We are today introducing Menaka Bharathi, India’s one of the best mom & parenting bloggers and she even treats her blog as her child too.
In 2015, when I entered into blogging and have no idea on what blogging is, she is the one who guided be on the different ways to earn from blogging. Since then I am a regular reader and follower of Menaka Bharathi.
So here is what she has shared herself in the interview I had with her.
Gurunath: Kindly introduce yourself to our “Best Of Guru” readers?
Menaka Bharathi: Hello friends!
It’s in fact wonderful to get introduced to you – the readers of “Best Of Guru”.
I basically am a cheerful and joyous person trying to find happiness in every small thing that I do. Being the mother of two energetic boys has kept me on my heels every minute. My world in fact, is a very small one and is limited to my very encouraging and cooperative family.
I am very passionate about writing mainly because writing brings out my soul, it gives me a lot of satisfaction in expressing my inner feelings to the world.
- I am an agriculturist, presently pursuing my PhD in Agricultural Microbiology.
- I am a momma blogger, a journey that started way back in 2008 and after trying several platforms of writing I set up my site simpleindianmom.in which is my brainchild.
- I am an entrepreneur, I run a boutique for women, do visit my Facebook page MCubeIndia.
- I am a content developer, the job that gave me the satisfaction of earning while working from home when I had given up my career and begun staying at home. I love to see similar satisfaction in all the women around me and hence have developed a content writing company through which I provide writing jobs to other stay at home moms. If you want to earn by writing you are free to contact me. Well, that sums me up.
Gurunath: What are your hobbies and how you schedule your time for those?
Menaka Bharathi: I am a voracious reader and read whenever time permits me. I love to write (am currently in the process of publishing my first novel), I like to paint and sing.
I try to schedule my time for each activity; it is very difficult especially when children need your complete attention. I do not work on weekends; they are completely devoted for my family and my hobbies.
Gurunath: How did you get into blogging and what motivated you to get into blogging?
Menaka Bharathi: With my husband in the Administrative Service I knew from the beginning that setting up a career that needs me to stay at a place would not be possible. However, the ambitious person in me would never let me stay idle at home. After my first son was 1 year old in 2007 I began searching for options that would let me work from a remote location.
I came across freelancer; I tried to get some writing gigs and fortunately got them soon. From then on there was no looking back, I learned slowly, step by step and now have a good CV and a greater satisfaction of who I am.
Gurunath: What is your opinion about taking blogging as a career for newbie’s?
Menaka Bharathi:
- Begin by looking at blogging as a hobby.
- Try to fix a niche for yourself.
- Make friends with other bloggers who would share their experiences and help you in the learning process.
- Be consistent, truthful and never try to imitate anyone.
- Do Not Begin With Remuneration In Mind, if you expect to become a billionaire overnight you might get disappointed. Money surely would come but -in its own time. So be patient and keep blogging, you would be paid for all the hard work later.
Gurunath: How many blogs you own and how much time you devote to your blogs every day?
Menaka Bharathi: I own two blogs, but SIM is my only site which keeps me busy. I spend around 2 hours a day for SIM.
Gurunath: Why is “Content” & “SEO” are vital for a blog?
Menaka Bharathi: I think everyone knows ‘Content is King’ if your blog does not have good content then your readers will not return. Simply writing anything will not be enough, pour your soul into your writing, feel empathetic, try to learn what your readers want and then write. There are millions of blogs from around the globe; if you need to compete and stand alone you need to give valuable content.
And to make this content reach your readers SEO is very important. Publishing great content alone will not bring those readers to your site; you need to make it visible too.
Gurunath: Bloggers are key influencers in the society? If yes, how?
Menaka Bharathi: Yes! Bloggers are now slowly becoming the key influencers in the society, because not every person is free to write or express his mind and when someone does exactly that he endorses freely. This endorsement leads to sharing the content in the social platforms which easily gets the visibility and acknowledgment of the society as a whole.
Gurunath: What is your idea behind to start a blog revolving around parenting?
Menaka Bharathi: Firstly, I thought I could learn more about the right kind of parenting if I begin writing about it. And when I did that, I realized that our modern mothers would like to know more about raising healthy kids and a whole lot of other things revolving around them. Parenting has no limitations, one can write about anything and everything that goes on in the house. Finally, Parents can easily associate themselves with the niche. That led me to keep my blog revolving around parenting.
Gurunath: How are you able to manage your personal and professional life?
Menaka Bharathi: I keep my professional life, time limited. There are stipulated hours within which I complete my job and then turn off my computer. After that time, I generally do not work.
I also work only 5 days a week, Saturdays and Sundays are a sure no-no for any professional work.
Gurunath: Do you face any tough challenges in blogging so far and how do you overcome?
Menaka Bharathi: Managing my time and posting on a daily basis is the toughest of all challenges I have faced when it comes to blogging. The next big challenge is to keep my blog safe, almost every other day someone tries to break in. I am not a techie, whatever I have learned I owe to our Big Brother, Google so when I see such threats I get crazily worried.
Gurunath: What was your happiest moment in blogging so far?
Menaka Bharathi: My happiest moment was when my son read an article on my blog and felt proud of me for writing that, nothing ever would give me more happiness.
Gurunath: Many people join blogging to earn money and what in reality the things they should follow to achieve that?
Menaka Bharathi:
- Consistency
- Good content
- Patience
- SEO
Gurunath: What sorts of things inspire you? Where do you look for inspiration?
Menaka Bharathi: Everything around me inspires me, from my kitchen to my garden. If required I look for inspiration from my momma friends.
Gurunath: Who is your favorite inspiration blogger and what are your favorite blogs?
Menaka Bharathi: I have great respect to Indus Ladies, though they began as a forum, women from around the world used to interact in those forums with passion. Indusladies.com has always inspired me and has been my favorite site.
Gurunath: Finally, I would love to have your message for “Best Of Guru” readers and any suggestions you would like to add?
Menaka Bharathi: If you are here, you would well have known about Gurunath, a very friendly and lively person. Always takes time to read other blogs and gives his opinion about them, a job which is not easy at all. His blog delivers good entertainment and valuable content. I wish Gurunath lots of luck and loads of readers and followers
Parenting is an art, if we do it well we would get satisfaction that can second none. The person you are giving to the society would be complete only if you make him so.
As a mother, as a parent our first priority should always be our family, every other thing in the world would follow, if anything doesn’t, well that was not worthy enough to be associated with you.
Happy Parenting.
Thanks to Menaka Bharati for this adorable interview and spending some time for us.
If any of you have any queries, please do ask in the comments below.
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Note: Stay tuned for next 5 interviews on this series which will be published daily until the end of the series.
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