Blog Tour Stop: Sheryl Siler from Cherished Magazine

I am excited to have Sheryl Siler with Cherished Magazine over to the Faithful Bloggers blog today to interview her.  She is founder and editor-in-chief of Cherished Magazine, a digital magazine that reminds Christian women they are chosen, cherished & loved.  She is taking Cherished Magazine on a Cherished Everyday Blog Tour Extravaganza this Fall. I know Sheryl from attending a few live events and I am happy to have her here on Faithful Bloggers to ask her a few questions.  Here we go:

Since we met at events, do you think it is beneficial to invest in attending in-person events where other bloggers hang out?

I absolutely do think it is beneficial to attend the "right for you " in person events. I attended a few at the beginning that weren't the right fit. I wish I could give a little bit of wisdom of what makes it right-for-you,  I'm sure that I can but I'll try.  Ask yourself if the people putting on the event are like-minded and a personality that you jive with?  Another great question to research is the content of the event something you are looking to learn?

The point I want to emphasize is don't go to an event just to go because beyond the learning at an event, you can create some great relationships that continue on past the conference.

How important do you think it is to have the support of other like-minded individuals that you meet at events or even online? 

For me being around other online marketers and bloggers really encouraged me to take action on my ideas.   Some ideas really weren't my fit but if I did't have the camaraderie of others doing the same things I were doing I wouldn't have ever launched Cherished Magazine.  At an in-person event, I shared my God-sized dream to a roomful of like-minded women.  I got such a warm response, encouraging words and lots of ideas for Cherished Magazine (You know.  You were there).  Many of those in that room that day contributed articles to the magazine.  I may not have had the gumption to "Go for it" if it hadn't been for those amazing ladies.

Tell us more about what you called your "God-sized" dream - what led you to start it, when did you launch?

Doing a digital magazine was something I took an add-on class  in at an in-person event.  I was just getting my feet wet blogging at GrowBloomInspire.com at that time and thought a magazine would be pretty cool.  I got really excited and then got back from the conference, life took over and I sat on the idea for about a year.

In January 2015, the idea surfaced again.  This time with a yearning and a more focused idea of wanting women to know that they are Cherished...not because of what they do but  because of who they are in Christ.  In February I attended that conference where I got brave and shared the idea and the "Go for it" mentality took over.  My first issue was released in May 2015.  You can actually get a coupon to get our first two published issues for free.  Just enter your name and email on the form and we will send it to you.

Now I heard you mention that you tried other things and some of them didn't fit.  What was one of the biggest "failures" you've had as a blogger and what did you learn from it?

Ohh..one of the biggest "failures" .... well honestly I didn't know what I wanted or who I wanted to speak to.  One big failure at the beginning was not taking enough time trying to figure out what it was I was meant to do.  I thought of doing a blog that focused on doing things with your kids because I was a stay at home mom but didn't really find a passion in that.  Then I thought "I like scrapbooking" so maybe something that included faith and scrapbooking...not it.    I say not knowing what I want was one of my biggest failures but I'm not sure being an editor-in-chief of a magazine, a speaker or an author would have been on those first dreams of what I wanted without those failed attempts of  trying to "do something online".

My second failure I would say is not being consistent with all the parts and pieces it takes to make blogging and promotion successful and then just quitting on the idea instead of coming up with a new plan.  In hindsight, I think I would try to do something daily, wouldn't be able to do that and then wind up sort of quitting all together.  I have learned that consistent may start out with doing something once a week and as things become routine and you are able to hire help, you can move to increasing the frequency.

Sheryl thanks for taking the time to answer my questions today.  I heard you were having a special yearly rate for the length of your blog tour.  How does someone get it?

Yes I do!  Just go over to the Cherished Everyday Fall Tour Extravaganza page here.  You will find the special as well as where we have been on the tour and where we have been next and information if you have a blog and would love to have me come on over for a blog post, interview, podcast guest or giveaway.