2018 Q&A blog roundup + what to expect in 2019

As I head into my second year of blogging I want to get things under control and really make a schedule for myself! I would love being able to get a blog up five days a week (Monday-Friday) but that just isn’t realistic and I don’t have the amount of free time that I would need for that! I know I set a goal earlier this year of posting Monday-Wednesday-Friday and I think I want to continue that while alternating every other week making four videos.

As far as content in 2019 I want to be more active on both my blog and Instagram. Sounds silly being on there more when I feel like I’m on both a decent amount, but the more I make myself present the more I’m likely to grow which is exactly what I want to do! I have a few topics I really want to focus more on with my blog and a lot more of what I want will be talked about on my post of my 2019 goals.

There will be a lot more:

-Beauty tutorials (leave a comment if you like story posts or would rather see blog posts of these)
-Outfit of the day posts breaking down each item + little updates along the way
-BUMPDATES!!!! This is an exciting one for me and there will be a lot more baby everything on here and Instagram.
-Skincare posts! My favorite products to review are skincare products!
-Hair tutorials and hair product tips! This is easily another favorite of mine that I want to show more off.

Now, for the Q & A! This is a lengthy one and there were so many good questions that I got and I want to answer them all! I shouldn’t have to put a disclaimer, but because I’m not like a pro at this blogging thing I don’t want to make it seem like I know it all. I don’t. I have learned so much since starting and every answer I give is just my own opinion. I have so much to still learn and would love to do a small Q&A over stuff like this every year for my own growths sake. These Q&A’s helped me when I first started and I want to help everyone I possibly can. Here we go! 🙂

Q: Do you consider yourself an official blogger after only doing this a year? ABSOLUTLEY!!!! I have gone back and forth on giving myself that title (silly, right?) and it all has come down to I am getting paid very well for what I do and all the work I do deserves the recognition. I was very hesitant in the beginning and even kept myself from mentioning that I blogged because I didn’t want to seem like I was just giving myself a title. I now proudly can say that I am a full time hairstylist and a full time lifestyle and beauty blogger!

Q: Do you want to pursue blogging full time? I would absolutely love to. I never once thought that I would love doing it this much and the support I get is incredible. Right now I love the schedule I’m given and am very fortunate to have two full time jobs and still am able to take care of my little one. I think once I start making way more each month and the my income becomes steady is when I’ll consider dropping the salon which will absolutely break me so I’ll probably end up still working 1-2 days haha.

Q: Do you get paid for everything? I get paid for about 95% of the posts that say #ad #sponsored. In the beginning I was taking whatever was thrown at me regardless of the pay to give me the experience and to get my name in with the brand. That both helped and hurt me. I didn’t give myself enough credit so when it came time to me asking if they would be willing to pay me for my work a lot of them shut me down and said no (why pay someone when you can find someone else to work for you for free). I did however, get to work with some really sweet companies that have taken me on and are willing to pay.

Q: Why do bloggers always complain about being so busy? I love that someone asked this because there truly are not enough hours in a day for a blogger and a lot of people don’t get that. Blogging isn’t a 9-5 job. It’s a full time 24/7 job. The amount of work that goes into the writing, the photos, the constant emails, not to mention all the little trips we have to take to get the photos or little props for the photos. It’s a lot of work. I truly wish there were either 30 hours in a day or 9 days in a week haha. I need every extra second I possibly can!

Q: Do I have to have all the fancy stuff to start blogging? Absolutely not. It’s a huge investment just to get started. Buying a domain was $12 and I like to tell people that as long as you have that you’re already one step ahead! Everything that every blogger does on computers and with cameras can be done with just a phone. There are so many apps available now and a lot of start up blog sites (square space, wordpress, etc.) have an app that you can work entirely from!

Q: Has it been hard balancing family and blogging? I REALLY struggled with balancing family and work in the beginning. I can’t express enough how much I struggled with this! I wanted this blogging thing to work out so much that I put it in front of my family on more than one occasion and I would love to go back in time and tell myself to take a step back and relax. During that time I was also really focusing on figuring everything out. It’s been very hard and I still struggle with it but I now know how to separate the two.

Q: How many hours in a day do you think you spend on blogging? I easily put in 12-15 hours into blogging a day. This also goes with the question below.

Q: What does a typical “blogging” day look like for you? So my full blogging days are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I usually dedicate my Mondays entirely to shooting content for the week for Instagram and my blog. Tuesday I focus a lot on writing and Wednesday I’ll attempt to get a head start on photos for the next week. I’m in the salon Thursday-Saturday and get home around 8pm those days. After I get Laken to bed around 10pm I usually stay up until 1am getting things finalized. Sunday is my day off from everything and I love it! From time to time I will post on Sunday, so even then I don’t really take a day off.

Q: Is it hard to interact with your followers being so buys? I feel so guilty for answering this because I have a lot of time to interact with anyone who comments on my photos and I just don’t. I’m the worst person to text and message because I take so long to reply and I don’t know why that doesn’t cross me as a priority…? I used to go by my rule of only post if you have time to interact and when I follow that closely I notice a huge difference when I do that. I know scheduling 10 minutes out of my day to reply would make a world of difference on my Instagram.

Q: How do you make posing look so natural?I have to lol at this because I struggle at posing. My husband will tell you this too. I am terrible at looking natural and have no idea how so many cute girls look natural posing while I look like a hunched over potato or Sloth from the Goonies.

Q: Do you ever compare yourself to other blogger All the time!!! I would be lying if I said I didn’t. Six months into blogging is when I had a really hard time because I would see so may bloggers getting brand deals and couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting anything yet. Never once did I consider that they’re getting these because they’ve been doing this longer than I have. That didn’t click until about eight months in. I have been doing this for one year while the bloggers I’d compare myself to have been doing this for five plus years. Patience is key.

Q: Do you feel pressure from other bloggers to fit in? Surprisingly, no! The only pressure I feel is making sure my nails are always looking nice which is probably a good thing haha. I really admire the lifestyle and the drive a lot of the bloggers have and I look up to them all for that. I could say that I aspire to be like that one day, but right now I’m still trying to get in my own grove.

Q: Have you shopped a lot more since becoming a blogger? Little unknown fact…I have a HUGE shopping problem. Like I don’t know when to stop and it gets me in trouble problem. So when I start shopping I have a really hard time stopping. My need to shop comes in waves and I can easily become addicted to it. To answer the question…yes haha.

Q: With a little one when do you find time to blog? Laken doesn’t sleep. Ever. So the time I find is very valuable to me. I try to wake up an hour before she does to catch up on emails and makes lists of the things to do that day/week. Since she doesn’t take naps anymore, I usually put a movie on after lunch and sit on the couch with her and get some work done. I always have my laptop open in the kitchen so throughout the day while she’s coloring or playing independently I’ll head to the kitchen to do a little work. After putting her to bed is when I’ll get a few hours of work in as well.

Q: Does it bother you when some photos get high likes and other don’t on Instagram? I was really happy to see this question so I could explain it more. I don’t define my success by the number of likes. However, I do take it very seriously when I get 200 on one photo and 1k on another because that means that one photo was seen more by all those who follow me and that’s the hardest part to explain to others with the new algorithm. Basically of my 19k followers only 200 people saw that photo which does get really upsetting when I think about how much work gets put into each photo. Instagram will only shows photos on accounts that you follow if you like their photos. If you miss one photo you won’t see another photo until you physically go to their profile. It’s awful and is why we’re constantly sharing “did you see my recent post” in our stories. My favorite blogger ever who has over 1m followers said “It’s funny how one of my photos will get 300K likes and then the next one will only get 30k” if that doesn’t tell you how much this change sucks than I don’t know what will.

Q: Why did you go with the preset that you use? I really wanted something that would enhance my photos without entirely changing them. I also kept in mind that years from now if I wanted to post a throwback I could without it being entirely pink or extremely over saturated. I really like my preset and love how it works in all lightings. I get asked a lot if I’ll sell my preset. I honestly have no idea how to do that. I’ve tried and can’t figure it out. Maybe one day?

Q: Is everyone really supportive of your blogging and decision to be on social media? At this point in time, yes. Were they always supportive, no. I always like to go back when I get the question because in the beginning my husband was supportive but he wasn’t on board. He told me I was wasting my time and that he didn’t understand why I would put so much time and effort into something that I was getting nothing out of. Fast forward to now and he thinks otherwise. He’s very proud of me and loves to help and has even wanted to be in more blog posts! My husband also goes in waves of being okay with me being on social media. He thinks it’s overrated at times and unnecessary but in the end is okay with whatever makes me happy.

Q: Have you ever paid for likes? Never have and I never will. I don’t think it’s right to pay for likes under any circumstance. There are many accounts out there that you can tell pay for their followers and likes. The average like per photo is 10per 1k followers. Some posts are really noticeable but you also have to take in consideration for all the changes with the algorithm.

Q: How do you grow an organic following? Be yourself and the followers will come. I know that is so cliche but there are so many of the same people on social media that the only way to grow is by showing your personality and showing who you truly are. Focus on what you love and everything will fall into place. 🙂

Q: Do you reach out to brands or do brands reach out to you? I would say it’s 95/5 on this. Most brands reach out to me and for that I will forever be grateful that I’m getting noticed. Never did I think anyone would want to work with me!! The other 5% is me mentioning that if they were ever looking to work with any bloggers I would love to help them out. I don’t particularly like doing this because I feel like I sound desperate, when in reality I truly would do anything to help that company out. I should also add that I don’t go out of my way and email them. Most of the time it’s when I mention them in a post or story and they message me saying they love my content and then I’ll say something back. I keep it simple.

Q: Do you have a manager? I do not! How could would it be though to say Let me run that by my manager?! LOL! I don’t think I ever will get a manager, but again, ask me in 10 years and we can see what happens! I don’t necessarily think there’s a need for one unless I was making $500K+ a year blogging and getting major brand deals and your girl is nowhere near that haha.

Q: Is it easy coming up with content? I have 100% found my style of writing that I like best and it truly is just being myself. Fun fact about me is that I hate writing and there is nothing in this world that could motivate me to force write something. I have so much fun doing my blog my way that I find everything about it very natural. I struggle a little when it’s paid blog postings but even then I wouldn’t say yes unless it was something that I enjoyed. It just takes a little longer to start the post!

These were some of the best questions I’ve ever gotten. The only question I didn’t answer was how much I charge per posting. I one time shared my pricing and since then have raised my prices tremendously. I wouldn’t show you all my paystub or tell you my salary so I’m treating this the same!

I hope you all had a wonderful first day of 2019 and thank you all for the patience you have had with me the last day with all my computer issues!

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