Episode 452: Improve the Quality and Quantity of Your Work AND Feel Better by Changing Your Perspective with Megan Johnson

EBT452 – Megan Johnson

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 blogs’ growth and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal or professional. 

I’m Megan Porta, and I’ve been a food blogger for over 13 years, I understand how isolating food blogging can be at times. 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  00:38

I feel so motivated and inspired after this conversation with Megan Johnson from Megan vs Kitchen. She brought a very important topic to the table that I believe is so underrated, so underutilized. And that is just changing your perspective and changing your mindset in order to grow your business. We all focus on the things like what is your SEO strategy? What email opt in are you using? How are you getting traffic, which these things are all super important, but we often forget that there’s this underlying really important thing called mindset that really needs to be worked on all the time, in order to stay joyful in order to stay productive in order to stay happy. In order to continue just being a productive entrepreneur who produces quality content and who achieves goals while simultaneously remaining a happy human being. I could have talked to Megan forever. This was such a great and important conversation. And I really hope that you all listen through to the end of this episode because it’s so important and so valuable. This is episode number 452. And it is sponsored by RankIQ. 

Sponsor  01:57

As you all know, there is no college degree in food blogging, the Eat Blog Talk mastermind can provide you with all of that education, you will need to succeed and thrive. If you’re looking for answers to all of your questions in a prompt manner, instead of making mistakes for years and having to do cleanup retro-actively and doing so much waiting for answers that you need in your business, the 2024 Eat Blog Talk mastermind group might be the perfect fit for you. Get 25% off now through October 31. So don’t wait head to eatblogtalk.com/mastermind to apply today. Here is a quick audio clip from Marin from, eatingworks.com to tell you some real results she had from experiencing the mastermind group: “So basically, I started with about 5000 sessions, and when I left the group, I was at about 55,000. And now I’m to 78,000 sessions. And the growth is like 20% month over a month. So what’s nice is that it compounds so each month that the blog is alive, it grows that much more. So I’m still seeing all that growth.” 

Megan Porta  03:09

Megan Johnson took a big leap in 2021 and quit her job to become a full time food blogger. She was super optimistic and excited. But then in her first year she failed. Megan realized she had the wrong strategy. And on top of that, when she didn’t see success, she took that very personally. She has made it a priority in 2023 to fix her mindset and start pushing the limits for success with her food blog. Hello, Megan, thank you for being on Eat Blog Talk. I’m so excited to chat with you today. 

Megan Johnson  03:40

Thanks. Thanks for having me. 

Megan Porta  03:41

Yeah, I love the topic we’re going to talk about today. I’m so grateful that you brought this topic to the table. But first we want to know if you have a fun fact to share with us. 

Megan Johnson  03:52

Yeah, so I’m getting married in a month. And yeah, it’s exciting. So we’re gonna have it in upstate New York in the mountains. The wedding’s gonna be near a waterfall. I’m really excited.

Megan Porta  04:04

Oh, that sounds lovely. Are you having a big wedding? Lots of guests or is it more intimate? 

Megan Johnson  04:09

No, it’s so it’s just our immediate family which my sister had a wedding like that a few years ago. And it was such a fun time. It was just like a big family vacation. I absolutely love that. So trying to recreate that with my wedding and see what happens. 

Megan Porta  04:21

That sounds amazing. I love that kind of no pressure, like quote, big event like a wedding. Because it takes a load off of not just the bride and groom but all of your guests. It just feels lighter and more fun, right? So I love that you guys are doing that. And congratulations. That’s super exciting. I hope everything goes great for you guys and weather and all that fun stuff falls into place. Okay, well Megan, you brought this amazing topic to the table which is just making little perspective tweaks in your brain like in your mind and the way you see the world and you know the way you see your business can make make such a huge difference in impact your success and impact. So many things. And this is we kind of talked about this before we record it like, this is something that is so overlooked, we get so focused on, like, what SEO strategy are you using? And what’s your email strategy and all of that, where we sometimes forget to take a step back and just look at? What’s our perspective on our life on our work, and every day, right? So I can’t wait to talk about this with you. First, would you give us a little bit of a rundown on your blog when you started what it’s about? And then we can take it from there? 

Megan Johnson  05:40

Yeah. So I started my blog back in 2017, I had just graduated college started living on my own. And I did not know how to cook at all, I don’t know how I fed myself in college. But I quickly discovered food blogs found out that you can make a full-time income, this could be your full-time job. And I thought that was awesome. So I pretty much started a food blog right away. But I had zero skill set, I did not know what I was doing. So I treated it more as a hobby for the first few years. Then in 2020, I wasn’t really happy with my job or my career path. And I was like, You know what, I really love food blogging. So let’s take this a little more seriously. See what happens. A year later. I can’t I just, I just again, was not happy with my career path. So I was like, “Well, I can either go to grad school, get my master’s degree, try a completely different job. Or I can become a full-time food blogger, you know, jump feet first do this with all of my effort. And hopefully, in a year, I can make somewhat of a full-time income or close to it. Because you always hear other people are able to do it. So you’re like, why can I? 

Megan Porta  06:47

Yeah, they can do it, so I can too, right? 

Megan Johnson  06:50

Yeah, yeah. So that’s what I did. 

Megan Porta  06:54

And how did it go at first? 

Megan Johnson  06:56

Yeah, it went really bad. Megan, oh, this is not a good story.

Megan Porta  07:02

You know what, though? That’s okay. That’s real. And I think that that happens for a lot of people. They think that it’s just going to be magically like, oh, my gosh, the money is raining down on me. But it’s not always like that. So tell us some details.

Megan Johnson  07:14

Basically, my strategy was so wrong. My strategy was a strategy from you know, 2017, where you just post whatever, you hope that Pinterest helps you grow traffic. And it just did not work for me. So in 2022, I found out about keyword researching, and how important SEO was. Anyone out there who thinks you like you can put that off, just trust me, you need to figure out how to do keyword research and SEO, it’s so important. So I worked on 2022 to work through that saw some growth. By the end of 2022, I felt like, you know, I have the right plan. I know like this will take my blog to the level I want it to. But because of those two years of just me not feeling like I was being successful, kind of getting embarrassed, because I told everyone, “Oh, I’m gonna quit my job to become a full-time food blogger.” And it just was not the level that I thought it would be. I was embarrassed, I felt like a failure, my confidence was just so down. So I think this is true for everyone. When you don’t, when you’re not confident yourself and your abilities, you don’t want to try like you don’t want to put in the effort. You your quality of work just isn’t great. And you’re not willing to try new things or really put yourself out there. So that’s where my state of mind was at the end of 2022. I basically felt like I had the right roadmap. But I was holding myself back.

Megan Porta  08:37

So you felt like you had a good roadmap as far as your blog and what you needed to do there, finally, but your mindset was kind of like it needed some work.

Megan Johnson  08:46

Yeah. So I decided to you know, just make a list of all the things that I felt like I needed to change what I thought would make myself feel better, relook some activities, or I guess, would you call it some ways to accomplish that, that?

Megan Porta  09:02

Okay, so how did you start working on that? I love that you saw that that was something that you needed to work on, because I don’t think a lot of people get to that point where they’re like, Okay, I need to really change my mindset, my perspective, so good for you for doing that. So what did you start with?

Megan Johnson  09:19

So the first one I started with, which is the easiest one, and if anyone just needs an instant boost, I think this is the best option for them is to listen or read audiobooks or podcasts about mindset or business. So the first one that I read was actually a suggestion by you. Was The Gap and The Gain. 

Megan Porta  09:36

Oh, yes. I love that book so much. It’s a life changer. Totally. I mean, it’s like, like, that’s such a big claim. And people are like, Oh, really, it’s a life changer, but it’s such a life changer.

Megan Johnson  09:46

I’ve never yeah, I’ve never read a book or I was like, oh, that’s changed the way I’m thinking forever. But this book, yeah, no. So it’s basically about how we’re constantly thinking where we’re not how we set a goal for ourselves and we’re not there. yet, and we’re not successful, because we haven’t reached that goal yet. But if we just take a step back and look at how far we’ve come, we’ve done so much. We’ve accomplished so much. And I, and I feel like that’s the message we hear a lot. But this book, just it reiterates that so many times in so many different ways. By the end of it, you’re just like, oh, yeah, totally. This is how I’m going to think forever. Like…

Megan Porta  10:21

yeah, it changes the way you not only look at kind of like where your business was at. But for me, it changed the way I looked at every day. Like if I have a little worry, that pops up just this morning, Megan, I did, I am not kidding you. I was like, worrying about something in my business. And I stopped and I thought of the concept from The Gap and the Gain and I was like, Okay, we say in that book, to just look at all of the good things, the progress, those little things that you’ve done that show that you’ve made leaps and bounds where you know, taking leaps and bounds, and it helped me like turned things around instantly. So I use it almost daily in my life. It’s amazing. Okay, so in addition to that book, what else did you dive into?

Megan Johnson  11:04

So there’s a guy called James Wedmore. He has a podcast called Mind Your Business. But he also has a site online. And he has a course online called Activate. And this course kind of talks about how you should view your business and your mindset. And I feel like it kind of takes The Gap in the Game maybe a step further. I really enjoyed that as well. So I think I sent you a link for that for people to check out. I highly suggest that one as well.

Megan Porta  11:32

I love it. And is that a paid course I have not taken them. It’s free. Okay. Oh, awesome. Okay, I’m gonna check that out.

Megan Johnson  11:38

It’s kind of like a podcast in a way. Okay.

Megan Porta  11:43

Yeah, I listened to his podcast very regularly. I think we’re, you and I are on the same page with just like, what helps us with our mindset, because I love the way he incorporates mindset into business so much. It’s like, woven into everything he does. And it gets a little woowoo like, you know, spiritual, but I love that. I think it’s so important to go there. If you want to find success. Looking back, was there anything listening to his podcasts that you were like, okay, like this changed everything for me? Or was it just kind of an overall like, mindset shift for you?

Megan Johnson  12:18

There is one thing that he said that it kind of helped me how I view my business. Oh, actually, there’s two things. So the first one was, if, you know, say you have a goal of making 50,000 next year, you need to run your business now, as if you are a business that makes 50,000 and kind of changes how I invested in my business. And the other one was, so everyone sets a goal. Like say your goal, again, is to make 50,000 next year, but what do you get out of that goal? Is it you know, security of paying your rent? You know, being able to afford things you like, is it a sense of success? And you can kind of feel that already right now, you don’t necessarily need to reach that goal. If you again, if you kind of take a step back and look at what you have. Yeah, probably I already have all that. So I don’t know, he says in such a better way. But it’s just kind of like, if you’re striving for a goal, because if you think it will make you feel a certain way, chances are, you can already feel that way now.

Megan Porta  13:21

Yeah. Finding those little things in your life that make you feel that stuff already is such a good way to like, accelerate your momentum, I think and that’s kind of his overall one of his overarching messages. I highly recommend his podcast, it’s free. He puts out episodes. I don’t know, I think weekly-ish. But yeah, such a great one. Is there anything else books and podcast wise that you dug into right away when you decided just to change your mindset? 

Megan Johnson  13:51

There were some other ones you have a list on your website have a lot of different ones. But those are the two that really helped me the most.

Megan Porta  14:00

Changed the game for you? Yes. Okay. So then you just decided, like, I’m going to start implementing these awesome things in my life to change your business too and your life. So what are some little things that other people can do that will help to accelerate their success?

Megan Johnson  14:21

Yeah, so I think the first one is showing gratitude. And it’s, I think, every self-help book, like all the experts suggest showing gratitude. So what I did is a task in Asana. Or you can like mess it in your like, put in your planner, it’s just because you already have that habit of looking at it every day. So it’s just first thing every day I just write down three things I’m grateful for. And I feel like it just puts you in that mindset of abundance and just makes you more confident going forward and just put you in a better mood and just do better quality work when you’re in a better mood.

Megan Porta  14:56

And you see I feel like it also helps you to see it everything as you go through your day with a spirit of gratitude, like if you don’t start that way, because I do the same thing, Megan all, start each day just writing a few things down and getting in that habit is so cool, you’ll start to see things transform. But when I don’t, when I skip a day, I start seeing little things that come up as like an annoyance or a grievance or a frustration. But when I start with gratitude, I completely it’s like you’re rewriting your script for the day, just by and it takes like, what a couple of minutes. Yeah, even that, so it’s not a huge investment of your time. It takes such a little time. But I think a key to with the gratitude is not just like, Oh, I’m grateful for fresh water, like, random. I mean, you can be grateful for fresh water, but you’d like something you really feel. You know, like, you really want to feel that energy. Like, I am so grateful. I don’t know. What am I grateful for today? I am so grateful that it’s still summer that my boys are still home with me. We have a little bit of time left, like that is something that I really feel so not just like writing something out of, like obligation, you know what I mean?

Megan Johnson  16:13

Yeah, really thinking about it? Like, what’s what’s bringing you joy right now?

Megan Porta  16:17

Right? Like sitting with it and feeling it. And there’s so much power in that. Is there anything else that you implemented that you recommend others do? 

Megan Johnson  16:26

Yeah, so this one I really like, at the end of every day, I write down three things that I accomplished that day, that helped my business grow. So I really like this, because we all have those days where we feel like we got nothing accomplished. And when I actually sit down and write three things, it’s like, oh, wow, I actually did something that’s going to help my business grow. And it gets you in that mindset of, you have to, you have to show up every day and you have to do something and little by little, your blog will grow you’ll get more traffic, you’ll see the results you want to see, it’s not going to happen overnight. You have to just keep putting the effort in.

Megan Porta  17:00

Do you do that, like in a journal or where do you write those down?

Megan Johnson  17:04

In Asana again, I just put everything in there. So it’s like the last task of the day, I just…

Megan Porta  17:08

I love that.

Megan Johnson  17:10

Write three things down and check it off.

Sponsor  17:13

Let’s take a really quick break friends, because I’d love to tell you about my favorite keyword research tool RankIQ. One of my favorite strategies with this tool is to bring a category or topic to the table, so to speak, that supports my existing content in some way. And to maximize that category by finding and creating different types of keywords and posts that helped to solidify my authority on set a topic. Here’s an example meatloaf, I posted my mom’s delicious meatloaf recipe on my site years ago, and it got popular very quickly. If I want to establish myself as the “Queen of Meatloaf” in my users eyes and in Google’s eyes, then I want to expand beyond just my mom’s recipe, I would go to rankiq.com and type meatloaf into the keyword library. I like to start by sorting from lowest to highest competition, I always do this. Then I set out to find three keywords starting at the top. The first keyword is one additional meatloaf recipe. An example is three-ingredient meatloaf. The second is one informational meatloaf article or topic. An example is how to reheat meatloaf in airfryer. And the third is one meatloaf related round up. An example is freezer meatloaf recipes, I put these three keywords into my content calendar and create and publish them within a few weeks of each other. This acts as a great signal to all of the important and powerful forces that be out there that I am reigning meatloaf queen, of course, I do my interlinking as well for additional juice, please feel free to steal this strategy for me. And I hope it helps you and your content, head to rankiq.com to get started. Now back to the episode. 

Megan Porta  19:00

So then do you go back like over the course of a week or a month or whatever and look back and see kind of see those accomplishments filled up?

Megan Johnson  19:08

I don’t, because they’re mostly like, oh, I shot a, you know, a recipe or I wrote a blog post or listen to a podcast. I could but I don’t know that I think that might just overwhelm me.

Megan Porta  19:21

I mean that it kind of goes along with the gap and the gain of just looking back and seeing like the build up of all of your accomplishments. Yeah, I think that would be really cool.

Megan Johnson  19:30

That would actually that’s a good idea.

Megan Porta  19:32

I love that. I…okay, so I started doing this, maybe earlier this year, something similar, I would start writing down my pageviews like every month so at the end of every month I was like okay, I have this and then I went back to the previous year and I wrote down and I just was able to see like, oh my gosh month over month over month in year over year things are getting better. And it just helps me because when we’re in the weeds of it August 2023, you just feel like shouldn’t I have more? Should my pageviews be more? And then I also started doing that with my revenue. So what I brought into my business, and over time, it’s so cool to see how much things increase. So I think yeah, like you were saying little steps add up. And if you can see that progression, it’s really cool to do something like that. So what, whether it’s like pageviews, or I don’t know, like number of posts you write or whatever it is that you want to measure. It’s really cool to look back and see progress over time. 

Megan Johnson  20:36

Yeah, whenever I check my analytics, if I do like month over month, I always check year over year, because it’s just that, I don’t know, you know, just because month over month may not necessarily be very nice. But your every year, usually, it’s pretty good. And that kind of gives you a sense of accomplishment.

Megan Porta  20:51

At the end. I love that. Yeah, that’s a really good piece of advice to doing year over year. Okay, anything else, any other things you implemented?

Megan Johnson  21:00

I started setting goals, not deadlines. So by that, I mean, I set a goal, whether it’s, you know, X many posts in a month, then I think of a day that I would like to have that compliment by and make a plan for to accomplish it by that date. And then I just forget the date. Because with me, I have a tendency of over promising myself and not giving myself enough time to do things, and then I don’t accomplish them. So then I’m like, Okay, I’ll just put it off to the weekend, I don’t get it done on the weekend. And then I just start feeling really overwhelmed. Because I’m not going to get something done by a certain deadline. And then it kind of you get a sense of like failure that comes with that when really, my goal is to, you know, get the goal done not to get the goal done by a certain date. So I know there are some people who love deadlines who thrive under deadlines. But for me, I shut down whenever I feel overwhelmed, and I’m not accomplishing something as soon as I want to accomplish it. So I just changed my mindset of I want to get this done, as soon as I can, but not give myself a deadline that I had to get it done by.

Megan Porta  22:01

I love that actually, there’s such gray area there because like, you obviously want to accomplish the things you want to accomplish sooner rather than later. So it’s good, I think to have like a timeframe in your mind. But I totally agree that if you don’t reach the goal by a certain date, then you get, you’re just like, Oh, I’m defeated, like I suck, I should have been able to do that, like that sort of thing. And then and then use your stop and you freeze and you don’t know what to do. So how do you like, how do you balance that? Because, yeah, you know, like, you want some sort of timeframe. Like I want to, let’s say your 50k $50,000? You know, like, if somebody has that goal, they don’t want it to be like 10 years from now. You know, so how do you kind of balance that?

Megan Johnson  22:53

Yeah. So at the beginning, when you’re making your plan, you have that deadline in mind, and you make a plan to how to get there. But I think what I’ve learned, especially from the very beginning is you don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen. You don’t know if your plan is going to work out. So it’s just staying focused on getting what you want to get done, accomplished. But if something comes up, I don’t… just for me, if something comes up, and it stalls, my plan, then I just freak out and like I just can’t handle that. I don’t know. Yeah.

Megan Porta  23:26

Yeah, it is. I think it’s a fine balance and something that we each have to kind of navigate. You know, like some people I’m sure work really well with. I’m going to do this goal by December 31 this year, and they don’t get frustrated or overwhelmed like you and I might. So I think it’s kind of individualized.

Megan Johnson  23:46

Yeah, I don’t know, I’ve been doing this. And I feel like I’ve gotten way more accomplished in the last three months since I’ve kind of changed how I view things. I think that was it. I was just putting too much pressure on myself for getting by a certain time. Yeah, some different things work for different people.

Megan Porta  24:03

Yeah. And I think that just brought something to my mind. So like maybe setting a goal or a deadline, but then allowing yourself to have grace with it. Like if I don’t get it done by December 31. Like I want to, it’s okay, you can do it by December 31 of the following year, and just not. Yeah, like somehow training yourself to not beat yourself up over it. Because it’s not the end of the world. You’re still working toward it. But I will say that’s a hard one, like the deadline versus no deadline and like, just the mindset around them.

Megan Johnson  24:39

Yeah, I think the key is, though, as long as it’s your most important thing that you’re working towards, then you’ll be fine. I mean, as long as you’re choosing to work towards that goal, rather than like, watching Netflix, you know? Yeah, I think people like I think a lot of people get distracted by doing other things that’s not working towards their goal, and that’s why but I think as long as we’re working towards To then, yeah…

Megan Johnson  25:02

That’s a really good point. So measuring it not by your deadline, necessarily, but measuring it by like, Did you do the things today the things that you’re talking about? Like, did you accomplish things that are moving your business forward? Are you grateful like measuring it that way instead of did you get this done by December 31? Yeah. Okay, that’s, I love that one. And something to ponder. I will be thinking about that one day today. What else did you implement?

Megan Johnson  25:30

Just kind of what we’re talking about, in general, just that mindset of how far I’ve come instead of where it not? And then like you said earlier, I literally think about that every day. Yeah. Especially like a negative thought pops in your head. Just be like, well, look how far I’ve come. Look how much better my life is now than last year. 

Megan Porta  25:47

Oh, yes. And you could do like, year over year, month over month, day over day week. I mean, there are so many different measurements you can do. Which is kind of cool. Hour over hour gosh, like, I was feeling crappy last hour, and now I’m fine or whatever. So yeah, that’s so awesome. And then is there anything else you did? That really helped you to tweak your mindset?

Megan Johnson  26:12

Yeah. So I think the biggest thing I did that’s really helped me is working out, which kind of sounds silly. So I have facts from the CDC, it says a single session of moderate to vigorous physical activity reduces short term feelings of anxiety, and improve sleep quality, regular physical activity can help keep your thinking learning and judgment skill sharp and reduce your risk of depression and anxiety, which I 100% felt this yesterday, I was so stressed and I went to spin class, I came out and I felt just great. And it’s something that happens all the time, where I always feel like, I just have this huge problem, going to spin class, I come out and I feel great. And it’s just something that I feel like it’s overlooked. I feel like everyone looks at working out as a way for physical, like physical health. But it really does help your mental health as well.

Megan Porta  27:05

This is all overlooked. I feel like Megan, right? I mean, do you agree with that? I feel like all of the stuff we’re talking about is very secondary in many businesses. I host mastermind groups, we talk about strategies and tools and like that tangible business stuff all the time. But we very seldom talk about things like this that are so important, like working out, making sure you’re working on your mindset and making tweaks and you’re grateful and all of that. But I feel like this is such an underrated, overlooked topic, all of this. 

Megan Johnson  27:41

Yeah, I was just thinking about this the other day, because the reason I quit my job was because I wasn’t being I wasn’t feeling fulfilled in it. Like I wasn’t happy in it. And I decided to do food blogging because of that. And so it’s like, why? I don’t know, like, why would that not be my first priority? is to be happy and feel joy in my life, when that’s the whole reason I quit my job to become food blogger.

Megan Porta  28:01

Exactly. Okay, so what are some of the, I mean, you’ve kind of mentioned some benefits, like the working out, you feel better mentally and physically. But what else good has come into your business and in your life? Because of all of these things that you’ve worked on? 

Megan Johnson  28:15

Yeah, overall, I’m just way more productive now. I think it’s just that mindset, if when you think good things are gonna happen, you’re more willing to put in the time and effort to work on posts to create recipes. I feel like overall, my quality is better. Because again, I have just a better outlook, that people are gonna see them. I just have a better outlook on my future, and I’m willing to invest in my business more invest in me more. 

Megan Porta  28:39

So many good things, right? And so okay, I’m wondering, because we all have those moments, even if you are really intentional about working on yourself and working out and all of that we all have moments where we fall into the traps of stress and anxiety, especially being an entrepreneur, I feel like this is really easy to do. So, what are some things you do to pull yourself out when you notice like, oh, no, I’m really anxious today?

Megan Johnson  29:09

Yeah, I was actually feeling really anxious yesterday, and I was just counting down the hours to go work out. But I think also talking to my fiance about my feelings helps a lot. I think just thinking about how far you’ve come helps a lot. Getting good quality sleep. It’s just trying to do what you can every day. 

Megan Porta  29:29

Hmm, yeah. I love that. You mentioned talking to your fiance. I sometimes if I’m feeling like that, I’ll just go up to my husband and be like, “I don’t feel good. Help!” Like ask for help because I know he’s a positive force in my life and he will he’ll just be like, Okay, well look at all the things that we have to be grateful for, you know, and he kind of like helps me turn things around. So if you have someone in your life that you know will do that for you, whether it’s a mastermind group or friend or a blogger friend or a spouse or whatever. That’s huge, because sometimes we don’t have the power to do that ourselves when we are like in the blogging anxiety trap, right?

Megan Johnson  30:12

Yeah. Yeah, it’s really important. Even if you’re a little scared about reaching out to someone to talk to them, people are usually so they people want you to feel good. Your loved ones want you to feel happy and feel great. And they have such great things to say about you.

Megan Porta  30:26

Yeah, I know. That’s good, too. Just hearing like, you worked hard today. You did. You know, you wrote two blog posts. That’s amazing. Just hearing someone else say those words. Instead of it being in your brain is somehow way more powerful than even you thinking it. Yeah, those, this is all really good. And then also, I thought of one more thing, when I feel crappy, I just I start thinking of like, okay, what makes me feel good. And I like I know those things go outside, go for a walk, go. You know, like, listen to my boys say they’re weird things make me so they make me laugh. And like, I know all those good triggers. So I try to put myself there. I don’t always have the mindset to do that. Because sometimes I’m just like, Oh, I just want to go lay down. But sometimes I do. And it always helps. So knowing those things that make you feel good. Do you have any other advice, Megan, for people who maybe don’t prioritize this sort of thing, or who are feeling anxious or stressed about their business where you were back in… you know, 2021 2022? Any other advice for them? 

Megan Johnson  31:40

I would say, just keep trying to find those things that make you feel better. And yeah, maybe like, make a list of them. Maybe tell a loved one that like, hey, these things make you feel better if you see me feeling crappy. Tell me to go do these things. My fiance tells me all the time, like you need to get out of the house. Yeah, not in a good mood.

Megan Porta  31:59

I wonder how many times bloggers’ spouses or partners or friends are like, oh, gosh, they’re in a bad mood. Again. It’s a hard job. And just acknowledging that to write like this is not always an easy job. It can be really trying and taxing and draining, like all of the changes that come our way. And the worries and the anxieties with, you know, like Google and updates and AI and cookies. And there’s so much. So just acknowledging that everyone, all of you guys listening are amazing for persevering through this crazy journey that is called food blogging. So just giving yourself credit for that, too. It’s a lot of work sometimes. Well, thank you, Megan. This was so awesome. I love I could talk about this all day, you and I could keep on talking. But thank you for being here. We really appreciate this and everything you shared with us today so valuable. Do you have either a favorite quote or words of inspiration to share with us?

Megan Johnson  33:04

Yes, so I have one from Thomas Edison. He said our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most common way to succeed is is always to try just one more time.

Megan Porta  33:13

Oh, I love it. And it goes so perfectly with what we talked about. Thank you. We will put a shownotes together for you if you want to look at those go to eat blog talk.com/meganvskitchen and then also we’ll put in the links to the things that you talked about earlier. So that Activate course and a link to the Gap and the Gain because everyone should either listen to or read the Gap and the Gain. Your life will be changed. Alright Megan tell everyone where they can find you.

Megan Johnson  33:42

Yeah, at meganvskitchen.com or on Instagram @meganvskitchen.

Megan Porta  33:47

Thank you so much, Megan, for being here and sharing everything you did today and thank you for listening and food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode. 

Outro  33:57

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the blog talk. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you posted it to your social media feed and stories. I will see you next time.