July Feature: Mompreneur & Owner Of Making Malissa Blog

So excited to bring you this month feature - You're going to love this interview, she's funny and she keeps it real.  I love it!!  On her blog Making Malissa her aim is to motivate, inspire and support. She's a mom, mompreneur , entrepreneur and overall an inspiration. My favorite part of the interview is the love section and where she finds inspiration. What's your favorite piece?   Leave your comments at the bottom.  Don't forget to like her on IG and follow her blog.  CG 

Name:  Malissa

Name of Company: Making Malissa Blog

Years in Business: 7 Months

WHY: Tell us why you started your business/blog – etc: I started my blog because I was in the midst of a divorce and felt as if everyone around me, including family had abandoned me in my greatest time of need. I didn’t want anyone else to ever feel like I did, I felt so alone. So I began writing to share with others that they aren’t the only one going through tough times! I share my candid experiences and offer some lessons learned.

When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a veterinarian! (What girl didn’t want to hold cute, cuddly animals all day!

 What was your first business idea? I actually HATED writing before I began blogging. I never in a million years thought I would start a blog. A couple years ago, my big sister told me that I should do video blogging because I have a great personality and love to talk, lol. I also wrote a love letter to a guy back in the day and he told me that I need to be a writer one day…because my words resonated with him in a way he had never experienced. I was much too scared/embarrassed to do video blogs at first. I didn’t want to open myself to that type of criticism, so I started to write. Since then January, I have written 25 blog posts and uploaded 12 blog videos to YouTube! The sky is the limit.

What do you wish you knew before starting your business? The overnight success stories are BS! It is SO HARD to grow subscribers/followers to a blog. So, hard. Social media is a beast of its own when you use it for a business, just ask an It Works salesperson (I’m sure you have received a few of those sales pitches in your DM). I have recently realized, the more you hold back your quirky, dorky, blunt, honest personality…the longer it will take to get the recognition you deserve. Always, always be 100% yourself. For the things that are too controversial for FB or IG, I use Snap Chat for! It’s a great outlet.

What did you learn from your worse boss? I am in the military. I blog as a second full time job. The worst boss I ever had was someone I worked for a couple of years ago. I got hired into a job that was for two ranks higher than me. (I mean, I was the best at my job, I deserved it, I thought.)It was the worst year of my life. He was so hard on me. I was hardly ready to be put in such an important position with my lack of experience in that field. I was told I couldn’t do anything right…and rarely praised for the things I did do right. He micromanaged my work ethic and wanted me to act like someone I wasn’t and treat people as if they were beneath me. With the “tough love” he displayed, I learned to take criticism. I learned to let it in one ear and out the other. I learned the importance of keeping my work-space clean and organized. I stopped crying over being yelled at all the time. I really toughened up and was humbled. I needed that job.

 What’s your highest level of education? In the military, one of the perks is FREE SCHOOL! Early in my career, I really took advantage of it. I now have my associates in Criminal Justice. I could pursue a bachelors, but I honestly have no clue what I would want to get my degree in. Definitely NOT criminal justice…I find reading about the law to be extremely boring. I have put off school to do blogging. Many people probably think that it’s not a smart choice, but I don’t really care haha. Blogging is what I absolutely love and I know it will pay off in the future just as much as a degree would, if not more. The possibilities in blogging are endless, that’ what I love about it.  AND I HAVE to be my own boss when I get out of the military.

 Who inspires you and why? My readers inspire me. Some will reach out to me and share their personal heartbreaking stories. They are truly incredible. They keep me doing what I do. The group of readers that have inspired me the most are the young girls contemplating joining the military, especially Security Forces (my career field). There have been a couple girls that I have been friends with since I started blogging that have gone through basic training and are now in Security Forces Tech School. Being in a male-dominated career field can be brutal, so I started a secret FB group specifically as an outlet and support group for those girls and their friends. I want to show them how powerful a band of girls are in those types of environments. It’s so important to stick together and be there for each other. 

Top 3 books to read this summer? I HATE reading books ahahha. I fall asleep within the first two pages of any book I read. I’m pretty sure my breathing pattern changes and puts me right to sleep.
 

Let’s Talk About Business:
What was your strangest marketing experiment? My largest audience is males 18-25. Which is SHOCKING considering I’m a girl blogger. I try to cater almost every single article to women AND men. They are really appreciative of me including them in articles that involve parenting and divorce. Men have feelings too ya know!
How do you maximize social media? I use Facebook and IG the most. My Facebook page recently blew up overnight because I posted a short video of my thoughts about Pokemon a couple days after it came out. Because I was brutally honest and talked about a relevant light topic…thousands of people FLOCKED to my page.

 What did you learn from your biggest failure? There is always room for improvement and with every failure comes new strengths. I am appreciative of every lesson learned. It truly makes me a better person.

 How important is it for you to do your best? It is my main goal. I did my entire website by myself. I knew nothing about website design before blogging. Every single thing I do for my blog is self-taught. Video editing, photo editing, marketing, you name it! I try to master every single thing that comes my way. I am impatient and need everything to be perfect. I will stop at nothing to get something exactly the way I want it before it’s published. I think those things are the key to success. I am self-run, self-taught and self-motivated through one thing…..passion for what I do.

How do you feel about failures? What does it mean to fail?  Failure is necessary in order to be successful long term.

Any money saving tips? You got me there, nada! I am still waiting to see income rather than expenses!

 Where do you find inspiration? I find inspiration through my son Caleb. He is what keeps the strong drive I have. I want to blog full time when I get out of the military. In order to do that, I must stay on it, every day with 100% effort in order for that to happen. Caleb deserves the best and I want him to see me working so hard and not ever giving up so he never does either. I tell him that he is capable of anything and he is stronger than he thinks…everyone is!

 As a (single mompreneur / mompreneur) how do you balance? I really don’t have a clue! I play every single day by ear and don’t really make a lot of plans. We just wake up and decide what we want to do. Caleb and I have SO much fun together. It doesn’t matter what we are doing…as long as we’re together. When he is with his dad during my work cycle, I blog. I saturate myself into my blog so much that before I know it, 4 days have passed and he’s back again! It’s a win-win.

 What advice would you give other (single mompreneurs / mompreneurs)? Don’t take your stress out on your kids! Instead of excluding them from your daily activities, INCLUDE them. Kids don’t have to play with toys to have fun. All they want is love and attention from their Mommies.

With the kids and other things happening in your life, where and when do you find the time to work on your craft/business/ study? Any moment I get. I don’t categorize my blog into a business. It’s a way of life. I have mastered including my son into almost every blogging thing I do. That way, I don’t feel guilty about “working” while he is with me. He is my sidekick and helps me with anything I need. We are a team…and in return, he gets his favorite mini Vanilla Bean Frappuccino!

LOVE:

What’s it like dating and being a single mom? The dynamic is TOTALLY different after being married. I guess I don’t put up with a lot of stuff that I would have in past relationships. The priority is no longer the guy, it’s Caleb and me. If their plans don’t 100% match what we have going on, BYE!

Challenges? I have trust issues from my past relationships. I have my guard up ALL THE TIME. I almost don’t trust my own instincts now…so everything is a red flag to me now. I have to protect myself and Caleb so in return it can cause a lot of heartbreak (on the guys part!). I am definitely not as open as I used to be, and it’s not really a bad thing. Guys have to have a lot of patience to earn my trust and prove themselves to me, if they aren’t willing to wait for that, then I don’t have time for them either!

 Other:

Sometimes you have to make tough decisions whether it’s personal, family, relationships or business. Do you ever feel misunderstood? Give examples or details. All the time. The decision to get a divorce was the number one thing people didn’t understand. I had to make a decision for 3 people. That seems really selfish. But I knew deep down that I was making the right decision because NONE of us were happy. My Ex finally admitted it to me about 6 months after we split. The decision to get a divorce was the ONLY decision I have ever made that went against the grain of majority of my friends and family, yet I was so set and confident in my decision. That’s how it knew it was right.

 How important would you say is having a support system? Who’s a part of your circle? I have 7 brothers and sisters. I talk to each one every 1-4 months. Some more than others. That just shows how close I get with people. I don’t really need very much support. I am very self-sufficient and independent. But, like every person…there are times when I just need a shoulder to lean on. In those times of need, all a person needs is ONE friend or loved one. It is so much more important to have a couple friends that genuinely care about you, that you only talk when you really need to…rather than a crap load of friends that you hang out with every day that will ditch you in a heartbeat to pursue their own agendas.

Have you ever felt judged being a single mother? How? When? Not really. It is so common these days. Also, my blog brings in a lot of positivity and support! My readers are awesome. They tell me all the time how good of a mom I am. Caleb is happy and that’s all that matters.

 What’s one thing you’d like all of us non single moms to know about single motherhood? I feel that it’s actually easier being a single mom because his dad and I weren’t compatible at all. We dated for 2 months before I found out I was pregnant. There was never a foundation. Getting a divorce was the best thing that ever happened to me.  I no longer have to live up to anyone else’s expectations other than Caleb’s. We eat dinner when/where we want…we do what we want…go where we want. I don’t have to worry about checking in or getting approval from anyone. I love it. It’s like a whole new sense of freedom. I do want to get married again someday, but I will make sure that the guy I’m with is my best friend first, lover second.

 Finally: Tell us how to find you:

FB Makingmalissa   IG Makingmalissa   Website: http://makingmalissa.com/