What I enjoy about blogging, is the opportunity to voice my opinions, about brands I trust, movies I watch, fashion I love,, and much more. Back when I was a teen the “Dear Diary” concept was my favorite and most de-stressing thing to do. Writing out all my opinions on things I liked and also scrapbooking! you know back in the 90s cutting out paper clippings of our favorite stars, brands, or movie quotes. This, believe it or not, is almost the same thing I’m doing now just a bit fancier as I matured, this is now transitioned into my blog.

Instagram, for instance, has shown me ways, opportunities, and relationships I could never imagine were possible. Now don’t get me wrong, for all the newbies who plan to create an Instagram account now, please note and take my word, it’s not as easy as you think. It took me more than 7 years to get to where I am now.

The journey was rough! You need to make sure you dedicate atleast 8 hours to your social media platforms, blogging, and Engaging in Instagram takes a whole level of commitment! So don’t expect to be a successful and famous influencer overnight unless,, of course, you start buying followers, now that’s a whole different messy path I’d suggest you do not want to fall into that rabbit hole.

Though people make a lot of assumptions about Influencers, they have no clue about the amount of effort, work, the sacrifice we put into making sure the content is perfect for our followers, I’d think we are jugglers who are here to entertain you guys and make sure the performance is worthy for you. Keep in mind I’m talking about actual genuine full-time bloggers who decide to make a living out of this.

Blogging is a new career path, just like your office job, this is a whole new marketing path that brands and agencies are exploring and collaborating on. This has helped many brands and businesses grow, which is why the demand for bloggers is growing.

These days everyone wants to be a blogger and an Instagram Influencer, but no one wants to put in the time and effort for content creation, everyone looks for a shortcut, whether it’s copying content or following a trend that everyone else is doing. Which in my experience is not the right way. If you ask me being a blogger needs 8 hours of commitment per day. Just like how I did at my corporate job, I am putting equal time and effort into my blog. Ofcourse, I’m grateful I’m no longer working, so I’m able to focus on my blog and my social media, and this is very important. You need to give your 100% when you are in this field.

A lot of bloggers are mistaken to think, that as long as we do a photoshoot, beauty shoot, or follow the typical trend, that’s enough to be a successful influencer\ blogger, but that’s not true.

You need to be highly creative in this field, try your best to aim to be unique as much as possible, aiming to give high-quality content for your followers and the brands who believe in your work and want to collaborate with you

Advice for Newbie Bloggers/Instagrammers.

1. Aim to be unique, and don’t just blindly follow what’s trending.
2. Not everything has to be a beauty/makeup tutorial (especially if your niche is not beauty)
3. Not every post has to be fashion related, throw in some quotes and product content.
4. Don’t waste your money on professional photographers, especially if you’re not earning anything yet. Use your friends and family to help! You may not get the perfect picture, but you must think, did you get paid by the brand? if not it’s not worth it.
5. Don’t waste your money on buying the perfect flat lay props, I’m seeing so many bloggers and influencers do this, and they’re not even getting paid, which is a bum.
6. Manage with what you have at home already, and check for inspiration from your kitchen or even your kid’s stationery.
7. Don’t compare your engagement with others, not all engagement you see is genuine.
8. Though it’s great to connect and work with other bloggers, just remember at the end of the day, they all want what you want and the competition can be very high. So do give yourself some ‘SOLO’ work time.
9. It’s always good to take inspiration from your favorite bloggers/influencers but that doesn’t mean you should copy their content, try to make it as unique as possible.
10. Do not sacrifice your family for social media, avoid forcing and dragging your spouse and kids to events that are far or not important. As an Influencer, you may get invited to a lot of events, but not all of them are important. At the end of the day, you’re not gaining much. Only attend if the event is meaningful and a brand you believe in.

General thoughts to keep in mind

There’s nothing wrong in collaborating with brands in exchange for goods, Just make sure you are not taken advantage of by them, some brands can expect and demand a lot in exchange of some free products, so always make sure to have everything on email writing, including your agreement before you provide the service. Most brands prefer to talk to you on phone to negotiate, I put all my negotiations in email since that’s the only proof I have in case anything goes wrong.

Don’t worry if your engagement is low, this is a global issue and everyone has been complaining about Instagram changing its algorithms, so focus on making better content and utilizing your Instagram stories.

Don’t look down on people who look different from you, whether it’s their size, color, or ethnicity. Learn to treat everyone equally, whether their micro-influencers or macro.

Don’t be rude to people, and don’t leave rude comments on people’s posts, this builds a bad reputation for you, and people will consider you as a negative personality which is a put off to your followers and brands, If you can’t say anything good, learn the art of silence.

If you asked me 7 years ago, If I’d ever dream to get an award, I’d say never. But now that I’m an award-winning blogger, it has restored faith in believing in my ways. I believe I have been doing something right to be noticed by the right institutions and brands.

For those of you who have been following me and my journey, thank you so much. I could never be where I am today without all the love and support I have been getting, hence I decided to create this post to share my blogging experience that may help you.

Remember, you’re worth it, your beautiful, you’re talented. Don’t let anything get your way and don’t let anyone say you can’t do it, because deep down you know you can!