online! Before you go: Check out some of the following posts related to blogging!   . . .

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Blogging & Business

Hey There, April (Goals, Traffic & Income Report)

Hey There, I'm doing something a little bit different today. As I sat down to review my March goals and set some new ones for April, I decided that I wanted to add more about my traffic and even share a little bit about my income this month. I really want to help others love their blogs and if that means growing their audience and making some side money off their site, then I want to share how I'm doing that! So, today, I'm rolling out the new and improved goal post to share a traffic and income report as well! March Goals Recap: Start Harry Potter #3 Not only did we start HP #3, we were able to finish it completely on Thursday while driving across the great . . .

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Blogging & Business

What I learned during my (unplanned) Blog Break

Hey There, It's been a hot second. Sometimes life just happens and gets in the way more than I could ever anticipate and that's what happened during the end of March. In case you missed it, Dustin left his job in AZ and we packed up everything and moved to Louisianna so he could come back to his sales team here. And in the midst of all the chaos, I ended up taking a very unplanned blog break. We're finally settled for the most part and should be getting internet tomorrow (currently writing this from a McDonald's) and I'm so excited to finally be writing again. I can't tell you how much I've missed it. Anyway, I wanted to share a little bit of what I learned during . . .

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Beauty + Health

3 Must-Haves for the Fashion Blogger

I am so excited to be partnering with Dove today to bring you this post! All opinions are my own (honestly!)   When I first started blogging, I thought I was going to be a good and craft Blogger. Even though I loves beauty and clothes, I felt like there was no way I was ever going to be fashionable enough to be a style blogger. Who would want fashion advice from little old me? Would people laugh at me for trying to tell them what to wear?   As my blog evolved (and I quickly found out that I was NOT meant to be a food or craft blogger) I started testing the waters with more fashion posts. I loved doing them. I love being challenged to get up and . . .

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Blogging & Business

Work from Home Soundtrack: Six Sites for Ambient Noise

Since embarking on my journey to be self-employed and work from home, I've had a lot of lessons to learn. There are days where I would wake up and get so excited that I didn't have to go anywhere, stay in my pj's, and watch Netflix and get no work (business or housework) done. My husband would come home and I wouldn't have a blog post written or photos edited and would have to stay up late in the night finishing my blog work instead of spending time with him. I started realizing that I needed to take working from home seriously if I wanted to prove to myself (and Dustin) that I was capable of being self-employed, and that meant treating every day like a work day, . . .

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Blogging & Business

How to Apply for Sponsored Posts on Social Fabric (+ FREE eBook w/ pitch templates!)

I want to make this clear: All of this information is from MY personal experience and what as worked for me. I'm not claiming that this is the ONLY way to get a sponsored post from Social Fabric, but it has worked for me repeatedly and hasn't steered me wrong yet. Chances are that if you are a blogger trying to make a little bit of extra money off of your blog, you've heard about Social Fabric. It's one of the biggest influencer agencies out there right now and for a good reason! They connect bloggers with a variety of brands and have a strong payout. Social Fabric has been my favorite Influencer Agency to work with. Since being accepted in August of 2015, . . .

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Blogging & Business

6 Ways to Make Your Blog User-Friendly

  As someone who is turning her blog into a business, I've been working hard at making my site as user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing as possible. I want a new visitor to not only read what I have worked hard to put together but also to click around and read more, follow me on a social media channel and leave a comment. That's the dream, right? Over the last year (and especially since I've done my rebrand) I've learned that there were a few things I was doing on my site that caused potential readers to turn away. Today, I want to share 8 ways you can make your blog more user-friendly so that you don't make the mistakes that I did! Now, keep in . . .

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Blogging & Business

Hey There, March (Goals & Announcements)

Hey There, I sat down the other night to write my March Goals post and as I went to look at my February goals post, I realized that it got lost when the back end of my site went psycho and locked me out of everything. I had my hosts restore my site from an older backup, resulting in the loss of my February Goals post. Just as well, since the month started out so rough with all of the tech stuff crashing on my new site. That nightmare is over and I'm glad to report that HTC seems to be running as smoothly as possible (knock on wood) but I can't remember all my February Goals...I'll take my losses. I DO remember that I wanted to finish reading HP #2 with Dustin . . .

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