What We’ve Learned from In a Nutshell

After 2 years typing away at our computers/iPhones/Blackberries, at all hours of the day and night, we’ve learned a lot about blogging, time management, writing, promoting, and we’ve certainly learned a lot about each other. Things have changed quite a bit for us since May 2011, but one thing remains constant; we enjoy writing, debating and sharing news, thoughts, stories and lessons. But most of all, we love doing it on a platform that brings us together everyday, no matter the distance. In a nutshell, here are a few things we’ve learned from our two short years of blogging…

It ain’t easy. I  can hardly fathom that we started inanutshell off with 7 posts per week, and 2 posts a day at times. We’ve since moved to 5 posts a week with a few pauses when needed. It has not been easy to maintain this lovely space with the intensely occupied schedules we possess, but as you well know, when you love something enough, you’re willing to fight for it. We have never entertained the idea of shutting down, and we hope to continue for years to come.

Embrace the haters. Many of you don’t know that behind the scenes at inanutshell, we’ve received our fair share of hate mail in the form of nasty comments and rude, personal jabs. The fact that someone out there takes the time to dissect our work and then pretend they don’t enjoy the blog – is quite comical, actually. And also? A wee bit flattering. At the end of the day, the support system in and outside inanutshell is strong enough to make us smile and click “delete” with hardly a second of thought when negative comments come our way. We’ve also learned that when you put yourself out there as much as we do on the ‘shell, there are bound to be a few haters. (Bring. It. On.)

Never look back. Blogging demands a high volume of content, so it’s not rare that we look back at our work and wish it weren’t available for the world to see anymore. At one point or another, there will always be those few posts that bring about regret on the topics, words or opinions we’ve chosen. While unfortunate, it’s bound to happen, and it shouldn’t diminish the pride we take in our work.

“Oh hey! You’re a nut!” As inanutshell has grown, we’ve been fortunate enough to have more and more people start reading and sharing our content. This has led to more than one encounter with a reader running into us, calling us “nuts” and going on to talk about their favourite posts, etc. Encounters like these have taught us the importance of letting our personalities shine through with every word we write. We’re devoted to telling the honest truth on inanutshell, divulging some of our deepest thoughts, our greatest memories and many of our most sacred beliefs.

Think outside the box. As expected, it takes a lot of hard work to publish a story every day of the week, but it takes even more collective brain power to think outside the box when it comes to monthly features, contests, collaborations and design concepts. We were extremely proud of our 2011 Movember donation contest, which supported our male readers and their cause. We plan to continue supporting important events and causes, and rolling out exciting contests as inanutshell grows.

Movember 2011 “Nuts for your mo, bro” Contest

Friends first. If nothing else, inanutshell has brought a whole new dimension to the friendship we share. Supporting each other and collaborating creatively, chatting everyday about content and ideas (…amidst the hilarious stories, random comments and important life updates) is what makes this blog so important. We’re friends first, and that’s why we take such pride in the work we do. Each and every post on nutshell represents the 5 of us, so we are constantly thinking about the bigger picture, the message we’re conveying and how we can improve. The encouragement, understanding and support behind inanutshell is what keeps us going everyday.

Fear not. It’s easy to say that we have no inhibitions when it comes to posting on inanutshell. But of course that’s not true. When a controversial issue pops up in the news or we are faced with a topic that can’t go unnoticed, it can be quite frightening to put ourselves out there and make our voices heard. But we’ve agreed to take risks and release the fear when it comes to something we’re passionate about sharing. The risk will usually pay off, and if not, see the “never look back” point.

Once again, thank you to all of our readers for checking in and reading, we love to hear from you, so please do continue to comment, tweet, message us or chat with us in person : ) We would just be a bunch of silly nuts sharing recipes, fashion advice, album releases, restaurant reviews, news stories and personal thoughts with each other, if it weren’t for you.

In a nutshell xo