The Daily Grind of a Work @ Home Mom...

Blown Away

I was reading Dooce.comlast week just to see what all the hype is about.  It's very entertaining and well written, by the way.  But what really struck me is that this blogger has been at it since 2001.  2001!!  That's almost 8 years in the blogosphere, before most of us had ever even heard the term "blog" and I was still keeping a journal in Word!  WTH!  How come no one told me about this sooner? 

Then today I was perusing, you know, wherever (I can never remember where I came from), Twitter maybe?  And came across the website for Blog World which will take place in Vegas in September.  First of all, while I'm very excited for the one day BlogHer Boston in October, I'm not 100% sure I need to dedicate several days away from my home base and many many hard-earned bucks to travel to a blogging conference.  There, I said it.  I know I'd get crucified on Twitter for saying this out loud, but honestly?  I was totally ok with not going to BlogHer in San Fran last weekend.  I know a lot of my peeps were there, many of my Savvy Sourcepeers as well and while it would have been very cool to meet them, I was perfectly ok about not.  Ok, I'm done now.  Oh, and this doesn't make me any less hardcore about my online antics either.  And lest we forget, I did go to journalism school so writing, whether it be journaling, writing articles or blogging, is not just some trend I've fallen prey to.  I actually have a degree in it.  I just don't need to be so uber-intense about it.  Do you know that I actually know a woman who is NOT EVEN A BLOGGER who spent a few grand on BlogHer?  Is that insane(ly hilarious) or what?

Back to my original point.  So, now I'm on the site for the Blog World Expo and on the homepage are statistics about blogging.  Now this, my dear readers, is interesting.  A few of these crazy numbers include:

• Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
• Over 57 million Americans read blogs. (in the interest of perspective - this is greater than the total population of Canada!)
• 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog. - I wonder how many actually do!
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
• Technorati is currently tracking over70 million blogs. - That's just crazy talk.
• Over 120 thousand blogs are created every day.
• There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day.

So what's my point?  My point is, how are so many people finding so much time to spend either reading blogs and/or writing blogs!  Don't people have jobs (outside of the blogosphere) anymore?  Where is all this so-called cash being generated by all these blogs?  I know I get a boatload of free stuff on a daily basis, but I can hardly call that an income? 

What do you think?  Who are all these bloggers and what are they writing about?  I have a handful of blogs bookmarked, and I catch up when I get a chance.  If I had more free time, I'd check into this myself, because I really am curious as to what SEVENTY MILLION AMERICANS are blogging about.

Enlighten me?

 

A WAHM Feature on ME!!

Though I blush as I write this, I'm super proud to say that I've been featured on today's edition of The WAHM Spot!  The WAHM Spot spotlights a different work-at-home-mom but more than that, it offers info on how to become a WAHM, including resources and info on how other WAHMs got started in their businesses and how they juggle work and family at home.  Another wonderful aspect of the WAHM Spot is their The Spot Resource Page, which consists essentially of tools to help and guide you as you build and grow your business!  Check it out!

 

Research Shows Women Would Sacrifice Almost Anything But Chocolate For Blogging

Ok, I like to blog too but come on ladies!!  A study done on 6000 women by BlogHer shows that 36.2 million women are activiely part of the blogosphere.  15.1 million are writing, and 21.1 million are reading. 

Holy crap.

But it gets better.  According to this study, many women bloggers are so keen on blogging they say they would be willing to give something up in order to keep it up.  Examples are:

55% would give up alcohol

50% would give up their PDAs

42% would give up their i-Pod

43% would give up reading the newspaper or magazines

only 20% would give up chocolate

The other numbers show that women spend less time doing things like reading newspapers and magazines and watching television due to spending more time in front of their computers but that doesn't surprise me.  What does shock me is that these women would give up some integral parts of their lives so they can blog!!  PDAs and i-Pods? 

More than half of the group surveyed said they consider blogs to be a reliable source of info and that blogs are influential in their purchasing decisions.  I definitely believe in the latter.  If I didn't, I wouldn't be contributing tons of free samples to bloggers I consider to be "relevant."  But as a source of news, well, I take what I read with a grain of salt.

Don't get me wrong.  I am definitely a fan of blogging.  I love that fellow mommy-bloggers have recently been recognized by major mainstream media and I adore how much blogging has done for my store alone.  But these statistics are truly eyebrow raising!

And for the record, I wouldn't give up chocolate for anything... 

A New Look For The Daily Grind!

It's been a year of status quo and The Daily Grind was super ready for a face-lift.  At the recommendation of a trusted friend, I recruited web designer extraordinaire, Deanna (@domesticchicky) to help bring my vision to life.  A stay-at-home-mom who moonlights as a creator of beautiful web designs, Deanna took my old design to this beauty in no time, with only a touch of guidance.  The idea was to match The Daily Grind to its sister site, Alex Casey Baby and add some original touches here and there.

The Daily Grind is about to catapult to new levels.  We now have several thousand visitors per month and the numbers are growing!  What started as a weblog intended to be an outlet for my rants, raves, ideas, opinions and news (mostly read by family and friends) has really grown into a well-read blog!  With a bunch of reviews and contests in the queue, we are getting serious. 

See our new Reviews button?  Click it for some free promoting opportunities.  It is said that moms spend over $2 trillion per year which clearly makes them the decision-makers when it comes to spending.  Blog reviews are a smart, effective, quantifiable and INEXPENSIVE way to promote your store and/or product.  Contests and giveaways are a sure bet to driving traffic to your site.  This blog is also syndicated at The Kiddie Clique, so reviews get TWICE THE EXPOSURE.

Please let me know what you think of  our new look either by commenting or email!

THANKS DEANNA!!

Happy Birthday To The Daily Grind!

Wow, that went fast!  Tomorrow marks the 1-year-anniversary of The Daily Grind and I have to say, I am grateful to be writing this post.  What began as an outlet for the thoughts, opinions, and rants and raves of a mom, newly operating a home-based business, has slowly but surely grown into a well-read and (I like to think) purposeful journal, if not a place for my readers to spend a few minutes a day learning, laughing, disagreeing (or agreeing), or wasting time.

I want to say thank you.  Thank you to my readers who were with me that fateful day that I chopped off my hair to donate to Locks of Love.  So many of you tolerated me as I rationalized that my daughter's bad sleep habits would work itself out (um...), and gave me a shoulder when I needed to vent about the passive-aggressive being I turned into around the family nanny. 

As the year progressed, I wrote about "date night", and the humorous flutter of activity associated with an evening out.  Soon, I was taking my first business trip out of town and you supported me as I spent my first night away from Baby.  Ironically, a few days later, I shared a personal moment with my readers as my daughter took her first steps during that first trip away from home.  Figures.

Finally in October, Baby #2 arrived and I revealed my early sentiments on what it was like to bring home a new baby, again.  I'm thrilled to say that we have grown into a cohesive family over the last 6-months and I am blessed to have such inspiring children.

With baby #2 brought more responsibilities and less "me" time, which moved me to rant about the fact that I just don't get in enough girl time.  I still suffer from this and am certain I'm not alone in it. 

You not only read as I expressed my frustration about new sleep troubles, but you seemed to double in number!  I wondered who was reading and staying so quiet but still I was grateful.  It was then that I thought I could maybe contribute something to my fellow work-at-home-mom network and so was born my first ever product review!  I'm itching to do more so if you have a product you'd like to see reviewed, email me!! 

At the start of April, I joined social-media site Twitter, and feel that this particular event represented a turning point for me.  Since then, I have been lucky enough to "meet" and connect with the most intelligent and motivated group of blogging, business owning, web designing and child-rearing women (to name a few).  I am humbled by their intense commitment to the sub-culture of online "life" and am excited to have been welcomed into it.  I had no idea there existed so many people just like me!!  They have become a forum for bouncing around ideas, sharing relevant information and even just my random thoughts, boring as they may be.  So Twitter followers/follow"ees", big shout out!

Recently, the topic of BPA in plastics has been a huge source of content for me.  This hot button represents to me exactly what this blog is good for.  The Daily Grind has allowed me to reach hundreds of moms, dads, and just people in general and discuss the potential toxins that we have been bringing into our homes.  The best part is that I've learned so much from you, my readers, as well.

You are coming out of the woodwork.  After a year of being part of this online sea of bloggers, you are finding me and reading my words and offering your counter-words and I love it.  You are getting me to think harder, work harder and write harder.  As a trained journalist (yup - educated 'n all!), I'm geared up to persevere.  But as a mom just trying to keep her head on straight and get her thoughts out there, I'm grateful.

Thanks for a great year.  Looking forward to getting to know each other even better in the next while.  :)