Blogging seems to have a stigma of being super glamorous, easy, and elegant. You just be-bop along living your best life and people pay you to post about it. That does sound amazing, but it is simply not true. Well not completely…
We started our blog about 7 months ago as we prepared our family of four to embark on an epic road trip, to find our new home. It was a crazy idea, that I believed in wholeheartedly. It took a while to get my loved ones on board, and honestly, not all of them humored me. We were tired of our routine. We simply wanted to be-bop along while living our best life and get paid to do it, you know the life of a blogging family!
From the first moment, my husband and I agreed that a blogging journey was to be our next path we hit the computer hard. We came up with our name, The Road Knott Taken. It was difficult to decide on a name since our last name can be used so awesomely. Set up a website with a few simple pictures. Added an intro of who we were. Came up with a hook to get people to follow us. Linked social media accounts. Bam! We were off and running, sort of…
Now began the endless hours of planning. Where did we want to live? What route makes the most sense? When would our departure date be? Who can we reach out to? How were we going to make it work financially? What companies/people would want to sponsor us to make our blog a reality? Spreadsheets were meticulously created and then completely redone, and then redone again only to be edited while on the road. Roadtrippers itineraries were rerouted constantly.
Finally, there was enough of a rough draft plan in hand. I started sending countless emails to city chambers, town tourism agencies, real estate agents, moving companies, travel agents… Anyone I thought would make a great partner. We SLOWLY began to make connections and saw this blog working to get us where we wanted to be.
With no sponsors, but I felt that could come with time, and a little bit of confidence, we went live with our blog and began our journey.
Little did we know what this blogging adventure was going to manifest for our family. But we did feel in our heart it was worth the risk of choosing The Road Knott Taken.
Hindsight is 20/20. I wish we could start our blog over again knowing what we know now. To be able to start our journey without the looming time crunch of school starting and the kids yet to be enrolled anywhere. To have partnered with a sponsor to squash, the ever-present pit in our stomach as we watched the money flow out of our account, instead of into. But who is to say everything would have turned out the way it has without our challenges? One day we will have a financed carefree living our best life blog lifestyle, but today here we are. And damn is it good to be here right now.
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It sounds like you had an awesome time. Family is very important to me also. Good luck on travels.
Love this concept! My husband and I said if we won the lotto (hey it could happen), we would setoff across country with our four animals and wild child. But for now, our blogging adventures mainly stay in the Northeast!
You can do it without winning the lottery, we are proof of that! Enjoy the Northeast, we need to make it that way.
Wow! This is exciting and scary at the same time. I am A type too so just going for it without a plan would be ridiculously scary for me, but a rush of freedom too!
Yes, but with debt and a house we would want to fix up first and stuff, a little extra would help :). However, you are right, we still could! For now, we will just hangout here with the occasional jump to somewhere else. Like sticking our toe in the water. You all are much braver! If you make it to eastern NY or even CT, NJ, Eastern PA, VT ... Contact me! Perhaps we can do an Adventures of Abby Girl meets the Road Knott Taken! Just sounds cool lol. My daughter is almost 3.5.
Love this!!!! We will 100% be in touch if we head that way.
This is so cool! Sounds like an amazing experience for your family!!! Memories to last a lifetime :)
Are you still traveling? St. Louis has a ton If free family fun activities. Sounds like a great learning adventure.
I felt the same as you about blogging, wishing I could start it again with the lessons I learned. I love the memories you are making as a family! Enjoy it all!
Couldn't agree with you more about blogging!! It's still a learning experience for me after so many years. i love how you get to share this experience with your husband!
Wow! Sounds like you had an amazingly adventurous experience. I don’t know if I could’ve personally did it with my four children but I love the feeling of having the freedom to do whatever you wanted on your own terms. Love this post!
What an adventure! Our hope is to eventually do this as well. Right now we are buidling up our sites (and aren't quite brave enough to quit our day jobs or sell our house). Sometimes I think just going for it, pressure and all alllows one to make it work. Looks like you are finding the balance of it all. Best of luck!
This sounds amazing! What a great experience to have with your family. I agree that blogging is not as easy as it seems. I'm only a couple of months in. It fills my soul, but not my wallet. lol.
Wow this is an amazing story! I love that you and your husband are in it together too 🤗