Reflections on 10 Years: Part 1

Ten years ago, I needed a second job and didn’t want to have to go to yet another place of business after teaching kindergarten all day. It's exhausting! As I was trying to figure out what to do I came across many, many articles that named blogging as the “best way to make a second income”. Some of them even claimed you could replace or double your salary. Man, I jumped on that band wagon! I went all in! 

I enjoy writing, telling stories, and helping others. I mean blogging was right up my alley. Plus, I could do it from the comfort of my own home, well mostly. I remember standing at the dining room table at my parents house when I landed on the name Milton & Prescott. I thought it was the perfect name for a blog focused on early childhood. 

I had this whole story worked out in my head. Milton and Prescott would be the very best of friends, but opposites in every way. Milton would be a gangly, slightly silly moose, who wore a green polka dot bow tie. Prescott would be a refined and gentle, highly intelligent hedgehog who used a monocle, wore a top hat and carried a cane. I even asked my Aunt Lisa to draw a Milton with a little Prescott sitting on top of his head. That image became the Milton & Prescott logo you see today. 

After I had a name I needed a website to post a blog to. I invested in a host and a domain name. I didn’t even know what those meant when I started. Heck, I didn’t even have more internet than a hotspot on my phone at the time. Over the next several months, years really, I proceeded to teach myself how to build, upload and manage a website. You can ask my mom, she was witness to some pretty intense sessions, I was far outside my knowledge base. I would work for hours to figure out one tiny little thing all to have it go sideways after it went live. It was hard. Mentally hard. But I did it! In October 2016 miltonandprescott.com went live to the world. 

Now, if you have been around for any time at all you know that I didn’t end up blogging that much. I uploaded a lot of the printables I had made for my classroom and offered them for free. The thought was traffic for free downloads would generate revenue from ads. Ya’ll I couldn’t figure out ads to save my life! So that idea went poof and was gone. Milton & Prescott coasted. I would dabble and then get distracted, dabble again and get distracted. I am great at figuring things out and getting things set up and started, except ads-obviously, but my stick with-it could use some refining. 

This past year, to keep the dream of Milton & Prescott alive, I had to make the decision to charge for my printables. I was at the point where Milton & Prescott had to pay for itself or go away. Charging for my printables was going against my heart. I know how difficult it is to find what you need and have to pay extra for it on a teacher’s salary. I just wanted to make people’s lives better. 

But if Milton & Prescott went away there would be no conduit to do that any longer. And, ya’ll I’m seriously in love with Milton and Prescott. These little critters are a deep part of me. I’ve vested in them and I couldn’t imagine my life without them. 

So what to do? How do I make this work? How do I keep the characters I love and not break the bank? Is it even possible?