Hey, y’all! I was doing a bit of reflecting the other day and it dawned on me that I am approaching my ten-year bloggerversary! I have been blogging for almost TEN YEARS. Next year will make it ten years, like what is life?! It honestly doesn’t feel like I have been doing this for that long but man, it sure has! As I was reflecting on this journey, I felt lead to share my thoughts and feelings about it in hopes that it will encourage any new or seasoned bloggers that aspire to do the same. I’m going to be as transparent as possible because this journey y’all…whew chile lol. So let’s hop right into it, shall we?!
I feel like I have shared most of what I’m going to share before, but for those who are new or this is your first time reading my blog (hey girl, heyyy!) I’m going to share again. I wrote a post about it HERE when I first took that leap. I will start off by saying that I absolutely love blogging. Nothing fulfills me more than to help and inspire women and girls all over through the things I am truly passionate about. If I find a major sale on something that might be beneficial to my audience, I love sharing that.
If I’ve tried something that works for me and I know it will work for others, I love sharing that. If I’m having a mom moment that I feel other moms can relate to, I love sharing that. My heart fills with joy when it comes to providing helpful and valuable information in hopes that it will be beneficial for the well-being of my beautiful audience. Although that has been my focus and the mission behind my brand, it has had its ups and downs. This journey hasn’t been the easiest, to say the least. But we’re going to talk about all of that in this blog post.
I started my blogging journey back in 2011. Well if we want to get technical here, I was “technically” blogging on Myspace back in 2007. I don’t know if you remember the spot on your page where you could share your thoughts and stuff. Well, that’s where I shared my feelings, my relationship journey with my boyfriend at the time (we met on myspace/via a mutual friend), and just random stuff that popped in my head. So your girl was blogging before blogging was blogging lol. Fast forward, It was my senior year of college and I wanted an outlet to share my thoughts, feelings, and what life would be like after I graduated.
The following year, I went natural for the first time ever in my life! I always wore weave, got relaxers, and did a whole lot of crazy things to my hair lol. But once I went natural, I wanted to share such a transitional part of my life since it was the first time in my life going natural. At the time, I was using Blogger (the blog site by Google). I found free templates, my domain was africannatural1908.blogspot.com and this was my little corner on the internet. To be honest, I didn’t know if people read my blog or not. I didn’t know much about analytics or anything. But I loved what I was doing, and if what I wrote touched or resonated with someone, my job was done.
Fast forward, my life changed for the better! I was recently married, we moved into our new home, brought our baby girl into the world and I became a stay at home mom all in 2013. Before I became a stay at home mom (I went on “maternity leave” early at 7 1/2 months) I was watching a tutorial on YouTube. Something inside of me became inspired and I said to myself, hey I can do this! I didn’t know how or what I was doing but I knew I could do YouTube for some reason. I didn’t know about tutorials, vlogs, or any of that before. I used to use YouTube for music and to listen to sermons ONLY. I didn’t know regular people posted on the platform.
But when I watched that specific tutorial (I think it was FusionOfCultures. She was my hair crush!!) I felt in my heart to do the same. So on top of blogging, I taught myself how to create and edit videos. Although those old videos are cringeworthy and a hot mess lol, I started my channel and that became a visual extension of my blog. Whenever I posted something on my blog, I would create a visual (so like a tutorial or something) showcasing what I wrote about. I am visual learning so I wanted to do that for my visual learners as well!
Fast forward again, after many job rejections, perfecting my craft, and trying my best to learn and evolve within the interwebs, I am still blogging and have been able to monetize my platforms and turn in into a business. I had no idea when I started this that this would be where this would lead me. I didn’t wake up one day and say I want to be a blogger, or Youtuber or any of that. I was so pressed to get back in the corporate world so I can provide additional financial stability to our household.
We weren’t broke thank God, but we had debts, student loans, hospital bills, and living paycheck to paycheck on one income while raising a kid was a struggle for us for years. I’ve never shared that publicly because the thought of it gets me so emotional. But God is faithful and has provided all of our needs and more! We are on a financial freedom journey so having multiple streams of income will allow us to hit those goals quicker! So I’m praying that will happen for us soon!
But with every closed door, every setback, and every NO that was thrown in my face, it always lead me back to my online platforms. To be honest, I was really bummed about that. I didn’t have additional money to buy clothes, bomb wigs, and shoes all of the time for photoshoots. I couldn’t afford a super fancy camera or a photographer. I didn’t have any knowledge or education on “being a blogger”, working with brands or any of that. I didn’t know people could make money from blogging. But one thing I am thankful for is that my husband made sure that I had EVERYTHING that I needed for this journey. He would make sure that we saved what we could while living on one income to make sure that I had what I needed.
I remember I would see bloggers and Youtubers posting regular day in the life content. Then all of a sudden, they would post sponsorships and before I knew it, they were all getting new houses, new rides, and flourishing in life! Although I am happy for everyone that is doing well and prospering in life (it’s literally inspiration for me) deep down, I started to feel depressed. I loved what I was doing and really enjoyed it, but it seems like I wasn’t growing (number wise) like others, I wasn’t traveling the world or rocking certain things like others. I wasn’t getting any sponsorships or brand deals no matter how many times I pitched or was pitched too (no offense, but these brands have to stop reaching out wanting a bunch of work but don’t want to pay.)
I was already depressed about the job situation and other personal matters. Now the comparison thief came in and made it 10x worse. It started to affect my mood, my attitude, and my confidence because I didn’t know what I was doing wrong or why I wasn’t getting anything out of it. I’m not blaming social media for anything but this is a harsh reality that I’m sure other bloggers and influencers are or have gone through emotionally and mentally in this industry.
But something inside of me kept telling me to keep going. I had to stop looking at other people’s grass (literally stop investing so much time watching and following others) and focus on my own. I felt like I was neglecting my blog, my channel, my audiences, and unfortunately, my family at times. When I felt myself tuning to others more than usual, I had to nip that in the bud quick. When I’m not on my phone and computer, my family is all I have. Our family wouldn’t function properly without me so I had to set some boundaries and get my priorities in order.
So in 2019, I promised myself that I will take my brand, my business, and myself seriously no matter what. I wanted to focus on evolving and making my brand better and more professional yet still being able to relate and connect with my beautiful audience, old and new. Since making that promise, I invested in learning more about the blogging business and knowing my worth, watched learning videos on content creation and branding, and put in the work to succeed on my own terms. I can say that I have made progress and things were starting to fall into place. Did I hit every major milestone yet? No. Not Yet. Have I gained a ton of new followers/subscribers? No. Not Yet. Am I making six-figures like other amazing bloggers and influencers? No. Not Yet. Have I accomplished any short term goals? Yes. Am I still connecting and being myself to my audience? Yes. Am I still going? Yes.
I may not know what lies ahead or if I will ever “succeed” on this journey. But as long as I keep trusting God on this journey and doing my part through faith, that’s all I can do at this point. I am longer stressing or worrying about things out of my control. I can’t control the algorithms. I can’t control if people want to subscribe or not. I can’t help if brands don’t want to partner with me. Some things are out of my control and that’s okay. If this is what God wants me to do then I’m going to continue to what I have to do and do it to the best of my ability.
So for anyone starting out or wanting to continue on this journey, I want to share a few tips with you in hopes that it will keep you encouraged along the way.
- Focus on your own craft! The way to succeed on this journey is to just be yourself and put in the work #period There is nothing worse than trying to mold yourself into something you are not! For a while, I thought I had to look or act a certain way, I thought I had to post almost every day like others (yes be consistent but please don’t burn yourself out), at one point, I even compared my husband to “social media husbands” knowing that he is not a sociable person and doesn’t do social media (which I absolutely love, to be honest, lol) I literally thought I had to keep up with what others were doing because it was working for them. But obviously, that wasn’t the case. Once I started being myself and doing what I felt in my heart to do like I was doing when I first started, things started to work out in my favor. So just be yourself, please! I’m telling you just from being yourself, you will attract the right tribe and you’ll grow organically because you are staying to your values, your audience, and most importantly, yourself!
- Invest in yourself and learn as much as you can on your OWN! I want to tread lightly with this one here. As I stated before, my intention was never to be a full-time blogger or influencer. But somehow, my footsteps have led me to this point, I knew I had to do my part and learn all that I could to know what the heck I was doing and also what I was doing wrong. I didn’t want to ask other bloggers because I know they have a lot on their plates. Plus, I wanted to build authentic relationships with bigger bloggers and influencers, not want anything from them. Picking someone’s brain is not going to bring you success like them. So do what you have to do like they did and you will see your own success. Although I have had a few successes prior to doing that, I wanted to perfect my craft and take it more seriously. I have read a ton of books, invested in courses, listened to podcasts, and more. I did what I had to do but I had to put in the work. So I highly suggest learning all that you can about this evolving industry and then align your brand with the knowledge you obtain and then boom, you’re good to go. I will say though PLEASE do not spend your hard-earned coins on every “coach” that tells you that they have the secret or whatever. Here are a few things and people I suggest that you look into first!
- “Influencer” Book By Brittany Hennessy. This is the influencer bible’s hands down. Everything you need to know about this industry is in this book. Do not look into another. This is it right here. Thank me later.
- The Influencer League. This online membership program was created by Brittany Bright (@thebeebright on twitter and IG) She is a former influencer marketing manager that handled brand deals at her former agency. Now she created her own membership program and provides consultations for influencers and I’m thankful to be apart of! I came across her page randomly on twitter last year and she was dropping massive gems that no one was discussing within this industry. I was like OMG this woman knows her stuff…and SHE DOES! She’s so sweet and very knowledgeable about both the brand and the influencer side of this business. You have to follow her on twitter for daily nuggets and look into her services. You WILL NOT be disappointed!!
- Mattie James (@themattiejames) is literally The Influencer Fairy Godmother. She has been in this industry for over 10 years and provides weekly information on Wednesdays on how to elevate your influence and charge what you’re worth. I always have to catch the reruns but her knowledge and gems are amazing. I actually purchased her First Aid Pitch years ago and it definitely came in handy.
- Pitch It Perfect by Julie Solomon. I came across this 2 years ago and it was an eye-opener and game-changer. Her program provides information and templates on how to confidently pitch yourself to brands and correspondence when it comes to communicating with brands. I would be lying if I didn’t say the price made me gag a bit when I first saw it on an ad on Instagram. But it definitely gave me the confidence to pitch myself in a professional and converse with brands professionally. They do have payment plans as well so don’t worry. But I highly suggest it!
3) DO NOT COMPARE YOUR CHAPTER 1 TO SOMEONE’S CHAPTER 20! I repeat and I repeat, Do NOT DO IT! This is the biggest mistake that anyone no matter how long you’ve been doing this or if you’re just starting. I’ve seen a lot of changes in people’s attitude, family dynamics and so much more the longer I’ve been doing this. I may not say much but I peep A LOT and can tell when something is off. I’m telling you the grass isn’t greener on the other side, it sho ain’t. Yes someone might be getting a ton of brand deals, tons of followers, and flourishing in life, but you don’t know what goes on off of the gram and behind closed doors. Now here you are comparing your grass to someone else that you don’t even know in real life. And let’s not forget the judgment, unpopular opinions, and overstepped boundaries that come with this as well. #IRebukeIt And I’m saying this because the comparison thing is something I’ve struggled with for years. To be honest, I have had a few moments even to this day when I would compare my numbers to others or compare my journey to others. But I had to snap out of it and trust that everything will happen in divine timing. I beg you please try your best not to do this. Remember, most of these people have been doing this before blogging, and influencing was even in the dictionary. This industry is fairly new and still evolving every day. So focus on your grass and doing what you love no matter what.
4) Don’t go broke trying to keep up with the trends and fashion. I understand if you’re a fashion blogger, you have to wear and buy clothes. But please don’t go broke or live above your means to impress people. Heck, only a small percentage of the world is into luxury fashion and items. So why not show others who aren’t how to look expensive on a budget or how to thrift. We want to inspire our audience in some way so why not inspire them in simple ways to make their lives a lot easier and a lot less stressful. I’ve seen people talk about how they had credit card debts because they were buying stuff weekly for their Instagram. I know first hand but had to learn to stop that asap. It is okay if you’re not driving a Tesla or Bentley. Don’t let people make you feel less than from the material things they possess. Being yourself is free.
OMG, I could go on and on but I think y’all have heard enough for today. Like I said this journey has been a literal rollercoaster. It has been an emotional one, to say the least, but I’m so thankful that I haven’t given up. I have wanted to quit at least 25 times so far but there’s something inside that won’t let me quit. When I first started, I never made it known or publicly acknowledged myself as a blogger so it was something that I never owned or had full confidence in. But knowing my family and close friends have supported me throughout this journey, it keeps me going. My hubby and kids are literally my biggest cheerleaders and motivation. And my beautiful audience! The messages and comments I get on a daily are such a blessing and overwhelming. Y’all don’t understand how much it truly means to me to be able to connect with you all from all over!
So that is it for this blog post. I hope you all enjoy hearing about my journey so far. I really hope that it inspires you to not only start but to keep going no matter. If you need any help or assistance, I’m only an email or DM away! I hope you all continue to stick around with me as I continue to evolve, grow, and confidently dominate this journey. My 10 Year will be in January 2020 so I need to plan how I am going to celebrate this milestone!! Things will continue to go up from here!! Stay tuned! 🙂 Are you a blogger or influence? If so, tell me for how long and what are some of your goals for this journey?