Goals for the New Year

 

Happy New Year’s! I hope you got to bring in 2016 with the people you love. My New Year’s was spent in San Antonio with my sweet boyfriend and his wonderful family. His parents were generous and surprised me with a trip to come see him for a few weeks and to spend the holiday together! By now I’m pretty sure you’ve figured out that this girl gets spoiled a lot!

Today I really wanted to talk about my hopes and goals for this year. Every year it seems I have the same generic resolutions for myself- lose weight, eat better, exercise, be more positive. Those aren’t goals, they’re lifestyle changes. I’d like to make some real goals for myself that are actually attainable and suitable for my long-term lifestyle.

Let’s start with this blog! I’d love, love, love to make money off of it in 2016. Even if it’s only a hundred dollars, just something to show for all of my work. I realize it takes years to build a blog big enough to make money off of, but a little appreciation here and there keeps you going! On top of that, I’d like to reach 5000 followers and also grow my Instagram account.

Another goal of mine is to become a regular contributor for a fashion and lifestyle website with a much bigger following than mine. Writing for other blogs or websites really gives you exposure to people who might not otherwise know you’re there. Who doesn’t want more exposure?

Finally, I’d like to develop more confidence in my abilities as a professional. Entering into the workforce is scary and takes a lot of work. The amount of rejections I’ve gotten has really worn down my self-esteem over time. However, my motivation has only gotten stronger! Confidence takes a lifetime to build but only a few simple words to destroy. This year, I want to make mine stronger than ever.

Leave me a comment with a few of your goals this year!

Blog Tip Tuesday

Good morning beauties! It’s a lovely day here in Maryland and I’m happy to see the sun shining and a breeze blowing. I was scrolling through a Facebook group I’m apart of that’s specifically for fashion and lifestyle bloggers such as myself. One blogger posted about how no matter how small your blog is, you should value the audience has and so should anyone who approaches you for a collaboration. Especially, businesses that want to collaborate. I’m going to piggy back on what she said and give some words of wisdom to newer bloggers out there!

When I first started blogging (over a year ago), I knew nothing about how it’s done and how to gain followers. Being so inexperienced, people could very easily take advantage of me. And they did. Several times I was approached by big name brands (Warby Parker, Majestic Sp0rts and others) to write about their products on my blog. In exchange for doing this, they would be selecting their favorite blog posts and sharing them on their social media accounts. Thinking of how talented I was (or so I thought), I hopped on board and wrote a post about their products and how cute they are. I bet you can guess what didn’t happen next! Yep, my posts were never selected to be shared on social media.

Here’s what happens when companies approach you like this and you take the bait: they get free advertising and you get nothing. Typically, when bloggers are approached by companies for legitimate collaborations the blogger at least gets a free item if not monetary payment in addition to it. I follow several bloggers that are paid to wear clothes or take pictures of how they “styled” a certain piece of furniture in their home. To be honest, at times it gets annoying because you wonder if these products are any good or is said blogger just doing it for the money. However, it can also be a really great tool to use if done honestly.

The bottom line is, no matter how small your blog is, you should always be compensated for your time and blog space when companies want you to write about their products or services. It’s just that simple.

I’m still trying to figure out how to get legitimate offers from companies and how to actually make a living (or at least some spending money) off of blogging. I’ll let you know when I figure this out.