Karen of Frugal Rhode Island Mama Blog
Karen Wilmes is the lady behind Frugal Rhode Island Mama Blog, a blog about saving money on everyday items. 5 Questions is a series where online business women are asked 5 questions about life as a mom and entrepreneur. To be featured, please contact me.
1. What or who inspired you to start your business?
I was finding bargains all the time and my friends and family were always asking me how I bought so much for so little so I decided to start a blog to share all my good deals with them. Before I knew it I had a pretty good following so I started devoting more time to finding and talking about deals. It just kind of happened without me even realizing it. I instantly enjoyed blogging!
2. What motivates you?
I will admit; I have days where I just don’t feel like blogging. But then I think of the emails from readers thanking me for the deals I post and how I’ve helped them save money. That motivates me to keep going and it makes all the time I put into it worth it. Besides after a few days I actually miss it!
3. How do you balance being a mom and an entrepreneur?
Wow that’s a really good question. I am a stay at home mom to 2 girls and one of them is in school twice a week, the other one is with me all the time. It’s hard some days. I usually sit down and get up several times a day. When ever I have a moment, I’ll sneak over to my laptop or when my girls are coloring or writing, they will sit at the table with me while I blog or look for deals. It’s hard when I know I have a lot to do online but they are my priority so they have to come first. Somehow it works but some days are CRAZY! I do get a lot of my work done after they go to bed and sometimes I even stay up way too late, but when the house is quiet and everyone is sleeping, I seem to get the most done.
4. What do you love most about what you do?
I love finding the deals, sharing them and then hearing the excitement from readers! Being a Stay At Home Mom, I also love all the friends I’ve made in the blogging world. I have a small group of blogging friends and we share stuff all the time and help each other. It’s so great knowing that if I need help, I have friends online that can help and they understand what I do. I’ve made some really good friendships and I really enjoy that. I also love that I’m able to bring in a small income from blogging, to help support my family.
5. What single piece of advice would you give someone who is starting out?
If you are thinking of starting a blog, the one piece of advice I can give you is to blog about what you know and enjoy. There are lots of avenues for making money with your blog (advertising & affiliates) but if you don’t have readers there is no money to be made. The best way you’ll get readers is by being real and natural. It’s also best to blog everyday and maybe even a couple of times a day to consistently have fresh ideas. I will schedule stuff to post at different times of the day and then when I find something good in the middle of the day I will post that too. I’m always thinking about my readers.
You can contact Karen at karen_at_frugalrimama.com, follow her on Twitter: @frugalrimama, or check out Frugal Rhode Island Mama Blog.
Please visit our 5 Questions page or feel free to contact me for more information.
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