Taking the Leap with Joanie Simon

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Today’s guest, Joanie Simon, shares how taking the leap to start her food blog and food photography career changed her life! In addition to finding more engaging work, Joanie also started a YouTube channel to share her food photography experiences with a few other people and then it took off! Now Joanie’s channel, The Bite Shot, has over 80K subscribers and has increased Joanie’s reach dramatically!   

A photo of a woman with the words, "Joanie Simon of the Bite Shot" at the top.

How to Stretch Yourself

Joanie’s education wasn’t focused on food. But she meandered her way through her career and found herself working alongside those involved with food. And she loved it. So, one day she took a leap of faith and quit her job and started her blog. In that order.

It’s not the kind of leap she recommends for just anyone. She talks about how much of the success she’s having are there because she’s opened up herself to the opportunity to be uncomfortable every day.”

Her words of wisdom: Don’t let fear prevent you from doing something that could change your life!

Taking the Leap: Fear and Blogging

Joanie and Marly spend some time talking about fear. They agreed that the fear of the thing you’re contemplating — maybe starting a blog — can be worse than the actual doing of that thing. My worry and thinking of the thing is worse than the doing of it.

Marly explains that the physiology of fear is similar to excitement. In both fear and excitement you will experience a faster heartbeat, sweating, shallow breathing, etc. You interpret that as fear, but it may also be excitement. You may be excited to start a blog, become a speaker, or start a YouTube channel. You just have to move past or change your response to that physiological experience.

Joanie agrees and suggests that harnessing fear in the right direction can create a better outcome.

Joanie’s Path

Joanie describes herself as both a Food photographer and a Food blogger. In fact, over the years she’s had no fewer than 3 different food blogs.

Joanie also talks about the following:

  • Managing Your Artist (how to develop an artistic process)
  • Shadow Careers. Sometimes we don’t know where we are headed but when we look back it seems to all fit in together.
  • Food photography boards
  • Rule of Thirds
  • Taking the Leap and going full-time
  • Starting her YouTube Channel
  • Working with Clients

Perfectionism vs. Passion

Joanie talks about her motto that “done is better than perfect.” Sometimes perfectionism can get in the way of being productive. But, then again, sometimes passion will cause us to take that shot again and again until we get it right.

How can you tell the difference between good and bad perfectionism? When the desire to take the shot again is born from the joy of the work or the outcome, that’s passion. But when you’re driven by fear or some kind of negative emotion causing you to obsess over details most people will not pay attention to, that’s a form of perfectionism that can hold you back.

This is the podcast for encouragement, interviews, tips, strategies and lots of soul searching about what we’re doing in this community of bloggers with a focus on food and health and making a living online. Today’s episode features Joanie Simon sharing how taking the leap to start her food blog changed her life!

Show Notes

This episode on Taking the Leap includes information you’ll want to check out:

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Posted in Cultivating Creativity, Podcast