When ice cream is the catalyst for change

Hiya WA-ers,

I've been doing some serious thinking about the past 14 months with WA, and where I am going, and have been in a very difficult place with this. The amount of knowledge I have under my belt is amazing -- even to me -- yet I have so much more to go. I am enjoying the whole process of the training and learning all the "under the hood" stuff, so that's not the issue.

The issue, and what sparked this "crisis" is that I had ice cream for dinner. A simple act, and rather innocuous, but it got me thinking about my blog, natureshealingstrategies.com. I write about living a plant-strong life, eating mostly plants, fruits, legumes, beans, and eliminating the consumption of animal products, including dairy. That is the way I choose to live my life, most of the time, sometimes better than others, and today was not a plant-strong day for me.

So I started thinking about the past year, and how I have only made $3.00 on Amazon, and I know the audience is out there, but I cannot find it, and they cannot find me. What is the end point? How far do I go before I have to let this go and head in a different direction?

"When the winds change, I have to adjust my sails" -- or something like that.

Maybe blogging about living a plant-strong life is just not going to be lucrative for me, and maybe I need to come to terms with that. I had talked many months ago about leveraging my graphic design and marketing background, and building a site here which would talk about the importance of web design and marketing, graphic design, and thinking that perhaps I could build revenue 3 ways: 1) through the affiliate links, 2) perhaps people would come to me and need a website designed, and 3) through promotion of WA.

Since I work full time, this effort would require me to step back from my first love, Nature's Healing Strategies, which would break my heart, as I have become emotionally involved in the process. I just don't have the time to do both, while continuing to learn from this platform and all there is to learn here.

I have been feeling very overwhelmed, and while my traffic has gone up lately, it is no where near where it needs to be, and still floundering at 100 visitors per week. Pretty pathetic! So do I wait, and for how long, to see if I can turn this around? OR do I admit that it's time to go in a different direction? I've lost a year, albeit in training and building the site, but it's gone, and am I willing to wait another year? Do I set a goal for myself? Can I start making serious money with this site?

I see that a lot of folks here are at this full time, which is great, but for me, if I spend my evening focusing on, for example, Pinterest marketing, then my evening is over, and I have to get to sleep to get up for work. That's just my reality. I have to consider what is the most expeditious thing for me to do, and in doing so, remain focused and determined.

I'm just not sure about Nature's Healing Strategies, and the thought of letting it go makes me feel very sad, but I have to choose the more lucrative direction. I know this was a long post, but if you've gotten this far, I thank you, and I look forward to your comments.

As always,

Amy