Podcasts about delishes

This episode is to relay what I learned while I was on hiatus. It is my introductory episode that kicks off the new season which will begin on January 13th, 2021, so stay tuned. Hello everyone, it's Elaine and I am back at the mic. When I first announced that I was going on hiatus, I was feeling like all I did was toil away and didn't have a good work/life balance. So, when I announced my decision to 'go on hiatus', I actually didn't think I'd get back into podcasting. I thought that was it for me. Well, I was wrong. My last episode was published on December 20th in 2019 so, it has almost been a full year since I hung up my microphone and headphones. During that time, I learned many things. Let me start with what I learned regarding the podcast, which I found very interesting. After I pressed publish on that last episode, I danced around the house, feeling free and happy that I didn't have to reach out, schedule or sit down and perform those interviews. But even more exciting to me was I didn't have to edit the episodes. Because as I've mentioned before, it was extremely hard for me to let those "umms", false starts, sometimes-hard-to-follow sentences, and deep pauses just 'be'. My training as an actress, performer, and recovering perfectionist reared its ugly head and made me spend hours editing each episode. I tried to make both myself and my guest sound as good as I possibly could. But in the process, I sucked the fun out of podcasting. I loved chatting with my guests, but I was starting to dread the interviews. Not because I didn't want to talk to them, I just didn't want to edit the episodes. And I wasn't ready to hire someone to edit them for me since the show didn’t make me any money. So, after that last episode and my freedom dance party, I enjoyed the holidays and even enjoyed the first few months of the new year. We all know that the pandemic has been a big part of our lives, but I don't think it had anything to do with why I started to get the feeling that I should get back into interviewing other bloggers and experts. Those niggling thoughts By the time May rolled around. I was thinking daily about getting back into podcasting. But then I'd talk myself out of it by reminding myself how I felt the last few months of 2019. Then it occurred to me, "What if I don't publish episodes every week?" "What if I published twice a month or even better, ONCE a month?" I struggled with those questions because I've heard from many of my awesome listeners that though they understood why I stopped; they did miss the show. So, if I only published one episode a month, would people still want to hear the content? I asked a few bloggers their opinion and it ended up being a resounding yes. That made me happy. So here I am. I have rebranded the podcast from Dishing with Delishes to the Dishing podcast because, let's face it, I was trying to connect it to my food blog Dishes Delish and play on the word dishing as in chatting or better yet, gossiping (because I am nosy) and delishes to represent other food bloggers. But try saying that over and over and over. It's a mouthful. Those that helped me So, the podcast is now the Dishing Podcast. You can still get to the website through the old dishingwithdelishes url. Charles Smith from WPOpt.net has happily and efficiently redirected the site to the new url which is dishing.co. I also had Vladi of the husband and wife team from LIL Creative Digital Agency design both the artwork for apple podcasts and the logo for the website. The format for the show will stay the same - interviews with food bloggers and an expert or two, but I need your help. I’ll still ask the questions I’ve been asking my guests all along, but I’d also love to know what YOU want me to ask them. Please share your questions for food bloggers and food blogging experts with me at elaine @ Dishes Delish dot com. I can’t wait to hear from you. Blogging thoughts and ideas Now, to talk about what I've learned about blogging. When you first start out, everyone will tell you that you need lots of content. But I’ve learned that’s not always smartest move. What you need is quality, not quantity. And even though that’s what I was learning as a member of Food Blogger Pro, I still decided to pump out as much content as I could because I was excited; I knew one of the recipes was bound to go viral and I’d start making money. I do wish I hadn’t gone that route and had been more selective with what I published. But I was on learning and on a mission. When I first started, I published 2 food posts a week. A month or two later I made one of the smartest moves for the blog by adding a cocktail post to the weeks publishing schedule. Once I did that, I started to see growth on the blog. So, I published 3 posts a week for three plus years. Then in year 2, I started a podcast called Maturepreneurial to help individuals over 40 to either start or succeed in their businesses. During that time, I made my mistakes and learned what I needed to learn in order to feel comfortable enough to launch the Dishing with Delishes podcast in year 3, which was the podcast I really wanted to do. As you can see, I love piling more things on my plate. After I started the Dishing with Delishes podcast, I decided to stop the first podcast, which I eventually sold to a lovely woman who has integrated it with her own podcast. But even with one less podcast, it was still a lot of work – three recipes a week on the blog and one episode on the podcast. For at least a year, but probably more, I kept saying I was going to go down to two recipes a week – one food and one cocktail. But I was afraid that my growth would stagnate. I was also nervous about taking time off and in a day or two here and there or a two week vacation where I didn’t do anything for the blog. I felt if I did, my traffic would plummet. I finally asked friends, guests on the show and members of Food Bloggers Central whether any of them who cut back on publishing new content saw an adverse result on their blog. Surprisingly, the majority said no. If anything, they saw an increase in their traffic when they stopped posting as often. Or took time off. Everyone needs time off And sure enough, that’s what happened to me. You need the time and space to rejuvenate, reflect, to have ideas germinate without the constant thought, “I’ve got to publish a post.” And even if your traffic went down a smidge - though I did not see that on my site - it will bounce back when you either start publishing again or your audience settles in with your new schedule. And isn’t doing some self-care worth the risk of a small impact, if any? So, after 3 ½ years, I went down to two posts a week. Before I reduced my schedule, I had my audit with Casey Markee and Casey’s advice was to work on either shooting and re-writing the recipes or culling them by no-indexing or downright deleting them. I had created close to 425 recipes in those 3 ½ years. That’s a lot. Too many, in my opinion. Now, I understand why people tell you to pump out the content, but just know that it might not be the best thing for you. You have to work within the limits of the time you have in a day, in a week and in a month and so on. You also have to consider all the things you have to do around the post, like social sharing, while maintaining quality content and having the time to enjoy living your life. The appeal of touching a unicorn One other thing I’d like to relay, and this might be a little controversial - although experts are experts and know more than we do, we still have to trust our own intuition. I remember reaching out to someone about a post that was a unicorn because I wanted to insert some process shots. I already knew what this expert would say, which was “do not touch a unicorn.” But I wanted to touch that unicorn, horn and all because sometimes you have to buck the system and see if your intuition is right. So, I decided to do some testing, even though I realized it could impact that post. So, when I republished this post with new photos including process shots and updated the copy, I watched it very carefully on Google. I actually tested this with two posts. Both posts had been in the search results carousel and week by week, they remained in the carousel, even after I touched them. I’m not saying experts are wrong and we shouldn’t listen to them. What I’m saying is, my instinct was telling me to update these posts with process shots because it would be better user experience. And thankfully, I was right. They are still in the carousel and haven’t budged. In fact, the original unicorn moved from #3 in the carousel to #1. I have since found out about the Limit Modify Date plugin which allows you to update a post without a change in the modified date. Now whether this stops the powers that be from knowing you made updates, I don’t know. I’m thinking their crawling bots can see the changes anyway. But for whatever reason, my test posts weren’t affected. Back to my publishing schedule After seeing that reducing the schedule didn’t affect my growth, I decided to reduce it even further. Now I’m publishing one post per week and that has given me the time and mental space to do other projects. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating for you to go down to one post a week: I’m advocating figuring out (and doing) what’s right for you. I’m excited for the coming year and can’t wait to see how it plays out. It feels like it’s going to be an expansive year. Here’s to a fabulous new year with incredible growth for everyone. What's next Thank you for listening and stay tuned for my next episode on January 13th when I re-interview Tanya Harris from My Forking Life. I decided to interview Tanya again because she has had explosive growth in the two years between my first interview and the new one. She went from 100k pageviews a month to over 1 million. How’s that for growth? Tune in on January 13th to hear how she did it. Until the next time, this is Elaine Benoit signing off.

Today's episode is all about how to master the perfect cocktail. Elaine Benoit started her food blog, Dishes Delish, in August of 2015 not only because she wanted to start a business, but she wanted to share her food and cocktail recipes with the world. Much to her surprise, Elaine’s cocktails recipes have gained such popularity that she tripled her traffic in less than 4 months! Her cocktails have taken over by being the most popular posts on her blog. So, with kicking and screaming (at least in her head,) Elaine now has a niche.In October of 2017, Elaine launched her second podcast (she sold her first podcast), “Dishing with Delishes” where she dishes with other successful food bloggers to find out their tips and trick to help other food bloggers reach the next level in their businesses.Elaine has so many great ideas of how to become your own mixologist at home and her tips are perfect for this time of year when you're expecting company!Get all the links discussed in today's episode at cookitrealgood.com/26.

I wanted to publish this episode to let you all know that, after long and careful consideration, I have decided to take an extended hiatus from the podcast. Here are my reasons: This has been a passion project for me and, although I thought I might someday make money from it, I realize now that probably won’t happen. So, it’s time for me to focus my attention on my true money maker, which is my Dishes Delish food blog. Dishes Delish has grown leaps and bounds since I started this podcast. I attribute that growth to a few things. The first was my audit in June of 2018 with Casey Markee. That was the catalyst. I had interviewed Casey before that but at the time I decided to move forward with my audit, the blog had only five thousand sessions a month. Mind you, I had been blogging for almost 3 years. Casey helped focus me. He taught me to not pick keywords like “dark chocolate caramel marshmallow cashew butter cups” Yes, I actually used those keywords in a post. As you can imagine, it gets 0 monthly searches. But I’m the reigning champ of that keyword. I am in the carousal and #1 in Google search results. And that’s only one of my really long keywords. Casey also got me to write for my readers and help solve problems. That was a game changer for sure. Another game changer was the viral moment I had in September of 2018. The HBO show Camping mentioned a jelly donut shot in one of its episodes and at that time, the monthly viewfor those keywords was only 330. But here’s why I had that viral moment. My Jelly Donut shot was already #1 in search results, so everyone and their brother who watched that episode of Camping clicked through to my website. That shot is still #1 and now has a monthly search volume of 4400. That shows you how something can grow just by having exposure. And that exposure was also a growth catalyst because, as with all such exposure, having people look at my jelly donut shot brought them back to the site to see other content, which gave me even more sessions. By October of 2018 – and remember: in June of the same year, I had only 5k sessions a month – I qualified for Mediavine and in November their ads went live on my site. Fast forward 6 months, when I was lucky to have another viral moment. My pistachio cookie recipe became my top post, toppling my Cadillac Margarita from 1st place. The popularity of this cookie post allowed me to apply for (and join) AdThrive. Now remember, to join MediaVine, you need 25k monthly sessions. AdThrive requires 100k pageviews. Now, I tell you all this for two reasons, first to explain why I’m placing the podcast on hiatus. I need to focus on the blog to make it even more successful by adding various income streams. Secondly, I am hoping to inspire you by letting you know that you can do it too. Don’t get me wrong, it takes a lot of work and sometimes a little luck. But you don’t have to have a viral moment to succeed. Many of my guests didn’t have one, and yet they are successful; it just takes years and hard work. So, keep at it and don’t give up. Write for your readers, help them solve a problem and create quality content. I also want to say that it is not always necessary to pick keywords that have a high monthly search volume. Some of my more popular posts have under 1000 monthly searches on Google but they do really well on Pinterest. So I would have missed out on this if I’d listened to the experts and neglected to follow my gut. Experts are great and can be a big help but you also can rely on yourself by doing what you think is best. You can also help yourself by joining Facebook groups like Food Bloggers Central. Ask questions, learn from other bloggers mistakes and if you’re wanting some inspiration, visit Dishing with Delishes and re-listen to interviews with food bloggers who forged their way before us. You can also listen to experts like Casey Markee, Andrew Wilder, Matt Molen and Grayson Bell just to name a few. Now you’re probably wondering if I’ll be returning to the podcast. My first instinct is to say no, because I need the break without having to think about the show, interview future guests or edit episodes. Last year, I started publishing the podcast in seasons thinking it would give me a break but, I never really felt like I had any time off and believe me, I need that time for blog growth endeavors. But you never know. I will miss chatting with other bloggers and learning more about their journeys. Don’t be a stranger! If you see me on social media, say ‘hi’ or drop me a line at Elaine @ Dishes Delish dot com. Because, as you know I love chatting with bloggers and would love to hear from you. Okay, it's time for me to sign off. This is Elaine Benoit from Dishing with Delishes and Dishes Delish. I enjoyed this fun ride and thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening in. Happy New Year, everyone! I wish you a prosperous 2020.

Meet Laura Tobin, your Guardian Angel in the kitchen. With 200 recipes and over 50 videos showing how to make traditional Mediterranean dishes, she can motivate even the most reluctant cooks! Laura is an Italian national growing up in Rome and vacationing in Southern Italy, Laura's passion for food and cooking began as a child, when she accompanied her mother to Cordon Bleu cooking classes.  Those early experiences fueled an ongoing love of food and launched her inspiring culinary journey. As an adult, Laura has traveled the world, whether for pleasure or to relocate to foreign countries. With each new culture came a new and intriguing cuisine to discover and master. Eventually settling in the Côte d’Azur, married and with two young boys, Laura started an English-language food blog to share her favorite Mediterranean recipes with friends.  She named it Your Guardian Chef. Little did she know then, that what began as an impassioned hobby would one day become her own 'guardian angel', helping her to find focus and heal following the sudden loss of her husband in 2018. In the wake of tragedy, Laura took a step back to adjust to her new life as a single mother of two teenage boys.  She found comfort in cooking and before long, found herself in front of her laptop, intent on re-energizing her hobby.  In the space of just five months, her renewed attention to the blog has seen it grow by fifty percent, her Facebook followers double and her videos explode with views and shares. With a new puppy by her side, and a burgeoning blog in her lap, we are delighted to invite Laura to share her story and her passion with the Dishing with Delishes audience.

Today, I'm interviewing Elaine Benoit, the blogger and podcaster behind Dishing with Delishes, a podcast where she dishes with other successful food bloggers to find out their tips and tricks to help others in the space reach the next level in their businesses. Dishes Delish is Elaine's second successful podcast, as she previously sold her first. Elaine originally started by blogging at her site, Dishes Delish, in August of 2015, not only because she wanted to start a business, but because she wanted to share her food and cocktail recipes with the world. To Elaine's surprise, it was her cocktail recipes that became so popular that she tripled her traffic in less than four months, and since then, it's her cocktails that have become the most popular posts on her blog. In this episode, we talk about a great tip for cooking with the Instant Pot, delicious layered shots, and the secret to a core ingredient of many cocktails. You can find Elaine on her blog, podcast, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter Recipes Mentioned in this Episode: Bacon Tomato and Cheese Pasta Casserole Snickers Shot Ultimate Cadillac Margarita Pistachio Cream Cheese Cookies Chocolate Covered Cherry Shot Come Visit BFF with the Chef: The BFF with the Chef Website Twitter Facebook Instagram

Learnings and Leanings I decided to do a special edition episode for a few reasons. First, I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to share what I have learned, which feels like a lot: what I've learned from doing this podcast; what I've learned from my guests; what I think and how I feel about all of it. Second, I want to tell you about some changes that are coming. I'll explain more in a bit, but basically the podcast continues to evolve and these changes will reflect that. Thirdly, I want to talk about some of the services I use that I find beneficial for my food blog, Dishes Delish, and think would be helpful for other bloggers. None of my recommendations are sponsored. Snafu and the Lesson Learned The catalyst for this special edition episode was a problem I encountered last Tuesday, March 5th, when I uploaded Elizabeth Falcigno's interview. It was supposed to be published today, March 13th, but actually came out the day I uploaded it. I had scheduled the episode for the correct date and time, but there was a glitch that overrode my settings and Libsyn published it immediately. I noticed what had happened within a few minutes but even though I quickly tried to reschedule it, iTunes had already pulled the feed and people had already started to listen to the episode. To get downloads so quickly was amazing to me, but still, it wasn't what I'd planned. Since this snafu left a hole in my publishing calendar, once I calmed down, I realized it was my chance to record and publish this update instead of an interview. So here we are. One of the things I learned from this snafu is not to freak out about problems that come up, especially if you can't fix them. And believe me, I tried. Was I upset? Yes. Did hubby have to talk me off the figurative "ledge"? You betcha! But basically, what I realized is the only thing that really upset the order of my world was that Elizabeth's episode came out the day before Chris Collins'. Did that hurt anything? No. It just changed something. I feel grateful and protective towards my guests. I want each person to get their time in the spotlight and I was worried that Chris would lose the spotlight because of Elizabeth's episode. Well, that didn't happen. Both episodes have gotten great download numbers even though they came out on consecutive days. So, instead of pulling out my hair and wailing at the technology, I accepted it and I'm happy for the lesson I learned. Letting Stuff Go - Like Plugins Mostly, I have a love/hate relationship with change. I love it in some ways and hate it in other ways. Hubby and I used to change our furniture around a lot because both of us or one of us - usually me - needed the change. The weird thing is I would more often than not feel kind of lost after we plunked the last piece of furniture down. Because of the change. Not that we undid anything, but it used to make me cry a little. The reason I tell you this is because it sort of explains why I hung on as long as I did to using the social sharing plugin called Social Warfare after I learned it was a problem. I'd read comments on Facebook. A lot of people complained the plugin broke their site once they updated it. BROKE THEIR SITE! Can you imagine? The way I dealt with it, was to not update it, which we all know is not a good practice. When I interviewed Andrew Wilder and he raved about Social Pug, the social sharing plugin developed by Mihai Iova from devpups.com, it still took me a few months to decide to actually switch. Even though Andrew mentioned that Social Pug did exactly what Social Warfare did, I still clung to what was 'known'. Well, today I'm really glad I jumped on the Social Pug bandwagon. Not only does it do everything the old plugin did, but when I had some questions and reached out to Mihai to ask them, not only has he responded quickly but he answered my questions and really cared that I understood his answers. So, if you are like me and want to cling to what you know, I'm here to tell you that I don't regret for one moment making the switch to Social Pug! Change might be challenging, but that doesn't mean it's not good. Now, I'm eyeing Mihai's Optin Hound plugin, since I really need to change my current one, which I'm not going to renew. Services I Rely On I've mentioned before on the show the support I get from my virtual assistants, Helena and Vladi. Together they manage different aspects of the website, social sharing, and SEO for me. I've often said that one of the best things I have done for the blog was to get a site audit by Casey Markee, (you can hear his episodes here and here). But the other best thing I have done was to hire Lil Creative Digital Agency, which is Helena and Vladi's company. I've been working with them for almost 2 years and am here to say that their help has done so much for our business. Not only are they efficient and communicative, but they go the extra mile and are always positive. They answer my questions readily and take time out of their lives to send me feedback or brainstorm ideas with me. I consider them my friends. I will be interviewing Helena and Vladi in the coming months, which I'm really looking forward to. Stay tuned for their episode. One of the services I was most excited to hand off to them was the maintenance of the Dishes Delish website. Even though I'm technology savvy, it's hard to keep up with all the changes and frankly, I don't have the time or desire to do it anymore. So, I subscribe to their maintenance package and couldn't be happier. No more staring at the settings for WP Rocket (or some other plug-in) and guessing if I got them set up correctly. I can rest assured that they will get it done and I don't have to worry! As Toni Dash advises, hire someone who has the expertise you don't so you can focus on creating the content only you can create. Changes to the Podcast Okay, here's what I'm planning for the Dishing with Delishes podcast. Don't worry, I'm still going to be producing episodes for the show. Since the podcast is still growing, I'm not actively looking for ways to make money on the show, so my main source of revenue comes from my food blog, Dishes Delish. I'm imagining that as the show grows, I will do some sponsored ads that I'll insert into each episode, but I keep putting it off because I want my listeners to have a great listening experience and being clobbered over the head with an ad takes people out of the experience. When/if I do sponsored ads, I will only promote companies that I think will be beneficial to you, my audience. Just so everyone understands where I'm coming from, each episode takes me a long time to produce. First comes the pre-interview communications. It takes time to reach out to people, ask if they want to be on the show, respond to their questions and then send them next steps, if they do. So, let's say I spend two hours a week doing that. Next, comes the actual interview, which runs anywhere between 35 minutes to an hour. Then, comes the editing, because I'm not sure everyone knows that I edit every single episode. A 30 minute episode takes me, on average, anywhere between 2 1/2 hours and 4 hours to edit. Why does it take me so long? Because I'm a perfectionist. I take out as many "umms", false starts, pauses, and other types of language that I feel detract from the listening experience as I can. When we are in front of someone and speaking, we hardly notice the "umms', the starting of a sentence and then stopping mid-way to say something else. We just accept it as normal. But when you have headphones on and you're listening to the show, they are glaringly obvious. At least to me. They've got to go! Next up is the show notes page. Thankfully, Christopher (hubby) takes some of the writing out of my hands, like editing and inserting the bio we receive from guests. But I compile and add everything else on that page and that takes me around a 1/2 hour per episode. Uploading and configuring each episode for my media host, Libsyn, takes me between 15 minutes and 1/2 hour. After the episode goes live, I write to the guest, providing them links to share their episode with their social media networks (for which I'm eternally grateful, when they do). The last thing I have to do is share the episode to all of my own social media networks. Do you see how much work that is? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to do it. I love talking to my guests and hearing their stories. I love learning from them about their journeys and their businesses and want to continue producing this podcast for many years. But in order to do that, I've decided I have to limit how many episodes I produce. So instead of 52 episodes a year, I will be producing the podcast in seasons - think television seasons. I will have two seasons a year - 20 episodes per season. The first season will start in early January and run to mid May. And the second season will start early July and end before Thanksgiving. I feel very positive about this change. I think it will give me the time I need to focus on the money making activities for my blog while still reaping the benefits of producing the podcast. What I've learned One of the things I've learned after talking with over 70 food bloggers and experts is that we all have different approaches and journeys. Some of us started blogging so family members and friends could access our recipes without us having to provide them over and over via email. Some of us started because we love food and have a deep desire to share it. Some of us started because we learned how easy, fun or beneficial cooking is and wanted to inspire and help others to learn, too. And some of us started blogging as a business opportunity. One of the things I really enjoyed was when Kate Kordsmeier stated loud and clear that she started her blog as a business. It was refreshing to hear that because that's why I started mine. I felt funny saying that to people because it felt shameful on some level. But after hearing Kate say it and knowing other guests did it, now I say it proudly. Another thing I've learned is no matter if you have an expensive full framed camera, a starter DSLR or a smartphone, the more you take photos, the better your photography will be. Like the old saying, practice makes perfect. So keep plugging away and if you get discouraged, go back to your old photos to see how far you've come. Another thing I've learned is to celebrate every win you've accomplished. This is something Christopher and I both try to do whenever possible. Too often we don't take the time to celebrate and that makes us lose an opportunity, because we all know that blogging is hard work. Like, really hard. Why not look at what you've accomplished and celebrate it? The work will always be there. We put in long hours. Unless we are super lucky, it can take years to see results. So I say, stick with it and don't quit, but in the meantime work to improve your writing, your photography or anything else related to your business. It will pay off in the end and bring you satisfaction along the way. That's what I think. What do you think? If you've been listening to the show for a while and/or have a blog of your own, I would love to hear what you've learned, either from Dishing with Delishes guests or from your own journey, in a comment on this page. It doesn't have to be long or include a narrative. Short and sweet is fine. You can also shoot me an email if that's easier. Send it to Elaine at Dishing With Delishes dot com. Also, if I'm not covering the questions you want to hear me asks my guests, please either use the comment section below or email to tell me so. That is all. :) Thank you for listening to my podcast. I appreciate each and every one of you!

Elaine Benoit started blogging in the summer of 2015, shortly before she turned 53 years old. (It's never too late too succeed!)She is a firm believer in marching to the beat of her own drum and letting life be what it will be. Elaine launched the Dishing with Delishes podcast in the fall of 2017 to help her fellow food bloggers feel a sense of community and grow their businesses. The podcast features successful food bloggers and business people with expertise relevant to food and lifestyle blogging. Elaine loves to cook, loves to eat and loves a good cocktail, preferably a Grey Goose, dirty martini!

How to launch a membership site, name a blog, and hire a team with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 135 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, we’re playing an episode from the Dishing with Delishes podcast. In this episode, Bjork chats with Elaine about starting Pinch of Yum and Food Blogger Pro, building a team, and developing plugins. You will also learn how Lindsay and Bjork met. Spoiler alert: they’re high school sweethearts! Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Kate from Gift of Hospitality! If you’d like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. In this episode, Bjork discusses: What he and Lindsay did before food blogging How they met - How they decided on the Pinch of Yum name When they decided to hire a team The difference between contracted workers and employees How they launched Food Blogger Pro What’s included in a Food Blogger Pro membership Why they decided to publish their income reports How WP Tasty started Resources: Get the resources for this episode here: https://www.dishingwithdelishes.com/014-bjork-ostrom-food-blogger-pro/

Happy Birthday, Maturepreneurial! The photo above is me, looking back with joy and wonder (and a little bit of a squint) at the amazing, blazing first year of my podcast!  Woo hoo! I did it! I remember when I was first preparing to launch.  I spent months getting the website ready because I had a bit of a set back with my theme.  I joined online communities and groups.  I took online courses to educate myself about the job at hand and, hopefully, come out smart enough to avoid some of the pitfalls. I remember once reading that many podcasters don't make it past ten episodes.  Gulp! Was that going to happen to me? "No way!" I thought, "I'm in this for the long haul." "Besides, Christopher will be annoyed if I buy all this equipment and don't make it a success."  Haha! And many happy returns! Well, although I intended to succeed, I really didn't anticipate how much fun I would have.  Or, to be honest, how hard I would work at it!  But I have to say that it's worth it.  I'm proud of my guests and their episodes and I'm excited not only for another year of interviews and wonderful stories but also to create my second podcast. Hopefully, if I stay on track, in late 2017, I'll be launching Dishing with Delishes; a podcast of interviews with food bloggers at the top of their game.  Check out the website and stay tuned for details, which I'll post on this site and on my food blog, Dishes Delish. Thanks for your support!