It’s hard to believe that I have been blogging now for 5 years. Some days I feel like I know what’s going on but a lot of the days I still feel like such a newbie. But here are 5 things that I definitely learned along the way.
1. Blogging Is A LOT of Work.
Blogging is definitely a lot more work than it seems. I don’t know how many times I heard people saying they want to get into blogging so they can get all the free stuff. If only it were that easy. There is a lot of planning, writing, editing, emailing, negotiating and pitching that goes into any sponsored post. And then for the non-sponsored posts, it’s still a lot of planning, writing and editing. And after all that is done, it’s all about engagement. You need to respond to comments left on your posts but also, like, comment and engage with others.
I’ve often heard people say they can’t understand how people make it their full time job. There is no doubt in my mind it could be a full time job. Even with my little blog, I sometimes struggle trying to juggle it and my full time job.
2. You’ll Make Some Great Friends.
This is my favorite thing about blogging, the friendships I have made. The best part is some are local so we were able to meet in person and form even stronger friendships. I know this will sound cliche but I feel like I have a community of friends now that understand the ups and downs of the industry. They can relate to things that I am going through and bounce things off each other.
3. Social Media vs Reality
Don’t get me wrong, I love engaging with others and getting to know people on social media. But you’ve seen those posts about Social Media vs Reality? Well …. not everyone is who they appear to be on those tiny little squares. They aren’t always the ray of sunshine or the #babesupportingbabes that they preach on their feed. Let’s be honest, in the blogging world, it can be a bit of a numbers game and some will do whatever it takes to get said numbers. I’ve seen friendships fall apart and social media wars raged because of this.
4. Blogging Can Play Tricks On Your Mind
When you are working your butt off to increase your following and not seeing the results you want, it can play with your confidence. You see others that started out the same time as you did now having a following of 2,3 or 4 times more than you, can make you wonder if you’re good enough for this job. Self doubt can really play a number on you. But if you remember that regardless of your numbers, there are people that really enjoy your content, it reminds of why you started it in the first place.
5. Change Is Ok
Sometimes when you first start blogging, you think you know exactly what you want to do and how you want it to look. But over the years, you blog/social media will evolve and you may want to push it in an entirely new direction, change your logo, change your name to make it more cohesive to the person you are now. There is nothing wrong with that. Your followers are probably evolving in their own lives and a lot of them will probably be going through similar changes too. So go for it! If you stick with something that you can no longer relate to or have lost a passion for, it’s going to be really hard to convince others you still do.
So after these 5 years, I have grown a lot as a blogger but am looking forward to the next 5 years to see how things will grow and change. I hope you will follow along too.
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