Episode 470: How to Keep Going Despite Setbacks – Define Your ‘Why’ with Anja Eckert

EBT470 – Anja Eckert

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. 

You guys, we have been through so much as an industry this year in 2023. I go through some of the main things inside the episode, but you know what I’m talking about. We’ve had some really big Google updates. We’ve experienced the worry surrounding AI and potential traffic loss to our sites. We’ve experienced the change from Universal Analytics to GA four. Some changes within Pinterest. The list could literally just keep going on and on. It’s been a lot and it’s been a really big year for our industry. 

Anja Eckert from Our Gabled Home joins me in this episode to talk about how to just keep going and not give up during times like this when things are really challenging, whether it’s everything I mentioned that we’re experiencing collectively, or maybe something has happened in your life that has forced you to put your blog on hold. Maybe it’s been an injury or a sickness or childbirth, or, I mean, fill in the blank. It could be so many different things. But we have such a great discussion, Anja and I, we talk about having a really strong why. Why are you doing this in the first place and holding that why so clear in your mind and even creating like a photo or a graphic or something visually so that you can hold onto it through the hard times. Anja gives so much other great advice about how to keep going, why you shouldn’t give up. This is a super encouraging episode. If you need encouragement right now, this is one to listen to and maybe make a note to come back to it in the future. If you need encouragement, then enjoy. This is episode number 470, Sponsored by RankIQ.

Sponsor 02:20

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Megan Porta 03:29

Anja has been a food and lifestyle blogger since 2018. What first started as a pet project turned into an almost full-time job after a severe knee injury that prevented her from continuing on as a yoga teacher In March, 2020, Anja was at almost 25,000 sessions when MediaVine raised their requirements to 50K. It took her another setback and three years to finally reach the 50K. Refusing to give up, continually learning and upgrading and remembering her why were the qualities that got her to the goal.

Anja, welcome to Eat Blog Talk. How are you today?

Anja Eckert 04:03

I’m great, and thank you so much for having me here.

Megan Porta 04:06

I’m so excited.

Anja Eckert 04:07

I’m super excited.

Megan Porta 04:08

Yeah, me too. And this topic is very needed right now, as everyone knows, not giving up, persevering despite challenges, facing whatever you’re going through and just facing our industry as a whole too. But before we get into all of that, let’s hear your fun fact.

Anja Eckert 04:26

Okay. My fun fact is that it’s all kind of ties into what I’m gonna talk about later, but I grew up riding horses when I was a kid in Germany, and then after I graduated, because you know, I was born and raised in Germany when I graduated from high school, I got this interesting offer to go to Brazil and train horses. And it sounded, first I was like, why would I do that? Why would I go to go to Brazil to the countryside? But then I slept over it and I thought, you know what? I’ll probably never get another offer like this in my life again. So I, I did and I went and it was not a very easy experience, but I actually ended up being more of a cowgirl than a horse trainer. It’s sort of, there’s a whole long backstory to this, but the fun fact is said, yeah, we had, let’s see, we had about 150 horses and about 200 cows that we were dealing with.

Megan Porta 05:16

That’s a lot. Holy cow.

Anja Eckert 05:20

Yeah, I know, right?

Megan Porta 05:20

Oh my goodness. Well, that’s so cool. So do you still do that?

Anja Eckert 05:25

Yes. And the reason I got into my blog or blogging was because I wanted to own a horse again, and where I live, it’s pretty expensive. And I thought, okay, so I need to have some form of income to be able to afford a horse. And whenever I have a really slow day, I just remember my why. I visualize my horse, and then I get right to the tasks I need to be doing, because that’s, that’s my biggest why.

Megan Porta 05:53

You visualize your horse. I love that. I think we all have those things that we just need to hold in our minds and visualize occasionally to keep going. Right?

Anja Eckert 06:01

Yeah, for sure. For sure. And this is a really strong motivator. So yeah, whenever the, the going gets really tough, I’m just like, well, there’s no way I could ever give up because that means I would have to give up my horse. And that’s not gonna happen.

Megan Porta 06:14

Yes. So if you don’t have your horse or your why find it, because that does, I have, mine’s not a horse, but I definitely have that thing that I hold in my mind and it keeps me going on the hard days. And I think we’ll probably talk about this in our conversation here too.

Anja Eckert 06:30

So I think of having a why is really important, and if it’s not something that’s as easy to picture as just like a horse, I also really like this idea of putting it on a sticky note and pasting it on your computer or wherever you do work around the house, because then you get your reminder like, oh, this is why I’m doing it. And then it’s, it’s a really strong motivator. And seeing it in front of your eyes versus just having it in your head, I think is really powerful, too.

Megan Porta 06:56

Oh my gosh, yes. This year I started putting some just kind of visuals on my desktop. . as a reminder. And I think that I could probably tweak it year to year because it, you know, like things evolve and yeah, if my main why doesn’t change, but those little details come sometimes change. But I see it every day and it reminds me just such a good way to like, okay, this is why you’re doing this today, and just keep at it.

Anja Eckert 07:21

Right. Yeah.

Megan Porta 07:22

So let’s back up a little. Do you wanna talk, so I know you mentioned, you know, you’re a blogger. Do you wanna just talk a little bit about your blog when it started, what your niche is and where you’re at today with it?

Anja Eckert 07:33

Yeah. So I very casually started in 2018 because I saw another blogger and I loved what she was doing. I loved what she was doing because I was doing the same things. I just didn’t blog about it. And then I thought, you know what? She’s making money with it. If she can do it, I can do it. Now. That’s oversimplified because she is a much more interesting personality than I am. without, without being self-deprecating. I’m just a lot more mainstream. And there’s, I don’t know, I mean, like, I feel like there’s a lot more things about her that make her interesting than about me. And so, anyways, I thought, you know, and I, there might’ve been somewhere I thought, oh, I could do what she’s doing. So she’s in the, basically in the lifestyle niche, like urban, that’s what I’m doing.

Anja Eckert 08:23

Urban home setting, a lot of cooking, you know, from scratch recipes and some DIY stuff in the home, like sewing, knitting. And then I also started with a sourdough, and I have my family’s heritage sourdough method, which is a lot different from how most people here do it in this country. And fun fact about until like maybe four years ago, I thought everybody was doing sourdough the way I’m doing it. And I was really surprised that most people do it very differently. So my sourdough stuff actually exploded. I had no idea that it would, so I have a blog and a corresponding YouTube channel, and the sourdough stuff on, on the YouTube just really takes off. I can do anything about sourdough always as a hit. So amazing. Yeah. So that was in 2018, and it was just really casual. I had no clue what I was doing, and I just got into it without knowing what I was doing. Yeah. And then about a year later or so, maybe early 2019, I started my YouTube channel and I started taking a little bit more seriously because I held myself to the standard of posting one video a week. And at the time, I was also posting one blog post a week. And they were always, always in sync. Like if I had a recipe on YouTube, I would post the recipe on the blog. And I mean, there are people who post two blog posts on two videos a week. And I thought, I’m, I’m not gonna do that because I’ll burn out. Plus, at the time, I was still a yoga teacher and I was busy teaching. And so this had to happen on the side. Now I didn’t do a lot of keyword research, so it didn’t take as much time as today. And you know, my socials were really not a lot of work. And then in 2019, I had a knee injury, I had an accident, and I injured pretty much everything you can injure in one joint. And I was, you know, from being a full-time yoga teacher, and I didn’t have a horse back then, but I wanted to and I was like couch ridden.

Megan Porta 10:27

Oh, I’m so sorry.

Anja Eckert 10:29

Yeah. So then I was on full disability and here I was. And then I was trying to think for, first of all, I’m always a big advocate about my own health. And so I became a full-time knee injury researcher. But also I’m like, okay, so now maybe this is a sign that I need to really ramp up the blog and the YouTube channel. And it was hard. It was really hard because there were a lot of times when I was on two crutches and here I am trying to set up a camera. Oh. And to make matters worse, we were going through a full kitchen remodel and, well, this is actually how it happened, because we were doing it ourselves. My husband is super handy. He knows exactly how to do all this stuff. His pace is a little slower than mine. And I was trying to help him and I fell off a ladder when a beam came down. I didn’t fall off, but the beam actually kind of pushed me down the ladder. And so that’s how the, the injury happened. So we didn’t have a kitchen. We were cooking on a camp stove in the dining room, washing dishes in a tiny bathroom sink and had a total makeshift kitchen. And here is a food blogger trying to make recipes with two crutches, setting up my camera. And I was so stubborn because , I really didn’t, I couldn’t, didn’t wanna ask for help. Like my, remember my older son was living at home then, but my husband and because he was busy and so around , you know, and making things happen. So that took a lot of just perseverance and getting through it. I wanted to do it. I wanted to make it happen. 

So then fast forward the beginning of 2020, I remember very distinctly the day that my surgeon said to me, I think you’re gonna be good to go back to teaching yoga from a doctor’s perspective. But I just didn’t feel like I could ever, my knee’s never been, I mean, it is functional on any given day and most people are surprised at how functional it is and my recovery. But it’s still not, it wasn’t good enough for teaching yoga the next day. Everything shut down because of Covid. So I was like literally sitting there with nothing. And that was also the same time when I had MediaVine on my radar when they required 25,000 monthly sessions. And then they, without a notice increased it to 50,000. And I was like, like 23 or 24,000.

Megan Porta 12:55

Oh gosh. That’s so close.

Anja Eckert 12:58

I know. And I was devastated. It’s almost like somebody holds a carrot in front of your nose and all of a sudden the carrot is like a mile away. And people were giving me good advice, like, oh, you know, if you’ve made it this far, you’ll make it really quickly. But okay, so here we are. And it took me another two years or so before I made it into MediaVine. And yeah, so I just kept on going. At some point I decided I’m going to get that horse, even though I wasn’t really at the income level from the blog and the, and the YouTube channel where I felt like comfortable, but I could see what was going and the trajectory. And I, I’d still like to think, unless some miracle happens or I, not miracle, but something really bad happens. This is just gonna continue on building and growing. Now I was getting more serious now I was taking courses and I was in Facebook groups and I was doing keyword research and I was doing all the things that bloggers do and yeah. And there were a few Google Core updates that set me back a little bit. And then I hired a tech guy to help me with the backend of my website to make sure that there wasn’t anything that’s throttling me. But yeah, here I am and I can only tell anybody who’s struggling, especially right now with the Helpful Content Update. Don’t give up. You will make it. If you’re determined, you will make it. And there are times when you will be set back, but don’t let that hold you back. Just continue. Shift, pivot, maybe if necessary. You know, take a breath, but just keep on going because if I can do it, I think anybody can do it.

Megan Porta 14:38

Oh, you’ve been through so much, Anja. That’s a lot like the, a knee injury so bad that you can’t like, yeah. Like it sounds like you were down for a long time. I was. And Oh gosh. And being a yoga instructor and then the Media vine thing, I know so many bloggers who are in the same boat as you and just absolutely devastated. Like they were so close. And then it was years beyond that. Like you, it was just within reach. And then all of a sudden it’s like, oh wait, you have to wait a couple years now.

Anja Eckert 15:09

I know.

Megan Porta 15:09

Oh, that’s so, that’s so hard. And despite all of that, you still kept going. And do you feel like the reason you kept going was because your why was so strong?

Anja Eckert 15:20

Yeah, I guess so. Because I’m also a little bit stubborn and it just wasn’t an option to give up because at the, on the other hand it’s like, what was I gonna do? Try to find another job? And I mean, people have said, you know, do you wanna go back to teaching yoga? And while I always loved while I was in the room and you know, being with people and teaching and, and seeing the transformation and people both physically and mentally and spiritually, there was a lot of driving around in traffic. Yeah. And a lot of stop and go because, you know, the life of a yoga teacher sounds glorious on a good day, but it’s really tough on a rough day because typically you don’t have classes back to back. So you have one at eight o’clock in the morning. So you run there, you come back, you do something at home, but you’re never really off because you know, oh, I have another place to be at to go back. And then you have a 18h30 evening class. So it’s like, am I gonna do dinner before? Am I doing dinner afterwards? And so, I mean, you know, it sounds maybe mundane, but if you do that every single day and then teaching five, six days a week is really exhausting, because you give so much all the time. So I don’t miss that part. I do miss the connection with people, but I also feel like through this whole blogging and YouTubing, I’ve made some really, really nice connections and yeah. So I’m good where I’m at. So yeah. That wasn’t really another option for me out there.

Megan Porta 16:45

Yeah. Right. And this topic, unfortunately, is very raw. It’s very fresh because we are currently going through a lot. I was just assessing in my mind yesterday about all of the stuff food bloggers have been through in 2023. It’s insane. Like, I mean, from the beginning of the year we had AI concerns Chat GPT, is Google Bard gonna steal our website traffic. Okay. That it started there and then it became, let’s see what was next? Oh, and then Universal Analytics turned into GA4, which was like so hard. It still is for so many people, including myself. And then there’s what else is going on? Oh, other things with ad networks are changing.

Anja Eckert 17:31

I know we’ve been put through the ringer. Yeah.

Megan Porta 17:33

Yeah. And then the Google Helpful Content Update just absolutely crushed some food blogs. And I mean, there’s more, I mean, it, it has been a really hard year.

Anja Eckert 17:41

There’s a Spam update and there’s another update. So I think they have another two or three updates coming, rolling out, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Megan Porta 17:49

Our industry is facing a lot and Pinterest changes and like, oh, you know, Idea Pins and there was that creator fund program. And like, I mean, it can, we could go on and on. There’s just been a lot. And it’s a lot, even for people like me who have been around for a long time, it’s even a lot for me. So I can imagine newer bloggers just being really overwhelmed by this. Currently. There are people in my mastermind who are like, I can just see it in their, their eyes when we meet. It’s like, I don’t like this and I don’t know if I can move forward sort of thing. So I’m really glad we’re having this chat because I want to give them encouragement and inspiration to not quit.

Anja Eckert 18:31

And, you know, and, and I mean my yoga teaching has informed and helped my blogging journey so much. There’s a saying in yoga that everything changes. So, you know, it’s helpful to know that everything changes when things are bad. But it’s also helpful to know that when you’re on an upswing, you know, enjoy it while it’s happening because there might be a change to it. And I’m not saying that you will be on a downswing, but, so everything changes and when things are really bad, just trust in the fact that it’s going to change. It is going to change. So that’s always helped me. And then just kind of breathing through it and some, and having some equanimity and it’s like, okay, so I can’t, I can’t change that. What can I change? What can I focus on that I can do to make things happen? And how can I improve on my content? And it’s painful. It’s painful. Yeah. I mean, I almost don’t wanna say it because I feel so bad for the people who’ve lost 95% of their traffic, but my traffic has been up, but it hasn’t in the past. So I’ve been super affected by all sorts of Google Core updates in the past. So I feel for these people, but I’ve just continued on going and saying, you know what? I can’t control the Google update, but I can control the, the quality of my content. Yes.

Megan Porta 19:40

That’s so true.

Sponsor 19:44

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Anja Eckert 20:44

I can also go into uber drive in terms of like trying to learn and figuring out and, you know, what do I need to do? And here’s another helpful article about it. But sometimes you just need to spring into action and do stuff.

Megan Porta 20:57

I love that you mentioned change is constant because even though we all know that it’s so hard in the moment to really let that sink in, because I say it to people like, you know, that same thing, like change is the only thing we can expect and life is filled with cycles. When you’re up, you know it’s gonna go down and when you’re down, you know it’s gonna go up. You can hear that, but it’s really hard when you’re like, when your traffic has been wiped out. It’s really hard to like feel that.

Anja Eckert 21:26

Yeah. But I also know another blogger shared in her private Facebook group, her sister’s also blogging. She shared a screenshot of her sister’s traffic from a year or two ago when her traffic was nearly wiped out from one day to another. But then over six months it reverted back to normal. I’m not a hundred percent confident that the Helpful Content Update is gonna have the same effect. Yeah. But I know that most Google Core updates people have swung somewhat back to their previous.

Megan Porta 21:57

And like you said, as long as you keep focusing on the things that you can control that are within your reach, like keep producing that quality content, go to your About page. Yeah. Make sure your About page is solid and credible. You know, like those things that you can do, do them and keep doing them consistently. And that’s, that’s really all you can do. Just keep moving forward.

Anja Eckert 22:17

Yep. And listen to really good podcasts. Yes. Right. This is one of them. I’ve been listening to your podcast for so long and it’s so helpful. It’s, it’s so full of really good nuggets. And there’s some other podcasts that I listen to and, and this is really helpful and it just motivates you when you listen to other people and, and when you get good, good input. Like just really helpful advice. So I always love that. And I always recommend to people find some really good podcasts. And yours would definitely be on the list of have must listen to.

Megan Porta 22:48

Well, and now you’re here contributing encouragement to the rest of our community. So thank you for that giving back.

Anja Eckert 22:53

Absolutely.

Megan Porta 22:54

Right. I also was not hit by this update. In fact, I mean like, it’s kind of like the survivor’s guilt thing. Like mine has, my traffic has been really good since, but . I can tell you that I’ve been hit by updates and algorithm changes in the past that have been devastating in 2018. I think it was February, I remember exactly the date, February, 2018. I looked at my traffic and it was demolished. And this is after like, I had been blogging for eight years. I had, before that point I had gotten like, you know, a million plus month page view months. And it, it just was, it was gone. And I was so heartbroken for so long. I know that feeling, just like having that sick, like heartbroken feeling in your stomach. I had that for like months. It was so devastating. But I kept going. I picked myself up, I started going to conferences, I started listening to podcasts, I started, you know, doing everything you’re saying, connecting with community. So it’s just like, you know, getting to that point where you realize you need to keep going and just doing one thing at a time and just like, don’t give up. Just keep at it.

Anja Eckert 24:11

Yeah. Just keep at it. That’s the best thing you can do and you will persevere.

Megan Porta 24:15

Yes, you will. It is hard though. So we’re, Anja and I are both acknowledging that it is not easy it is not a no, an easy thing to do, but it is possible.

Anja Eckert 24:25

It sounds so glorious. I like, that’s what I thought. Oh, I’ll just blog about some things that I like to do. And then, you know, at some point the money keeps rolling in and that’s it. There’s a little bit more to it than that.

Megan Porta 24:37

And this is also a good reason to think about diversifying your revenue streams. Is this something that you’ve done Anja?

Anja Eckert 24:44

Yes. I have gotten some good advice early on where I have, so I’m building my email list. I’ve done that from the beginning, not as regularly, but now I have a really solid email list and I constantly go through and delete cold subscribers because I don’t wanna pay for them and they don’t wanna hear from me. They’re not my crowd. So yeah. I delete them and make sure that only the people who really are my people are on my list. I have a paid sourdough course because people, and it wasn’t necessarily supposed to be an a revenue thing, it was really because on my YouTube channel, people kept asking me the same questions. I thought, you know what? I gotta offer a little bit more to them than I can do in a video. And I wanted to create this comprehensive resource that I can send people to and say, here, this is it.

Anja Eckert 25:32

And you can get through a private Facebook group, you can post pictures of your sourdough starter and I can really help you on YouTube. I can’t, I can’t do that. And I don’t want to, I need to also be mindful of my own time and resources and I can’t give free advice all the time. So that’s something I’m struggling with. What else do I have? I have some sponsorships that’s just starting to happen. And well, the YouTube AdSense that’s also there, I’ve got affiliate revenue and I’m trying to think what else. And I have some smaller paid digital products on my blog as well.

Megan Porta 26:08

Yeah. I think it’s a smart time to think about other ways to diversify. And I don’t recommend putting your hands in everything, but just maybe selecting a few. Right. And starting from there.

Anja Eckert 26:20

Yeah. I have to sort of like, I gotta pace myself and not try to do everything at once. But then when I do, so I focus on my course, I put the course out, and now I’m really gonna focus on some good brand deals and sponsorships. And I have some local companies that I’m talking to. And I’m not looking for quantity. I’m really looking for quality. And I get, I don’t know about you, but I get inundated with offers in my email inbox about mostly Hong Kong and Chinese companies wanting me to pedal their $25 product for free.

Megan Porta 26:56

Annoying.

Anja Eckert 26:56

Super annoying. And so I haven’t really found much in there, but I’m holding out and I’m nurturing contacts with companies that I feel are a good fit for my content and my audience. And I don’t wanna sell myself. I’m not, I’m not gonna, I’m just not gonna sell my soul. And if I do something, I wanna be able to stand a hundred percent behind it. There was another product, a really high-end product, they sent me the product for free, which was a lot of money, and everybody’s loving it on Instagram. And here I am and I’m trying to record a review video and I’m doing a little bit more research. I’m like, it’s not as good as everybody says. There’s a lot of greenwashing going on. And I just, you know, I mean, I could have really raked in the affiliate commissions, but I just, I just couldn’t, I couldn’t pretend,I didn’t know what I knew. So I said, here’s it, you know, this is the pros and this is the cons, and now you have it and you can make your own decision basically. I haven’t really checked if I’ve made much an affiliate income from that product, but I just, I just couldn’t. And I see other successful bloggers peddling it and I’m like, huh, I wish you would also do your research. But that’s, you know.

Megan Porta 28:13

Being genuine I think is important through this too. You don’t wanna just make money to make money. If you want it to be a stream of revenue that is long lasting, you’ve got to be aligned with it with your values and with, you know, like what you actually use in real life and all of that, which I think is what you’re saying.

Anja Eckert 28:30

And I want to feel good about it at the end of the day. Absolutely. And yes, I am in here doing this to make money. It’s a service and I have bills to pay, so I’m honest about that, but I also need to feel good about it and be honest and genuine and authentic. And if I can’t be that, then no money in the world’s gonna change that.

Megan Porta 28:50

So well said. I love that. Yeah. And then one thing I wanted to mention that I’ve seen working really well for people right now, especially if you have either a really niche site or if you have a topic within your site that’s really niche, is like digital products. So yeah, eBooks that come cover really specific problems. Like, I’m thinking of my friend Monica from the Hidden Veggies who created a How to make Vegan cheese eBook. Like that is really specific. Or like you Anja like sourdough starters and sourdough coming up and the holidays. I can see that being a really specific thing that you could cover too. But I think that’s an opportunity if you are, if you fall in that category of delivering really niche content Yes. Consider putting a really niche paid digital product together. And I think that would be a huge, and that’s something that you can like, sell, you know, just create once and then keep selling and tweaking the marketing. But I think that would be an easy way to make money.

Anja Eckert 29:52

And even if it’s just an eight or $9 product, the bear to entry is really low for people. So eight or $9 ounce, you know, I’ll buy it. Absolutely. And I’m not trying to say that they buy it and don’t do anything with it, but if you multiply that by a hundred or by a thousand, you know, there you go. And it just lives there. You create it once you create it well, and it just lives there and continues paying for itself. So I definitely recommend doing something really niche, promoting it to the people who need to hear this or need to see this and get this. And it’s, it’s a really easy way to create another revenue stream.

Megan Porta 30:25

And there are a lot of people out there who have pain points in the realm of food, a lot of pain points. So just think through those, what are people really struggling with this holiday season? Or just start 2024 and deliver that. And memberships too. Memberships are another good way for niche products. Have you ever considered something like that?

Anja Eckert 30:47

Yeah, I have, but then it creates another regular thing for me to do. . . And I’m trying to pace myself right now.

Megan Porta 30:57

I hear you.

Anja Eckert 30:58

Not get in, but you know, it just because it, it doesn’t seem to be working well for me right now, doesn’t mean it couldn’t work well for somebody else. So I’m just saying, this is me at this time where I’m like, ah, you know what? It sounds great. There’s a lot of things I would love to do, but I don’t think it’s the right time for me right now. But I think it’s always worth mentioning it because maybe somebody else figures like, oh, you know what, I got that that time. Yeah. Where I can dedicate to a membership group or something.

Megan Porta 31:28

It could be successful depending on your niche and what time you have allotted. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Meal Pro App. It’s like a, an app you can create using either existing content or new content, but it’s a really easy way to put your content together for a paid membership. And I know that a few bloggers are using that. It’s because I think starting a membership is really daunting for people. They hear that and they’re like, I have to know how to use the backend of WordPress and, you know, like, I don’t like that stuff either, but this makes it really easy. So just wanted to mention that if, if you do have a lot of niche content that you think people would pay for, that might be a good option too.

Anja Eckert 32:08

I’ll definitely look into that too.

Megan Porta 32:10

Yeah, I know there, I know a few bloggers who’ve found a lot of success with that, so it’s an option. And then, let’s see, what else do we need to talk about Anja as far as like either ways to diversify or else, you know, like mindset tips through for getting through stuff like this?

Anja Eckert 32:28

Yeah, I think that I mentioned the, the big ones, the why and the perseverance and the trust in that everything changes all the time. And we tend to, somebody said that negative experiences or things are like Velcro for a brain and good ones are like Teflon. And there’s so much, there’s so much truth in it. And you can go back and evolution why, you know, only, and let’s say you went to a water source, you are like you know, the under thought, you went to a water source and there was a tiger. You probably didn’t wanna go back to that water sauce because you’re afraid of the tiger. However, if you find some, some good plants to eat somewhere, you know, that’s like, okay, so that didn’t necessarily make your survival. So we needed the, the negative experiences to keep us safe. And these days I can get 150 positive, like, oh my gosh, you know, YouTube comments and I get one snarky one and I think about it. So just knowing that also is like, you know, whenever something negative happens to us, we often experience that so much more intensely than when we get positive experiences. And just knowing that and holding that in mind and, and, and really thinking about and enjoying and sticking with the positive experiences, looking at traffic like, oh yeah, I got good traffic, I got good content. You know, and just acknowledging that I think is also really helpful because it puts you in a good positive frame of mind.

Megan Porta 33:57

Oh my gosh, that’s so true. I, we get so caught up in our businesses that it’s really hard to stop and do that, but it’s key to happiness, I swear. Just to look back occasionally, even set something on your calendar once a week or once a day or once a month or whatever, and just acknowledge all the good things that have happened. Because I promise you, even if you were hit by the update, or even if whatever, like bad things happened, there’s so much good that you can acknowledge in this moment.

Anja Eckert 34:26

And you were talking to somebody recently on your podcast and she said, I have it on my Asana. You know, like some gratitude. And I thought that’s really, that’s really cute. That’s, I like that.

Megan Porta 34:36

It’s a game changer. It sounds like simple and yeah. Like you should not maybe do it, but it’s so worth it.

Anja Eckert 34:44

And then, you know, we also like to think about, oh, you know, I’m not very techie inclined. And sometimes when people complain in comments about something techie not working, I wanna tell them I’m a content creator. I’m not a tech person. But you know, they don’t see that. But then at the same time, I’m becoming increasingly aware of my strengths and my talents and not necessarily trying to be somebody I’m not. Because then you’re not authentic. And especially in, in a blog post, it doesn’t necessarily come through so much, but on YouTube, in a, in a life or in a video, it, it comes through whether you’re authentic and genuine. And I, I’m trying to cultivate my talents and strengths rather than thinking, oh, I wanna be more this and I wanna be more that because that’s not gonna work. And so that’s also good for, you know, what am I good about? Can I write recipes really easily or do I come up with really creative ways or am I a good writer? Am I a good photographer? And just really try to hone those skills rather than, I mean, I’m not trying to, to tell you to not improve on yourself, but also we often so dismissive of our own talents because I mean, I don’t know, self-promotion for me is really difficult. Writing a biography for myself… I asked Chat GPT to write a paragraph for me.

Megan Porta 36:08

That’s awesome.

Anja Eckert 36:10

Yeah. Because I can’t, yeah. I have a hard time doing it myself.

Megan Porta 36:14

It’s, you’re not alone with that. I hear that from so many people. And then also community I think too right? Is so important when just getting through blow after blow.

Anja Eckert 36:25

Yeah. Have a community. And it’s so easy. I have a few bloggers that I feel like are in my corner, but I often see people saying, Hey, I wanna create a little group of two or three people and I recommend keeping it really small because otherwise it gets difficult just from like setting a time because we’re all on different time zones and so forth. But finding some people who are on the same kind of journey, maybe same sort of traffic and just connecting with them on a weekly basis and having somebody who understands what you’re going through and supports you and it’s so helpful. It’s so helpful.

Megan Porta 37:02

Yeah. Another game changer. I feel like we’ve mentioned a handful of simple things that are literally game changers if you actually implement them.

Anja Eckert 37:11

They are. And there’s another yoga thing that says a little bit often amounts to a lot.

Megan Porta 37:18

Oh, see. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That should be our subtitle for the episode.

Megan Porta 37:25

Oh, this is so good. Okay. I think this is going to really encourage a lot of people, Anja, just to keep going. This is not a super fun stretch, but it will get better. I love the analogy it of, I read this in a book a few years ago and I always think of it like you mentioned, you always think of change, like . expecting change. The thing that I always think about is cycles. Like life is filled with cycles. It’s inevitable. Like when you’re up, yes. You have to go down. When you’re down, you have to go up. So right now, if you’re feeling at the bottom, if you, you’re feeling really down, just know that it’s like a law of the universe that you have to go back up. So keep that in mind as you’re moving through this time.

Anja Eckert 38:06

Yeah, a hundred percent. I agree.

Megan Porta 38:08

Is there anything else you feel like we should mention before we start saying goodbye, Anja?

Anja Eckert 38:12

I don’t know. I think I’ve spilled all my things.

Megan Porta 38:16

You’ve spilled it all. It’s been so good. Thank you for all of this. This is very encouraging, especially knowing that you’ve been through so much and you just kept going despite it all. You could have so easily thrown in the towel so many times. Right?

Anja Eckert 38:29

Yeah. And I just, I just hope that my story inspires at least, least one other person. It will. And then I always, I always feel like then at least it doesn’t feel like I went through it in vain. And but no, I, I hope that this is really inspirational and because I always think like, if I can do it, anybody can do it. There’s nothing special about me.

Megan Porta 38:49

Aw. Inspiring types of episodes or interviews are my favorite. So I love this chat. This is so fun.

Anja Eckert 38:54

Thank you.

Megan Porta 38:56

Well, thank you for joining me Anja, and thank you for delivering all of this. And thank you just for yeah, sharing your story and being kind of vulnerable too. Do you have either a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with?

Anja Eckert 39:08

Yeah, I do. I think it’s by Winston Churchill. And it goes, a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Megan Porta 39:19

Oh. So true. And so cool. Just a little perspective shift, right? Is all it is.

Anja Eckert 39:25

It’s all it is. Exactly.

Megan Porta 39:27

Oh, love it. Thank you so much for that. We’ll put together show notes for you, Anja. If you wanna go look at those, head to eatblogtalk.com/ourgabledhome. Why don’t you tell everyone where they can find you.

Anja Eckert 39:39

Yeah, I am Our Gabled Home everywhere. So I’m www.ourgabledhome.com on my blog, my Instagram, Facebook handles are all @ourgabledhome. My YouTube channel is Our Gabled Home. I’m really easy to find. And yeah, I always love hearing back from people in comments. And I do reply to pretty much all the comments. If I miss one, it’s accidental.

Megan Porta 40:03

Well go check Anja out everyone and all of her accounts. And thank you again so much for being here. And thank you for listening food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode. 

Outro 40:14  

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat 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.