I'll never forget the nerves I had before sharing my first post, I was so proud of myself for finally making it happen as I had been procrastinating for the longest time. For those who know, I had initially wanted to make a YouTube channel but that's a whole other story! The simple fact that I've had this blog for 4 years is an achievement in itself. There's been a lot I've learnt over these years but I want to share the top 4 as I think they'll be useful for anyone who might be thinking about starting their own blog or just curious to know what it's been like.
1. Stay true to yourself
It can be so easy to get caught up with how other people do things but you have to stay true to yourself and know why you're doing this. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do but learnt over time that it wasn't necessarily about what I was doing, it was how I was doing it. I got to a point where I realized that I wasn't a fashion expert at all, I couldn't talk about fashion related things like the other bloggers I looked up to. I could tell some bloggers were just naturals at talking about how to put an outfit together, what key items you need in your wardrobe, etc. All I wanted to do was simply share my own personal style, talk about things I had personally experienced and places I've visited!
2. Comparison is the thief of joy
Yes, it's a cliche but man is it true. I used to compare myself to bloggers all the time, I used to second guess my content and felt like it wasn't good enough as I wasn't getting the engagement I was looking for. I've come a long since then, everyone is on their own journey and therefore you can't ever compare yourself to where someone else is in their journey. This applies to life itself and I can honestly say that I've become a lot happier within myself since stopping that horrible habit of comparison.
3. Consistency is key!
If you've been following my blog then you'll know this is something I really struggled with especially when I first started working. Trying to maintain a blog as well as everything else in your life is difficult, I have so much respect for any one who can maintain that balance. It makes a difference when you keep up the consistency as it keeps your viewers/readers engaged. Of course it's not all about the numbers, you have to be genuine with what you post and not just put out contents for the sake of it. Sometimes this is what held me back from being so consistent because I genuinely didn't know what to post and it felt wrong not putting my all into it.
4. You have to network
This is something I still don't do enough of - the events I had been to in the past really made a difference as I met lots of people who were into the same things I was in and it helped build a nice support network. Till this day I still keep in touch with some amazing bloggers who continue to support me and vice versa. Unfortunately I haven't seen many blogging events in a very long time, there doesn't seem to be many anymore. I used to attend a lot of Scarlett London's events which were so good! I hope in 2020 more events will happen as I'd love to meet more fellow bloggers.
Overall, I feel like I've had a good blogging experience. I've made some pretty great achievements, I'm getting so close to reaching 100,000 views which is very exciting! I like that I'm able to look back at my journey and see how far I've come with not only the views but the content. There's still so much more I'm yet to learn and improve on, it's all what makes this journey even more exciting!
Like anything in life, this has had it's ups and downs, at one point I felt like stopping my blog completely. I was focusing so much on wanting to become a full time blogger that I just became frustrated with the whole process. I'm happy to say that although I'm not a full time blogger, I'm completely okay with that. It's not a goal for me anymore as I've realized that although it would be amazing, it's just not a priority. This is just something I love do in my spare time and will always love doing and if it is to take off one day then it will happen at the right time.
Love Sham x
Well done & keep it up!! You are doing amazing !!
ReplyDelete