Words of Wisdom from 10 Years of Blogging.

TEN years.

A whole decade.

When we started Climbing Grier Mountain (CGM) back in August of 2010 our goal was to talk about our life in Colorado. Between snow skiing, hiking, Denver village gatherings, and a career in the financial industry, we felt like we had a lot to share with all the folks back home.

Well, the financial job came and went thanks to the market crash. In fact, the loss of our corporate job became the fuel we needed to create CGM. We were a newlywed at the time and had zero experience cooking. In fact, we hated it. There’s a reason why we didn’t list cooking as part of our blog goals when we started. Because we didn’t know how!

Anyway, in between job interviews, we started watching the Food Network and teaching myself how to cook. We can’t tell you how many meals we burnt. The countless stove fires we put out. The finger cuts we endured. BUT! All those failures led us to Foodie Fridays which is where we started to share our food adventures on CGM. It was a chance to showcase how not to burn a sauce. How to put out a food fire safely. How to slice an onion and not a pinkie. This is where our food blogging journey began.

Fast forward ten years and now we blog full-time. We're a cookbook author, we're an expert at food photography, and we've traveled to dozens of countries in search of cultural cuisines. What started out as a simple way to connect with friends and family has morphed into a blossoming business. We love our job.

Do you want to know the truth? A favorite part of our job is waking up every day and thinking to myself, how can we change the world using this platform? CGM is by day a vehicle that allows us to share recipes, but its become so much more than that! And that’s how we're still standing here ten years later!

In honor of celebrating 10 blogging years, we wanted to give something back to you all. There is so much information out in the world on how to “fix things.” Whether it is fixing your financial woes in six simple steps or reading a certain book to fix your love life, there is plenty of information out there. Sometimes we don’t need everything to be “fixed.” Instead we need a moment to take in advice or words of wisdom to develop ourselves. That’s where the true success lies.

So, today we wanted to share 5 pieces of advice/wisdom that have helped us stay true to us and our business over the years.

1) Money only gives you options.

Our Grandfather Chuck taught us that. We didn’t start CGM thinking we would be rolling in Benjamin’s in a few short weeks. Spoiler alert: we didn’t make money until almost year four. Can you guess how much? A whopping $56. For most people that dollar amount would make them feel instantly disappointed. BUT! Our entrepreneurial spirit has never been motivated by earning money. We were never worried about when we would make the next $56.

For us, we decided the money was a great option to use towards a photo editing course. Instead of assigning value to money (which goes against everything we are ever taught)we looked at the money as a way to give us an option. For us, we went from thinking “we only made $56 dollars to thinking, wow, we have $56 to apply towards that online course we wanted to take.” See the difference? Once you take the power away from money what’s left is only options.

2) Stay hitched.

In other words, stay committed to relationships. This one is tough. Relationships constantly evolve, change, or end. We decided a long time ago that in order to maintain longevity in our business we would need to stay hitched to our readers, clients, and community. Meaning we would need to show up, offer value, and listen. We knew staying hitched in these relationships would take work. BUT! We promise if you commit 100% of yourself to the relationship, you will get 100% back.

3) Struggles are the Curriculum to Become Our Better Selves.

Phew. That is a mouthful. We would say one of our superpowers is the ability to fail. We thrive on it which sounds strange to say, but if we're not failing, we're not trying. We've seen countless people over the years always sitting comfortably with the status quo. It makes us furious. We believe people should be pushing, challenging, and taking risks every chance they get.

For us that’s where the true journey is. If you aren’t digging, questioning, or being curious you might as well close up shop because you will become irrelevant. It’s no coincidence that Madonna has changed her persona over the years. Because she is constantly changing, struggling, and taking risks to be her better self. That is how she has survived this long. Remember that failure or any struggle is only temporary. Wouldn’t you rather take a risk than be left feeling ordinary?

4) Be a Role Model.

Being a role model has become more of a focus for us over the last couple of years. Maybe it’s our old age talking, but as we've experienced growth, change, and abundance we've wanted to use that energy to help others. What’s the saying….”You are what you do, not what you’ll say you do.” Being an influencer is tough right now. Recently we've steered our thinking to replace influencer with role model. It completely changes the landscape.

By claiming myself as a role model in our business we've taken the social mob pressure out and made way for our own due diligence on worldly matters. Don’t get us wrong, we've fallen victim to the feeling of needing to have everything picture reliable before sharing our life. Or jumping on social media campaigns even though we knew in our gut something wasn’t right. BUT! For us, re-framing myself as a role model has helped us find a solid ground. We feel more stable, centered, and more energized to actively pursue the truth to help others.

5) Nobody Gives a F$CK as Much as You Do About Your Business.

How freeing is that? That was the hardest lesson we've ever learned. As a type 2 Enneagram this was something that we didn’t want to acknowledge because we are a people pleaser. In our early years of business we would try to do everything that was mainstream. Everyone was posting white, bright food photos and we were like, yes! We'll do that too! Spoiler alert: all of our white, light, and bright photos were a disaster. It’s almost like the universe was calling bullshit.

So we decided one day to do dark and moody photos. BAZINGA. People fell in love with our photography. BUT! Had we asked people what they thought about us doing dark and moody. Nobody gave a F$CK because everyone was doing white, bright photos. We were the only one who cared enough to change our direction. We trusted myself and our talent. In business that’s all you can do. Trust yourself.

We hope these words of wisdom offer some perspective or motivation. We couldn’t do this job without you so we appreciate you taking the time to read and reflect with us. 10 years is a long time, but we truly believe, a favorite is yet to come!!