Episode 710: A Step-by-Step Plan to Start Blogging Full-Time (+How to Quit Your Corporate Job) With Jessica Vogl

EBT710 – Jessica Vogl

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. 

[00:00:37]  Megan Porta 

Are you thinking about taking the leap from maybe a corporate job or some sort of full time job or responsibility to full time blogging? If so, this interview is a must listen. I talked to Jess Vogl from This Jess Cooks and she tells us her whole story about leaving her corporate job and in PR and marketing and going to full time blogging and it was quite an adventure for her. She tells you if you are thinking of doing the same thing about how to create a plan to make the leap, different ways to utilize skills that maybe you had in your corporate job or your other job that you can bring over into blogging, how to create systems in your business right off the bat.

[00:01:28]   

So you are all set to go and talking about some mindset shifts to make too. So going from thinking that you’re always a newbie to having the confidence to do this and to really own it. And then last but not least, we talk about never stop learning, never stop growing, never stop having that mindset that you’re open to new things coming your way.

[00:01:53]   

This is really a valuable conversation even if you are not currently thinking of taking a leap. Maybe you already are a full time blogger. Still tune in because there are such good nuggets here that I think everyone is going to pull out. I really hope you love this episode. It is number 710.

[00:02:12] Sponsor   

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[00:02:30]   Megan Porta

Jessica Vogl is the face behind This Jess Cooks where she shares simple baking and sourdough discard recipes. She also shares tips and tricks to help get your own sourdough starter up and running. So if you are in your sourdough era, or if you want to be, then she is your person. Jess is based in Chicago with her husband and son and they recently bought a house that they are renovating.

[00:02:54]   

Hello Jess, how’s it going today?

[00:02:56]  Jessica Vogl 

Hey, I’m good. How are you?

[00:02:58]  Megan Porta 

I’m doing good. So happy to have you here. I am super excited to talk about taking the leap to full time. I think a lot of people question this for a long time, like, do I do it, how do I do it, when do I do it? All the things that go along with doing it.Before we get into your story and how to take that jump, do you have a fun fact to share with us?

[00:03:23]  Jessica Vogl 

So I just jotted down a few random facts about myself. I was born in Belgium, which is maybe something that people so my mom is Belgian, my dad is American, and we lived in Brussels for the first year of my life and then moved to the States. So I have dual citizenship, which is fun and was very convenient when I studied abroad in college and I got to avoid the visa things that certain people had to do. So that’s my fun fact today.

[00:03:51]  Megan Porta 

That’s so cool. Yeah, that’s a new one. Never said that one before. Great to know that about you. And now I would love to learn a little bit about your blog. So This Jess Cooks is your blog, right? Tell us a little bit about it.

[00:04:06]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah. So This Jess Cooks is a blog sharing simple baking and sourdough discard recipes. Mostly sourdough discard. All of my recipes can also be made with active sourdough starter. But I really started working with, I made a sourdough starter during COVID Didn’t we all? Like, isn’t that what everybody did? So I made a starter during COVID and as I was doing it, I was so frustrated by a, it didn’t work the first time.

[00:04:32]   

I did not succeed and I had to throw away so much of it every time I fed it. And I was like, I have to cut this thing in half and I’m literally throwing away all this time and these ingredients basically that I have just put into this for two weeks to try to get this thing off the ground.

[00:04:48]   

And I was just so frustrated by that. So I started making discard recipes just sort of out of my own frustration and need for them and started sharing them on my blog. I mean, my blog prior to that was a bit general, like it was dairy free recipes, but it was sort of everything.

[00:05:05]   

And this started giving me some real structure and real direction which, you know, I’ve just taken it and ran since and it’s been really fun and I’m not bored at all. And I, you know, friends and family are always like, you’re in a niche of a niche, you know, don’t you feel a little restricted?

[00:05:20]   

And I’m like, frankly, I don’t like it. Feels actually really, really roomy in here. So, yeah, it’s been a really fun journey.

[00:05:27]  Megan Porta 

That’s such a great niche. Niche, Nichy, niche to have because, yeah, since COVID this has become a big thing. It’s become a niche for sure. So you started your blog before COVID. When did you initially start it?

[00:05:42]  Jessica Vogl 

You know, my blog has gone through many iterations. I think there’s probably a lot of people who have that story. I think originally it was like a travel journal when I was in school. Certainly when I was in college, I was blogging travel stuff, but it was mostly like family and friends, reading what I’m doing while I’m studying abroad kind of thing.

[00:05:59]   

And then eventually it started dipping its toe into food and sort of restructured a little bit towards dairy free recipes and then started restructuring a little bit towards baking and then ended up going down a sourdough discard route. So the first post, I mean, was probably in 2008, but it was something completely, completely different.It was more of like a diet diary, online, if you will.

[00:06:25]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, it’s an evolution, I think for most of us. If it’s not, I think it’s pretty unique to not be an evolution, so. Well, that’s great. So during COVID when you really went into this niche, were you. You had a job? Correct. You had a full time corporate job?

[00:06:43]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah, so I was working in corporate PR and communications at a food company in Chicago. So it was, you know, it was interesting because on paper it was like my dream job. It’s exactly what I wanted to be doing. You know, I. I did it. You know, I was like, I’m here, I’m doing the thing.

[00:07:01]   

This is where I want to be. And at the same time, it wasn’t as shiny as I thought it would be once you get there. So it just wasn’t like living up to my expectations for what it was going to be. And then frankly, Covid hit and that changed my job a lot.

[00:07:17]   

It became crisis comms and Covid comms and a lot of just like, you know, stuff that. That’s not really what I wanted to do. I wanted to do lifestyle and food PR and we’re sitting there talking about, you know, disease rates around the world. So it was just sort of declining and getting less interesting for me at work.

[00:07:37]   

And at the same time, I was doing food photography as, you know, a creative outlet. I was doing blogging as a creative outlet. I was starting to take on some clients, like as little side gigs here. And that was actually going really well. I remember having a month where I was still working full time in comms and I did $7,000 of side gig, like freelance food photography work that month.

[00:08:03]   

And I just, I had this moment where I was like, okay, hold on, like, that’s not nothing. And if I did that while still working a full time corporate job, you know, what can I do if I put all my effort into this and put all my time and attention and like really tried to learn and all that stuff.

[00:08:22]   

So that’s sort of when the seeds started to get planted. You know, my corporate job was just getting less and less fulfilling for me and my sort of side work was getting more and more fulfilling. And I was starting to see, like, hey, there’s a world over here and it’s real and there’s money to be made and like, this could be a real, you know, a real job.

[00:08:43]   

I certainly had all, you know, friends and family who are like, are you sure? Are you sure? Can you make money doing this? You know, the first conversations with my parents are like, are you’re gonna leave your job and you’re gonna, you know. Yeah. But it was tough

[00:08:54]  Megan Porta 

A conversation a lot of us experience.

[00:09:00]  Jessica Vogl 

And when you’re, and when you’re sitting in a really nice role, it’s hard to leave. It’s. It’s comfortable. Right? Like, you went to school for this, you’ve been in this industry for however many years, you’re making a good salary, you have benefits, like all that stuff. It’s very comfortable and it’s obviously very uncomfortable to say, hey, that’s not enough anymore and I’m gonna go do something maybe a little crazy.

[00:09:26]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:09:27]  Jessica Vogl 

So that’s, so that’s what I did.

[00:09:29]  Megan Porta 

But really, I mean, on paper it’s uncomfortable, but it’s really like in retrospect, making the leap myself many years ago, it’s like, yeah, it was so, so uncomfortable and unconventional, but it makes perfect sense that I did it because, like, look at the freedom and the, everything that has opened up for me and my life and my family.

[00:09:53]   

Like, yes, it’s, it was. Right. But at the time, it feels like on paper I’m making this, I have this for benefits, I have health insurance, blah, blah, blah. It’s. It’s such a hard decision to make and to actually take the leap and.

[00:10:08]  Jessica Vogl 

It’S a huge identity shift. You know, you’re here, you’re like, oh, I’m a trained professional. You know, I’ve been doing this for a decade of, you know, a decade of experience in xyz, and now you’re going to be like, oh, I have, you know, no experience. I don’t know what I do. But, you know, that’s just sort of the.The villain thoughts going through your mind.

[00:10:25]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, a lot of mindset stuff.

[00:10:28]  Jessica Vogl 

Totally involved a lot of mindset stuff. But like you said, it also just felt really right. Like, it didn’t. It didn’t feel like I was going against the grain. Like, it felt a little scary, sure. But it felt really good. And every time I had even just like, a small win or a small learning or something, you know, something would get unlocked for me, and I’d be like, this is so cool.

[00:10:51]   

And it just, like, kept doing that. And so that, to me, where. That’s where I was like, all right, I’m going in the right direction. Like, this isn’t going to be a totally straight line here, but at least I’m, like, moving in the general path. That feels really fulfilling for me. I feel like I’m good at this and can be good at this.And, you know, I think that this can be real.

[00:11:11]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I love that you did that. Just following, like, what. It’s literally one step at a time sometimes just like, okay, this feels right. I’m going to go there. Okay, now this feels right. I’m going to. Going there. Even though it’s really hard to do that because we do have people in.

[00:11:26]  Jessica Vogl 

A creative field, I think you have to feed that creative energy. So even if you’re like, all right, this is maybe a little bit of a sidestep. Maybe this is a little side quest here, but, like, if that’s gonna fuel your creative energy, then, like, absolutely, go and do that thing and come back and you’re gonna have this new energy for whatever is your sort of main focus.

[00:11:46]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I totally agree. So I know there are a lot of people listening who are in the, in a boat that you were in, and I was in a long time ago, where it’s like, I have the safe space, but this feels right. How do I and when do I pursue it? Do you have thoughts for them as far as, like, creating a plan, like, when to actually take the leap?

[00:12:09]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah. So I think there’s a couple things that will set a really good foundation for you. One is talking with your partner, your spouse, your parents, your friends, whoever. Whoever is sort of your support system in your life and talking to them and saying, hey, I want to do this. And this is my plan and getting them on board.

[00:12:30]   

Ideally, obviously you’re going to want them to be in your corner and to be, you know, you’re going to call them when you’re frustrated or stressed or uncertain and you want them to be supportive of what you’re doing. Especially for me. So I married my husband was a big factor in this. I needed him to be comfortable with this jump as well.

[00:12:50]   

So I made, I made a business plan and I presented it to him and I was like, look, here’s what I’m going to do. I want you to know that I’m not just like willy nilly flying by the seat of my pants. You know, there’s a little bit of that, but like there is structure here and these are my goals.

[00:13:05]   

So that was really important to me to get him on board, which he was immediately he was like, yep, done, let’s do it. I think another thing is just saying your plans out loud or your goals or your dreams. I mean we’ve all heard that in many different ways in our lives, but it is a very real and powerful thing.

[00:13:23]   

It’s somewhat easy to have a dream in your head and never voice it and then it’s easier to ignore it if it didn’t happen or if you didn’t really go for it or whatever. So I think voicing that out loud to people is going to hold you accountable a little bit and hopefully get you excited and hopefully get other people excited.

[00:13:42]   

So talk about it, talk about it with your friends, talk about it with your support system and then think about what you need to feel comfortable to make the jump. So for me, like I said, I made a business plan and I said, here are my goals, here is my timeline, and here is my when I’m going to call it.

[00:14:00]   

You know, it wasn’t an open ended forever thing. I said, you know, I wanted to, I gave myself a six month Runway. So I said, okay, here I think it was like June ish. I said, all right, I’m going to quit my job at the end of the year. From here till the end of the year, in these next six months, I’m going to get certain things together.

[00:14:18]   

I’m going to establish my LLC. I’m going to get my blog together, I’m going to create business cards, I’m going to make a portfolio site, I’m going to save money. I mean that was a real thing. Think about health insurance. I mean some of these like back end business logistics. So I had six months to do that.

[00:14:36]   

And also Take some courses. I think I took some photography courses. I listened to some summits during that time. So just take, take the opportunity to learn. So I had six months, or I gave myself six months to get it together, basically. And then I quit at the end of the year. And then I said, all right, I have one year.

[00:14:53]   

I’m giving myself one year to test this out. And if it doesn’t work, so what, you know, it’s one year, I’ll go back to corporate jobs. A one year gap is not going to hurt me on my corporate career of my life. So I think that was important too, was having like, when am I going to do it and when do I need to make the decision as to, like, is this flying or not?

[00:15:16]   

And I had very clear metrics, I guess, of like, what does it mean? When, when are we making it right? Like, what do I need to achieve to make it so a big one. A lot of times people think they need to replace their salary. Maybe true, maybe not true. Just think about, like, what number, if it is a financial goal, what number do you need to feel comfortable?

[00:15:40]   

You might not be replacing your salary 100% in that first year and that’s okay. Or maybe you do and that’s awesome. But don’t, like, if that’s such a, such a huge hurdle for you. And you say, you know, if I can make whatever that number is for you, if I can make $25,000 this year, or if I can make $50,000 this year or whatever, call that your number and be like, all right, you know, once we hit that, then we know this is working, which is, which is really important.And luckily, you know, luckily I hit my goal and I’m still here, so.

[00:16:15]  Megan Porta 

Oh, that’s so good. So, so when you created that financial goal, did you define how you would attain that? So was it like, you know, blog revenue or ad revenue or just anywhere in the business?

[00:16:30]  Jessica Vogl 

So I did not necessarily say where the needed, where the money needed to come from. When I quit my job, my blog was not monetized. I was not making money through an ad network. I didn’t monetize my blog till 2023. So I was making money through freelance photography, a little bit of sponsored content, and I actually sort of took my main gig, which had been marketing and communications, and I made it into my side gig.

[00:17:00]   

So it was not for the same company, of course, but I found a client on Upwork and I did some marketing consulting for them for several months. I want to say like five or six months. And that was, it was nice because I could still wear my like marketing and comms hat a little bit and that felt really comfortable to me and I could make some money, you know, and it wasn’t nothing, but it was also like, I think it was maybe less than, less than 10 hours a week.

[00:17:26]   

It was maybe five hours a week. So it was like a very small portion of my time where I could feel sort of comfortable in that space. And then that still left me, you know, the 95 remaining percent of my time to put towards my own endeavors. So that was really nice, was to turn a little bit of my main gig into a side gig and then also, you know, get new side gigs.

[00:17:47]   

So I took on some photography tutoring at the time with a company that was based out of the UK and then this was probably, I mean, almost three years ago, I started working with Joni Simon at the Bite Shot as well. So I’m the business support specialist at the Bite Shot. So I help people with business related questions as they’re setting up their business or, you know, working through brand deals and things like that.

[00:18:12]   

So think about how you can make that main gig into your side gig and then maybe you can also get some other side gigs in this new space that you’re playing in.

[00:18:23]  Megan Porta 

That’s so creative. I haven’t heard anyone talk about that when we. I’ve done many episodes on this topic, but I love that idea of taking what you’ve been educated in or what you’ve gotten training in and, and doing that on the side because we all have something that we could do. We tend to think like, oh, I need to be on an ad network and that’s it.   That’s my only way. But that’s not the only way.

[00:18:49]  Jessica Vogl 

No. And Upwork is a great platform. Fiverr is also pretty great. It’s super easy to use. I believe they’re free or at least there’s like a free version of it. And you can basically just pitch yourself to jobs that have already been posted. So it can be, it can be literally anything. I mean if you want to do some, you know, if you’re a teacher and you want to tutor some students like 100%, you could find work doing that or you could, I mean there’s copywriting jobs, there’s all kinds of things that you can do more or less on an hourly basis and you can choose like how much or how little of that you want to do in your day to give you as much time as you need and want you know, to pursue your passion.

[00:19:28]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I love that so much there. And then once you’re in the world of blogging, there are so many avenues that you can explore. You mentioned photography. There’s videography, there’s writing, there’s. Oh, my gosh, we could go on and on. There’s so much opportunity to serve other people and get your own clients in the blogging world and make money freelancing on so many different levels.

[00:19:50]  Jessica Vogl 

Totally.

[00:19:52]  Megan Porta 

So, okay, once you’re in. So let’s say somebody’s like, okay, I’m going to take the leap. They make the plan, they get their loved ones on board, and then they’re generating money. What would kind of be the next thing for them to think about?

[00:20:08]  Jessica Vogl 

So I would focus on creating some systems for yourself. And I did this right away. So I would say even before you’re generating money or like, at least in those early days, it’s. It can be. For me, it was a very drastic jump from your corporate day. Like, what did your day look like?

[00:20:25]   

Right. You were in calls, or at least for me, I was in calls all day long. Calls and meetings all day long. I just talk to people all day and then suddenly I’m at home by myself. I have no meetings. I don’t talk to anybody unless I make an effort to, like, go to the cafe on the corner or something.

[00:20:44]   

So it was a really big shift and I wanted to make sure that I still had some structure. I’m somebody that doesn’t work super well when there’s, like, no parameters and, like, no pressure. It’s like a little too open for me. So. So I wanted to calendar everything. Like, I will put a meeting on my calendar for anything, even if that is like, this time block, I’m doing some pitching.

[00:21:11]   

This time block, I’m watching this course. This time block, I’m going to shoot a recipe or I’m going to have, you know, meet up with somebody for lunch or something. Networking for sure. Like, get to know your local area and get lunch and coffee with local people in your space that are doing things that you think are interesting.

[00:21:29]   

It’s just good to know others. And that also gets you out of the house or even if you’re doing it on Skype or something, you know, gets you some kind of connection, which can be really, really powerful. So I highly recommend making meeting blocks for yourself for pretty much anything. I mean, you could put as many on there as you want.

[00:21:49]   

There’s never going to be too many. Also definitely put a few on there that are truly business things. So not so much now, but at least in the beginning I would do QuickBooks weekly. So I would do like, I would look at my cash flow every week. So I was very, very tuned into what, you know, where everything was.

[00:22:08]   

I would also do weekly business journaling and I would just say, you know, here’s what I did this week, here’s what worked and what didn’t work, here’s what I want to explore next week or here’s some questions that I have or something that I’m not sure about that really helped me sort of have like a wrap up meeting, if you will, with myself once a week.

[00:22:29]   

And I would do it every week. It seems like a lot, but it was really, really helpful at this point. I still, I do a business business journaling session once a month.

[00:22:40]  Sponsor

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[00:22:59]  Jessica Vogl 

And I more or less still do the same stuff. I say, hey, here’s what we have done in the last month. This worked, this didn’t. I’m curious about, maybe I’ll try that next, you know, and it’s, it’s really fun to look back as well and say, all right, look at the things that I’ve done in the last six months, year, however long.

[00:23:18]   

It’s really nice to look back at that. I actually, it’s a bit of a side story, but I found an old business journal entry of when I joined MediaVine, when I first got accepted to MediaVine. And of course, you know, the level of excitement was, you know, 10, 10 million level of excitement.

[00:23:35]   

And I thought I was like, oh, if I could make $500 this year, in the year, $500 from my blog. I was like, ah, I’m gonna be so happy I’m making it. You know, I was like, that is, that is my goal. That is my goal. And I think I made like $750 in my first month.

[00:23:56]   

So I was just like completely blown away. And if I could go back now and tell my previous self, I’d be like, you know what, just keep doing what you’re doing. But yeah, it’s gonna be more than $500.

[00:24:07]  Megan Porta 

Oh, isn’t that great? Looking back, there’s nothing better than looking back and seeing that what you once thought was a big win was like such a little, little win. And that you could accomplish and do so much more than what you set out to do.

[00:24:22]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah, it is nice to look back and the journaling is really helpful. I think it helps just to, like, get it out in the moment. But it is really nice later to then and, you know, sort of appreciate what you’ve gone through and what you’ve done. Even if it wasn’t all wins, let’s be honest.They’re not all wins.

[00:24:38]  Megan Porta 

No, they’re not all wins. I love the term business journaling. I’ve never heard anyone say that. So when you sit down to business journal, what are some questions you ask yourself?

[00:24:49]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah, so right now I’m doing it monthly, but when I was doing it weekly, it’s more or less the same thing. And obviously do this at whatever cadence feels good for you. But I think about, all right, what happened this month, week, or this month, what worked, what didn’t work? I sort of think about, like, a red light, green light situation.

[00:25:05]   

Stop, start, continue. So it’s kind of like I’m doing these things and it’s working well, so I’m going to continue those. Maybe. I have a couple questions. You know, these things are a yellow light, if you will, where I’m like, eh, I’m not super sure about how these are going. Let’s, like, do some more research or give it more time or whatever it needs.

[00:25:22]   

And then the red light would be, you know, we’ve been trying this thing, and it’s just, we gotta call it and, you know, next steps, next week, cancel that thing or make that meeting or whatever it is. But it’s nice. It sort of is like, all right, a little bit. I mean, cutthroat’s not the right word, but it’s kind of like you got to pick, is it green, green, yellow, or red?

[00:25:43]  Megan Porta 

So it’s like a determination. Am I going to keep pursuing everything that you’re doing that week? Which I think is great, because so many things can fall through the cracks. And then months go by and we’re like, oh, why am I still doing this? This isn’t working.

[00:25:58]  Jessica Vogl 

So to do that, or you kind of forget how long you’ve been doing something, and you’re kind of like, oh, I only meant to try this for like, two months. And then, oops, eight months has gone by, and it’s like, oh, yeah, this didn’t really work. And I never really came back to it.

[00:26:11]   

And for some reason, I’ve been doing it for eight months now. It’s like, oh, well, that kind of sucks. So yeah.

[00:26:18]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. That’s really cool that you do that and that you continue that. You’ve continued it. Even though. Yeah, it’s monthly, I think it’s still important to touch base with yourself.

[00:26:27]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah. And it’s also where I write down my, you know, my goals or like, what do I want to do next? So it’s like, all right, well, what do I want to do next month or next week or whatever time frame, you know, where do I want to put my energy? Which is nice.And it’s. It holds me accountable. So I like that. I like that aspect of it too.

[00:26:45]  Megan Porta 

What are some other ways to stay accountable? You talked about getting accountability from, you know, partners, spouses, parents, whatever, loved ones. How else do you find ways to just, I guess, stay on track?

[00:26:59]  Jessica Vogl 

So you might think I’m crazy for this, but I do an annual review. I literally. I literally make a presentation like, oh, my God, you can only take so much corporate out of the person, right? So I make. But it’s a very pretty presentation. Now, it’s not a corporate presentation. It’s very pretty.

[00:27:17]   

So I make a cute little presentation at the end of the year and I just say, all right, here’s all my metrics. Sort of like you would. I mean, we did this in my comms career and it was just like, you know, how successful was the campaign or how successful was this launch or something like that.

[00:27:31]   

And so I’m looking at like, you know, how did the blog do? What growth numbers did we see? We, you know, we went from here to here on literally every social platform, your email list, your, like, think about any metrics that you can find. Blog metrics, for sure. I have a pretty intense Excel spreadsheet that my husband helped me make.

[00:27:50]   

Cause he’s really good at, you know, Excel backend stuff. So I’m like, year over year, how does this look compared to, you know, how’s this May versus last May and what was going on? And you know, just sort of thinking about, like, all right, if we’re seeing success, why, why are we seeing success?

[00:28:07]   

And if we’re not seeing success, why? Same question. Just to think about, all right, which, you know, so that helps you think about your stoplight. Which things are you gonna stop, start and continue based on that success? I do an annual review for myself and I have been sharing it, actually. I have a friend who I share it with who’s also in the industry, and so I take her through my business review.

[00:28:32]   

And it’s kind of nice. I mean, it’s a Little funny and it’s always like a little embarrassing. But we’re friends and that’s okay. And it’s kind of nice just to get an outsider’s perspective. Like, she’s not close to my business. It’s nice to get her thoughts on, like, oh, that’s cool. Or this is interesting.

[00:28:46]   

Or have you thought of this? Which is really neat. So that’s been, that’s been really fun as well. So if you can find somebody to share something like that with, that’s really powerful and that could be a mentor, that could be a mastermind group, that could just be a peer who’s also trying to do something similar to you, I find it’s hard.

[00:29:08]   

I mean, I do share that sort of stuff with my husband and he does appreciate it. He also works in marketing, but he doesn’t work in food space. Well, he doesn’t work in the food blog space or the blogging space. So there’s definitely a lot of stuff where it’s like he doesn’t quite get it in certain ways, which is okay.

[00:29:22]   

But that’s. You might find that’s hard if you’re like trying to talk to your parents, for example, and say, oh, look, you know, this is such a big deal. And if they just aren’t getting it, that can be a bit frustrating. So if there’s somebody that you can find in the realm ish of, you know, food blogging or whatever your thing is who can sort of get it, I think that is, is really nice and really encouraging and valuable.

[00:29:48]  Megan Porta 

I love that you do that. That’s so great. Yeah. Can’t take the corporate out of the girl, right?

[00:29:53]  Jessica Vogl 

I mean, you know, keep some of those skills, right?

[00:29:57]  Megan Porta 

I mean, some of those things are truly valuable and they’re, they’re in the corporate world for a reason, so why not? Absolutely advantageous your business, continue it. So you came from marketing, which ties in to being a content creator. And I think a lot of us carry, a lot of us are creative individuals.

[00:30:17]   

So we kind of start out in some aspect being creative people and working in creative field. I was a graphic designer for a lot of years before moving into food blogging and also photographer. So those skills were no brainers. Like they transfer very well. So talk about that having some sort of creative skill set that you can take into your food blogging business.

[00:30:44]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah, I think one thing that I hear sort of often is people sort of discredit their first career and they’re like, oh, I’ve only been doing this for a year or I’ve only been doing this for three years or whatever timeframe. And they sort of pretend like they didn’t do anything before. And it’s like, well, and what did you do before that?

[00:31:01]   

You know, you were an architect for 20 years. Like, whoa. Like, that’s huge. Or you were a teacher or whatever. Like, it really doesn’t matter what career you were in prior to becoming a food blogger or food creative of whatever kind, there’s absolutely going to be value in that career and there’s absolutely going to be transferable skills.

[00:31:23]   

Even if it’s something as simple as knowing how to communicate with clients, that’s a big one. If you’re doing any kind of branded work or sponsored content or anything like that, you need to be on time, you need to be responsive, you need to know how to write useful emails, you need to know how to stick to deadlines and create, you know, really basic stuff.

[00:31:46]   

But also that basic stuff is very well what can lose you a client too. So if you’re not doing those things correctly and you’re creating the best content in the world, it doesn’t really matter. So those sort of simple things are all really, really powerful. But if you were a teacher or a therapist or anything, I mean, think about what you know and how that can apply.

[00:32:12]   

Like, does that apply to your writing or does it apply to, you know, your understanding of your audience, like how you’re understanding their needs or how you’re gathering that information. Maybe you’re super in tune with what your audience wants to hear and you’re polling your audience every quarter or something and adjusting based on what they’re looking for.

[00:32:32]   

And then you’re creating content that addresses those very specific needs. I mean, that’s going to come from a background, you know, you didn’t just make wake up knowing how to do that, you. You gained those skills somewhere else. So there’s always, always, always going to be transferable skills that you can bring to this space.

[00:32:50]  Megan Porta 

So maybe tapping into just like understanding yourself and knowing what, what your skills are and, yeah, just leaning into them. I think even something that you might discount as being not transferable might really benefit you in your blogging business.

[00:33:07]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah. Or frankly, you know, dealing with a challenging client or something like that. Like, I think we’ve all had an experience where we’ve had to deal with something challenging or something that wasn’t going the way that we wanted it to go and we had to troubleshoot or we had to sort of change tracks or something like that.

[00:33:23]   

Like, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of skill in there that you can apply to this field as well.

[00:33:27]  Megan Porta 

Even communication skills. You think of blogging as not being a, a business where you have to outside of written communication, but it, it can be like you could teach, you could educate. I mean, there are so many ways to transfer any, any skill that you have. So I love this concept. Yeah.

[00:33:46]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah.

[00:33:47]  Megan Porta 

So we’ve talked a little bit about some mindset hurdles, just taking the leap from, you know, doing this as a hobby or part time to full time and how we question ourselves. But what about that mindset hurdle where we think we are so below our competition? We’re not in that playing field. We’re the new person.How do we get past that?

[00:34:11]  Jessica Vogl 

It’s so. It’s very hard. It’s very, you know, I mean, you feel like the newbie and you feel like the newbie for maybe a long time because you, let’s say you left a career of 10 years or a career of 20 years or a career of two years, it doesn’t matter. You still had years under your belt.

[00:34:28]   

Right. And now you might be saying, oh, well, I’ve only been doing this for one year or I’ve only been doing this for two years or three years. You kind of have this like, I’m new, so, like, I can’t possibly know that much because I haven’t been doing it that long. That doesn’t make any sense.

[00:34:44]   

Like, that’s just not number of years in this field equates experience, but it does not equate quality of your work or your knowledge or your success. So I just be very careful when you’re saying especially the word only. I know I’m harping a bit on that, but you know, when it’s like, I’ve only been doing this for this long and it’s like, no, that’s great.

[00:35:06]   

Like, that’s however long that is. That’s awesome. And it’s okay. And some people start up really fast. Some people take a longer time to start up. You go at your own pace and that’s totally okay. So it’s a mindset shift for sure. You just have to sort of stop thinking about yourself that way.

[00:35:21]   

You’re not the new kid on the block. You are learning. For sure, we’re all learning, but we’re all going to be learning the whole time. And I think, I know we’ll come back to that. But, you know, never stop learning. And learning has nothing to do with not knowing what you’re doing. That’s not what that means.

[00:35:39]   

So it is just something that you have to sort of put aside and say, guess what? I’m not the newbie anymore. I don’t have to pretend, pretend like I’m a newbie or discredit my work in any way or lower my prices in any way, or have doubts about myself. No, you know what you’re doing, and you have a previous career behind you as well, where you knew what you were doing then, too.

[00:36:00]   

It’s tough because there’s no badge, there’s no line. There’s no degree or something where it’s like, okay, now you’re a professional blogger, you know?

[00:36:08]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:36:09]  Jessica Vogl 

There really is no. No ribbon for that. So at some point, you just have to say, I’m here. I’m doing that. That’s what I’m doing. That’s who I am. When you introduce yourself to somebody that you don’t know, how do you introduce yourself? Kind of thing. Think about that. What’s your elevator pitch?

[00:36:24]   

And really make it strong. You know what you’re doing. You’re a food blogger, and that’s cool. That’s not like a, oh, I’m just a little food blogger, you know, I mean, it can be that if you want it to be, but also it can be a really big thing. So something to think about.

[00:36:38]  Megan Porta 

I think you nailed it, what you said earlier. Just that we’re always, all of us are always learning. Like, I’m a newbie in so many areas that other people are skilled at. I mean, I’ve been blogging forever, and I’m still a newbie in so many areas. So just getting your mind wrapped around that, like, you’re always going to be a newbie in something, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have the right to be here.

[00:37:03]   

We’re always, we’re all showing up as newbies in some way or another. So that in itself just transforms my thinking. Like, oh, yeah. Gives me confidence and like, yeah, I am. I have a right to be in this space no matter how many years I’ve been doing it.

[00:37:19]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah, for sure.

[00:37:21]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. So you mentioned learning. Never stop learning. So talk more about that mindset.

[00:37:26]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah. And I think, you know, you said it earlier, there’s no one way to be a food blogger. There’s no one way to be a food photographer or a content creator or there’s not. There’s a million different ways you can do each of those. Those things. And I think that’s part of what’s challenging is especially when you’re starting, you’re looking for a roadmap, and you’re saying, can someone just tell me how to do this?

[00:37:48]   

Like, how do I get from A to B? And it’s kind of like, well, you could do this or you could do this, or you could do 19 other things. And that’s all true. And you kind of have to just pick what speaks the most to you and what you think is going to really move the needle for your business and, you know, and be the best fit for you.

[00:38:04]   

But that also means that you’re going to spend a lot of time learning and not all of it’s going to be a win. And that’s okay. But, yeah, even as you do know your direction, like, I think I feel pretty solid in my direction right now, constantly learning. And if I ever feel stale or stuck or just like, I don’t feel like I’m moving in the way that I want to be moving, then I just try to learn something new.

[00:38:27]   

And for me, right now, that is ChatGPT and how to make use of that. It’s like, for me, it’s a very intimidating thing. It’s like, ah, I don’t want to. I don’t want to do this. I feel like. Like I have to. I hear people talking about it, but also, whenever I do try to use it for something, it is like, wow, that was useful.

[00:38:51]   

That was helpful. This wasn’t, you know, it didn’t tell me to put super glue on my pizza. Thank goodness. Yeah. So it’s just like, you know, even if it’s not something that’s going to become a main thing for you, it’s useful to know what it is, how it works, how you might apply it or not.

[00:39:10]   

If it could replace something that you’re currently using, is this like a step up from, you know, whatever platform you’re using or anything like that? Learning is so, so crucial. And. And for me, if I’m ever feeling stuck, I’m like, all right, time to learn something new. And it doesn’t need to be big, it doesn’t need to be a course.

[00:39:28]   

It doesn’t need to be like a whole huge shift of direction. It could just be something small and it could be like, you know what? This week I really want to dig into Pinterest because there’s been so many changes going on and I feel like I’m out of the loop and, you know, I want to make changes, but I don’t know how.So that’s just like sort of a research learning. You Know, something pretty small and manageable can still be really powerful.

[00:39:50]  Megan Porta 

So I think what you’re saying, what I hear you saying, is that learning skills. Yes. And learning things about the industry, but also just keeping your mind open to new things that come up because new things pop up all the time. You mentioned AI and ChatGPT. Always. This industry is always evolving. So, yes, learning, but also just being willing to have an open mind about everything that pops up in our businesses.

[00:40:17]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah. And I would not say I’m not the first person to jump onto whatever the latest thing is. There are people who are that and they are great at it. And I’m sure that they would recommend you do that, too. That’s not for me. But if something seems to have some staying power, it’s worth poking around.

[00:40:36]   

You know, we all remember Clubhouse. We all remember so many. So many things that have sort of like, you know, ebbed and flowed in different ways. But it’s useful. It’s useful to know in that specific example, like, what that platform was and how it worked. And are there maybe future applications for something like that? Sure. Did I spend a ton of time on it? Not really. Not sad about that. That’s okay. You can’t be everything everywhere, all the time.

[00:41:02]  Megan Porta 

Okay. What else do we need to know, Jess? If somebody is on the fence, they want to take the leap, but they’re hesitant. Is there something additionally that we haven’t talked about that you just want them to hear?

[00:41:15]  Jessica Vogl 

I would just say, you can do it. Like, I’m dead serious. You can do it. If you really want this, you can do it. There is money to be made. There are absolutely careers to be had out here in this food world. You can do it. Do not think that you are too young or too green or too whatever, Too late.I don’t think that’s a thing. There’s always, always, always going to be space. You can definitely do this.

[00:41:41]  Megan Porta 

Amazing. Thank you so much. This was so fun and you’re so welcome. Such an encouraging version of this conversation. Just like. Yeah. And very actionable things that people can do when they’re considering it. So thank you. And then do you have a favorite quote or words, additional words of inspiration to end with today?

[00:42:01]  Jessica Vogl 

So a quote that I keep in my notes app on my phone is a Dolly Parton quote, a little random, but it’s find out who you are and do it on purpose. And I love that. And I think, you know, it’s a lifelong quest to really figure out who you are. But once you do, or once you feel like you’re heading in that right way.

[00:42:23]   

Keep doing it. Like that’s what you’re meant to be doing. Keep doing it. Keep trying. Keep going. Keep pouring fuel on that fire. I just, I love that message, and it’s one that I repeat to myself often.

[00:42:36]  Megan Porta 

Amazing. And Dolly. Go, Dolly. I never would have attributed that to her, but that’s great. I love it. We’ll put together a show notes page for you, Jess. If you want to go peek at those, you can head to eatblogtalk.com/ThisJessCooks. So on that note, tell everyone where they can find you, Jess.

[00:42:54]  Jessica Vogl 

Yeah, so My blog is www.thisjess.com. check it out. We have tons of sourdough discard recipes ready for you. And if you want to follow on social, I’m on Instagram TikTok. Those are probably my two primary channels. And I’m This Jess Cooks on both.

[00:43:11]  Megan Porta 

Great. Well, everyone go check Jess out on her different channels. Thanks again, Jess for being here and thank you for listening food bloggers. I will see you next time.

[00:43:22]   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.