I launched my blog February 18, 2019, I can’t believe it has been 2 years already! My biggest regret is not starting earlier. It has been a lot of work, but one of the favorite chapters of my life so far! Here is what I learned in the past two years:

It is HARD WORK

Unfortunately a lot of bloggers and influencers still just show the glamour of blogging – events and free products. This industry is so much more than that, and in order to get to a point where people want you at their events or want you to promote their stuff, you have to put a lot of work into your brand for free.

Don’t expect to get into it and opportunities will be flying to your inbox. You have to be the one seeking out and pitching to brands, especially in the beginning. You have to really love it to stick with it.

Things can be weird

Surprisingly, there are a lot of unsocial people in the social media world. I am not super social or have an outgoing personality, but, I am generally kind to most people. I have found that there can be lot of bloggers who only stick to cliques with other bloggers who have the same or larger follower counts, which is weird.

If you get into this, try to make friends and real life connections with other bloggers. Not only are they some of the only people who understand the industry, they can shoot content with you, you can bounce ideas off each other, and just gain genuine friendships.

Enough with the gatekeeping of information

Reach out to people for help and if someone reaches out to you, consider giving them information. Blogging is so secretive and people don’t share all the behind the scenes of it yet. If there is something a blogger is doing that I like, I usually message them and tell them how I appreciate what they are doing. I have also asked some people for help and have offered to help others. Some people don’t like sharing their “secrets”, but I am all for collaboration over competition. Even if someone is using the same apps, it doesn’t mean our content is going to be the same.

Be okay with rejection

You cannot be afraid of rejection. You will get rejected hundreds of times from brands in the beginning, you have to be okay with that and keep going. Unfortunately, a lot of blogging is still a numbers game, and certain brands won’t work with some bloggers unless they have 10,000 followers. Keep your head down and keep going, consistency will get you far.

Batch your content and plan ahead

Blogging is like having a second job and it is pretty tough to juggle it with a full time job. What has helped me is batching my content, this means I will shoot 3-4 looks on the weekend and then spend a few hours in the evenings creating blog posts, writing captions, etc. Plan ahead so you have content lined up on the days you are super busy.

If you have any questions on how to get started as a blogger, let me know!

xoxo,

Finding Francesca