I remember sitting in Beaver Stadium in “Happy Valley” as the home of my alma mater is known. My blog, RichmondMom.com, was just a couple of years old and approaching 80,000 unique annual visitors and I thought, just 30,000 more and it would be as if all of my annual readers would fill this massive stadium.

It began in 2008 by hiring a part-time web designer as we began to fumble through the process of designing, developing content, surveying readers, and praying it would all work out. My husband literally bought me Web Design for Dummies (and was I ever) and I’d pore through that massive book each night after working, dinner, and putting three kids, five and under, in bed. Doing everything myself, I was the writer, salesperson, on-site marketer, and responder to occasional random, angry emails.

I distinctly remember talking to a dear friend early on who said, “You know, Kate, this is already being done.” She was trying to protect me and let me know that this wouldn’t be easy. It never was, and isn’t still, but I knew I could do it better. Fast forward and our little hyper-local blog has reached 170,000 unique visitors and climbing this year, a number big enough to fill a stadium plus a parking lot full of raving fans. I’ve never felt so vulnerable, learned so much, or had so much fun as I’ve had being an entrepreneur.

It’s led to fulfilling one of my bucket-list dreams, writing a children’s book and now a sequel, the Richmond Rocks series. Had anyone told me six years ago that I’d be a published author, have rappelled down the SunTrust building, and have over 6,000 Twitter followers, I’d have laughed out loud (and asked what a Twitter was).

The great news for start-ups? Anyone can do it. There’s nothing magical about my experience; it’s simply seeing a problem and finding a solution in the most passionate way that is humanly possible. I’ve found that having a business is much like having a child; my blog requires care and feeding, constant supervision, a little recognition, and a lot of love.

Now, having said that it’s not fair to gloss over the pain of infancy in business-the lack of sleep, sacrifice of personal time, and uncertainty of my early days with the blog were much like the first few days holding my first son. There are no rule books for this stuff, so it takes the right mix of intellect and emotion whipped up with a side of creativity from (in my case) a team of writers and the patience to evolve, create, throw out, and begin again. I earned a negative salary for quite some time and kept investing because I knew it was the right thing to do, praying all the while that my heart wasn’t shouting over my head’s soft words.

I’m glad I hushed my intellect at times; it would’ve surely saved my heart the trouble and threw in the towel long ago, and if that happened, I’d never have had so much fun building a dream out of thin air.

By Kate Hall, Founder of Richmondmom.com