We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cheri Renee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cheri below.

Cheri, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I started sharing my recipes at CooksWellWithOthers.com as a hobby while working as a second-grade teacher. At the time, I had no clue you could actually make a living as a recipe content creator. Once I learned more about how to monetize my website it just grew from there. As thousands of website views turned into millions, I was able to transition from teaching to working from home as a full-time recipe content creator.

Eventually I started a second website dedicated to all things outdoor cooking, IfYouGiveAGirlAGrill.com! This was a risky move because it can take years for a website to make money, plus the long hours I poured into the grilling site took away from my original site. The payoff was definitely worth it in the long run, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Cheri, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into recipe content creating simply because I love food, cooking, and putting my own twists and spins to develop fun and creative recipes. I am a self-taught home cook, and I write my recipes for other home cooks with everyday ingredients and easy to follow directions.

You’ll find mostly family friendly dinners ranging from easy weeknight meals to some more extravagant dinner ideas for when you want to wow guests. Also, a wide variety of side dishes and appetizers to bring to holidays and parties. CooksWellWithOthers.com has many air fryer, slow cooker, and sheet pan recipes. And IfYouGiveAGirlAGrill.com has all grilling, smoker recipes, and Blackstone griddle creations.

I have also written a few cookbooks, which are available on Amazon. “Hey, Can I Get That Recipe?” is a project I worked on with my daughter, Kat. It has all of my favorite recipes, plus tips and tricks that every home cook will find useful. And my latest, The “I Love My Blackstone Griddle” Cookbook has 175 incredible recipes for your Blackstone griddle.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

When I first started, I knew my recipes were solid, but I was clueless about SEO and how to write a website post that people could easily find when Googling. Once I researched more about focus keywords, SEO friendly practices, and creating helpful content that people could easily find in a search engine my websites became more successful.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being able to do what I love while being home with my family is the definition of living the dream, in my opinion. I can set my own hours to put my family first which is priceless. My husband and I have a large family and the ability to arrange my work schedule around helping them, spending days with my grandkids, and being more present and focused has been the biggest blessing.

Contact Info:

• Website: CooksWellWithOthers.com and IfYouGiveAGirlAGrill.com
• Instagram: @cooks_well_with_others and @ifyougiveagirlagrill
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CooksWellWithOthers and https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082109325544
• Youtube: @ifyougiveagirlagrill
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cookswellwithothers/_saved/ and https://www.pinterest.com/ifyougiveagirlagrill/_saved/

  Amazon Cookbook Links: https://amzn.to/45LNT24 and https://amzn.to/43Vfsn0

Image Credits

Samantha Noble (all pics)