The content here at Busy Blogs Plus is normally centered on education and how to make your business thrive by producing quality, interesting blog content.
However, this is a special blog post, as Busy Blogs Plus has officially turned one-year-old as of February 2016.
It’s always interesting to hear how professionals get started on their journeys and build businesses from the ground up—whether those businesses are full-fledged agencies or a tiny sole proprietor.
This is the story of how Busy Blogs Plus came to be, what was accomplished over the first year, and what we can expect in 2016 and beyond.
How Busy Blogs Plus Was Born
While Busy Blogs Plus is technically a year old as of February 2016, I was introduced to the world of freelancing in June 2014. I was looking for ways to supplement my income alongside my full-time job at a national home improvement company—I was hired in as the Internet Marketing Specialist straight out of college and promoted to Social Media Manager a couple years later.
In 2014, I found an ad in the paper for a local company who needed help with website management and a sparse amount of content writing. I threw in my resume’ and forgot about it until they contacted me about a month later. I was hired over the phone, visited their office to sign paperwork, and started working on their website that same week.
That first client is still a client of ours as of today.
Until that point, it never crossed my mind to work remotely. I was intrigued by the process, and several months later decided to try my luck again and see if I could get a second client.
This time I decided to turn to Craigslist and apply to a few job postings. I found a few solid options at the time and was hired by a Canadian company to write health articles, and a digital marketing company in Atlanta, Georgia to write real estate articles.
By the end of 2014, I had 3-4 stable clients under my belt and eventually got contracted out by a large online content writing agency. I quickly become one of their go-to writers and was only assigned high-paying ad hoc projects—but I was drowning in work and almost called it quits.
In January 2015, I was trying to juggle my full-time job along with the very consistent flow of work from my clients and agency work. One evening after I came home from my full-time job, I was extremely overwhelmed and told my husband (Cody) that I was ready to throw in the towel with my writing venture and be done with it—until he asked a question that completely changed my career path:
“Why don’t you just quit the agency and start your own content writing business?”
It was that moment that a light bulb went off in my head. Why didn’t I think of that? This was the way that I could have direct relationships with my own clients and work one-on-one with them instead of relying on the middleman. I’d be able to have more control over the flow of my work, who I work with, and have more reasonable deadlines.
I went to bed with an entirely new perspective that night.
Looking back, I don’t think the idea crossed my mind because I wasn’t planning on leaving my full-time job to work full-time for myself. I thought that freelancing was just a way to make some extra money and I needed to have a “real job.” While I liked my full-time job, I became very dedicated to starting my own writing business and offer my services worldwide.
Once my mind was made up, I worked tireless hours designing the logo and the website from scratch, developing a keyword strategy, and producing top-notch content to share on this blog. The website officially launched on March 13, 2015.
Cody suggested the name Busy Blogs, since blogging is my favorite aspect of content writing and I was so busy at the time that I couldn’t keep my head on straight. We added “Plus” at the end since we offer other content solutions as well, such as eBooks, SEO content, blogging strategy packages, and more.
My goal was to be entirely self-employed by my 30th birthday on December 20, 2016. I had just turned 28 at the time, and I had no idea how much faster I would reach my goal than planned.
How 2015 Escalated The Growth Of Busy Blogs Plus
Busy Blogs Plus became a registered business in the state of Ohio in February 2015. I continued to work my full-time job and even did tradeshow marketing for their company as I worked to grow my own business on the side.
By May 2015, I had officially exceeded my full-time income. I had several retainer clients, multiple repeat customers, and my clientele was still growing.
Out of uncertainty and a bit of self-doubt, I did not turn in my two weeks at my full-time job until July 2015. I was officially at my breaking point and could not physically handle the workload from my day job and my own business.
My last day at my full-time job was August 14, 2015. It was a bittersweet moment, but I was excited in terms of what the future held for my little company.
Not to mention, I quit my full-time job to work for myself at the age of 28 ½—one-and-half years ahead of schedule.
Through the end of 2015, I learned a lot about running and growing a business. I met some truly awesome people and made new connections both locally and around the country. I’ve been entirely self-employed for a full 6 months and I undoubtedly made the right decision.
What’s in Store For The Future?
Busy Blogs Plus is rapidly growing and we consider ourselves as a boutique content writing business. Due to popular demand, we are expanding our services this year to include social media management and social media strategy for our clients.
There’s also a possibility that we will hire one or two people this year, mostly due to new referral business. As of now, I don’t have plans to make Busy Blogs Plus a large agency—I’m happy how things are and want to be able to work with my clients one-on-one, rather than hand them off to a customer service manager or someone else.
If you’re a past or current client, we deeply appreciate and thank you for your business. If you’re new to Busy Blogs, we invite you to reach out and discuss how we can help grow your business.
Here’s to an awesome 2016 and beyond for each and every one of you!
No spam. Ever.