Savor the Success - Business Network for women entrepreneurs

When I first starting blogging at STS, Angela challenged me to set a goal. I was new to this whole blogging thing. I was feeling really motivated and positive. The blogosphere was my chocolate, you know?


So I said, "My goal is to have 20,000 monthly blog visitors at Project Happily Ever After by January."


Angela emailed back, "Are you sure that's realistic?"


I said, "No, but anything less just wouldn't be interesting."


Well, as you all know, January came and went. I didn't reach my goal. I think I had somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 monthly uniques at that time. I was also burned out, mad at the world, and jealous of any blogger who had traffic that rightfully should have been mine.


Just being honest here. It wasn't a pretty situation, and I'm not at all proud of the person I was that month.


It seemed as if nothing was working out in my life. My husband's business was going through some major hard times. Our credit card bill always seemed to be higher than the money that was actually in our bank account. I had to let our cleaning lady go. Worse, I had to stop highlighting my hair. I was exhausted on the weekends, repeatedly suggesting that our 4 year old watch Transformers so Mommy could take a nap. I'd stopped reading novels, which had once been a favorite pastime.


I continually hen pecked my husband for all sorts of mundane things, including how he folded the laundry.


And I stopped believing in my dream. This was bad. Very, very bad.


If you've ever had a dream and you've ever stopped believing in it, then you know. It feels like someone has just stuck a plastic bag over your head. You just can't seem to get enough air.


I felt sorry for myself for a while. I whined to my husband and my agent and a few other people who I always feel thankful for not only being in my life but also for actually wanting to be in my life.


And then I got solution focused. I said, "Self? Look. What you've tried so far hasn't worked. But you can't stop trying. Just try harder, try more, and try different."


And that's what I did. I kept answering HARO queries. I networked more with my journalism friends and contacts. I signed up for the Problogger.net 31 day blogging challenge. I faced my fear of running out of money and I hired someone to help me with a few technical glitches on my site. I also hired someone to help me optimize my site for search engines.


I prayed. I did good deeds. I took a Buddhism class. I sent good vibes to the universe. I promised to love all humans, even the ones who get on my nerves. I filled my Karma bank account to overflowing.


I told myself over and over again, "Just believe. Just believe. Just believe."


And then the miracles began taking place, one after the other.


I landed a profile in Redbook for June.


A diet book I co-wrote went to #3 on the New York Times bestseller list.


Lara Galloway, mom biz coach and fellow STSer, interviewed me for her blog talk radio show... and I didn't blow it!


Another blog talk radio show host contacted me, wanting an interview.


I wrote a guest blog for Twitip.com and not only got it accepted, but also got a message back asking me to submit additional posts.


I surpassed the 1000 mark for Twitter followers.


My husband's business started turning a profit again.


I finally faced my fear and wrote my book proposal.


I faced my fear again and let other people read and comment on the proposal.


The other people who read and commented got all excited about it and told me that it was "the bomb." (Okay, their exact words were not "the bomb." I'm paraphrasing). I allowed myself to know what was really true, which is that my book and the proposal about it are pretty dang good.


I believed in my dream again.


A few of my blog posts became, suddenly, very popular in the social bookmarking world. One ended up on the front page of Reddit.


I reached my site traffic goal of 20,000! In fact, I surpassed it. It's 43,667 to be precise.


My agent will be sending my book proposal out to editors in the next few weeks. I have a wishbone on my computer that Deena Burgess (STS member) had taped to a card she sent me for the holidays. My 4 year old has been asking and asking and asking to break the wishbone. I've been telling her, "Patience. Patience. Patience. When the time is right..."


The time is almost right. I plan to play wishbone tug of war the night before the book proposal goes out. I'll make a wish, cross my fingers, and I will, "Just believe."


I'll let you all know how it goes.

Alisa offers free marriage help and advice at at Project Happily Ever After. Her blogs are THE BOMB. Everyone agrees, even people who wouldn't be caught dead using such slang. So are her tweets. Follow her @alisabow.