Commitment to You

March 12, 2021

Dearest Readers,

I purchased this domain to encourage anyone who found it with whatever positivity, hope and knowledge that I have gained over the years.  Afterwards, I was stalled by my perfectionism and fear of doing things wrong.  I let this little corner of the web sit dormant with a “coming soon” sign on it for almost a year. When I finally got up the nerve to hit publish, I was still very lost in how I should go about this.  I had been reading other bloggers talk about how they supported their families with their online businesses.  Okay, that’s what I’ll do, I figure out how to make money. 

I bought courses to help me figure out all kinds of things like SEO, which I still do not understand. (So if you have found yourself here reading this, then I will say it’s by divine design and definitely not a result of any fabulous tech skills I possess to rank higher on Google.) I thought I would learn what bloggers were “supposed” to do from these courses.  There are some absolutely amazing people out in this big internet, and I admire how so many of them can do this and support their families.  I have discovered though, I’m not a good salesman of myself. 

I had a friend who did network marketing.  After trying what she was selling and liking it, I told a few people about it, so she would get more sales.  She asked if I was interested in selling the product since I seemed to like it and had basically sold some for her.  I thought it would be a good way to make some extra money on the side and gave it a shot.  I got a small confidence boost and sold a couple months pretty well. But, y’all I am an introvert at heart, and those couple months of attempting to be a social butterfly for my personal gain were draining to my soul.  It was easier for me to support someone else’s business rather than my own. I can’t fully explain this, but it is evident here in my blog as well. I share and will share books and other things that are encouraging and helpful to me.  These are things that if you purchase will be from other people and companies.  I am trying to become an Amazon affiliate, so I may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you choose to purchase from any linked book or product on my site.  My hope is to use that income, if any, to help offset this site’s expenses.  You’ll also find that I will encourage you to check your local library for books, because I know all too well that not everyone has a budget for extra luxuries, and there are great ways to get helpful resources for free.

I also have a full time job that I love so money was not the priority when I started this site. If this little slice of the web ever does truly produce an income, that would be great and perhaps I might pull back and go part time at my day job.  If it never makes a dime or only covers its own expenses, then I will happy with that as well.  My hope is that I can just help and encourage others who stumble across it.

So now a little over a year after the initial idea came to me, I feel like I have a true direction for DogsBooksLife.  It was just yesterday that first spoke of this site to others in person (well….what qualifies for in person in this COVID world.) I realized during a zoom book club focused on faith based books, that this is what I’m being led to do.  It may not follow the Bloggers Guide to Success, and I’m okay with that. I just want to be genuine, positive and helpful to you whether I benefit from it or even know about it or not.  I will continue to share what has encouraged and helped me in hopes of encouraging and helping you. 

Your Friend,

Sarah