*The following post is a sneak peek from Week 1 of my new e-course Lady Blogger to Boss Lady. To learn more and enroll, visit https://coursecraft.net/c/ladybloggertobosslady.

On July 19, 2014 I hosted my first day-long blogging conference, the Bloganista Mini-Con. Nearly 100 people were in attendance. We had networking, food, vendors, informative panel discussions and compelling keynote speakers and a professional photographer capturing it all. During the conference I kept whispering to my husband, “This actually feels like a real conference.” Eventually he said to me, “Javacia, this is a real conference.”

Megan LaRussa Chenoweth, the afternoon keynote speaker at that event, said something that day that truly stuck with me. “It’s not enough to be stylish bloggers,” she said. “We must also be smart businesswomen.”

I had a revelation in that moment. The reason my blog wasn’t growing as a business in the way that I wanted it to was in part because I wasn’t taking myself seriously as a businesswoman. After that day I shifted my mindset. I developed what I now call the “Boss Lady Blogger Mindset” and six months later I received an email from the Birmingham Business Journal informing me I had been chosen as one of their Top 40 Under 40 for 2015. I am convinced that learning to take myself seriously as a businesswoman made all the difference.

If you want other people to take you seriously as a businesswoman, you have to take yourself seriously first.

But what does this look like? How do we go about living out this idea of taking ourselves seriously as bloggers and businesswomen before we’ve “made it”?

Here are five things I believe will get you there:

Be professional. Treat your blog like your job. Most people don’t want to hear this because most people hate their jobs and obviously don’t want to start hating their blogs, too. But if you’re serious about blogging you have to show up and do the work. You have to develop a blogging schedule and stick with it, even when you don’t feel like it. Just as you’d never call your boss and say, “You know, I just don’t feel like coming to work today,” you can’t do that with your blog.

Be confident. You must be confident about who you are and what you do. One way to get that confidence is by producing good work. I live by the motto of “Be intentional or be quiet.” Never post for the sake of posting. Be sure everything you write serves a purpose and adds some type of value to your reader, even if that value is just inspiration or entertainment.

Be clear on your goals. People who aren’t bloggers most likely won’t understand what you’re doing or why you’re doing it. So you better make sure that you do! You need a vision for your blog and clearly defined goals for your career as a writer and blogger. Knowing what you’re doing, why you’re doing and where you’re headed will also work wonders for your confidence. Having vision is so important that I recently hired a business coach to specifically help me in this area.

Be eager to learn. Once I got serious about turning my blog into a business I signed up for every program I could afford to learn more about marketing and managing online businesses and membership sites. I started working with a business coach and a brand strategist. And I watched a countless number of free webinars. If you’re going to get serious, you have to get educated.

Be a servant. Even if you’re a fashion blogger posting pictures of what you wear each day or a fitness blogger sharing your daily workouts and meal plans, YOUR BLOG IS NOT ALL ABOUT YOU. I truly believe that to be successful and to be taken seriously you need to think about others. You need to consider how the content you’re producing is helping others.

*This post is an excerpt from Week 1 of my new e-course Lady Blogger to Boss Lady. To learn more and enroll visit https://coursecraft.net/c/ladybloggertobosslady.