In chasing our dreams, like building an online business full-time, starting out is always the toughest part (or one of the toughest).
So many adjustments happen all at once.
For example, your whole week gets flipped upside down.
Managing your money becomes a tightrope walk. You can no longer sit back and wait for a paycheck to drop. You will have to bite the bullet and make sacrifices until your business gets off the ground.
Challenges are inevitable too.
There are plenty of things to figure out, like what the game plan is to bridge the gap between reality and your vision, let alone map out step one.
Fear of the unknown is real.
You have to mentally prepare yourself for all the uncertainties that “owning” your life entails.
THAT SAID, the beginning is one of the most exciting parts of the journey.
Exciting because you know in yourself that you are finally building a fulfilling life you can truly call your own.
No longer you’ll spend time working on things that mean nothing to you. Instead, you’ll get your hands on work that truly matters to you.
In my case…
The idea that blogging could serve as both a way to express myself and a means to make money got me so excited. The thought of an everyday life where I no longer have to deal with the BS from bosses and coworkers got me so excited, too.
Perhaps getting rid of that ‘what if‘ hanging over my head was also a big reason I felt excited. I told myself I was going to live with no regrets, and I loved that feeling.
Did you know that a few weeks after I officially started blogging, I actually cried tears of joy one afternoon as I jogged through an empty subdivision near our house?
The super inspiring songs I listened to as I jogged around the block and pictured my future got me totally emotional: hyped, fired up, and ready for what was next.
“In a few years, I will be working wherever and whenever I want on things I am genuinely interested in... ah, that is life,” I told myself.
Then there was the gorgeous sunset that felt like a good omen. I remembered the story of Santiago from my favorite book, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
I told myself this is my personal legend.
Honestly, among the most memorable moments of my life, this is one of the simplest that I can still vividly recall, especially whenever I listen to the songs I used to listen to.
(If you want to check it out, below is the link to the playlist I had on repeat while jogging in that empty subdivision. The playlist has changed a bit over the years, but most songs that really hit me hard are still there.)
Anyway, if you are planning to start your own creator business or are already getting started, I believe I know you are feeling the exact same excitement I felt years ago.
But here’s the thing: don’t let that excitement or eager energy push you to rush into building.
It happened to me. I gave in. And it ended badly. The result was a couple of complete startovers.
(Engineering Travels → WanderInEurope → Explore to Thrive)
I wasted not only my energy and money, but also the time that “opens doors.” Time I could have used to build expertise, authority, and creator connections that bring even more opportunity.
While this sounds like a total bummer, which it truly is, I learned my lesson(s), and that is what matters most. (Cheer me up, haha!)
I’ll share these lessons with you later on.
Not gonna lie, I have had days when I felt so eager that I would do anything to be successful. Whatever a ‘successful creator‘ on X and YouTube suggested, I would naively and eagerly follow.
For example, when I discovered Search Engine Optimization (SEO), I did not hesitate to study the skyscraper technique, keyword density, and snippet optimization when those SEO influencers claimed they were earning four thousand a month doing them.
Also, you would not believe how much I obsessed over low-competition and zero-search volume keyword techniques to quickly gain traffic…
These people were showing impressive results, so I thought there was no harm in trying what they were doing.
Only a couple of years later did I figure out that these ‘successful creators’ were nothing but SEO snake oil salesmen who do not really care about the sustainability of your blog.
They will promise you will be successful quickly, but it is going to be that: quick. It won’t last… Like, it’s only one algorithm update away from total disaster.
These bad actors are experts at marketing and manipulation who will ruthlessly exploit your enthusiasm, insecurities, weaknesses, and desires to make you believe what they preach so they can sell you courses.
They see you as a cash generator, nothing more.
Consider this a serious warning that you need to be very careful about who you trust online, not only in SEO, but in content creation and online business as a whole.
I never bought their courses about success or online business. BUT I put my trust and time into them as I followed them closely on social media and took their advice.
And honestly, I think that is worse because you can earn money back, but time is different. Once it is spent, it is gone.
I totally fell for it when they started talking about freedom and how I could work whenever and wherever I wanted, stuff like that.
To wrap this up, my experience over the years taught me three key things a person chasing their dreams needs to do first, rather than following whatever advice random people post on the internet:
Build a solid ‘personal’ foundation,
Master the basics, and
Develop the right mindset to carry you through tough times, uncertainty, and days when you’re grinding hard but getting zero momentum.
I’ve discussed some of the details in my previous newsletters. But in summary:
It’s establishing your whys or the reasons why you’re starting to build a business in the first place, setting a long-term goal, and finding a skill or craft you will enjoy doing every day to reach that goal.
Understanding the basics like what kind of value we must provide in our business, how to grow sustainably, what metrics to check to track your progress, and knowing the importance of consistency.
Mindset? A growth mindset. Also, having realistic expectations that your path to your dreams comes not only with excitement and fun doing the work you love, but also setbacks that can break you. Most importantly, recognizing that the journey is as important as your goal.
P.S.
Today, as a creator, whenever I look back at everything I’ve been through since I started, I can’t help but realize again and again how precious time really is.
Time is truly the currency of life… our main tool to gather experiences where we learn and grow.
Spend it wisely by staying active and pursuing what genuinely interests us. Because that is how we gather endless ideas, stories, and value for people who share those same interests.
It is how we create authentic content for our audience, the content that builds trust, the very thing that helps us build a sustainable business.
Explore to Thrive Newsletter is part of my personal mission to walk alongside fellow creatives and show that it’s possible to build a sustainable online business from your lived experiences and passion. It’s completely free and open to everyone.
If it resonates with you and you feel inspired to support it, I would be very grateful for a tip. Your support helps me build Explore to Thrive, a community and resource I dream of creating where no creator feels alone and where we can grow, learn, and truly thrive together.
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I share honest insights from building an online business with a blog from the ground up, lessons from my mistakes so you can avoid wasting time, discoveries that lead to wins, and methods that support long term success as a creator.
This section is where I share what I’ve been working on with Explore to Thrive Blog since the last newsletter. My goal is to be transparent about the process. And also to give a real sense of what building a creator business actually looks like.
Before writing the new blog post for the new project, I worked on organizing my Bohol Travel Planning Page first.
In my Apple Notes, I moved the list of normal links and affiliate links outside a table so I could easily copy and paste them into WordPress on my PC.
Originally, the links were inside a table, but they appeared cramped together with no spaces at all when I viewed them on the web version of Apple Notes on my PC. Copying links in that squeezed arrangement was really difficult and prone to errors when copying.
Anyhow, I finished drafting my first article about Bohol. The post is a travel itinerary for exploring the island for a day, based on our experience.
Actually, I wrote it like a narrative log. The post tells how we spent our day in Bohol, giving readers an idea of how they can enjoy their time on the island. Currently, the draft sits at 3,000 words, already equivalent to three blog posts if I were to stick to my goal of writing shorter posts.
I wanted to split this into three separate posts, but all these sections belong together in one post. So instead, as I proofread, I will use lexical compression to cut the word count down to a readable length while keeping the core essence. I have to balance fluff reduction with personality so the sentences still sound natural and match how I speak.
As mentioned in my previous newsletter, I am working to be more efficient with this project.
So when I was writing the blog post, I already consider related topics in the content plan to make interlinking easier once they go live. I also factor in tangential topics from other projects, like travel destinations on the nearby island of Cebu.
In the itinerary blog post I draft, I highlighted the sentences and phrases to link other blog posts later. These highlights help me remember where to place those internal links as I finalize everything down the road.
Interlinking is important because it allows readers to discover other helpful posts as they read. It is also good for brand building because it gives readers the impression that I cover topics comprehensively.
In the past, I used Wikipedia, official travel boards, and tourism office websites to find information or fun facts about a destination. This time, I used AI for research.
But when writing the introduction for each tourist attraction in my post, I decided to write it myself. AI never writes paragraphs exactly how I want, often missing my personal style despite all the context I give it.
There were times I overshared when discussing two or three subtopics. I couldn’t help it because I had so much information in my head to share. But seeing a paragraph cover almost the entire screen made me realize I was making the itinerary post excessively long.
To prevent the post from reaching 5,000 words, I decided to move the extra details into separate posts, one for each subtopic. So, right now, I have already started writing those other blog posts.
The Bohol itinerary post actually serves as the wrapper post for the entire project. So before publishing it, the post must mention all the other topics in the project and link to them.
While checking the content plan to avoid missing essential topics though, I realized something. I found one post in the content plan that was redundant to the itinerary, plus two topics I still needed to include.
The redundant one was the post about our guided tour on the island, because the itinerary pretty much mentioned that our trip was a guided tour. The two I added were a post featuring a map of Panglao Island and a post that offers essential Bohol travel tips.
Because of that, I had to update the content plan for this project. See the screenshot below.
I had to add the post featuring the Panglao Island map because it is a chance to help readers in a way AI cannot and others are not very interested in doing. On top of that, it is an opportunity for me to attract more readers and site visitors without relying on algorithms.
You can find the explanation in my previous newsletter:
Finally, I also completed the draft for the synchronized patterns to interlink my posts about Bohol, Central Visayas, which includes Cebu. It also includes the call to action for the travel planning page.
Before I started writing my Bohol itinerary, I tried to organize my old files and realized that I should use my laptop more often. The screen is larger, and it is easier to multitask and work on my websites.
However, there is a problem because I use my iPad to write my drafts, but my PC runs Windows. I felt a need for a writing tool that works on both platforms for efficiency. That way, I can seamlessly work between my PC and iPad. The work I leave on my PC is immediately accessible on my iPad and vice versa.
I tried different methods like Libre Office or MS Office and Apple Creative Studio Basic Apps like Keynote and Pages synced using iCloud and a few scripts, MS Notepad and Apple Notes synced using iCloud and the Shortcuts app by exporting and importing notes through a Markdown file, and Notion.
However, I gave up on the idea because whatever I tried, it was still inefficient. Actually, I was very close to switching to Notion from Apple Notes. But then I remembered that Notion is a third party application for both Windows and iPadOS.
I am always concerned with my intellectual property and privacy, so I am not willing to store my ideas, basically the details of my entire life, on a platform that might use my data against me for targeted advertising or training AI with my knowledge and experience.
I ended up sticking with the status quo of Apple Notes. It is not that convenient to use on PC because I have to log in to iCloud so often even though I checked the option to keep me signed in. Still, for now, that is the most efficient option, so I will stay on this setup.
None. I guess. Yay? 😁
For the upcoming days, I will focus on completing the drafts of more posts. I am targeting the posts where I feature the maps of Bohol and Panglao Islands, which is exciting because I really miss drawing maps.
That is all for this week’s newsletter. I hope my updates taught you something new about blogging, online business, and content creation in general!
Thank you for reading (again), and see you next week.
Hiraya Manawari!
Ciao.
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