I had the privilege of interviewing, Laurie from Tip Junkie. I wanted her to be in the spotlight.. She does an amazing job at promoting women and their business. I wanted to see how and why she started her web sites.After our interview I must say.. I would love to have her live close by. I could see myself building a long friendship with her. She is full of life and I love that in a person.. Even though we live far apart on a map.. I will stay in touch and create a friendship with her regardless of how far we are..So here is our Interview in a nutshell Enjoy!
1.How many children do you have ,what ages are they? I have 3 boys: Davis (10), Dylan (8), and Drake (3). Yes, we had to try one more time for a girl. We got a Drake instead. Little Drake is on my lap as I’m typing this watching Ni Hao, Kai Lan.
2. Why did you start blogging? I had a website Executive Homemaker that I was having a hard time marketing and getting word-of-mouth promotion. I was at a girl’s night out and one of my friends had printed out a blog post and read it to all of us. It was fabulous! That week I signed up with Blogger for my personal blog. I found that as I was blog jogging all I wanted to do was blog about the amazing ideas I found. I felt like the world should know about them. One month later, I created Tip Junkie to do just that – give creative women a day in the spotlight by featuring their ideas and products.
3. What idea came to you, to create your sites? The sites now are actually a product of years of development and trying to fulfill the needs that I have along the way.
· Executive Homemaker was created because I hate reinventing the wheel. I realized that I had all of these really cool projects that have taken hours to make and felt that it was a shame that no one got to use them but me. On the flip side of that – it totally annoys me when I find a fabulous idea on the internet that someone created but there’s not a picture or file to download. Someone already took the time to create it – why should I have to duplicate it? Therefore, EH has over 300 files that I’ve made for my high functioning autistic son, birthday party games, and organizational worksheets. I’m still converting it over to a blog so I still have another 200 files to upload. Just like Tip Junkie, anyone can e-mail me their files and I’ll upload them and give them the credit they deserve.
· Tip Junkie was created to give women a day in the spotlight and feature creative ideas and Mom-prenuer products.
· The Tip Junkie Mom-preneur Shops were created because I have a huge passion for promoting women in business. Especially those women who make their own products but don’t know how to get the word out and market them. My mother is uber creative but couldn’t find a way (or venue) to sell her products. I wanted a directory where people could easily find these hidden handmade treasures and promote Mom-preneurs.
· The Executive Homemaker Mom Shops were created because the Tip Junkie Mom-prenuer shops got so full. I also found that Tip Junkie and Executive Homemaker have a different demographic and therefore the shops featured would be different. EH having its own set of Mom Shops would serve the women in business better and give another avenue for promotion.
· The Tip Junkie Giveaway Directory was created because so many bloggers were asking me to announce their giveaways. After a while, it was taking me 6 hours to do the giveaway post. I had back surgery in January and I just couldn’t keep it up any longer. However, I really wanted to help get the word out and help promote these women. Thus the TJ Giveaway Directory was born! It’s fully automated so you have full control over your giveaway announcement.
4.What is one of the most memorable accomplishment? Well, I haven’t had it yet. I’ll be speaking at SITScation in October in Vegas. I’m quite sure that will be very memorable. I can’t wait to meet other bloggers in real life.
5. How did you get involved with SITS and chic chic media? Again, this happened as a result of a need I had at the time. I had received two different e-mails from fellow bloggers who were going to start charging for sponsorships and wanted to know if I would like a free sponsorship to fill in their empty positions. Of course I said yes, and it got me thinking. I was planning on offering sponsor ads as well but not for about 6 more months. Therefore, it occurred to me that if we combined our stats and our efforts, we’ll sell more spots, give the sponsors great stats, and we won’t be competing with each other.
Cindy from Skip to My Lou and Kim from Today’s Creative Blog both signed on immediately. I felt like our stats still weren’t quite good enough (that sounds so silly considering what their stats are now) and we needed one more blog. The SITS girls were an obvious choice as they had a different demographic and have mad marketing skills.
Chic Chick Media has grown because the needs of our readers have grown. The main problem with sponsor advertising is that it’s too expensive for the mommy blogger with a small Etsy store. Therefore, we created the Visit Our Peeps widget that only costs $5.95 a month and it’s on over 300 blogs! It’s a text ad system to promote your blog/shop/site. You don’t even have to have a store, it’s a way to connect with other bloggers who share your same passions and get the word out on an entirely new demographic of women.
6. Do you have any regrets? Yes sometimes, when I’m on a girls night out and my friends are talking about the books they’ve been reading and the PTA meetings and volunteer things they’re doing; I get that little twinge of regret. I think I manage things pretty well, but these sites take up a lot of time. Sometimes, I feel like I should be using that time to volunteer or relax on my back porch reading a novel. I have brief moments of envy at the simplicity of my friend’s lives. They don’t have 150 e-mails a day waiting in their inbox. Although, I feel very blessed and have worked very hard to have the privilege of promoting women. It’s an honor.
7. What idea has someone presented to your site that you made yourself and loved? There are too many to list! I usually feature are the things I want to do at home. I’m naturally a total tip junkie so it fits my life perfectly.
· I love advents, so I’ve made a Halloween Advent and Summer Activity Advent (which I still haven’t blogged about)
· I completely blog-jacked this Indiana Jones Birthday party
· I organized my pantry with bins which I love and it still looks like that the system is so good
These are just to name a few.
8. One thing you wish you didn't put on your sites? I posted a picture of someone’s kiddo for a birthday party post and they were upset about it. They had every right to be and I felt terrible about it. Usually, I try to avoid pictures of kiddos all together (unless the author submitted it and gave me permission). However, I was in such a hurry and it was very late when I was doing my post. It was careless and irresponsible of me. I regret that for sure.
9. What advice could you give for women just starting to blog? Don’t compare yourself to other bloggers. You are completely unique and most definitely have something to add to this fabulous world of blogging. Blog about your passions and be consistent in posting. Develop honest and natural friendships with other bloggers. If your blog is about your life – be real and post about the ups and downs. It has been my experience that bloggers are the most unjudgemental and compassionate people. They’ll connect with you more if you’re not only blogging about the fabulous things in life.
10. What blogger do you admire? Hmm? There are so many! I still have my favorites that I fell in love with when I first started blogging 2 years ago like: Kelly and Mique and Marie and Kristy. There are my Chic Chick’s who are ultra fabulous: Cindy, Kim, Tiffany & Heather. Then there are the big timers like Design Mom, Jenn from Hostess with the Mostess. Social Media Guru’s like Alli and Jyl, Carissa and Amy. Again, I could go on and on.
11. What inspires you? . I love to create so, unique, cool, and easy projects. What keeps me driven? Promoting women who don’t know how (or are too uncomfortable) to market themselves.
12. What do you enjoy doing for yourself? I love to watch movies, snuggle with my man, complete a project, organize my home, play a game with my boys, and spend a day at the lake.
Heather, thank you so much for the interview. It was an honor to be asked! It’s always motivating to sit down and really put your thoughts and reasons for your passions in writing. It has rejuvenated my blogging passion and reminded me of why I love it so much. Hugs! Laurie
Don't you just love her.. Hugs back to you Laurie.. Thank You!
Great interview!
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