Online Blog Success! ... FINALLY!

I graduated with my bachelor's degree a year ago. I haven't been working because of my fibromyalgia pain. Our plan was for me to take this year to "get healthy" and then get a teaching job for the 2013-2014 school year. Well, that hasn't happened. I've had countless doctor appointments, multiple medicine trials, and all sorts of tests done, and we're still no closer to a solution to managing my pain.

I started this blog and its corresponding Twitter handle back in late August. I started my website and Facebook page in October. In January I started my FibroTips4Chicks blog and I started my Etsy site in February. And made no money from any of it until yesterday! I had my first and second Etsy sales in a matter of hours and my site views rose significantly. 

I've known that building a brand can take years, and I'm still not where I want to be by any means, but between my blogs, website, and Etsy site, I've had almost 27,000 views since August! That means I've averaged over 110 views a day, which is (from what I've read) a pretty decent traffic flow for a first-time blogger!

In terms of making money with my blogs, site, and Etsy shop, I'm right around $150, which I am thrilled about! The reason I started all the online stuff was so I could have an income from online endeavors by the time I wanted to stay at home with my kids (in a few years). But the fact that I'm getting to start making money from it now makes me feel incredibly grateful!

Thank you so much to all of you for helping me get to this point! I can't tell you how much it means to me to have my dream start coming true!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Almost 10,000 Hits!

I'm 24 and I graduated from college almost a year ago. I'm engaged and planning our wedding for this summer. My fiancé and I live together in a small apartment close to the high school where he is the choir director and theory teacher.

I started the ChickOpinion blog in late August as a way to stay connected with the world while I dealt with my fibromyalgia diagnosis. I've talked about politics, social issues, religion, and personal struggle. I've also gotten almost 10,000 hits in less than six months! I know that that's not "viral," by any means, but it seems like a lot to me. :-) I've also gotten 6,000 hits on my website that I started a few months ago.

I am still unemployed. I've applied for over 50 jobs and haven't gotten any of them. Granted, I've got fibromyalgia so that limits the kind of job I can have. But it's not like I'm not keeping busy--I have a wedding coming up, I'm opening an Etsy shop (today, hopefully, if I can figure out the tax code!), and I do a lot of the household chores.

So how is it that I still feel like I'm just on the brink of something big? I know that a lot of us dream of doing something that gets attention on a big scale. I used to want to be a well-known inner-city teacher, something akin to Erin Gruwell (the "Freedom Writers" teacher). Then I wanted to be an amazing education researcher, published in all the great journals. With the fibromyalgia diagnosis, all of that was put on hold, but I don't think the passion is gone.

I've always had this drive and a knowledge that I can do something bigger than what I'm doing at any given time. I also have an intense urge to help people. I'm really good at social media networking and I feel like that's going to do something for me sometime soon. Hopefully. I'm not necessarily on the drive to be "famous." I don't want to come off like that. I just want to use the abilities I have to help other people, whether it be fibromyalgia patients, third-culture kids (I guess I should do a story on this soon), or smart unemployed young people.

The hats and scarves my Mom and I sent to Hurricane Sandy victims.

So, whether it be through writing, fashion, education, or volunteering, I hope I inspire you. Please keep sending me your stories--they inspire me every day!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi