How an Online Community Can Create Local Relationships & Opportunity | Interview with Vanessa Bush
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Show Notes:
Vanessa is the type of person that is all in once she commits to doing something. She’s the owner of Albuquerque Moms Blog, which is a major force for good in the Albuquerque community. Not only does Vanessa’s work serve mothers, but it also helps local businesses gain exposure and customers.
With a team of 38 people, Vanessa has a lot of content, perspectives, and new opportunities to manage, and she loves it. She believes that we each get to choose the perspective we’ll hold about our situation and that makes her such a joy to talk with and learn from.
Whether you’re building on online business and want a way to give back to your local community, or you’re searching for ways to connect deeper with the people in your city, or you're a parent with entrepreneurial tendencies, you will love this episode!
In this episode:
1:09 - Introduction to Vanessa Bush and the topics we cover in this episode.
2:25 - Vanessa shares what’s unique about Albuquerque (ABQ) Moms Blog, the online and in-person platform she manages to serve moms and local businesses in the Albuquerque area.
3:12 - A peek into what kind of content you can expect to find on the ABQ Moms Blog website (diverse voices, not all about parenting, lifestyle, personal journals, etc.).
5:20 - How Vanessa manages the process for coming up with content ideas and assigning articles amongst contributors.
6:00 - Example of a content series on birthing experiences and how she worked to get an honest, diverse group of stories.
8:20 - Why I’m fascinated with community blogs and Vanessa’s take on why the team aspect helps her serve her community better.
9:35 - The team behind ABQ Moms Blog (it’s 38 women strong!). Vanessa explains the different roles people play.
11:00 - The content schedule the team sticks to and why they publish so much content.
11:40 - How the relationship with local businesses works and how they were forged.
12:45 - Why Vanessa decided to take over ABQ Moms Blog and the journey that led her to buy and own the business.
15:50 - What it actually looks like to purchase a website, and the network that overarches ABQ Moms Blog.
17:35 - How Vanessa recognized her entrepreneurial leanings in life.
19:05 - The dynamics of building an online presence for a local community from Vanessa’s perspective.
20:00 - Why Vanessa loves Albuquerque despite its “underbelly”.
22:00 some of the ways that ABQ Moms Blog is meeting the deep need of loneliness in the community & in motherhood.
24: 35 - The perspective Vanessa had that helped her acclimate to Albuquerque.
26:30 - Why contentedness is a decision that needs to be made.
27:25 - The benefits Vanessa sees for building a local-focused online business.
31:16 - What Vanessa does to intentionally maintain the diversity of voice on the blog.
31:35 - The complications of writing about motherhood past the toddler age, and how Vanessa hopes to bridge the gap.
38:00 - How Vanessa keeps herself motivated by delegating work that doesn’t excite her as much.
40:27 - The story Vanessa challenges women to leave behind: “balance”. That idea puts way too much pressure on something that’s impossible, she says.
41:45 - instead of balance, Vanessa sees it as attention that she needs to hold and provide to different things at different times.
42:49 - The story Vanessa wants to see women embrace is to think beyond self-care, and consider how community care might be even more loving to ourselves.
43:50 - How you can find Vanessa and ABQ Moms Blog online.
Check out www.citymomsblog.com to find a local community in your city!
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