How My Blog Changed My Life: Stefanie from the Broke and Beautiful Life

Today, I’m super jazzed about the latest edition of How My Blog Changed My Life. If you are new here, I started this interview series after I realized my own life had changed tremendously because of my blog. Because my favorite part of blogging is the community, I thought it would be fun to interview others about how their blogs have changed their lives. These people are my inspirations!

Today, we have Stefanie who is insanely talented and someone I deeply admire. More about her: Stefanie O’Connell is a New York City based actress and freelance writer. She chronicles her struggle to “live the dream” on a starving artists’ budget at thebrokeandbeautifullife.com.

What was the inspiration for starting your blog?

I’m a professional actress by trade and a personal finance junkie out of necessity.  During one of my first tours I read Suze Orman’s, “Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke”.  From that point on, money became my hobby – “Millionaire Mind”, “Investing for Dummies”- I read anything and everything finance and became obsessed with tracking my own in my spare time.  When I saw how nonchalantly other actors would treat their limited funds, I shook my head in silence.  When I heard them subsequently complain about having no money, I decided to do something and start my blog.

What has been the most challenging part of having a blog?

There are a lot of challenges surrounding blogging, more than I think most people realize, but I think the hardest is having no idea what I’m doing- seriously.  There are so many things that go into a blog that I never realized, it’s really overwhelming when you start out, and I’ve found it doesn’t really get any less overwhelming, but you get better at dealing with it.  There’s always some new thing to do or learn for the sake of your blog that you have absolutely no idea how to implement.  If you want to be a blogger you have to be a self-starter.

In what ways, direct or indirect, has your life changed because of your blog?

I used to have to do things I hated just to get by- waiting tables, personal assisting, babysitting, trade show hostessing, pretty much any random side jobs you can think of- then I’d have to be up at the crack of dawn the next morning to audition.  It was soul sucking and exhausting.  Now my “survival job” (as we call it in “the biz”) is freelance writing- something I absolutely adore and can do on my own time.

It might sound like a minor change, but I’ve gone from being miserable and negative 99% of the time to feeling truly happy and content 99% of the time.  It’s the first time in my life where I’m not waiting for my next acting job to make me feel fulfilled.

What have you learned from blogging?

The more opportunities you create for yourself, the luckier you get.  As an actor, I’m all too familiar with rejection and how much luck matters.  Rather than focusing on what I can’t control, I’ve decided to empower myself through blogging — constantly creating more opportunities for success, even in the face of rejection.

What advice would you give to new bloggers who are thinking of starting a blog?

I do coaching for beginner bloggers so I could write pages on this, but if I have to narrow it down to one thing… know who you are, who you’re writing for, and what mission you’re serving.  Okay, that’s like three things, but the more clarity you bring to those fundamental answers, the more focused and effective you’ll be as a blogger.

Thank you Stefanie! I want to follow in your footsteps 🙂

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Melanie

Melanie Lockert is the founder of the blog and author of the book, Dear Debt. Through her blog, she chronicled her journey out of $81,000 in student loan debt. She is also the co-founder of the Lola Retreat, which helps bold women face their fears, own their dreams and figure out a plan to be in control of their finances. She is passionate about empowering women, helping others get out of debt, and focuses on the intersection of debt and mental health. Every September she organizes a Suicide Prevention Awareness Blog Tour, to help share resources for those struggling with debt and suicide. In addition to her love of personal finance, art and music, she is also a karaoke master and a cat mom to Miles and Thelonious.

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