Today we’d like to introduce you to Nedda Grady.
Nedda, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started my blogging business a little over a year ago, in February of 2018. I remember browsing through my Instagram feed when I came across an ad about learning to blog for profit, and it instantly caught my attention. I immediately thought, “Hey! That definitely sounds like fun, and I know I’d be good at it, too.”
The next step on my journey of becoming a professional blogger was taking an online course, taught by Heather & Pete Reese (a couple based here in San Diego). All of their course materials were accessible via Teachable (an online course creation platform). Each day, I went through one different lesson and took detailed notes, just so I would have a guide to refer back to anytime I forgot something about what I learned in previous lessons. One month later, I knew everything I needed to know about opening my very own blogging business. The rest is history!
Overall, the courses were extremely easy to follow, and Heather & Pete did a great job outlining all the ins and outs of blogging for profit. I’m glad I saw that ad when I did because I always have had a passion for blogging and storytelling. Now, I finally get to put my writing skills to good use by using my website to reach out to others all over the world, with hopes of helping them live their best life!
Ever since I graduated from college, I held several jobs in the corporate world. Eventually, I realized that working in stuffy office cubicles and constantly being micro-managed from 9 to 5 on a daily basis just wasn’t for me anymore. I knew I had so much more to offer the world than that!
With that said, I decided to venture into the world of freelance writing back in 2011, and that was probably one of the best career decisions I’ve ever made (in addition to opening my own blogging business, of course). From creative ad copy to informative, research-based articles, I provide a wide variety of useful writing and editing services to my clients.
As I continue to develop my career as a professional blogger and freelance writer, I’m also trying to expand my reach on social media as an inspirational influencer. Currently, my strongest reach is on Instagram and Pinterest, since I spend the vast majority of my time working with those platforms. I also have a decent-sized presence on Facebook and Twitter as well.
So far, I’ve worked with several well-known brands as an affiliate marketer, including a few links to their products on my blog. This has been the primary source of revenue for me since opening my website, but I hope to diversify my sources of income in the future through other avenues as well, whether it be through sponsored posts, guest posts, ghostwriting, etc.
Regardless, I’m really proud of myself for how far I’ve come in such a short period of time! Moving forward, I plan on continuing to grow my brand on social media and start making pitches/proposals to work with some of my own favorite brands, too!
Has it been a smooth road?
The road to becoming a professional blogger and owning my own online business certainly had its ups and downs! As a creative, designing has never been my strongest skill, but luckily, I managed to find a few good apps and websites to make the process a bit easier for me along the way. I also remember having a hard time mastering the backend of WordPress, but luckily, Heather & Pete also developed an instructional course for that!
To this day, I still find myself learning new things about blogging and being an impactful influencer on social media. With the ever-changing algorithms on all the common platforms (especially Instagram!), it can be super difficult to stay up-to-date with all the latest trends and ensure that you’re putting out engaging, informative, and eye-catching content on a daily basis.
Honestly, people don’t realize how difficult it is to run an online business entirely on your own! There are so many moving parts to it, and you have to make sure that you stay on top of each and every one of them at all times or your success rates will slowly begin to plummet.
Lately, I’ve been so busy trying to juggle all the parts of my own business that I’ve only had enough time to produce one new piece of content for my website per month. Moving forward, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to improve upon this and go back to creating content more often, whether that be on a weekly basis or maybe even every other day!
If you’ve ever thought about becoming a professional blogger, I would strongly encourage you to do so! But at the same time, just realize that you will have to be willing to put in a TON of hard work, each and every day, in order to truly be successful. For me, this is something that I’m very passionate about, so it really doesn’t even feel like I’m working! Nevertheless, some days it can be a lot harder to get out of bed and motivate myself to start tackling my workload for the day.
My advice for any young women out there who are just starting out as a professional blogger is to invest in a daily planner! I can’t even begin to tell you how helpful this has been for me. I remember feeling extremely lost and overwhelmed by everything that needed to be done when I first opened up my website last year. And believe me, this was extremely discouraging! In fact, there were times where I just didn’t think I could handle all the pressure any longer or get everything done in order to keep my business running smoothly.
However, this all changed as soon as I got my planner. To this very day, I keep it open on my desk, right next to my MacBook, so I can easily stay on top of everything I need to get done – both on a daily and a weekly basis! I can even jot down all the events I have planned for months to come.
And when it comes to social media, I have found that investing in a scheduling platform has helped me tremendously! Personally, I use a tool called Tailwind, which allows me to schedule my posts for Instagram and Pinterest weeks ahead of time.
Overall, organization, dedication, persistence, and a lot of hard work have all helped me get to where I am today. As long as you apply these principles to every aspect of your business consistently, I’m confident that you too will be successful in all of your endeavors!
What do you do? What do you specialize in?
I’m a professional blogger and freelance writer. I have almost a decade of experience creating engaging, informative, and persuasive web copy for clients in a wide variety of industries and niches. As a professional blogger, I think what really sets me apart from other lifestyle bloggers out there is that I place a special emphasis on mental health awareness and advocacy. As someone who struggles with bipolar 1 disorder and generalized anxiety, I truly speak from the heart with all the advice, life lessons, and guidance I provide to my readers and followers on social media.
Since I started my blogging journey, I think I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve helped others feel less ashamed about living with a mental illness. In fact, I’ve had several friends come to me and thank me for being so candid with my posts, and also just being brave enough to share my own personal struggles living with mood disorders. I also noticed that two of these friends recently shared that they were dealing with anxiety and depression on Facebook, and I really was happy to see that my work had that much of an impact on their lives.
I think that someday, I’d love to be a life coach and continue inspiring others to live their best lives, just like I have! I feel like I’ve always been a great communicator and extremely empathetic, so I think this could be a great addition to the traditional services I already provide through my blog.
You can find a detailed list of the services I provide on my website: https://myintriguinginsights.com/work-with-me.
Which women have inspired you in your life?
Aside from Oprah Winfrey, I would definitely say that the woman who has inspired me the most in my life has been my mom. She has always taught me to be classy, strong, and wise beyond my years. She has supported me through thick and thin and has also shown to me what it truly means to love someone unconditionally.
I wouldn’t be the feisty, resilient, and empowered woman that I am today if it weren’t for her continued guidance throughout life. She was the only one who was there for me when I needed help the most, and she never hesitated to give me that tough love, too!
As the oldest of four sisters raised in Iran with a Colonel father, she taught me that giving up was simply never an option. She also made me realize that I never needed anyone else in order to truly feel whole as a person. I was special and more than good enough, just the way I was. My dress size, weight, or the shape of my thighs or tummy would never really matter or stop me from making a monumental impact on society.
Most importantly, I learned from my beautiful mother that beauty resonated from within and that having a beautiful soul always speaks volumes over a pretty exterior.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.myintriguinginsights.com
- Phone: (760) 305-2041
- Email: nedda@myintriguinginsights.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neds385
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyIntriguingInsights
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/neds385
- Other: https://neddagrady.contently.com
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