Holly Homer | New To Blogging? Here’s How You Can Monetize Your Page
On this week’s episode of Around Flower Mound, we chat with blogger and social media influencer Holly Homer. Holly is a physical therapist by education, but a blogger by vocation. She is the author of three books and runs kidsactivities.com, as well as the Quirky Momma Facebook page, which has over 3.5 million followers!
“We had found a community of other people just like us. And this was pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter, pre-social media. And so that literally was our social media network at that time, going and visiting your top favorite 50 blogs every morning and then dropping comments. And that's how we communicated with each other originally,” says Holly when asked about how she was introduced to the world of blogging.
This week, we chat about the success of the Quirky Momma page, as well as:
Coaching bloggers to maximize how they are monetizing their pages
Inspiring other moms to be present with their children
Persistence and the importance of not being afraid to fail
And more
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Nicole Smith Woodard: Today I am so excited to introduce you to an absolutely fantastic Flower Mound resident. As you know, around Flower Mound is all about bringing light to community leaders, business owners, parents and charities within our fantastic community. We in Flower Mound are so blessed to have a neighbor and fellow resident who is globally known as the Quirky Mamma and locally known as the chair of a vitally important social committee and monthly Bunco dominator. Welcome my friend, Holly Homer.
Holly Homer: Well, thank you so much. I did not know Bunco domination was going to be mentioned but thank you very much.
Nicole: I just disclosed, maybe quality confidential information. So there you go. I'm so grateful to have met you several years ago when we started our neighborhood Bunco group. And just a little bit about Holly before we jump into the questions. So Holly is a writer. She is the author of three books. She runs kidsactivities.com and the strategy behind the Quirky Mamma Facebook page that today has over 3.5 million followers.
She's a physical therapist by education, but a blogger and social media influencer by vocation. Holly and her husband of 28 years and their three teenage sons and a Frenchie named Panda could literally live anywhere in the world, but they chose to make Flower Mound their home 16 years ago. So Holly, what is your favorite thing about Flower Mound?
Flower Mound Ticks All the Boxes
Holly: Well, first of all, like, I am first to Texas. So there's like, you know, when you're like, Oh, you could live anywhere, everything but Texas falls off for us.
Nicole: I knew I liked you.
Holly: And then secondarily to that we, you know, my husband grew up in Fort Worth and then when I became a Texan, my parents had moved to Austin. And so like, we had no idea where that was going to go. And I just assumed we'd end up in Fort Worth because I really, really loved where he had grown up.
But, man, when we found Flower Mound, it just kind of ticks all the boxes. To be literally seven minutes and then timed in a car to one of the world's largest airports and then to be in the middle of a Metroplex, but yet, I mean, every afternoon I'm taking, you know, four-mile walks through the woods. I mean, like, where is that possible? It's just Flower Mound. I mean, it's crazy what we have here.
Nicole: Absolutely, it truly is heaven on Earth. Well, and a lot of people move to Flower Mound for the schools. You went, you with raising your boys went a little bit of a non-traditional route. Tell us a little bit about that.
Holly: Yes, so I never expected to be a homeschooler like that. That just sounds awful. But we found Coram Deo Academy, whose largest campus is here in Flower Mound when my oldest was in preschool. And so we have, he graduated from there last year. And the other two boys have been there from day one. And Corum Deo is a classical education where the kids go two days a week.
And so they go on Monday, Wednesday, and then we homeschool the other days. And it has worked amazingly well for us. And I think having three boys and having three active boys who don't sit still very well, it's been a really nice mix of giving them kind of that traditional education taste, but not making them sit still for very long.
Nicole: Brilliant, brilliant. I love that. Well, tell us a bit about your background. How did you get started as a writer?
How Holly Became a Blogger
Holly: So I was in my Flower Mound house and I just had three little boys under the age of five. I was overwhelmed. And, you know, I had had a career as a physical therapist and I was, you know, I had specialized in chronic pain and I had run clinics and when, like, at work when I said something people listen to me. And then all of a sudden, like, you know, a few years later I'm finding myself because I'd always dreamed of being a stay at home mom, but I think, you know, when you dream about that, and then the reality is like, night and day.
But so I found myself like, you know, kind of in chaos in my kitchen with three little boys under the age of five and just kind of going a little crazy and realizing like, when you have one or two kids, it's like easy to get out of the house and meet people for playdates. And when, you know, when you reach that number three number things get a little dicey on that.
So, I found blogging just kind of by accident. And at first I was like, Oh my gosh, this is gonna save me so much money from my scrapbooking habit because I was like making multiple scrapbooks that I was sending out to my mom and my great aunt and all that kind of stuff. And so and, of course, that was really expensive hobbies. And so when I was like, Oh, I can just post like photos on the internet and like, tell a little story. And then they can all go there and I don't, like I don't have to spend $150 at, you know, Scrapbook Warehouse.
So that's how it all started. And then once I started writing, like our stories really poorly at first, you know, I started finding other people online who, because I had accidentally started one of the original mom blogs and we didn't know what those were at that time. But we had found a community of other people just like us, and this was pre-Facebook, you know, pre-Twitter, pre all these social media. And so that literally was our social media network at that time was just, you know, going and visiting your top favorite 50 blogs every morning and then dropping comments. And that's how we communicate with each other originally.
Nicole: That's awesome, isn't it? It's so weird even thinking about life before social media. But what a gift.
Holly: It really was. And it's really cool that so many of those blogs that I read, those early blogs that, and, you know, if you were on the internet back then, you know, that like a blog would have a blog role on the side of all, you know, their favorite, you know, top 20 blogs or something like that. And so many of those blogs that I discovered through a friend's blog are some of my best friends today. And it's just, it's an amazing community that kind of popped out of like desperation for like, adult conversation.
Nicole: Hey, whatever it takes. I love it. Well, and I know you were the strategist now, but you created the Quirky Mamma Facebook page. It exploded, obviously, over the years, to 3.5 million followers. How and why do you think that experienced the success and the reach that it has and still does?
Be Willing to Fail… a Lot
Holly: Yeah. So it was really simple. And it's still something that works today. You know, we're in fact, we're still growing today, is that we are really, it's really, really important to me to have a positive, resourceful, fun place on the internet that's not judgy or political or religious or anything that would, but just kind of all-inclusive community. And so what we do within conjunction with Kids Activities Blog, is create content on Kids Activities Blog and share it over there.
But then, on top of that, we go out and find kind of the best and brightest on the internet to share and so we're posting there all day. And it's, you know, well we found this here, and this is the coolest thing we've found here, and oh my gosh, I can't believe this is available on Amazon here. And so it's the type of thing that if you were sitting at my kitchen table, it's the topics we would be talking about.
And the reason why I know that is because every time, you know, Facebook, behind the scenes gives us the numbers of what people think is popular. And so we just look and say, and I feel like every time someone like, sums something up or drop a comment or shares a post, that's kind of a vote for that's what they want to see more of. And so when things become popular, we go out and try to find other things like it because it, you know, we know it hit our community in a way that was really positive.
Nicole: That's awesome. Now, so do you have a new venture in focus that you're working on?
Holly: So I have, like, you know, I think with any entrepreneur can kind of identify what's pivoting about 365 times a year. And those of us who just are in love with ideas and, you know, shiny objects and stuff like that. So, you know, I've tried, I think part of my success is I'm willing to try and fail at a million things because I'm kind of in this for the adventure. So I've tried to a million things recently, and most of them failed miserably.
But one thing that I really, I know about myself and what I love to do is I love to teach and I love to coach. And so I started, you know, that helping other bloggers who, and mostly established bloggers who aren't monetizing to the level that they could to help them make more money on their blogs. And so I've kind of like moved into that and coaching behind the scenes. Because my blog, Kids Activities Blog, supports our entire family.
And so, you know, I have a proven model that works and it's so, you know, it's so cool that we live in a time that even though, you know, no matter what's happening outside, that we can build something on the inside. And so that's one of the things that like, who could have ever expected that a blog would be more secure than like a job in physical therapy or something like that, you know? And that's what's so cool is, in this time in history, we can work from our Flower Mound living room on our computer and build a business, which is pretty amazing.
Nicole: It's absolutely. Well, and you're definitely the expert at that. You're also an expert in inspiring moms to be present with their children and follow their hearts. Why do you think this is so important in our world today?
Holly: You know, like, I just get really like, passionate about this to a certain extent because, like, I feel like number one, and I think social media is a little bit to blame here that we as women often will compare ourselves to the mom next door or the mom on Facebook that posts, you know, these gorgeous pictures of her family. You know, and like, I've been around the internet long enough to know that every glossy picture that's posted on the internet comes at a price. And there is no way to judge.
You can't compare your life to a glossy picture on the internet. Like that is a slice that was staged in many cases. And I'm not like, I don't want to degrade that person because that's part of their story but that can't bring us down. I mean, like, and we need to start talking to ourselves like we talked to our friends. And like, I literally, you know, literally lowering the bar.
I know that sounds super motivating but it's truly, is it, and, you know, there's something that like what goes through my head whenever like there's, you know, I have three teenagers now so that whenever there's like confrontation or argument, which of course we sent them to a classical education school so they're really good at that. Stupid on my part, but every time there's like, you know, that kind of that hill, you know, I literally think is this the hill I want to die on.
Because I believe that, you know, you need to be consistent, you need to follow through, not only in parenting but pretty much everything. And so what's so cool about like, if you, if that is the statement that is running through your head on every single conversation is this the, you know, the answer to that, like 98% of the time is no. And so like, and that turns the conversation not only with your child or your husband, but also with yourself.
And giving grace and giving opportunity to other voices and widening your thought process of really isn't that important because when this is all said and done, you know, we want to have those happy memories, those fun, you know, times instead of just confrontation after confrontation. I think that's one of the things that I just would encourage people to look at. Because I think it's so easy to get into that trap of I need to be right.
Nicole: Mm-hmm. Agreed completely. Well, you've had some amazing successes in your personal and professional life. And you mentioned one of the things was not being afraid to fail. What else do you believe makes some successful while others struggle?
Why Some Professionals Succeed While Others Struggle
Holly: Yeah, the other thing that I think is incredibly important is persistence. I mean, if you have, if you're not afraid to fail and you're persistent, there's like literally no way you won't succeed at some point. It may take a while and it will, they probably will, but persist. I see so many people give up and it's for legitimate reasons in many cases.
But on the other hand, like, if they, you know, so many times, that's, it's, you know, the month before the success or the three months before or the years to success because when you really look at this timeline that we're all living in, it's a lot longer than it feels like at any given time. And so that's why I like, one of my favorite movies is What About Bob? And he always has that like, you know, baby steps, you know, baby steps to the elevator, baby steps to the sailboat, you know, like, he's just in motion and dominating life. And so it doesn't have to be brilliant.
Like, you know, literally my business was built on 15 minutes here one day and 30 minutes here one day and oh my gosh, nap time I get a whole hour, you know, here. And, but it was just consistently over time, just a little bit, whatever time was available, but it never stopped and I think that's one of the powers and, you know, as I say, like you know, one of my successes is because I'm like, the last blogger standing. And so if you can just be the last one standing, there's a victory. I don't have anyone else to give that to.
Nicole: I love it. Well, and I love your blog post and I love how you put the pictures together and just, I don't know, it just cracks me up. So of course, especially like I recognize some of the scenery of the pictures that you post and so that's always fun too. Well, what, okay, so what books are you currently reading or podcasts that you're currently listening to that you would recommend to others?
Holly’s Media Recommendations
Holly: So I've been obsessed for a few months with Impact Theory. I love that. I've also, I love Adam Carolla, which, you know, not PG not something to watch or listen to with kids in the house. But I just love, I think especially during this time, you know, we're kind of in the stuck at home pandemic situation here, is I just like people who aren't taking this seriously. I think we're, and I don't mean taking this seriously that people are dying, but, you know, like, this is a blip in history. And so sometimes we just need to be able to take a deep breath and kind of laugh at ourselves. And so that's one of the ones that I'm really enjoying right now.
Nicole: I love that. Well, I know you're with Impact Theory, but that's new to me. So I'm always excited to hear about other things and other influencers. So thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for joining us on the Around Flower Mound Podcast. So how can people connect with you if they want to learn more?
Holly: Absolutely. So kidsactivities.com, fun things to do with your kids and resources for parents. If you are stuck at home right now, we have a button on the front page that says stuck at home and you can click that and there's all sorts of crazy resources for distance learning to keeping your kids occupied. And then if you're on Facebook, follow the Quirky Mamma Facebook page and Mama is MOMMA. And then if you are someone who's looking into social media, blogging, all those kind of things, then check out my hollyhomer.com because that's kind of the secrets behind the business.
Nicole: Awesome. Well, thank you again so much for your time today, and I look forward to seeing you around the neighborhood soon.
Holly: Thank you.
