Meet Ellen McLean | Blog Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ellen McLean and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ellen, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Like many entrepreneurs, I didn’t fit in well as an employee at a company. I’ve worked in multitudes of positions and in part, due to moving to different states and cities, had many, many bosses. And if I didn’t luck out with a boss who understood and appreciated my thought process, then it was an uphill battle. It was difficult for me to see how things could be done better (in my eyes) and to not express that vision. This often ended up working against me, but I’m sure it had a lot to do with my not-so-delicate way of expressing my opinion. ;o}

So being a solopreneur was always appealing to me. Not having to answer to someone above me and not having to manage someone I work with keeps me free and clear of worry. I also wanted to be in control of actually being employed and not being limited to how much money I could make. I knew if there was a business that would suit my abilities and personality type, then the sky would be the limit in terms of income and if something happened with the economy, I could find a way to pivot if I needed to.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I make artsy things and then I provide tutorials on my website so readers will know how to make those artsy things. My site has DIY tutorials for various crafts like concrete planters and concrete decor. As well as how to create outdoor projects like DIY stepping stones and a cinder block and wood bench.

This idea to do a DIY website all started because when my husband and I were preparing for our rustic-themed wedding, we were making all of the decorations. This was in 2015 and we had Pinterest to rely on for ideas. A cool-looking idea from a Pinterest pin would lead us to someone’s website where they would have a so-called tutorial. I say so-called because these “tutorials” were lacking the most basic details. There was so little information that there was no way you could actually make the item shown in the tutorial. I would spend hours scouring the internet to look up 5-10 different tutorials just so that I could piece together enough details to make this thing for the wedding.

It was then that I said, one day I’m going to have a DIY website and I will never skim over any details. I will have all the information anyone could ever need.

So this is how the whole story comes together. I knew then you could make money having a tutorial website, but not exactly how. And it was about a year later, through the podcast my husband was listening to, that I got a breakdown of how it works and realized I might be able to make this possible. I found a couple of more podcasts that had more information, and that was it. Within a month, I had a DIY website up and running, with the intent of eventually turning it into my full-time job.

I’m a little different from some of the DIY bloggers because I think they lean mostly toward the creative side. Of course, I love making things, but I also love the business aspect –and there’s a heck of a lot of a business side to it unless you ignore it. Ignoring it will have you hitting an income ceiling though. To get past that, you’ve got to be well versed in planning, marketing, advertising, social promotion, search engine optimization, as well as technical wizardry. That’s the business side. The creative side is making things, photography and graphic design. My favorite aspects are planning, search engine optimization and overall strategy, and then making things.

I’ve learned not to rely on one facet of blogging for income and to diversify as much as possible. I’ve also learned, as I sort of mentioned, that you’ve got to be willing to develop all the skills required so that you can be able to dial in and see what’s working, what isn’t, and do more of what is. You have to know where you’ve been earning your highest income to know what’s going to give you the best return based on time so that you can continue building upon that.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We love that we are north of the city and not far from the mountains and the foothills. It makes it an easy trip to go to the wineries near Dahlonega so we would definitely start there. I’d love to go hiking and show off some of the falls like Amicalola and maybe do an AirBnB long weekend trip to Blue Ridge to show just how beautiful the mountains are.

I think most people who aren’t from here don’t realize how tall the mountains here are. A couple of years ago we spent a short weekend in Suches and we were so high up that we were in the clouds. We’re originally from the New England area and I know most people from there, like us, who are used to tall mountains, would be pleasantly surprised and impressed with the North Georgia mountains.

For a city trip, I love going back to where I first lived when I moved to Atlanta – the Intown neighborhoods like Inman Park and Virginia Highlands. We’d visit local shops and sit outside for a glass of wine, and then have dinner at one of the restaurants. Oh, and for sure, an Oakland Cemetery tour at night.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have two people that really need some credit in helping me get to where I am with this business. First, is my husband, Dennis. It’s because of him that I really became fully aware that blogging was a business where you could earn a full-time income. I mean, I knew people did, but I didn’t understand how. It was when we were driving together and he was listening to a podcast with some YouTubers and bloggers that I found out. And much more than that, my husband has supported me from day one and has believed in me and that I could turn this into a successful business. He has never once had a single hesitation.

The other person who deserves a little credit is Sarah Fogle who is a top DIY blogger and I totally admired her and her blog. I had been working on building this website part-time for 2 years when I met her at a business-related conference. I remember I was so giddy. A few months later, she remembered me and so kindly reached out to offer to mentor me.

Her offer came at the perfect time because I was working at an awful job with a verbally abusive boss and I needed to leave. I didn’t think the website had grown enough for me to be able to take it on full-time. So having Sarah offer her mentorship was incredible. There’s no college degree to learn to become a blogger, and no clear ways to navigate it as a career, so this helped because it meant I would no longer be flailing around in the dark.

When she reached out that day, she also provided me with information that I had built enough traffic to my website already and that I was eligible to apply for an industry program that would generate some income from the site. It was a modest amount at the time, but it was enough that I was able to make it work and leave my job to pursue blogging full time.

Website: https://artsyprettyplants.com/

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