Easter is a time for new beginnings, so it is no co-incidence that I have chosen today to make an announcement.
Actually, I lie.
It is a complete co-incidence that I am making an announcement today. But once I had decided to make my announcement I thought to myself, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be good to tie it in with a new beginning/Easter Sunday post?’ so that’s what I am doing.
Our site’s Facebook status on my plans to make my announcement after my shower led to some pretty great guesses and some funny comments too. Unfortunately, you’re all going to be sorely disappointed.
No, I’m not pregnant (or at least I think I’m not).
And no, we haven’t managed to buy our farm yet.
Sorry for anyone who got excited.
But it’s not completely disappointing! Or is it?
As you might know, Larger Family Life is now almost five years old. It started very small and, much to our amazement, grew and grew and grew. It now has a pretty large readership all over the world and we have a few hundred new subscribers to the site each day adding to the 35,000 or so we already have. It has become less of a blog and more of a business and nobody is more stunned by its success than I am.
Whilst the growth has been obviously welcome and I consider it a wonderful achievement, it has taken years of dedication, work, money and a lot of behind the scenes work to get it to this stage, something that many people do not realise or will not acknowledge. Mike has been my ever-supportive backbone, providing me with ideas, encouragement and sometimes a swift kick when I’ve needed it, and even though I’ve been the voice behind the words you read, I wouldn’t be able to put half the time or effort into it without him.
Mike and I have discussed for a long time where we can take Larger Family Life now. We both felt that it needed to be able to evolve, but we also realised that I am putting way too many hours into it already. It pays the bills and the mortgage and that is lovely – but there is only so much I can do myself.
Like Mike said to me, ‘What’s the point of having a family business if you don’t see your family?’, and like I said to Mike, ‘Wouldn’t it be good if we could help other families earn too?’
So we’re expanding and we are hiring!
Last week, we took on our first new writer for Larger Family Life.
I have known Julie for a while. She’s lovely, she’s articulate and above all, she’s a fabulous dealfinder! So when it came to finding someone to track down the best bargains and to help us all save pennies, she was the one person I knew would know how to do it and do it well! Over the next few weeks you’ll be seeing contributions from her in our moneysaving section of the site, working with the motto that a penny saved is a penny earned (only better because we don’t worry about the tax either!).
If you have any ideas or suggestions for Julie to cover please leave a message here, in our forums, or on our Facebook page. Alternatively, you can email Julie at julie@largerfamilylife.com.
Our plan is to build a small team for Larger Family Life by the end of the year. Caitlin has already taken over dealing with our competition and review section too, but we’ve still got room to grow.
And that’s where you come in.
If you think you would like to join our team please let us know.
You might be a writer and feel more comfortable with researching topics or writing about a certain subject or area, or perhaps you’re a keen cook or crafter. Whatever you feel your strengths are, please get in touch, although we will be playing things by ear and seeing how the site continues to develop and grow over the rest of the year, and so hire accordingly.
If joining us is something you might like to do, please email family@largerfamilylife.com with ‘LFL Team’ in the subject line.
