Carissa is the founder of Mom Needs Chocolate, a business devoted to helping women find the sweetness in the everyday crazy. As she explains in our conversation, she gets fired up about creating recipes and writing helpful content, but struggles with actually posting it. She also has a hard time staying motivated to do the tasks that don’t feel urgent right now, even when she knows they’ll pay off later.

After six years of blogging, Carissa has been feeling stuck since January. (Finding out that her site speed was awful and needing to tear apart her whole site to fix it didn’t help!) Quitting her job in March to focus on her blog was supposed to help her regain her enthusiasm, but instead it did the opposite. Besides getting her spark back, Carissa also needs help with strategic details like figuring out how to prioritize her to-do list and her time.

I’m all too familiar with Carissa’s experiences, and went through some pretty similar things in the terrifying period after my husband quit his job. And I’m delighted to be able to help Carissa today! We’ll focus on working through Carissa’s self-doubt and bringing back her zest for working on her blog.

Tune into today’s episode to hear more about all of these things, as well as how Carissa can make the same amount in less time in her work for other people, why she isn’t allowed to work on writing any new blog posts right now, and five powerful action steps that will help her tremendously (and may help you, too!).

Highlights

[00:49] – This episode comes to you from Elite Blog Academy, where you can learn to build a successful, profitable, and sustainable online business. Learn more at the free training for podcast listeners at this link!
[01:40] – Welcome back to the show! Ruth introduces EBA student Carissa Shaw and talks about both what Carrissa does (and loves!) and what she’s struggling with after six years of blogging.
[04:31] – What is Carissa doing now? What seems to be working for her?
[05:27] – After gushing about how much she enjoys creating great content for her avatar, Carissa digs into the points she’s struggling with.
[07:48] – For the past three or four weeks, Carissa has felt stuck and burned out in a big way.
[10:27] – Quitting your job and going all-in is a big deal, Ruth points out, and it’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed instead of excited by it.
[11:52] – Ruth explains that after her husband quit his job, she had a similar reaction of being terrified and feeling paralyzed. She digs into what helped her to move past those feelings.
[13:40] – Has Carissa been doing long-term planning and goal-setting?
[15:45] – We learn about why it’s important to take a step back, and why this time of year is the perfect time to think about big goals!
[16:21] – Where is Carissa’s revenue coming from right now?
[18:35] – Carissa is spending most of her time and energy on content creation these days, she explains.
[20:16] – Ruth explores Carissa’s Do It Scared Fear Assessment results and talks about how they relate to what Carissa has been discussing.
[23:04] – Right now, Carissa is spending too much of her time working for other people instead of on her own site. Does she want to continue doing virtual assistant work?
[25:23] – Carissa answers a simple question: why doesn’t she stop doing the work that makes her feel like she’s robbing herself? She also digs into how much she’s making every month from this work.
[26:40] – If Carissa isn’t ready to give up that income yet, she might need to work more hours every week.
[29:15] – Ruth spends some time talking about how variable different sources of traffic can be, from Pinterest to Google. She ties this into how important your email list is.
[31:02] – Why does email scare Carissa so much? Ruth responds to Carissa’s answer, and explains the role of an email list in a business.
[35:44] – Carissa is newly excited about email, she explains, and shares her new perspective.
[37:43] – One of Ruth’s concerns for Carissa is to make sure she’s not a bottom-feeder.
[40:51] – What does Carissa think about Ruth’s advice?
[43:40] – What would Carissa need to accomplish next year to make it incredibly professionally satisfying?
[45:51] – Ruth responds to Carissa’s goals, which are very attainable.
[48:42] – We hear another piece of advice about what Carissa really needs to be working on.
[51:56] – Is Carissa feeling re-energized about her work again?
[55:22] – Ruth points out that Carissa has been struggling with an issue that affects everyone from time to time. She then recaps the five biggest action steps that Carissa needs to take right now.
[60:48] – Do you have any questions about this episode, or have ideas for topics or guests? Reach out to Ruth on Instagram or by email at ruth@livingwellspendingless.com!