Blogging is tough, y'all. There's always a curveball or a challenge or a commitment or an obstacle to keep you on your toes. There are highs & lows. There are so many moving parts. Whether you want to reach new clients or increase your blog page views, it's easy to lose blogging inspiration & fall behind on your social media goals. It's hard to create successful blogs these days!

Sometimes you feel stuck or overwhelmed with how much you need to do. You ask yourself: "How can get there? How can I get unstuck when I feel stuck?"

Take 30 minutes to go through this exercise & by the end of it, you'll identify some creative blog topics you can start writing immediately. As a social media / blog coach, I go over this topic a lot with my clients. Let's get those blogging content inspiration juices flowing. Are you ready? My clients have successful blogs, brands, & social media channels.

Step 1. Ask yourself: What excites & inspires me? 

EXAMPLE: 
1. Food
2. Travel
3. Nature
4. Craft beer
5. Netflix
6. Friends
7. Hot sauce 
8. Blogging 
9. Photography 
10. Dogs
11. Poetry
12. Journaling
13. Writing 
14. Reading magazines 
15. Learning
16. Earl Grey tea
17. Thrift shopping
18. Kombucha
19. Farmers markets
20. Meditating

Step 2. Expand!

You have your initial list of things that excite & inspire you. Now we're going to get more detailed about each blogging inspiration point. Go through each word or phrase you wrote down & expand on it. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Aim to expand by 5. Again, stream of consciousness style. There's no right or wrong way to do this. You just want to get pen to paper. At the end of this step you should have a hodgepodge list of things that you're drawn to, captivated by, interested in, or simply enjoy.

EXAMPLE: 
1. Food ---> Vegetarian food. Persian food. Trying food from different cultures. Dark chocolate. Pickle chips.  

2. Travel ---> Seeing new places. Learning about other cultures. Trying new food! Challenging myself (like that time I spent the night on a couch at London Gatwick Airport). 

3. Nature ---> Botanical gardens. Nature walks. State parks or nature reserves. Seeing animals like butterflies, birds, rabbits, deer. Finding peace outside.

4. Craft beer ---> San Diego craft beer breweries. Happy hour craft beer. Hazy IPAs. Tijuana tasting rooms

Step 3. Circle the words or phrases that you're especially interested in

Take a look at your list & circle words or phrases you're especially interested in. What calls to you? What are you truly inspired by? As a human being, what are your current interests? This exercise is an excellent way to get to know yourself (again) & find blogging inspiration content ideas.

Step 4. Ask yourself: How can I incorporate these topics on my blog? How can I incorporate these things into my daily life or even my work?

Time yourself for 5 minutes. Work from your circled list & ask yourself how you can incorporate the topics on your creative blog as well as how you can add them into your daily life. The more you expose yourself to things that excite & inspire you, the more likely you'll have plenty of blogging inspiration to give you content blog ideas. Identify your current likes & write about it. Always stream of consciousness style, it doesn't have to be fancy.

EXAMPLE: 
1. Persian food. 

How can I incorporate this topic on my creative blog? ---> 
- Write about my childhood & growing up Persian
- Experiment with classic Persian Iranian recipes 
- Storytell about the Persian parts of my life: evening Farsi classes, celebrating Nowruz
- Talk about the joys of rose water


How can I incorporate this topic into my daily life or even my work? ---> 
- Eat at local Persian restaurants in the San Diego area.
- Buy an Iranian cookbook to try new-to-me recipes.
- Practice Farsi on DuoLingo
- Check out a book on Persian poetry from the library

Complete this exercise in its entirety & you'll find blogging inspiration to give you creative blog topics & blog ideas for months to come. Never forget that success is a series of small wins, sometimes it's almost unnoticeable. Use your time wisely; read time management tips for bloggers for my best tips. As a blog coach, my clients with successful blogs ask for inspiration tips quite often.

Holy spicy guacamole.

I quit my job one year ago.

I quit my job at the corporate office of a hotel, resort, & timeshare company in June 2017.

A lot happened. I chronicled all the details in my 3-month update & again in my 8-month update with a word of encouragement - I talked about my travels, my brand campaigns & sponsorships, & all those juicy details. But it's been a few months since then.

I ended up spending my one year self-employment anniversary in El Paso, Texas as part of a press trip! 

Read my updates from Year 2 & Year 3!

It's crazy to think I gave my two weeks notice & quit my corporate job one year ago!! I recall that nerve-wracking day. How could I forget? I left the office for the last time feeling scared, excited, hopeful. 

I had no idea what it would be like to be on my own as a San Diego blogger, influencer, & budding entrepreneur. Ups & downs. Highs & lows. Successes & failures. A bit of everything, really.

One year later, I’m walking around downtown El Paso, Texas for a familiarization tour with Visit El Paso. We had breakfast on a mountain at Franklin Mountains State Park, then I fed a state park AJ the giraffe. We hopped over to La Union, New Mexico for wine at La Viña Winery. It's all a part of the job. It's part of the ever-changing landscape of being a writer, a San Diego blogger, a content creator, a travel influencer, an inspirer. 

Expect to see an El Paso travel guide in the upcoming weeks!

My El Paso, Texas press trip inspired my career even further. It reinforced the reason why I quit corporate America in the first place. Dare to follow your dreams, but more importantly, don’t forget to put in the work. In the day-to-day, it’s practically impossible to see your progress but you must believe, have strength, & faith & continue putting in the effort. 

Dream on.

Work hard.

Live harder.

After weeks of struggling with self-doubt, I empowered myself to take action & LAUNCH.

I launched the July Blogger & Influencer Challenge as a way to cover some of the information in my private coaching but make it affordable & accessible to more people. Every weekday in July each registrant receives coaching content straight to their inbox geared for badass bloggers & influencers looking to increase their social media reach, following, opportunities, & income.


Need some help making progress on your blog or social media platform? Want guidance on how to get more views, followers, opportunities? Struggling to understand the online world or how to find readers/clients? Fill out my FREE Discovery Questionnaire if you're interested to find out about more coaching & how I can help you.