Below is my interview with business blogger Dr. Valeria Lo Iacono about her blog, Symonds Research and Training. Find out what services she offers to other bloggers and potential freelance business professionals. Also, learn more about her credentials, hobbies, and future plans!
About the blogger
Blogger Name
Dr Valeria Lo Iacono
Blog Name
Social Media Links
Genre or Niche
Helping freelance trainers, corporate trainers and teachers
Blog Summary
I blog all about everything to do with being a self-employed freelance trainer, helping trainers find work opportunities and to provide them with corporate training materials design and product help, including for those offering corporate training in soft skills, business skills and wellness.
Three Blog Posts That Best Sum Up the Blog
Mindful Exercises for Employees
Talking Shop
Why did you start your blog?
Aged in my forties, I was working in an office environment and quite frankly, I was getting a little bored with the nine to five routine. I needed a change!
So I decided to start doing a PhD (all about the heritage of belly dance) and after getting the PhD I taught on a contract at the University of Bath in England.
Rather than go into academia full-time, I then decided that I would try and fulfil my dream of being self-employed and working online. So I used my educational background and skills in creating lesson plans to provide training course materials online for business trainers.
This is where blogging comes in as I decided from the start that blogging would be my key plan for marketing the business online, to connect with freelance trainers. So I started blogging and in between, I make the training materials on topics such as ‘dealing with Difficult People in the Workplace’ or ‘Wellness for Busy People’.
How long have you been writing?
I have actually been writing for around 15 years because I started blogging about my passion for belly dance a long time ago on my blog World Belly Dance. I love to dance and am very passionate about belly dance in particular, so I have been blogging about it from the earlier days of the Internet.
So I’ve been blogging for what seems like ages but 18 months for my training business and 15 years plus for the belly dance.
Do you write anything other than blog posts?
Even though English is my second language, I did the 100,000 word PhD on belly dance and that was several years of writing and editing and was a huge project.
I’ve also written some academic peer reviewed articles that have been published in academic journals, such as on dance heritage and one on using Skype as a research tool.
I have started writing a book on the history of Raqs sharqi (the Egyptian name for belly dance) and I have written a couple of chapters. It’s what I studied so I should be able to draw out the information I included in the PhD and adapt it into a book in its own right, but it’s just finding the time. We are all always busy right?!
What makes you an expert in your blog’s niche?
In addition to doing the PhD, I also attended courses in teaching methods and passed a certificate in that. Then with the experience as a lecturer (I taught sports sociology) in the University of Bath (UK) and then with a stint working as a researcher for the University of Exeter (UK) I guess I have good experience of teaching and providing training. I also have a fitness instructors qualification.
So I feel that I can fairly say that in running a training materials (lesson planning) blog and business niche, I am in the right field.
How often do you post on your blog?
I try to do one post every week but I give priority to making sure the post is good quality and that it provides quality, rather than number of posts.
Still though, I can usually find the time to make one quality post a week.
Do you ever feature other bloggers on your site?
Yes, indeed. I think it is great to work with other bloggers and so I do invite teachers and business trainers to participate in what I called ‘Trainers Corner’.
I am always looking for more trainers to get involved if any of your readers are involved in education and want to be profiled.
How did you come up with your logo?
Ha. Good question! I have to be absolutely honest and admit that I simply went for what was cheap i.e. free and I just used Photoshop to simply write the logo and words in different colours. I kept it simple to keep the message and brand simple and uncomplicated.
Canva is also brilliant, by the way, for anyone looking to create a logo and do it for free.
What is one piece of advice you can share with new bloggers?
I would recommend, as I am sure you would also Laura, for bloggers to think in terms of quality content rather than pumping out low quality and short blog posts.
I think it is vital to think about the end user and to really attempt to provide them with something worthwhile i.e. worth reading and that some effort has bene put into. Readers have such as vast choice online that I think it is essential to provide quality.
What’s the best review/compliment that you’ve received about your blog?
The compliments are always the same and that is that people who visit my blog always say that they love that I give so much for free and do not oversell.
In other words, because I focus on drawing people in and winning them over first with freebies and what I hope is great information and guides, then they willingly join my mailing list.
So the best comment (and one that is reoccurring) is that they love the content provided.
What is your day job? How, in any way, does it relate to your life as a blogger?
My day job has now become my blogging! I decided to make the jump and I am breaking even just about and so can now dedicate my time to building the blog and the online business that surrounds it.
So my day job is blogging and designing corporate training materials/lesson plans.
How well do you handle criticism? Do you ever use that criticism to change your blog?
Ha! I am not sure how well I would have handled criticism in the past but when you do PhD research and sit and write it, and are 2 years into it and then your 1st draft gets critiqued a lot, you learn to be tougher and to pursue and keep writing and working at it This is normal I think in a PhD in that it is so much writing and re-writing.
Spending 5 years in total getting that research and 100,000 word write-up passed has taught me so much and definitely given me the strength to be handle criticism very well.
What is your favorite post that you’ve written? Which one is the most successful?
My favourite post is one of my hobby ones, i.e. about belly dance, rather than the training blog posts. I wrote a blog post about being in your 40s or beyond and starting to dance (as I am in my forties hence I was a mature student on the PhD) and the blog post has got over 22,000 social media shares so far (driven by Facebook shares).
There seems to be a huge market out there for women in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond who want to live and experience new things. If there is a blogger out there who is looking for a blogging idea, I recommend building a website aimed at women 40+ and all about things to do and experience in life.
‘What If’ Scenarios
Your blog becomes one of the most popular blogs on the Internet. What do you do next?
I would always be looking to monetise my blog and have started to earn enough such that I just blog now and develop the business. If my blog was one of the most popular in my field then it should mean then that my income would be much higher than it is right now.
So with the money, there are two things I would definitely do. Firstly, I would get more advanced belly dance training i.e. go to Morocco and Turkey more often. And I would travel more than I do now i.e. go to Hawaiian for a whole month and get private lessons on Hawaiian traditional dances.
And I’d go to other countries and blog as I travel and study the local dances and traditions, especially locations such as Fiji, Cuba and Mauritius.
You’re offered to write a book about any topic. What is your book about?
That is a very easy one to answer as without doubt my book would be about belly dance. I love everything about this dance as I meet amazing people, it is a dance for anyone of any age and shape, and there is so much to it i.e. you can isolate and use every part of the body in belly dance.
Having already written so much on belly dance, I am just waiting for some spare time to write the history of belly dance from the 1800s to the present day.
If you could interview one famous person on your blog, who would it be?
I think I would have to interview Samia Gamal, one of the most famous belly dancers of all time and someone who really helped to innovate this form of dance.
If Samia wasn’t available then I would interview Naima Akef, another important dancer in belly dance history.
I appreciate that the person I would interview is not connected to my main business but it is related to my passion and my hobby blog site, worldbellydance.com
You’re able to hire on an assistant to help you with your blog. What do you have them do?
The assistant would ideally be a programmer and would be able to do some of the more technical things I would like to change and do with my blog.
I do not particularly enjoy the technical things that come up as I would rather be writing and blogging.
You have the time and energy to write another blog. What is it about?
I would use the idea I mentioned earlier and that is to create a blog for women aged 40+ and about life opportunities, dreams and being a powerful women.
It could be a very good blog in terms of income potential given many women have disposable income when the children have fled the nest and finished university.
It would also be very rewarding to help other women and especially older women and so much these days seemed aimed at young people. Even those of us in our 40s, 50s and 60s though want to have fun too!
You’re offered a free trip to go anywhere in the world for a blog post. Where do you go and why?
Hawaii! Please. I want to go to Hawaiian and spend a month there dancing and absorbing everything I possibly can about Hawaiian and Polynesian heritage and culture.
I always keep an eye on teaching opportunities in the University of Hawaii just in case something to do with my research comes up on heritage and dance. I am keeping an eye also on any opportunities related to my training business.
If the trip was free though then it’s a no brainer. Hawaii it is.
Just For Fun
Your trademark feature.
Although it’s not a specific item, you can very often see me wearing bright red colours. I love colours that are lively such as burgundy and that are bright and ooze of life and vibrancy.
So tops, jackets and skirts that have a vibrant red colour.
One bucket list item you’ve completed and one that’s still on your list.
The one thing I have completed is joining a bunch of other women and going to Egypt (the real home of belly dance) and getting dance training there and then dancing in front of the locals in Cairo at a show.
What I would like to do is on my bucket list is to learn Hawaiian dance in Hawaii for a whole month!
Favorite place you’ve visited/place you want to visit.
My favourite place to visit is the Etna Volcano, Sicily, Italy. I live in the UK these days (have done for 15 years plus) but I am from a village on the Etna volcano, so I like to go there twice a year to see my parents, to eat fresh fish and to enjoy the warm weather.
The place I want to visit, I think you can guess the answer as I have mentioned it a few times, Hawaii J.
Food you’d like to win a lifetime supply of.
Having been brought up in Sicily, by the ocean, I have a love of seafood. So a lifetime supply of daily fresh fish would be my dream food. I do not think I would ever get bored of eating fresh fish.
The topic you can’t shut up about/the topic you wish everyone would shut up about.
I hope I have not already mentioned it too many times in this post but belly dance. You might have guessed I would say that from my answers.
I do love my blogging business based around corporate training but at the end of the day, if I could make a living only from belly dance I probably would.
Pin it!
I love reading about other bloggers – I learn so much. From workflow to the integral parts of blogging. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading!
It was so intriguing to learn about Fr. Iacono’s journey to blogging and curating lessons online. I also have a PhD and want to utilize my curriculum and instruction expertise to share with others online. Her story has inspired me to continue forging a path to that goal.
That’s awesome. Learning from others who have come before is a great approach to begin to meet your own goals.
Great interview! It’s cool that she was took her boredom with a 9 to 5 and turned it into a blogging business.
For sure. It’s what we all dream of.
That’s great sharing about other bloggers! Such a great interview post. Thank you for sharing this interesting post!