A YEAR AGO TODAY..
A year ago, today, I was in front of my computer anxiously anticipating hitting publish on my first blog post. Boy oh boy was it scary and I must have deleted and rewrote that same post multiple times before I had the courage to just publish it! It was a huge leap of faith for me to put my words out there for everyone to read and I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. I can now confidently say, looking back on those 365 days – I wouldn’t change a thing. I love my little corner of the internet and I’m happy that I took a chance on something I’ve wanted to do for so long! If there is one thing you take away from today’s post, I hope it’s this: If you’re teetering on the edge of launching a blog of your own or moving forward in that creative passion project you can’t stop thinking about – take that leap of faith! I promise you; it will be scary but oh-so worth it! Now let’s get into some things I’ve learned in the past year…
GET READY TO PUT IN A.LOT.OF.WORK
Okay so I knew going into this, it would be a lot of work, but I did not realize the number of hours and how much working into the wee hours of the night I would be doing. There’s so much that goes into blogging beyond just posting aesthetically pleasing photos on the ‘gram. From learning how to build and design a website (logo creation, learning SEO, etc.) to strategically scheduling and shooting photos, editing those photos, reaching out to brands, creating/researching content to share, proofreading that content, and then sharing it all on various social platforms is a full-time job in itself. I am not sharing all of this to scare anyone, but rather paint a true picture of what reality is behind the scenes. The best part of all the craziness though? When it’s something you truly enjoy and love to do, then it’s that much more rewarding when the hard part is over!
IT’S A TRUE GAME OF BALANCE
There are a lot of bloggers out there that do this as a full-time job and that’s totally #GOALS. However, there are others like me, who work an 8-5 in addition to blogging and that’s where it can get a little tricky. I am still learning how to balance it all and I know it’s something that will take patience. A few key things that has helped is 1. Understanding that I won’t be able to do it all some days and that’s okay. 2. Take days off – I used to feel guilty about not posting or interacting to some degree for a whole day which led to burnout. Now I don’t even think twice about it. 3. Your relationships should take priority – there are times I would put blogging in front of plans with friends/family and that is never okay. Moments with the people you love won’t always be there, but Social Media will be.
DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF
Success won’t happen overnight and honestly it might take a couple years or more until you see the true result you want and that’s okay. I found that I was starting to compare myself to other bloggers with their high number of followers wondering why I wasn’t there yet, constantly thinking I wasn’t working hard enough or maybe I wasn’t doing the right things to accomplish it. But what I learned is that in the end, everyone has their own journey and timeline. Instead of treating it as competition, use this community to build relationships, learn from one another, and cheer each other on!
YOUR CONTENT IS #1
I’ve learned that you can spend hours trying to build your brand and have beautiful images, yet still see no success from it. At the end of the day, the content you create should always be the #1 focus. Providing information that people find useful and informative is what will bring them back. I mean think when you’re scrolling through blog posts or social media – when do you stop and read certain posts? I know personally, when the aesthetics are there and the information is valid & useful, I find myself going back to that same person’s page every day because they have become a trusted source of mine.
LASTLY, DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL & BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
This whole journey has been a lot of trial and error for me. There are times when I’m not sure how certain posts will do but I post them anyways. Why? Because sometimes you just have to take the risk and if you fail, then you fail and you learn from it. Blogging has made me feel so uncomfortable at times because I honestly didn’t believe in myself that I could do this. If there is one thing this journey has taught me, it’s to appreciate all the things that once terrified me. Without realizing it, all those scary moments actually made me ten times stronger and encouraged me to pursue my dreams. So now I encourage you to step outside your comfort zone today and do something that terrifies you, that makes you feel uncomfortable, because I promise it will take you one step closer to achieving that dream!
FIRST YEAR BLOGGING HIGHLIGHTS:
- Getting approved as an influencer with LIKEtoKNOW.it
- Opportunity to collaborate and work with some of my favorite brands: Red Dress Boutique, Pink Lily Boutique, FabFitFun, Showpo, Boden and the list goes on!
- Building so many relationships with people I never knew before I started blogging
- Growing @coffee.and.denim Instagram account from 0 to 13.3k followers
& OF COURSE A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU! I couldn’t do it without you guys! Here’s to another amazing year!
