Rising Stars: Meet Jordan Nelson of Las Vegas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Nelson.

Hi Jordan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Daily Cup of JoJo is a place where food, fads, flying and frivolous findings all come together. I crafted this blog title one day in one of my creative writing classes, and it just stuck. I have always loved writing, but after taking multiple English classes in school, I realized, I really wasn’t into fiction writing. I wanted to make more of an impact. Thus Daily Cup of JoJo was born.

I started researching blogs and bloggers. Reading article after article on how they got started, what platform is best, and of course free tools to utilize along the way. As a poor college student, I took the free route everywhere when starting up. I’ve always been a dive-in-head-first kind of gal, and this blog was no different. I spent a solid week setting everything up so it would look just so for whomever stumbled upon my little corner of the internet.

I shared my space with a few friends at first, then I wrote a blogpost about my sorority that went viral on Facebook. This was before we even knew what viral was. Then my blog wasn’t so secret anymore. I got my first 10,000 views in a day, I got my first hater in the comments, and I grew my email list by 100s. Daily Cup of JoJo started to brew overnight. My little hobby quickly turned into a whole side gig with some financial backing. Multiple opportunities for sponsored posts and advertisements started flying across my email.

After seeing such success in my first two years, every year from then on I improved. I became more dedicated, and took this space more seriously by engaging in blogger communities, taking online courses, and giving myself deadlines. I started investing in my blog. I paid for a domain name and a hosting site. I even bought a custom theme so my look could be cohesive.

Blogging is a lot like a business. It takes perseverance and determination. I did a lot of self-guided courses and teaching modules to understand marketing, SEO, social media, and e-commerce (I really like to stretch myself).

All throughout my schooling and now into my fulltime career, you can still catch me typing away behind the scenes of my blog. I am always writing down new topics to discuss and have even thrown out the idea of a podcast. Like I said a real dive-in-head-first kind of gal.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Blogging is no easy task. You have to show up even when you don’t want to. There were plenty of days, sometimes even weeks I procrastinated my blogging or got behind on posts. Whether I wasn’t feeling creative or I was so busy I never took the time to sit down and dedicate my time to my blog, showing up consistently was very difficult sometimes.

Additionally, with the ever-changing digital world, you have to keep on trend with social media and SEO tactics for your blog to stay consistent in views and numbers. It can be exhausting trying to keep up. I’ve found some cheat sheet resources that have helped me to stay on top of my game. Going back to those investment strategies, investing in tools that are worth the cost can really be a time-saver for you in the long run.

As much as I am Daily Cup of JoJo I’m not everyone’s cup of tea. I’m putting my life out there on the internet. Some people are going to resonate and others aren’t and you have to be willing to face those people when they make themselves known. If there is one thing I’ve learned from my fair share of unsolicited comments it’s that the more authentic you that you put out there the more you are going to attract like-minded people in your circle and repel those that have no businesses being there.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have worked in non-profits my whole professional life. I went to school to be an event planner and came out of college doing exactly that for a childhood cancer nonprofit. I am known for bringing ideas to life from conception to completion while doing so on a budget. I believe you can get all the thrills and frills at a fraction of the cost, with the right tools. That might be the penny-pinching nonprofiteer in me, but I think it applies always.

I do love the work that I do. I raised over $2 million in my first 4 years as a fundraiser for a local childhood cancer nonprofit. I love helping people help people. People want to do good in their life and working at a nonprofit you are that vessel.

I now work for a national nonprofit organization and can see all of the good coming to our communities on a national level.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
One of my favorite childhood memories was my 5th-grade family’s summer road trip. For 2 weeks we lived in our Dodge Durango and traveled throughout half of the country visiting all of our relatives and seeing so many national parks and landmarks along the way. I don’t know what my parents were thinking loading up a 4th and 5th grader into the car for 12 driving days but it was some of the most fun I ever experienced. It really started up my love for traveling. It wasn’t just another weekend going up to grandmas, it was a road trip through the states. We stopped at Mt Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, up to the fields of Wisconsin and slept in new hotels every night. That is every 10-year-olds dream. I kept a journal and wrote down everything we did every day.

Contact Info:

• Email: dailycupofjojo@gmail.com
• Website: www.dailycupofjojo.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/_cupofjojo
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailycupofjojo
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/_cupofjojo
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=HphfMpms7soyX8FX5LJoKg