A Simple and Contented Life has received a 2017 Liebster Award!

2017 Liebster Award Winner and Nominations

The 2017 Liebster Award is an online award that gives recognition to new bloggers. Created by bloggers for bloggers, it’s a great way for new blogs to be discovered and promoted. Getting yourself seen, growing your traffic and building your community in the early days of blogging can be tough. The 2017 Liebster Award acknowledges all the hard work that goes into this. It also provides a way for the blogging community to support and connect with one another.

Who was I nominated by?

I was very kindly nominated by the lovely Claudia of Conscious Earth Mama. Claudia’s blog is all about mindful inspiration and living a sustainable and holistic lifestyle. She writes about parenting, natural living, working from home, yoga and meditation. I love her honesty about the joys of parenting and she’s a real inspiration for building a life you’ve always dreamed of. Definitely check out her blog!

I’m thrilled to have been nominated by Claudia for the 2017 Liebster Award and thank her so much for doing so. Not only does it encourage me that I’m on the right path, it has inspired me to keep going. Best of all, I now get to nominate five fellow bloggers who I feel should also be given recognition.

My nominations

Each blogger must nominate five fellow bloggers with less than 200 followers. Since “followers” does not specify what platform, I have chosen to go with subscribers, and stick to blogs that I know are still relatively new! All of my nominations are fellow Elite Blog Academy 3.0 students. It was really hard to choose who to nominate but I have picked five who I think are doing a great job and whose content I love. Here are my nominations for the 2017 Liebster Award:

Deja Cronley – Deja Vu Organics
Jennifer Rice Holt – Happy Teacher Mama
Catherine White Gruetzner – Whine and Dancing
Pennie Birk Thogersen – Nature Mama
Carolin Eichholz – Bliss in the Bosom

The rules state that if I feel others deserve the award that I am able to nominate more. So, in addition to the above five, I’d also like to nominate Gemma Willsher of The Goal Chaser. I’m nominating Gemma because like me, she knows what it’s like to ‘do it scared’! Both her and I were terrified of hitting the launch button on our blogs but it feels great to be out there. If I can do it you can too Gemma – keep going, your blog is great!

Congratulations to you all! Now it’s your turn to nominate five bloggers for the 2017 Liebster Award – here’s to spreading the blogging love and building our tribes!

2017 Liebster Award Rules

Thank the blogger who nominated you for the Liebster Award.
Link back to the blogger who awarded you.
Upload the award to your blog. It can be done as a blog post, on your sidebar or both.
Answer the questions below.
Provide 10 random facts about yourself (this is optional but helps you to engage better with your readers).
Nominate 5 blogs with followers less than 200 that you believe deserves to receive the award. If you feel others deserve the award, then you are welcome to nominate more.
Notify the nominated bloggers so that they can accept the award. Bloggers can be nominated more than once, giving their readers more chance to learn about them.

Questions for the nominees

What has been your biggest challenge with blogging?
What is your number one tip for other bloggers?
What are your hobbies other than blogging?
What successful entrepreneur do you admire and why?
Who is your favourite blogger and why?
Tell us about your blog and why you started blogging.
What’s an item you can’t live without?
What and who motivates you to write?

Here are my answers to the questions:

What has been your biggest challenge with blogging?

My biggest challenge has been working out what to do when. Getting started in the world of blogging can be so overwhelming, there’s so much to set up! There’s also so much information out there, knowing who’s advice to follow can be really tough. I’ve learnt that you just need to throw yourself in at the deep end, hit the publish button and start before you’re ready. I’ve learnt to just do it scared and that done is better than perfect.

What is your number one tip for other bloggers?

To just keep going! You know Dory and her “just keep swimming”?! Well it’s the same for blogging – you have to “just keep blogging”! Put your blinkers on, keep your head down and avoid comparing yourself to others. Follow your own path in your own time. It doesn’t matter if there are others in your niche who are writing about similar topics to you. You have your own story to tell. One of my favourite quotes is Marie Forleo’s “It doesn’t have to be new, it just has to come from you”.

What are your hobbies other than blogging?

Spending time with my boys is high on my list of priorities. I also love curling up with a good book or having a boxset binge with my Hubby. I find baking very therapeutic and if there’s a good excuse to do a bit of DIY or decorating, I’m there! I find it very satisfying putting up shelves and giving the walls a fresh coat of paint!

What successful entrepreneur do you admire and why?

I really admire Carrie Green of the Female Entrepreneur Association. I find her incredibly inspiring and she has given me the confidence to believe in myself and to stop at nothing when it comes to chasing my dream of becoming a full-time blogger. She has some amazing guided visualisations and her YouTube channel is my go to place for when I need a bit of motivation and direction.

Who is your favourite blogger and why?

This is a really tough one to answer! I’m torn between saying Ruth Soukup of Living Well Spending Less or Darren Rowse of ProBlogger. Ruth is where I want to be when it comes to blogging, she’s a huge inspiration and I find her story incredibly motivating. I followed her for a good couple of years, longing to do the same before I eventually told my Hubby that I wanted to become a blogger. Darren on the other hand has been an incredible guide whilst setting up my blog. His blog is full of practical tips and information. It has really helped me develop my strategy and focus on what really matters. His podcast is so good that even my youngest loves listening to it too!

Tell us about your blog and why you started blogging.

My blog is all about making family life a little bit less stressful and a whole lot more enjoyable. I write about how to reduce the overwhelm, take back control and create a life you don’t want to take a vacation from. This includes ways to carve out more time for family, ways to create a home you love and ways to make your own wellbeing a priority.

Last year a diagnosis of breast cancer pulled the rug out from underneath my feet and turned our world upside down. I’m so thankful to say that I made it through, but the experience made me realise that life is precious and that it goes way too fast. It taught me to slow down and to be grateful for the life that I have. That nothing is more important than spending quality time with those we love. It gave me the courage to chase my dream of becoming a blogger, to share my story and help others create a life they love too.

What’s an item you can’t live without?

This has to be my phone. Not because of texting or social media but because my Spotify account is on there! I absolutely love listening to music and can’t get through the day without it. I pretty much have a playlist for every occasion. I’ll be listening to music whilst doing the housework, my headphones are in when I’m writing and it’s on when I’m in the car. Music also has to be playing when I’m cooking dinner and I can often be found dancing around the kitchen with my boys!

What and who motivates you to write?

I’m at my happiest when I have a pen in my hand, so I guess that my motivation for writing is simply that I love it! The introvert in me gets incredibly nervous in the company of others, but when I’m writing, it’s a different story. The words flow and I can take my time thinking about what I want to write. The fact that my writing helps others make a change for the better is a great motivator too.

As for who motivates me, that would have to be my husband. He’s been an incredible support in getting my blog off the ground and has encouraged me more than anyone else to follow my dream. Without him I would not have had the confidence to do this.

10 Random facts about myself…

I love good food, good wine and any excuse to try something new
I love the countryside, being outdoors and going for long walks with a picnic and my boys
Our dream is to self-build our own property
I’m a massive Harry Potter fan and have lost count of the number of times I’ve read the books!
London is my favourite go-to place for a day out
I could never choose between being a tomboy or a girly girl
I’d love to own a French Bulldog and a Cocker Spaniel but my Hubby still needs persuading on that one!
Five things in my handbag: My purse, diary, iPod headphones, keys and a pack of mints
Favourite guilty pleasure: Hiding in Starbucks with a large coffee and a good book
Favourite date night with my Hubby: Cooking dinner together in our kitchen, music on, wine poured

Want to know more about me and A Simple and Contented Life? You can read more here…

Thanks again to Claudia for nominating me and congratulations to Deja, Jennifer, Catherine, Pennie, Carolin and Gemma!