Episode 399: What New Bloggers Should Know – Don’t Learn the Hard Way with June Albertson-Dick

EBT399 – June Albertson

Intro: 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 their blog’s growth and ultimately help you to achieve their freedom, whether that’s financial, personal, or professional.

I’m Megan Porta, and I’ve been a food blogger for over 12 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. 

No matter where you are in your journey of food blogging, I think all of us can look back and pinpoint things that we wish we would have known along the way. But yet we’re grateful for those lessons because they’ve taught us so much. This is exactly what June Albertson Dick from Practically Homemade brings to the table in this episode. She talks about all the things that she has learned along the way, most of the time the hard way, and that she wants to share with us. So I think you’ll find this a very valuable conversation. This is episode number 399, sponsored by RankIQ.

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Megan Porta: June Albertson Dick started Practically Homemade in late 2017 as a way to share her love of making simple recipes spectacular. For years, June had owned and operated a cake-decorating business and a deli in her hometown before becoming a high school culinary teacher. It wasn’t until June of 2021 that she stepped away from eight years of teaching young adults to cook, to make Practically Homemade a full-time job. She truly believes that we don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen to make amazing food that everyone will go crazy for. In fact, at Practically Homemade, she shares easy recipes that allow you to get time back in your life for things you love without sacrificing flavor. June, how are you today? Thank you so much for being on the podcast. 

June Albertson: I am really good. How are you, Megan?

Megan Porta: I’m doing well too. Thank you for asking. We’re gonna talk today about all of the things you’ve learned the hard way like I think we all have a long list of those things, and how to maybe relay those lessons to other bloggers. But first I wanna know if you have a fun fact to share. 

June Albertson: I come from a giant family, so my dad is one of nine brothers and sisters, and I have over a hundred cousins just from that. 

Megan Porta: Oh my goodness. 

June Albertson: A lot of them live in the same little hometown that I do. 

Megan Porta: Okay. Where do you live? Where are you from?

June Albertson: In Oregon? A small town like in southern Oregon. Lakeview. Only about 2000 population, but giant family. 

Megan Porta: Do you guys get together often? 

June Albertson: We do. It usually gets divided up, but at least 50, usually 75 people for any Thanksgiving, Christmas, or anything. 

Megan Porta: Are you kidding me? 75 people? 

June Albertson: No, it gets to be a lot.

Megan Porta: We could probably record an entirely separate episode just on lessons you’ve learned from being a part of a family that size. There have to be things, right, that you just have to be adaptable and just maybe not seek out attention. 

June Albertson: A lot of us, and my sister does all the hosting at her house. So that poor thing, I always think, oh my gosh. So I try to help her a lot with that. 

Megan Porta: Oh my gosh. How many siblings do you have? I’m curious. 

June Albertson: I have two siblings, two sisters, and younger sisters. Yep. 

Megan Porta: Wow. Okay. Not many people can say that. A hundred cousins. 

June Albertson: Yeah. At least. It’s probably more than that now, but yeah.

Megan Porta: That is insane. I think I have less than 10 probably. Yeah. Oh my, I cannot imagine over a hundred. 

June Albertson: Yeah, there’s a lot. 

Megan Porta: Woo. Alright, to change the topic a little bit. So your blogging journey has brought about lessons that you’ve learned the hard way. A lot of us can say that. Most of us can say that. So to start this conversation, why don’t you just tell us where you started with blogging and where you’re at? 

June Albertson: I started blogging, gosh, it probably was in 2015, just playing around with a blog that no longer exists. Then I got serious about it in 2017, and I started Practically Homemade. But during that time I was also running a business and teaching high school culinary, so it went on the back burner. It was like my second job. So it was a lot. I just had always really loved reading blogs and so I thought, oh yeah, I can do that. Not really having any idea of what I was getting myself into. So it’s been quite the journey from that to being a full-time blogger now today. 

Megan Porta: How long have you been a full-time blogger? 

June Albertson: I stopped teaching in June of 2021, so almost two years. 

Megan Porta: Okay. So you’ve been at it for about six years total and just making a full-time job for two. Okay. That kind of lays the foundation for us. I’m sure you’ve learned a lot of things during this time.

June Albertson: For sure. 

Megan Porta: So tell us about some of those things you’ve learned. 

June Albertson: When I first started and I had a blog that I just found this cutesy name for, that meant a lot to me, but didn’t have really anything to do with what I was doing. So when I would tell people what my blog name was, it was Sweet Taters and Tales, which is super cute because my kids’ nicknames are Taters and Tales. 

Megan Porta: That is cute. Oh, perfect. 

June Albertson: But people were like, what? So I was like, okay. So when I restarted, I have to find a blog name that really helps explain what I’m doing better. So when I say Practically Homemade, they were like, okay, that’s easy enough, not too many words. Explains what I’m doing, all those things. 

Megan Porta: Okay. So what do you recommend for people who have already created a cutesy name or something that doesn’t really explain what they’re doing. Do they go back and rebrand? 

June Albertson: Gosh, I didn’t have a huge following with that one. I don’t know. It would depend on, maybe how many visitors you were getting and stuff like that. Sometimes I think that a cute name can, if people are resonating with it, then it can work. But I don’t know that I would say go back and rebrand. I just felt like I needed to start over because I wanted to make a go of it, and I just played around that with that first one.

Megan Porta: Yeah, I think it is probably case-by-case, right? It might just depend on how long you are in. 

June Albertson: It’s going to be a process. I can’t imagine trying to rebrand right now.

Megan Porta: Oh gosh. I know I’ve considered doing that over the years because my domain is very what? People ask me all the time, but I’ve found that it’s a great conversation starter as well. It just piques people’s interest. Oh yeah, I’m curious. What is that all about? So I can see both ways, but I’m so far in at this point, there’s no way. I would never do it. I wouldn’t touch it. But if you’re just starting out, I would consider it. 

June Albertson: Just think about it, maybe, if you’re just starting out. Like really think about either way, like if you’re wanting something that’s really a conversation starter or something like that, then go for it. But I liked the direct approach a little bit better. 

Megan Porta: Also another thing I hear people say is to try not to pick words that are hard to spell right? Because then people are like entrepreneur is a really hard word to spell. Or I don’t know, millionaire. Like things that are there two Ls, two Ls? Just pick words that most people know how to spell. 

June Albertson: Yeah. I would just say, think about it. I just the first time just threw it out there. It worked. The second time I thought about it more. I think now, I think I’d still go with the same name, but I just would say to really think about it and how you want to approach that. 

Megan Porta: Give it some thought. Give it some thought before you just randomly pick something on GoDaddy. Okay. What else have you learned along the way, June? 

June Albertson: I think consistency probably has been the key for me. Because I had no idea about SEO when I first started. I just was randomly throwing recipes that I thought I would want to see up on my blog at the beginning, but I was super consistent and posting two posts a week and on the same day, so people who were following me knew what to expect. So I would always say that consistency is super important when growing any kind of business probably, but especially a blog. 

Megan Porta: Yes. I had a few conversations earlier today and this point comes up a lot in my conversations because, now more than ever, with our space being just so saturated and we all know it is, there are tons of people here trying to do the same thing. That is the one thing that I think really sets you apart from the rest of the bloggers. Because not everybody’s consistent. But if you can determine a schedule, a publishing schedule and actually stick to it, over the course of years and years, you are going to be ahead of most people. 

June Albertson: Sure, yeah. Because mine was definitely a long-term game. I knew I could make money when I started, but I had no idea that I would end up being a food blogger full-time. I think I had always hoped in my mind, but it seems so far-fetched that I was just doing it for fun.

Megan Porta: I think a lot of people are in your shoes, probably listening now. I would like that too, but I don’t know if it’s actually going to happen. But the consistency piece is probably what you need to decide right now that you’re gonna be consistent and it will happen if you keep up with that.

June Albertson: Yeah, just keep going. Keep your head down. Be consistent for sure. 

Megan Porta: Do you recommend consistency on all platforms? So if you’re wanting to build on Instagram, grow there, et cetera? 

June Albertson: I would say yeah, probably. Instagram is not my favorite. Pinterest is where I really, and Facebook is where my people are, I always say, but I would say no matter what platform. Just be consistent. I find even myself, people that I follow looking for what they’re posting for the day, or so just try to think about it from your reader’s perspective. When you are wanting to hear from somebody, are you looking forward to a certain time because that’s what they usually do? So keep consistent with that.

Megan Porta: Thinking of it from their perspective. I like that. So talk about Pinterest. 

June Albertson: Yes. Pinterest. I had no idea, I don’t think at the beginning how beneficial it would be for me. I just started really doing a lot there from the beginning and hired somebody that was even before I was making money, I hired somebody to help me there. I think it’s a long game a little bit, but it is paid off a ton. I know people are on the fence everywhere about whether Pinterest is really helping or not, but it’s still one of my number one traffic sources, so I always try to nurture it as much as I can. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, Pinterest is the food bloggers’ platform. It’s visual and so many people go there and use it as a recipe database, so I am so with you on that. I hear people ruminating about Pinterest a lot in our space because maybe they got traffic, a lot of it at one point from Pinterest to now it’s changed. But I just think Pinterest is the place for us to be. We can’t disregard that platform. It’s so important to show up there. Do you have tips for us on Pinterest? What do you think you do that makes you stand out? 

June Albertson: I would say, as I said, I’m consistent. I have somebody who’s helping me. I do use Tailwind, or my helper does, and so I have so many posts going out. I use it a lot for myself, and so I’m always trying to think of how I would improve for my own viewing. So what do I look for in pins? I don’t know. I try to create consistent pins so that when people see it, they’re like, oh I know that’s from June at Practically Homemade. When my mom says, I know your pins. I’m like that’s good. That’s what I want. So try to keep them, they don’t all have to be the same, but look the same. So when people already know that they like your stuff and they know what your style is, they’ll know just from even looking without even seeing what website it is. I’ve had a lot of people tell me.

Megan Porta: That’s good.

June Albertson: When they roll out new features, just like Instagram or anything like that, you’re just gonna have to go with it. Like idea pins. I hate that I cannot attach a link because I spend a lot of time sending links to people on Pinterest. The idea pins, I think keep my engagement up a lot, which helps, I would say Pinterest is showing my stuff more because of that. So I do two idea pins a day and I’m super consistent with that. So just anything else doing what they’re rolling out.

Megan Porta: The idea pins are now getting your links. They’ve started rolling those out. Have you seen that? 

June Albertson: I have not yet. I’m hoping that becomes available for me. Because I spend a lot of time, like I said, messaging links to people because they’re frustrated, where’s the recipe? 

Megan Porta: I know it. It has been a common frustration and I think that’s why Pinterest finally was like, okay, we’re gonna put links in idea pins because it’s not just the content creators, it’s also the frustrated user.

June Albertson: Yes. They are frustrated, that’s for sure. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. I saw a blogger friend sent me an example of an idea pin that had a link, and it’s discreet, but I’m like, you know what, there’s a link there. 

June Albertson: So somehow teach them.

Megan Porta: Yeah, we have to educate about it being there. So if you tap on the description, there’s like a link, but it’s just a text link that, would say pipandebby.com. So you would tap on that, but it would take you to the direct URL of the post, but it’s not like a recipe here, anything like that. So it is something I feel like we’re going to have to educate our users about.

June Albertson: Sure. 

Megan Porta: So we brainstormed this in one of my groups. What if we started doing animated arrows or something pointing down and saying the recipe link below? Just letting something people know that it’s there until they get the hang of it. I think we’re gonna have to do that.

June Albertson: I think you are. Yeah, for sure. 

Megan Porta: But it’s good that it’s starting to show up. That means that we’re all probably gonna see it soon, 

June Albertson: I’m hoping. 

Megan Porta: Yes. I think that’ll be huge for a lot of us. So what are your thoughts about, you love Pinterest, so what do you think about SEO and keyword research and all of that?

June Albertson: So SEO is something, like I said at the beginning, I just didn’t have any idea about. So slowly I’ve been working on it more and more trying to get my organic traffic up, and I just think it really is somewhere that we need to be. Definitely, if I was starting over again, I would start doing that from the beginning. I think that I’d probably be a little bit farther than I am now, but I had no idea, and so now I’m trying to go back and update old posts and really work on some of those things because I just didn’t know. I don’t know if I just didn’t know it or if I just looked over it. I don’t have any idea.

Megan Porta: I think we don’t know what we don’t know. We get into blogging and we’re like this will be easy. We just put some recipes up. This is fun. But we learn as we get more connected that there are things that we need to do to get to be visible. Where do you recommend people start with SEO if they’re listening and they’re like, I don’t really know where to start. 

June Albertson: When I first did it, I think I was super overwhelmed, so I hired somebody to help me a little bit. They would help me find my keywords and some stuff like that. But I do it all by myself now. I use Keysearch because I just feel like, first of all, it’s affordable. Even if you weren’t making money yet, I think you could afford it. I think it’s $17 a month or something like that. It really is helpful in searching for what you should be posting and helping with keywords, and you can even track some things. But I just think I would start really writing for the user instead of what you think you should be blogging. I think it could be a mix of both. I do put stuff out there that just really is something that I love and maybe not gonna be so SEO friendly, but in order to make enough money to do this full-time, I think that SEO is something that people are gonna have to really spend a lot of time on. 

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Megan Porta: There should be a food blogging school, right? Like 101. Let’s sit down and talk about SEO and keyword research. This is hugely important. 

June Albertson: I think it just evolved so much over time that it always changes.

Megan Porta: Yeah. When I started, SEO wasn’t a thing. I would write literally two little paragraphs about my mom’s food when I was growing up. No keywords. I wouldn’t even probably put the actual, if I was writing a post about meatloaf, I probably would include that word once. It was bad. That content ranked on page one for many years, so it wasn’t a thing. Then we just have to, as with everything else, we just have to evolve with the changes in our industry. 

June Albertson: Yeah, I think that’s one of the biggest things is just being able and willing to pivot a lot because just in the six years I’ve been blogging, it’s changed so much and you just learn more as you go. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, that’s another point in itself. So what have you, looking back, what have you had to pivot with? 

June Albertson: My photography was something that I really had to work on in the beginning. As all of us, I think, probably look back and think, oh my gosh, the pictures are a little bit cringey. So really working on that, making pictures that people really wanna click on. But search engine optimization for sure is a big thing that I had to go from just rethinking how I was gonna do my content so that I’m as actually writing things that people might be searching for. The video, different things like that. That’s still one thing that I really need to tap into that I haven’t as much. But I don’t know. All of these things change all the time.

Megan Porta: It’s so true. But the good thing about video is that the trend now is to not be super polished, I think. You can just show up in a very real way with your phone and make really popular, effective videos, which I don’t know about you, but I love this trend and I hope it sticks around.

June Albertson: I do too. I’ve always tried to make that for Practically Homemade, especially when I want even my pictures and stuff for people to look like, I could actually do that. I don’t want it to be, for what I cook anyway, so over and have all these other things and I want just the food to be in there and I don’t want it to look super perfect. So I love that video’s going that way too. 

Megan Porta: Me too. It’s such a relief to me. Finally, people don’t want the hugely polished. Maybe photos will get there eventually. Just take a sloppy picture of your messy casserole or something. We’re not there yet with photos.

June Albertson: Oh no. 

Megan Porta: What else have you had to pivot on looking back?

June Albertson: I think the biggest thing was, when I decided that I wasn’t just going to be messing around and doing it like a fun side gig and really make it a business, that mind shift is probably really when my blog took off. Being really mindful of what I was doing instead of just doing whatever I wanted. So I think if you started like that, it probably would progress faster. But I probably was a year or two of being super busy and stuff and then finally thinking, okay, I want to see if I can make this a go and really buckling down with my making sure I was working on SEO and doing all the things to try to grow it.

Megan Porta: Yes. Having that mindset from the beginning, it’s like an accelerator to your growth I think, for sure. 

June Albertson: I think so. For sure. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, I agree with that. And then, how do you get in the right place with that? If you’re on the fence oh, I don’t know. Do I want to do this? Do I not? Any encouragement on that? 

June Albertson: I would just say, if you really love it, blogging was something I enjoyed doing. I was doing it on the weekends, in the evenings, and I knew I loved it, then go for it. I think that if you’re passionate about something and just stay consistent, it will eventually, even in the long game work out. If it’s something that you’re not totally committed to, I’m not sure that it’ll work because I don’t know that people realize sometimes how much work goes into it, but if you love it and it’s something you are really passionate about, I would say just go for it for sure. 

Megan Porta: I love that. That’s great advice. Okay. What else have you learned along the way? 

June Albertson: I would say, and I mentioned it a little bit, but writing for the reader first. I was just wanting to get posts up at the beginning and put recipes up with photos and not really write to the reader and answer questions and all those things that have become important. So now, my goal is with every blog post, I want my reader to get as much information from my blog post as they can and not have a lot of questions. So I’m constantly trying to think of how I can write for my readers to make it the best experience it can be. And in the beginning, I just had, didn’t have that mindset and I think that’s really helped a lot. I do think that probably from when I started to now, it’s more, gone more that way. I could get away with it a little bit in the beginning. Now you can’t, if you’re wanting to rank for anything. 

Megan Porta: How do you change that perspective? Because I think changing your lens on that is a little bit hard because we’re so immersed in our content. How do you step away from yourself and become your user? 

June Albertson: I think because I started out as a blog reader before I was ever a blogger myself, I really was aware of what I liked and what I didn’t like. I just think you have to put yourself in that space and then try to take an unbiased look at your blog and what you can do to make it better. I know that there are still a ton of things that I could do better. I just had an audit and became painfully aware of all of that. But I think if you can do that and just try to make it how you would want it to be, then most of us have the same expectations when we go somewhere to read a blog.

Megan Porta: Yeah, there are good and bad parts of that. I think like I feel like a lot of our blogs look very similar, but it’s also good because it’s getting honed in on, I think what the user really wants and needs when they go to Google or Pinterest to find a recipe. So yeah, it’s interesting to see how that has evolved for sure.

June Albertson: I do think that’s true, for sure. Because I think readers just don’t have the time to spend. I would say, that the Jump To button is new in the last, I don’t know, since I’ve been doing it. When they don’t have time, can just use that, which is super user-friendly. I honestly just put it on my blog in the last year. I was hesitant, but I know that I want it. So I was like, okay, I have to get this done. 

Megan Porta: Yes, for sure. That one is huge because when you do think of when I’m looking for a recipe right and having nothing to do with my work, just I want a pulled pork recipe and I look it up and I don’t see a jump to button, it’s frustrating. So noting those things when you’re the user, I think.

June Albertson: Those little things that you know that you want, I would be sure. I have been guilty, like the popup that I don’t really love when I’m a user. So I’ve really been having to be mindful of the line of, what do I wanna do? I still wanna make money at the same time, but I want to make sure that my users are coming back. I guess my readers are coming back. 

Megan Porta: I actually stopped putting popups on my blog for opt-ins, for my email list a couple of years I wanna say it’s been two years now. I really like it because I want the ads, I don’t put a maximum number of ads, I wouldn’t say. Those are important for me because that’s a huge part of my income. 

June Albertson: I’m not doing any popups anymore either. 

Megan Porta: Oh, good. Yeah, I think it’s rare to hear that. Popups, if you talk to any email expert, they’re probably gonna tell you that they’re very important. But I just feel like, I have the feast theme. It’s really convenient for people on mobile to sign up for my email list. I don’t want to give them that extra thing to have to X out of and be frustrated with. So I just don’t do it personally. 

June Albertson: Or half the time you can’t even find where the X is to X out. So that’s super frustrating. 

Megan Porta: Yes. Oh gosh, that’s frustrating. Then I was thinking of my son, he likes to cook and bake. A while ago he was using one of my recipes, I think for cookies. He gives me feedback oh mom, this feature in your recipe card is so amazing. So I try to take note of those things too. When people, especially people I know who really care, tell me they liked the feature in the recipe card where you can tap and it puts a line through the ingredient as you’ve already used it. That feature, he was like, this is fantastic. Now I know what I already used. So I just try to take note of anyone who gives me feedback as well.

June Albertson: Absolutely. For sure. 

Megan Porta: What else do we have to talk about? 

June Albertson: Gosh, one of my biggest battles probably at the beginning was like the imposter syndrome. Because when you start, you’re wanting to be somewhere you’re not already. I remember going to the Everything Food conference the first time, and I was so overwhelmed and came home and I didn’t touch my computer for a month because I was like, I can’t do this, all these different things. Anyway, so I think that just trying to have confidence in knowing that what you’re doing is good and can’t really be compared to anybody else because no one’s doing the same thing. That was a big thing for me, in the beginning, to get over, because you have all these big bloggers out there that you’re been reading their blogs and you know they’re super successful and you’re like, there are things obviously that you can do that they’re doing, but comparing yourself to them can be hard sometimes. So I would definitely say to try to not do that so that you can stay just focused on what you’re doing. 

Megan Porta: That’s hard. 

June Albertson: It is hard.

Megan Porta: That’s one of those things where you hear it and you know it, but actually playing that out is so hard. 

June Albertson: Yes. I literally, when I came home and didn’t touch my computer for a month. Finally, I was having to be like, what would you tell me at that time I was still teaching high school culinary, what would you tell your students? I would tell them, to stop it. Get back on the computer, and get going. So I finally had to talk myself through it like I would if I was talking to one of my students at the time. It was funny.

Megan Porta: Oh, that’s a good way to look at it. Just treating yourself as if you’re someone that you’re coaching or mentoring or something like that. 

June Albertson: Or like how you wouldn’t want your kids or my students or whatever to give up. So just keep going. That’s always in the back of your mind because you want to be successful. But yeah, just trying not to let it overtake you. 

Megan Porta: That is a real situation and so hard and so difficult. So just acknowledging that if you are feeling that, and I think most of us do from time to time, at least feel that it’s normal. You’re not alone. I just want to acknowledge that it’s hard because it also feels sometimes like we shouldn’t think it’s hard. Everyone else has this figured out. But that’s not true. 

June Albertson: It looks super easy. 

Megan Porta: It looks like it is, but it’s not true. We’re all struggling with that. 

June Albertson: Yeah. So if I think being able to have a little bit of a core group of people that are doing the same thing helps with that. Like your mastermind or different things like that can really be helpful in keeping you out of that. 

Megan Porta: It’s so true. I was just gonna say that too. Yeah, it’s true. That topic gets brought to the table a lot, just like why am I in the space? Why am I doing this? Who am I to think that I can do better than anyone else? Just having that group to say, this is why, because you do this and you show up and you are consistent and all of the things. Then you can just see it in their faces. Oh my gosh, you’re right. Just getting that little pep talk from trusted peers regularly is so huge. 

June Albertson: So important. 

Megan Porta: Yes. So important. 

June Albertson: Don’t do it all alone, I would say. I do better in smaller groups, so going to little retreats and things like that works better for me than going to a big conference. I get overwhelmed, but just anything you can do to keep yourself around people that are doing the same thing. Because no one really understands what you’re doing except people that are doing it. My husband will talk to me about it and listen and all those things, but he doesn’t know.

Megan Porta: Yes. So it’s so true. We just went to a family birthday party over the weekend. My mother-in-law was like, how’s your business? You can tell she’s so curious. I know what she wants to say. How in the world are you making money? My husband is stepping out of his job right now because we’ve been super blessed and just that has been our situation this past year. We have the resources now for him to do that. 

June Albertson: Oh, that’s great. 

Megan Porta: So people see that happening and they’re, I can tell they just want to ask like, how much money are you making and where are getting this money from? 

June Albertson: How is this happening? So where I live, there’s nobody else doing anything like this.

Megan Porta: Oh, sure. 

June Albertson: So when I quit teaching, which I did love, I just felt like at the end I couldn’t do both well or to my full potential. I got a lot of questions and still do about them. What is it and how is it and yeah. 

Megan Porta: It’s just funny when it’s someone close to you, you can tell they’re just skirting around it. How is your business going? I’m like, oh, it’s good. So pass the pizza, please. 

June Albertson: Yeah, that’s how I am too, for sure.

Megan Porta: If people ask me direct questions I’m fine answering it, but if you’re gonna ask me how my business is doing, I’m gonna tell you it’s going well. I’m super excited because you’re coming to a retreat, an Eat Blog Talk retreat.

June Albertson: Yes. I’m excited

Megan Porta: I get to meet you in person. Those are so powerful. It is such a good way to connect on a really intimate level and get to know people and get a core group of friends and really learn firsthand. You can just open your laptop and show somebody what you’re talking about. So yeah, I’m really excited about that. That’ll be super fun. 

June Albertson: Yeah. I really like the more laid-back. 

Megan Porta: Same.

June Albertson: Style of a retreat like that. Conferences are fine, but I do get a little bit like, oh my gosh, there’s all these different things I need to go to. 

Megan Porta: It’s overwhelming. 

June Albertson: It is for me.

Megan Porta: For everyone. I feel like there are very few people who can say that it’s not overwhelming. There’s a lot of people, there’s a lot of commotion there’s a lot going on in noise and information and overload. My whole brain just is whoa. 

June Albertson: Yeah. So I’m excited too. 

Megan Porta: Yes, me too. 

June Albertson: I’ve never been to that area of the United States before, so I’m excited.

Megan Porta: Oh, awesome. Yeah. We’re gonna have a blast. Okay. June, this has been immensely valuable. What have we forgotten that we need to mention before we say goodbye? 

June Albertson: Oh gosh. I would just say, just believe in yourself. Keep your head down, and keep going because everybody’s voice is different. So even though it is super saturated, if you’re really passionate and just keep going, I think that as I said, it might be a long game, but at the same time, if you love it, then it’s worth it. 

Megan Porta: It’ll pay off eventually. Trust in the process, right? 

June Albertson: Yes. 

Megan Porta: Awesome. Thank you so much for all of this. This was wonderful. I so enjoyed connecting with you, and thank you for all this value you shared.

June Albertson: Thank you for having me. 

Megan Porta: Yes. Thanks for coming and showing up. Do you have either a favorite quote or words of inspiration to share, or was that your inspiration? 

June Albertson: That’s my inspiration. I always just say and I always said this to my kids and to my students, just run your own race. Like you’re the only one with that voice, with that path. So yeah, just try to stay focused on your own race. 

Megan Porta: Great words of wisdom. Thank you. 

June Albertson: You’re welcome. 

Megan Porta: We’ll put together a show notes page for you, June. If anyone wants to go peek at those, you can go to eatblogtalk.com/practicallyhomemade. Tell everyone where they can find you. So mention your blog, social media, and all of that.

June Albertson: So you can find [email protected]. Although I did say I don’t love Instagram, I am on there at Practically Homemade by June, and then Practically Homemade on both Facebook and Pinterest. 

Megan Porta: So everyone, go check June out. Yay. Thanks again for being here, June, and thank you so much for listening today, food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode. 

Outro: 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.