Caroline Curran launched her blog, originally called Perfect 10 SF, in 2014 while in desperate need of a study break from grad school. Six months later, she learned that she was pregnant with her first daughter. Now, five years into life as a blogger, Curran has two daughters at home and a growing startup creating gift boxes for new moms.

The blogging world has evolved in the time since Curran launched her blog, (now rebranded as Just Simple Joys), and she has evolved with it. During her first pregnancy, Curran lucked out as a new blogger who negotiated a range of maternity-related partnerships. “It sounds crazy since it’s so common [now], but, at the time, there were not a lot of bloggers documenting their pregnancy. With my weekly pregnancy updates, I unintentionally was able to grow my traffic and SEO through my keywords. My pregnancy updates are still some of my most visited pages and, to this day, provide many opportunities for partnerships,” she said.

In the years between her first and second pregnancies, Curran says the blogging world changed a lot. With a surge of influencers, sponsored content opportunities, influencer platforms, algorithm updates, and the affiliate link boom, earning a living as a blogger no longer aligned with her priorities.

“Having just become a mother I had a new perspective on the industry and how I wanted to participate it in,” Curran said. “I stopped taking on partnerships and focused on building my brand as I prepared to launch my e-commerce site, The Bundle of Joy. As a result, I shifted my perspective to use my blog as a platform to share my story and connect with like-minded creatives, moms, and inspiring people.”

As daunting as jumping into the retail sector sounds right now, making the transition from career-blogging into a consumer goods business proved to be savvy move for Curran. “In all honesty, I have been able to put less work into my e-commerce site... and it has been far more financially successful that my blog could ever be,” she said. “I hope that many [bloggers] have this realization and use their platform as a way to launch a new company or endeavor.”

Curran continues to post on Just Simple Joys—and uses it as a channel to direct traffic to The Bundle of Joy, but she no longer worries about monetizing the site. “It’s become more of a place for me to write, share photos, and have my memories documented so that I can look back on them with my children.”

When her daughters eventually look back at her blog, she hopes they appreciate how the internet can bring people together and be a platform for change. “Since their father is a computer science engineer, tech entrepreneur, and innovative thinker, I want them to see that incredible things can come from understanding how the internet works and how they as individuals can build incredible things with it. From my experience as a blogger, I hope they look back and see how much I love them and how much I dedicated myself to this special time in their lives. I hope they learn the benefit of having a creative outlet, especially one that pushes you to learn new skills.”

From Blogging to Startup Life: 2 Little Women Shook Up Caroline Curran’s Career