Hi everyone!

In case you're new around these parts and have stumbled across this blog series, I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself.

My name is Roxy and I am the blogger, photographer, planner, crafter, maker, designer and general busy-bee behind CityGirlSearching. I am South African, but have been living in South Korea with my husband and rescue pup (Shadow, who yes, has his own # and Instagram account and FB page because that's what you do these days) for the past 3/technically 4 years.

We are about to wrap up our final contract and will be heading home to South Africa at the end of June...yippeee!

In this series #FromBlog2Biz, I am going to be sharing with you my journey from blogger to business owner. In this post (Part 1) I want to share with you my blogging journey so far (it's been a good number of years) and to set the scene for you for where I am at right now and how I have been making money from my blog and how I plan to monetize moving forward from here.

I do hope you'll join me on this journey as I share with what I've done so far, what has worked and what hasn't. It's going to be an awesome adventure so let's get started right away.

#FromBlog2Biz Journey From Blogger to Creative Business Owner

Dear friend.

I have lots of big changes coming up in the next few months. The first of of those big changes being my move back to South Africa after being here in Korea for a total of 4 years. Farmboy and I are headed back to sunny SA at the end of June with our pup #ShadowTheJindo (in case you were wondering what was going to happen to him).

Our plan, after returning here to Korea after a year living in Daejeon in 2010, was always to spend 3 years traveling as much as we could (click here to see our travel guides for places like Borneo, Vietnam, Bali and so many more!!) saving as much as we could, and just enjoying our first few years of marriage together. It's been an amazing adventure so far and we have loved ever day of the past 3 years.

Throughout this time, and actually going all the way back to 2010, I have been an avid blogger, sharing photographs of our lives, useful information on everything from rescuing a dog in Korea to how to take better photographs for your blog. And so, armed with nearly 6 years of blogging 'wisdom' I am embarking on a new adventure...to turn this blog into a full time business!

You can read the other parts of this journey here:

Blog

#FromBlog2Biz - Come and join My Journey from blogger to business owner as I take you behind the scenes of my business journey

I am going to be using the #FromBlog2Biz hashtag for all social media posts (because who doesn't love a personalised hashtag, right?!) and by doing this I hope to make it easy for you to follow along on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter.

#Blog2Biz journey from blogger to business owner

It's a journey I am equal parts squealing with excitement over and absolutely terrified about. I have had a few smaller businesses over the past 6 years; my stationery store, freelance social media services, a vintage collectables store at the I Heart Market in Durban, South Africa and my photography.

I am still in the beginning stages of this journey and will begin my first post RIGHT back at the start...ie December 2015 and my thoughts and ideas and processes that have led me to be where I am today, and have shaped my ideas going forward. I have been wanting to document this journey in some way, and thought I'd do so here on the blog so that you can follow along.

I'm going to be sharing with you everything I've done so far, what has worked, what hasn't worked and what I plan to do moving forward. EEEK! I am rather nervous about all of this, blogging about makeup reviews and sharing my photography portfolio is far less scary than sharing what I've had success with and what I've failed at.

If this journey sounds like something you'd like to be a part of/learn from/watch from a distance, please do leave me a comment below. I haven't quite decided on the format for this series yet (I am thinking about doing a mix of videos, live streaming on Periscope, emails and blog posts). This is why I've created the mailing list below for you to join and I would love for you to be a part of this adventure with me.

The #Blog2Biz mail list (which you can join below) is where I'll be letting you know the exact format for this series (whether I'll be creating videos, when/if I'll be on Periscope etc), as well as it being a place that to connect with you all. By joining, you'll also be able to gain access to the #CGScreative Resource library which is filled with loads of blogging resources, printables and what has made my list famous...beautiful stock photographs for you to use to grow your blog.

Simply pop your email in the box below to join us & click the little check box if you aren't already a CGScreative member and want to get access the resource library

If you too have been wanting to make money from your blog, turn your passion into a business or want to read more about all the nitty gritty details of what goes on behind the scenes of a blog turned business, then make sure you enter your email below.

I am SO excited to share in this journey with you! From the wins to the losses, the successes to the failures...Here's to the start of the journey!