Episode 572: How a New Food Blogger Can See Strong Results in the First 10 Days (+ Keeping Your Head in the Game Amidst High-Performing Competition) with Dee Rotman

EBT572 – Dee Rotman

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported.

Megan Porta  00:37

Talk about an inspiring interview Dee Rotman from Dee Sweets joins me in this interview, to talk about how she grew her food blog really fast. She started it in April of 2024. It is currently beginning of June 2024. And she has made a lot of progress in that time. Her strategy might not be what you think it is to she started with a heavy presence on social media, specifically Instagram, she really worked to establish that following and then launched her blog, and it has worked out really well for her. She also talks about her plans to grow as she goes forward into this new blogging venture, and how to just keep all of the balls spinning in the air in a sustainable way. We also talk about mindset in this episode, because that is a huge component for just keeping up with everything. As I talk about on this podcast all the time. It’s truly a vital piece of this whole food blogging puzzle. I think you will be really inspired by this episode, whether you’ve just started a blog, or maybe you’re thinking about starting a blog. Or maybe you’re just like two years or three years into starting your blog. It’s still going to be very inspiring, so give it a listen. It’s episode number 572. Sponsored by RankIQ. 

Sponsor  00:40

Food bloggers, have you experienced traffic loss after the recent Google updates. Are you feeling confused about how to move forward? I get it. I have been a food blogger for nearly 14 years. And I’ve been through the wringer with industry changes and business changes. You name it, I have been there. When I look back over my tough times. The thing that pulled me out of slumps and traffic loss and disappointment was always people. We need each other right now more than ever. You are in this food blogging game for the long haul I know you are. And that means you need to find people to collaborate with to connect with and to learn from. Eat Blog Talk has two great options for you coming up. The 2025 Eat Blog Talk mastermind groups and in person retreats. We are now taking applications for the 2025 mastermind groups. This year we’re splitting the group’s in two. It’ll be intermediate and advanced and beginner. We also lower the price to accommodate traffic and revenue dips a lot of us are experiencing apply now as the first four people let into the group will receive 20% off the whole year. Go to eatblogtalk.com/mastermind to apply today. And there are still a few spots remaining for the 2020 for Fall Retreat, which is also discounted this year due to revenue loss for so many. Join us in October in Minnesota. It is my favorite time of year here in Minnesota for three incredible days filled with laughter, great food, tons of learning and connecting and honestly, they’re just so much fun. You will not regret attending this retreat, head over to eatblogtalk.com/retreat to apply for that today. I hope to see you in one or both of those spots. I can’t wait for the next 12 months and to see all of your businesses explode. And trust me having those people in your corner is going to help. 

Megan Porta  00:40

Deeckla (Dee) Rotman founded Dee & Sweets in December 2022, sharing baking recipes and tips with time-sensitive home bakers on social media. Having created over a hundred dessert recipes, Dee launched her blog in April 2024 and is already seeing strong growth. Dee became an entrepreneur after having been a marketing leader in the corporate world for most of her career. Hello, Dee welcome it to the podcast. How are you doing today?

Dee Rotman  04:18

Hello. I’m great. I’m so happy to be here.

Megan Porta  04:23

Yay. I always love having listeners turn into guests. So, so happy to have that transformation and you happy to have you as a guest.

Dee Rotman  04:31

Thank you.

Megan Porta  04:32

We’re gonna talk about how a relatively new creator can launch a new food blog and get really awesome results quickly. And then we’ll talk a little bit about mindset too, and how that plays a role. But first, do you have a fun fact to share with us?

Dee Rotman  04:48

I do. So it’s kind of a totally random story. But when I was in my teens, I was shopping at a grocery store in a small town and this complete strange man walked up to me and asked me to marry him.

Megan Porta  05:04

You’re joking?

Dee Rotman  05:06

I’m not joking. And I was so thrown off. And I was like a teenager that I just looked at him and I started giggling on the spot. I don’t even know what kind of a mood he was in to do it. I don’t know what happened in his life that day, but it was hilarious. And I never even gave him an answer. I just giggled my way out of the situation.

Megan Porta  05:26

Oh, my goodness. Wow. In something you’ve remembered all these years later? 

Dee Rotman  05:31

Yeah, it’s just so funny. 

Megan Porta  05:33

Yeah. So funny. Yeah. Don’t you wonder, like what prompted him to do that possibly have been going on in his life. And he probably remembers it still, too.

Dee Rotman  05:44

It’s just so funny.

Megan Porta  05:45

I love it. That is such a great story. Okay, so I’d love to hear about your blog, because I think this will lead really nicely into our topic today. So yeah, just tell us about your blog, what it’s called when you started. Anything else you want to share?

Dee Rotman  05:59

Yeah, sure. So I launched Dee and sweets, or DeeSweets.com actually, almost two months ago, I was April 11th, I think that I launched it. So brand new blog, totally in the thick of things. And I did not do it blindly. Though, this isn’t I’m not completely new to, you know, marketing or anything like that. I’ve actually been in the industry for a really long time and not been a food blogger. But I’ve been posting on Instagram for about a year and a half now. So I’ve been kind of, you know, building up the recipes over a year and a half and figuring out what people are liking. Also, I’m not a photographer. So took me some time to kind of figure out how through videography to really get the right images that can live on a blog. And so really, for a year and a half, even though I didn’t have a blog, I worked really hard on getting everything together, you know, whether I knew it or not that I was doing it so that when I did launch the blog, I actually had some content to start with. Which was really, really helpful. 

Megan Porta  06:30

So kind of establishing that base for the skills that you need to

Dee Rotman  07:08

grow a blog. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Megan Porta  07:12

So you launched only in April of 2024. It is barely June. And you’ve seen success. So I want to hear how this happened.

Dee Rotman  07:21

Yeah, so I am like, beyond thankful. And I will say, as somebody who’s launching, this is my second business. And when the first business that I launched, after I left the corporate world, which was like my world, and my entire career, and I launched this other business, it was a men’s skincare business. And it was so incredibly difficult to get anybody on the website, because I thought, you know, it kind of, especially like, hurt my ego, because I came out of the corporate world, and I was in marketing leadership roles. And I’d worked for such great companies. And I was like, I’ve got this down, I’m going to launch this website, I’m going to have partners, it’s gonna be great. So I had everything, a beautiful brand and a website, but I didn’t have the audience. And so when I had launched, it was so painful to try to get anybody on the site. I was lucky if I got like 25 people on the site, like literally lucky and thankful. So this time, I went through it backwards. And I started to build the audience, as I said, on like social media first, and then launch the blog. And that made all the difference, because people were already like familiar with Dee and Sweets suites. And I don’t mind you, I don’t have a giant following by any means I currently like today, I’m really close to like 35,000 followers on Instagram. So I’m not huge, but my reach is really good. Because I have been doing this for a year and a half. And I do come into it with I think all that corporate experience that I had, plus the failure in the first business is what really set me up for success so that when I did launch this blog, I wasn’t going into it blindly. You know, like there were things that were kind of on my back and backing me up. And that made a really big difference. And just in the first few days, like I was blown away to have seen that I had 1000s of people on the site, even in the first 10 days. And now that we’re almost at two months, we’re still a week away, but I just had like my first milestone that I really wanted to hit. And I’m not ready for like, MediaVine or anything like that yet, but I did hit a really big milestone just yesterday, and I’m so so excited and thankful. Yes.

Megan Porta  09:37

Wow, this is amazing. I love how you have worked backwards too I hear so many people who start businesses or blogs or whatever, and they just like put it out there and just cross their fingers and hope that it’s gonna work like what you did with your first one. But you really put some thought into this, which is so cool. So you started on Instagram. December of 2022, correct? And you just established a really good following. You mentioned 35k was nothing. I think that’s all a huge following. That’s amazing. 

Dee Rotman  10:07

Thanks. Thank you. It’s hard to think that when you see people who have hundreds of 1000s, if not millions of followers, and you feel very humbled by it.

Megan Porta  10:18

But most people don’t, that’s not the norm. Most people have 10k Around, they’re less, you know, or less. So you’re doing great. And you really think that doing the social media first is what is helping your blog take off?

Dee Rotman 10:34

100%, because I would have never seen this many people come to my site so fast. It really helps if videos go viral. But even just the normal videos, the day to day ones, people will show up because they like what they’re seeing, and they want to come to the website. And it’s because I have this following and this reach on social that people can find me. Otherwise, if I just relied on Google, I would have only had a few 100 on the site at this, if any, you know, at this point, like really, it would have been so difficult. And I think that a lot of people can get away with that. And they can do it. And they can build themselves up through Google and all the credit to them. But I don’t come from an SEO background or anything like that. So I knew that for me, it had to be a different way.

Megan Porta  11:24

So how do you get people to click from Instagram to your site?

Dee Rotman  11:28

Yeah. So I don’t know if you’ve heard that there are a couple of apps like LinkDM is the one that I use, it has been such a godsend because you’re able to say, this little blurb in your caption about this awesome recipe, and then you say, comment ‘recipe’, and I will send it to you. And LinkDM will then take the you know, whatever the key word is, if the if the the key word is recipe, then if anybody says that, then they’ll send them a message directly on Instagram, and then people will click through that. And the click through on these is amazing. Having come from a marketing background, seeing such a high click through rate is insane. Like normally, you know, and in my corporate background, having worked for companies like Microsoft, Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer, you kind of get used to if you send out an email, you know, you might get a small click through rate like sometimes when you have even millions in your database, and you’re sending emails, you can expect to see a 3% click through on a normal email or 6% or something like a super low when you’re you’re at a really big audience. But this is so personalized, that at this point, I’m seeing like a 35%, click through rate through that. But also, I think just because like people are showing so much interest in their commenting recipe over and over again, then that helps with the Instagram algorithm too, because it looks like more engagement. And so my my reach is bigger because of the bit too.

Megan Porta  13:00

Right. Yeah, that makes sense. So LinkDM is similar to Manychat, correct?

Dee Rotman  13:05

Yes, exactly. Yeah. You can do either one. Okay, I’ve heard great things.

Megan Porta  13:09

Awesome. So that is a great strategy. Anything else you do on Instagram that you feel like helps get you traction?

Dee Rotman  13:17

Yeah. So as I said, like, for me, there was no like giant spike, or like I did not, you know, get to 100,000 overnight, like some people do. For me, it’s been really slow and steady growth. And when I look back on it, actually really thankful that it happened that way. Because I could really kind of get better at my craft. And like I said earlier, I’m not a photographer. So if you would have asked me a few years ago, if I would ever have a food blog that had photography on it for food, I would have been like, no way. 

Dee Rotman  13:48

But I think because, you know, I got to really work on the videography. And I have been lucky because I have a bit more time on my hands doing this full time. Whereas for a lot of people, it’s a side gig. So I’ve been able to really like put everything into trying to get these videos to be the most appealing and beautiful as possible. And if you scroll back to my very first videos on Instagram, you will see that although I thought that they were amazing at the time, they truly were not. Yeah, so I’ve come a long way. And I do think that putting in the hard work, like the things that I will see even three months from now and putting out more content. I will look back and be like, Oh my gosh, I could have done this, this or that. But you just don’t see it until you go through the experience and spend all the time doing it. 

Megan Porta  13:48

Funn., 

Megan Porta  14:41

Right. Oh, gosh, that’s such a good lesson, isn’t it? Yeah, you just can’t see it from that vantage point. You just have to trust that you keep moving forward. And eventually it’ll become clearer. I think that is like the hugest lesson and food blogging honestly. So cool. I love your journey so far. Okay, so going forward, you’re going to, I assume, continue to try to grow the blog, right, and traffic and all of that and get into an ad network. What is your plan for doing that?

Dee Rotman  15:08

Yes. So because I don’t have an SEO background, I’ve actually hired help. And I hired this lady who’s going to be helping me part time with a few things. So one getting really smart. So as I said, I’ve been building recipes for like a year and a half now. And only some of them are likely to do well on Google. So I had her comb through all of the recipes that I built so far, and prioritize which ones we really want to go after in terms of really optimizing those ones, putting them on the side, developing SEO focused blog posts. So that’s one, and then the other bucket is looking forward. So when I create new recipes, what are the keywords that we want to target? And because I’m still going to continue to be social first, a lot of the recipes I’m going to do based on what I see on social, but I’m going to complement that and reserve a bucket of recipes that I’m going to create, based on what she tells me is going to perform strongly. Okay, yes. And then she’s going to help me to really build out a lot of that content and the keywords. And then, you know, obviously, I will review everything and make sure that it’s you know, things that I want to say on my site that makes sense to my brand. And then we’ll put those on the site. And I think that with an SEO strategy, as you know, it’s not an overnight thing. And I fully expect that. But I think that over time, we will be able to really build that up and get more traffic onto the site. With that.

Megan Porta  16:39

That sounds like a good plan. And then I assume you’ll continue on with Instagram. Are you looking into any other platforms?

Megan Porta  16:47

Yeah, totally. I think that’s a good perspective. 

Dee Rotman  16:47

Yes. So although I started on Instagram, a few months later, I started dabbling in other platforms. So I am on YouTube shorts, and I only have one long form video on YouTube. So it’s not really a strategy at this point. Tiktok. And then I’m on Threads, which actually found to be really delightful. I don’t know, I don’t think it really helps like, drive business yet. But it’s kind of a really like, happy platform that I just truly enjoy. So I’m on there, and then I will have a strategy around Pinterest that I am developing now. That’s coming soon. So it’s kind of like, I feel like it’s kind of like building a house. And Instagram was like my foundation. And now we’re like building the framing of like everything else that’s gonna go around it. And these are like all the pillars that are gonna be coming in and we’re gonna fill them in over time. So it’s really like a patience game, I feel like. 

Sponsor  16:51

Hello, food bloggers. Let’s take a quick break to chat, SEO and keyword research tools. We are now into the summer of 2024. And things are a bit tumultuous in the land of Google search and SEO Am I right? Because of this, I have heard rumblings about people not using keyword research tools anymore. I think if you’re doing this as a way to step back from the pressure, it’s awesome. But if you’re doing it because you don’t think they work anymore, or that SEO is dead. Let me try to convince you to keep using my favorite tool RankIQ. If there is any keyword research tool to use right now, I think it’s RankIQ food bloggers are finding now more than ever that we need to write based on keywords we can rank for. And RankIQ is your tool for finding those low competition, High search volume keywords that will help you rank people are still doing Google searches for recipes. And Google is still serving up food blogs and recipe searches. Don’t forget this, Q3 and Q4 are right around the corner. So stay on top of that low competition content that you can create and get ranked four, head to rankiq.com. Today to get started. Now back to the episode. 

Megan Porta  19:01

And then Pinterest is huge for food bloggers. I think prioritizing that in your strategy when you’re building your house will be important as well.

Dee Rotman  19:08

Yes. And I am all about realizing that there’s only so much that I can do in a day. And I’m also really ambitious and impatient. I know myself well. I think for me that the real help isn’t in getting other people who are really skilled at these things to come and help me. And so I’m actually in talks with the web developer who created my site for me, who is going to help me to basically build the Pinterest strategy and help me to prioritize that sooner than later.

Megan Porta  19:39

Yeah, that’s smart. I mean, you’re putting all the work in and the energy, you might as well just create a well rounded, built or building thinking house, but business too? But yeah, I think it’s smart to think about all of those different ways to get yourself traffic. Are you thinking of other things too, outside of traffic, so maybe like you brand partnerships, things like that?

Dee Rotman  20:02

Yes. So the brand partnerships that I do now and have been doing in the last few months on Instagram are really what’s fueling the business. So I’ve been lucky to work with a few different brands who have just been so awesome to work with. And basically, I, you know, will show off their products or bring them in as a key ingredient into a recipe and show that in a reel and a story set, and it helps them but it tremendously helps me to fuel my business and pay for all the help that I have gotten. And so I’ll be honest, I’m not like taking any money home, but it is saving my sanity. And it’s it’s really, really helpful because I can do so much with it.

Megan Porta  20:48

Yeah, right. And then what else are you looking into diversifying into eventually?

Dee Rotman  20:52

Yeah, so the other thing that I’m building out right now is a new affiliate program. And I got so lucky and somebody that who had worked with me when I was at Eddie Bauer, a while back, and I’d hired her when I was at Eddie Bauer. She has been kind of following the blog and spending time, like just trying different recipes on Instagram and letting them know how that goes. We’ve stayed in touch over time. And at some point, I mentioned that I’m looking for help. And she seemed kind of open to the idea when I casually said, God, I wish I could have hired you to come and help me. And she was like, well, maybe I could help you. I mean, it was like such an awesome, beautiful surprise. And something that I feel like I’m so lucky to have, even if I only have a few hours overtime a week, she’s helping me to build out a new affiliate program that I can then bring onto the website and also share on my social channels. But she’s also helping me with a lot of things on the site, too, that I don’t necessarily have time to do. And so she’s just like an all around amazing person who can do so much. So that’s why I feel I’m so incredibly lucky to have her. Yeah, yeah.

Megan Porta  22:03

That’s great when you run into those people who are unexpected, but just such blessings in your business and life, right. So cool. Anything else you’re thinking through when it comes to just building kind of the rest of your house as you put it together?

Dee Rotman  22:18

Yeah, you know, there’s something that I think could be really encouraging to other people listening because as I said, I’m not a photographer. And I’ve never been trained as a photographer. But the way that I get my content and my images is kind of a way to do things in a roundabout way, that’s not normal. So I wanted to share it here just in case it might be inspiring for somebody else. So I have gotten, as I said, pretty good at videography. And my photographs are actually screenshots of the videos that I produce, because I edit coloring and everything in my videos already. And so I will literally snap a screenshot of like the right movement at the right point. And I’ll bring those onto the blog. And I’m sure that years from now I’m going to look back and be like, Oh my God, those look so bad for right now. They’re, they’re fine. And they’re working. And people seem to be liking the more casual photos that are more action oriented anyway. And so I just wanted to put it out there to encourage other people who may not have been trained in photography, but still want to start a blog, there are other ways to get your content out there that are not traditional.

Megan Porta  23:32

I really glad you pointed that out. Because they’re not just with photography, but in other areas of our businesses, there are ways to kind of shortcut the system that don’t really matter that much, right? Like, nobody’s going to notice that probably, and they might even like it more, so why you might as well try it, and to see how it’s taken. 

Dee Rotman  23:53

Yes, exactly. 

Megan Porta  23:54

Yeah. Oh gosh, I’m so inspired by all the success you’ve seen and the way you’ve just structured this and the way you’re thinking forward to how to keep building that house of yours and your business. How much does mindset play a role? Because I imagine it does play a big role, but I’ll let you answer that.

Dee Rotman  24:13

Yeah, it’s huge. I mean, you know, like us, bloggers, content creators, we spend so much time like, it is so incredibly time consuming. And it’s also really difficult being new in the game because even though I’ve been on like Instagram for a year and a half, I still consider myself very new in comparison to people been doing this for like 10 years, right or even more. And so it’s really quite, it’s difficult. I think it’s difficult because it’s really easy to burn out. And then it’s also really difficult on your mindset because you’re constantly looking at other people’s reels who are like 250,000 or they say things like I have 3 million people on my blog every month and you’re like, Oh, well yeah, shoot, you know. Not there! They’re not gonna be there anytime soon. But I think the key is in figuring out where you’re going to spend your energy and how to properly delegate and give away some things. So I think one thing that’s really kept me sane, is realizing that I don’t have to do this alone. And so taking all the money that I made from brand partnerships, putting that into hiring the web developer to help me launch, the lovely lady from Eddie Bauer that I worked with, who’s helping me a ton, the SEO Help. And even though everybody’s only very part time, because the business cannot afford much more than that, being strategic about how that time is spent, and who you’re paying. So like, don’t go with a giant agency and spend 1000s of dollars on something that you can spend hundreds of dollars with a freelancer who’s just as experienced and really good, right? So like finding the right people. And spending your money really wisely in the beginning, I think is really, really key. So that like, if I had to do all this by myself, I would have totally, like burned to a crisp by this point. Yeah. So I think that’s helped a ton. 

Megan Porta  26:07

Yes, I think that that’s one of the big hang ups, when people get started. It’s not obvious upfront how much work goes into it, and how many things you have to juggle at one time. So I love your mindset of just like, Okay, I’m open to finding people who can help me and fill the gaps that I am not going to fill. Because we have how many hats to wear, like

Dee Rotman  26:30

So many.

Megan Porta  26:32

There’s so many.

Dee Rotman  26:34

yeah, and even with the help, it’s still hard to stay afloat, like, there’s still so much to do, because I still create the recipes, and I shoot the content, and I edit my posts. So a lot of that could honestly be a very full full time job. And so even when you hire like take into account that you’re going to have to review the things that these people are helping you create, and you’re going to have to be there to handhold and provide direction and things like that. So carve out some time for that, too know that that’s going to continue to be a part of it. And it’s not just like, I’m gonna give you this and leave kind of a thing there. They’re here to help you. But you still have to stay in the game with

Megan Porta  27:14

them. Yeah, one of the things that was a huge game changer for me recently was hiring a writer. That’s something I hadn’t done until this year, it was maybe toward the end of 23, actually, but I don’t know why I just thought there’s nobody out there who can write in my voice. And once I got over that fear of just like letting somebody in to that part of my business, it opened up so much room for so many things. So that for me, it was a game changer for you photography. It might be like just getting a kind of an all around good VA or someone who can just do little things in your business, right? Or back end stuff. I mean, there are so many different things you could experiment with to start. 

Dee Rotman  27:57

Yes, exactly. Yeah. So many options.

Megan Porta  28:01

And then I imagine you’re the type of person to just find resources to learn and read. Do you read books and listen to podcasts? And all that stuff when you’re growing. 

Dee Rotman  28:17

So yeah, so I think podcasts like yours are extremely helpful, and has been something that really helped to push me to launch my website, because, gosh, I was like dying to launch that website from like three months into starting on Instagram. And I just could not like push myself to do it by myself. And so I think that being a listener of podcasts like this gives you a different perspective on how other people have done it. And so that’s been hugely helpful and, and encouraging. It feels like you’ve got other people who are in the game and have figured out figured it out and are willing to share tips widely. And I think that that’s so helpful. And the other thing that’s been really helpful to me as I’ve just been trying to find, like very encouraging videos to uplift me whether it’s like on Instagram or on Tik Tok, because that’s where I spend a lot of the time. And I recently heard this lady explained things so beautifully. And I thought that it might be helpful to the listeners here too, is she’s she compared our growth for whatever it is that we’re aiming to do between different kinds of plants. And she, you know, and compared to different plans, I’ll bring up an example of a palm tree versus a parsley bush, and the way that they would grow so when you first plant that seed, the palm tree is not going to grow in the same way as the parsley bush. And they’re going to have very different ways like one of them’s going to go a bit wider. The other one is going to have years to grow and become extremely tall and makes such a big, you know, impact and is going to be seen so widely, whereas the person we’re just going to act very differently and may grow a lot more quickly in the beginning. And so I’m not really a plant expert by any means. But it really resonated with me, because it really helps me to understand that, although I’m not one of those people who had gotten 100,000 followers in the first, you know, year or whatever, because I do see that a lot of other creators do, I know that I have gone through this entire journey, having worked in the corporate world, and starting out with this first business that had failed and then being in this position now, because this growth is all going to accumulate and become something very different than what other creators are going to see in their worlds and their path is so different than mine. And I think that that was just so helpful, because like, imagine that seed for the palm tree would have never imagined how tall it could get over time, right, or how it’s going to get there. But I do think that that helps to really ground things and just understand that people grow in different ways, and everybody’s journey is a little bit different. And that’s okay, because you’re a different person.

Megan Porta  31:10

That was so beautiful. I love the plant analogy. That’s something that a lot of food bloggers can relate to, because it’s like, growing and growing something in your garden, whether it’s plant or fruit or vegetables, we all know that every vegetable, every seed has a unique story. So I love that you brought that to the table. It’s such a beautiful way to just think of ourselves as unique creators, right?

Dee Rotman  31:35

Yes, totally. I agree. 

Megan Porta  31:38

Okay, is there anything D that we have not touched on about your journey that you think would be helpful for food bloggers to hear? If they are starting a new venture? Anything at all?

Dee Rotman  31:49

I think the other thing is, you know, a lot of people can get demotivated by seeing others have so much like such larger success. And I think you should try to refocus that energy into something that is more helpful to you, instead of being like, Oh, I’m comparing and it’s so difficult. And where am I? And where are they? Instead, turn that energy admiration, and focus that into how can I best learn from this person. And I do that by analyzing the content and the creators that I love the most. So if it’s another food blogger out there, who I just love the look of her blog, or if there’s another creator on Instagram, I just love the video. And I think that they look so delicious, then to me, I go back and I truly analyze like, what is it that made me? So like, liked this video so much? Why did I watch it a second time? Why does this blog look so good? Like, what is it about it, and I truly will spend a lot of time just analyzing. And I think that that will help a lot. And it helps to refocus my energy so that I can make it more actionable versus staying in a very negative place of comparison. 

Megan Porta  33:01

Wow, you have such amazing inspiring words to share. Thank you for all of them. But a great conversation for anyone starting or maybe somebody has started. And they just want a little bit of extra boost to their traffic or traction all around. So thank you Dee for all of this. Do you have either a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with?

Dee Rotman  33:24

I think the one of the most important things that I learned especially when I first launched my first business is being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Because we all know that starting a business or owning a business, right? A lot of people have been in this for a long time. You don’t always know what’s exactly in front of you. And you can feel fear, you can feel anxious, you can feel impatient. But I think what really helps to ground yourself back is to say I am comfortable with being uncomfortable. These feelings, they are a part of me, but they are not all of me and I’m greater than these feelings. And when I say that to myself, it just helps me to like have my back a little bit straighter. And just remember that I have space in me for so much more than that. Right there’s, I have hope I have dreams I have courage and it’s so much more than just the fears and anxiety and the discomfort of not knowing what’s going to happen in like six months or five years.

Megan Porta  34:31

Ah more beautiful words to end with. Thank you so much for that share. We will put together a show notes page for you Dee if you want to go peek at those head to eatblogtalk.com/deesweets. Tell everyone where they can find you.

Dee Rotman  34:45

Yeah, you can find my blog on deesweets.com. Or you can find me on Instagram d_and_sweets or just google me you’ll find me

Megan Porta  34:55

Awesome everyone go check it out on all of her platforms. Thanks again d for being here and thank you for listening food bloggers. I will see you next time. 

Outro  35:06

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk if you are craving accountability, focus and connection at a low monthly cost. Join the Eat Blog Talk accountability group at eat blog talk.com forward slash focus. I will see you next time.