Ever since I spoke about blogging being my full time job in this post HERE, I received a lot of questions about that topic. A lot of you still ask on my instagram how I balance the “day job” with blogging, mostly because you weren’t aware that I quit the day job almost 4 months ago. But in that time a lot has happened and I learned more about it as a business than in the 4 years before. Since this is such a secretive and controversial topic that many of you are so curious about I decided to write a whole post.
I am pretty sure that everyone and their aunt is aware that I am a pharmacist. If not, you probably just randomly found my blog through google. I graduated in 2011 and started working in a high responsibility role without being a day unemployed. Slowly I realised that my chosen job was really exhausting and even though its rewarding when you save someones life, or help someone, its also daunting to deal with really ill people every day if you are emotional person, unable to switch off. Whenever I thought that I didn’t like the job itself, the beautiful pay check at the end of every month reassured me and made me stay in the business for months to come. In case you were wondering, pharmacy is very well paid, which is why I stuck to it even when blogging brought me some dinero. The story was simple, I started slowly working less and less hours, and from full time went to 3.5 days a week, to 2.5 days a week to 2 days a week…eventually just became a full time fashion blogger and realised that I am actually loosing money by being a pharmacist on those 2 days a week.
Everyone is a pharmacist in my family, and no my parents didn’t understand the digital world, which meant I needed to provide very good reasons to why I wanted to quit what I studied 5 years for. You see, when you are so sure of what you want to do, like in this case blogging, you can’t come back to your parents few years down the line with your tail between your legs, telling them they were right and asking for help. You have to be 100% sure that you absolutely will NOT need help from them, and that you will make them incredibly proud.
I get a lot of questions from bloggers asking “how do I quit my job?” or “how did you know it will work?” and the answer is I didn’t, you never know until you try and realise what works what doesn’t. Its a risk, but everything is risk in life, even buying those pair of shoes you got last week was a risk, because you didn’t know if you will certainly get your ROI back :)
Now that I told you that bit, I can also tell you that I felt pretty anxious not knowing what will happen, I loved receiving pay check on 26th I knew I will be able to pay the bills and I was comfortable. I just knew that I love my vision and that I could make it work, which proved to be right, and my dream became-well, my life.
So how can blogging be your job? You also ask me questions like if I get stuff for free, or if I get paid to write about certain products even if I don’t like them. And let me tell you this. If you are starting a blog just because you want to make money, stop now. It won’t happen. if you only have money on your mind (I didn’t start making any good money first 3 years of blogging), it won’t happen because you will sell your readers before you get them, and it wouldn’t live. Rule number one is integrity. Every successful blog I know has it, and many of them have rules. So does mine. My rule number one is that my Monthly Favourite videos are not sponsored, they will always be exactly what I loved that month, I always have to test a product before I write about it, and if its a beauty product, I need to try it for at least 3 weeks before I speak about it. I buy so many beauty products and I get so many sent my way that there is a huge proportion that never even gets shown on the blog, it just isn’t good enough. Most rewarding this is reading your comments about how much you loved a product I recommended, how you bought those jeans I wore, and that is why all of my posts have that dose of personal experience, what I liked and what I didn’t.
So how do bloggers make money? Well, there are ads on the blogs, there are affiliate links that can be used , there are collaborations with brands, campaigns, consultations. I was lucky enough to be one of the first bloggers to participate in a huge campaign shoot this summer, but I never even thought my face would be on a billboard otherwise. Making money is not a topic of this post. The topic is Is blogging a good job? People who aren’t in the business cannot even IMAGINE the scope of it. And trust me, you think its all about a brand sending you a product and a little check to write about it, its not even close to it.
Bloggers who accept presents from brands ALWAYS chose the product/item. When I say always, I am talking about good blogs, about quality ones that people actually read. So no, brand will never send you a random piece that you HAVE TO wear, you get credit in your account, and you spend it like when you go shopping, or you just pick few items you would otherwise buy and get them for free. Is blogging a good job? Yes it is, because I can live nicely of expressing my creativity and share what I love with the entire world all while travelling or sitting in my office. It also means that there are no rules to what I write about, which trousers I wear or what language I speak, I can do it from anywhere in the world, and as long as I have passion-the main fuel for what I do, I am good. But don’t get deceived. It is not just taking selfies all day long, its a long 7 day a week job, just like any other when you are a director of the company. You can’t stop and you don’t want to stop, as soon as you build a large number of followers it becomes this monster which constantly needs to be fed.
If you want to turn blogging into your job, remember to keep your integrity. Love what you do, be honest, and have fun. Don’t write a blog post about a lipstick that was gifted to you and you didn’t like, because you can buy the same lipstick yourself. You cannot pay that rent with any gifts, they don’t pay your bills, so don’t let them take that respect away, The rules are simple, be yourself, stay on the track, and trust me, after years of nurturing that hobby like your own child you will get most amazing awards. Might sound cheesy, but my biggest ones are amazing friendships I got out of this job.
After all, bloggers are influencers, we influence people to make decisions, to shop, to change the hairstyle, to think about career change and most of all we motivate them. If it wasn’t for my readers, I would probably never even discover this fashion world, I would never be able to do what I do which is why I want to give them so much, a huge part of this experience. Blogging is amazing career, but don’t forget to always give back to people who got you there, while motivating them to be the best possible version of themselves-that is the pure key to success in this industry, or any other. Be the best version of yourself, and motivate others to do the same, that is when life becomes something special, when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony. Recipe for Pure Happiness.
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Od kako sam pricala o tome da je blogovanje postao moj posao u OVOM postu, primila sam mnogo pitanja na tu temu. I dalje me neki od vas pitaju na drustvenim mrezama kako balansiram svakodnevni posao sa blogom, jer verovatno niste videli da je ovo moj jedini posao vec skoro 4 meseca. Od kako sam napustila posao naucila sam o blogovanju mnogo vise nego u tri godine pre toga. Posto je sama tema prilicno nejasna i kontroverzna, odlucila sam da joj posvetim ceo post.
Prilicno sam sigurna da bas svako, pa i njihova tetka znaju da sam ja po struci farmaceut. Ukoliko niste znali, onda ste slucajno nabasali na moj blog preko gugla. Diplomirala sam 2011. godine i pocela da radim na poziciji sa neopisivo mnogo odgovornosti bez da sam ijedan dan bila nezaposlena. Polako sam shvatila da ovaj posao crpi moju harizmu, jer iako se osecate neverovatno svaki put kada nekome spasite zivot ili kada nekome pomognete, nije lako susretati se sa bolesnim ljudima svakog dana, pogotovo kada ste jako emotivna osoba poput mene. Kad god sam razmisljala o tome da posao farmaceuta nije za mene divna platica bi mi stigla pred kraj meseca i totalno me razuverila. U slucaju da vas zanima, farmacija je izuzetno dobro placen posao svugde u svetu, ali pogotovo u Velikoj Britaniji, sto je jedan od glavnih razloga zasto sam se ovim bavila toliko koliko jesam, cak i kada mi je blog poceo donositi neke novce. Od 5 dana u nedelji presla sam na 3.5 pa na 2.5 pa na 2 da bih konacno postala modni bloger puno radno vreme, jer sam shvatila da sam zapravo na gubitku radeci u apoteci ta dva dana nedeljno.
Poticem iz porodice visoko obrazovanih ljudi, mama, tata i sestra su farmaceuti i ne, mojim roditeljima digitalni svet nije bio najjasniji, tako da sam morala da imam veoma dobre razloge zasto zelim da napustim nesto za sta sam ucila 5 godina. Vidite, kada ste ubedjeni u ono sto zelite da radite, a drugi nisu odusevljeni tom idejom, ne mozete se vratiti svojim roditeljima, nakon par godina, podvijenog repa moleci za pomoc. Morate biti 100% sigurni da vam pomoc nece biti potrebna te da ce biti ponosni na sve ono sto ste ucinili.
Mnogi me pitaju kako napustiti posao, ako ono sto biste radili nema toliku sigurnost, ili kako sam ja znala da ce sve biti ok i odgovor je zbunjujuci. Ja uopste nisam znala da ce ovo ispasti kako treba, verovala sam u svoje snove, u ono sto zelim da radim ali bojala sam se rizika. Ipak sve je rizik u danasnje vreme, samo zavisi na koji to nacin gledate, ali cak i one cipele koje ste kupili prosle nedelje su rizik, jer nemaju garanciju da cete dobiti svoju ROI nazad :)
Sada kada sam vam to rekla, mogu vam priznati da kao osoba jako volim sigurnost, da ne volim neizvesnoti i da sam obozavala 26.kada mi je plata stizala, jer sam znala da ce svi racuni biti placeni vec sledeceg dana. Jednostavno znala sam da i kada ne bude 26.da ce biti nesto drugo, jer ja ne odustajem od onoga sto volim bas tako lako, a to ne ocekujem ni od vas. Tada je moj san postao-moja stvarnost
Postoji ogromna konfuzija kada je rec o poklonima koje blogeri dobijaju i odmah cu vam resiti sve sumnje. Ukoliko zelite da zapocnete blog samo radi zarade, odustanite odmah, jer prvo sto cete se pomuciti, a drugo vecina blogera ne zaradi nista u proseku prvih tri godine. Sto se poklona tice, ne poznajem nikoga ko tek tako dobija nasumice stvari koje ne izabere. Dakle ukoliko nam je nesto poklonjeno, mi smo to sami izabrali na njihovom sajtu, na isti nacin na koji bi to uradili kada bi istu tu stvar kupili.
Pravilo broj jedan je integritet, da biste bili uspesni morate imati citatelje, a ukoliko ih prodate u startu za neki pokloncic, necete ih imati kasnije. Svaki uspesan bloger kog poznajem ima pravila sto se tice poklona i novca koji primaju za reklame. Neka od mojih pravila su da mesecni favoriti nikada nisu sponzorisani niti reklamni, vec su to iskljucivo proizvodi koje sam ja koristila celog meseca, ukoliko radim sa brendom, njihov proizvod moram koristiti bar 3 nedelje, sve o cemu pisem mora biti dobro testirano kako bih rekla nesto iz licnog iskustva. Svojim novcem kupim mnogo proizvoda, dobijem ih isto tako jako puno, ali od onoga sto imam vi vidite samo nekih 15%, jer zaista veliki broj proizvoda nije dovoljno dobar da bih ja o njima pisala na platformi koju sam godinama gradila. Najveca nagrada koju mogu da dobijem jesu vase reci kada pisete o tome koliko volite proizvod koji sam vam ja preporucila.
Dakle da li blog moze biti neciji posao? Moze, itekako. Opis posla i zaradu koju mozete napraviti ovim poslom ne mogu vam ni opisati ukoliko niste bas direktno u industriji, ali recimo da poznajem mnogo njih koji zarade sedmocifrene brojeve na godisnjem nivou. Nije uopste nemoguce, ali poenta nisu pare, nego uzivanje u slobodi da radite ono sto volite, u bilo kom cosku ove planete zemlje, noseci ono sto zelite, govoreci jezik koji zelite, a isti broj ljudi vas vidi bilo da ste u svom krevetu, kancelariji ili na putovanju. Da se razumemo, ovo nije toliko jednostavno kako izgleda, ja ne sedim ceo dan kuci slikajuci selfije, iako sam sigurna da to bas tako jednostavno i besmisleno izgleda mnogima. Ovo je posao koji se radi 7 dana u nedelji, a kada ste direktor bilo koje kompanije, pa tako i medijske, ne mozete prestati da razmisljate o poslu 24/7. Kada izgradite veliki broj citatelja, morate imati stalno novi sadrzaj, svez, nov, zanimljiv. Ovo malo cudoviste preraste u veliko i morate ga hraniti sve cesce i cesce.
Ukoliko zelite da svoj blog pretvorite u biznis, zadrzite svoj integritet. Volite ono sto radite i zabavljajte se. Nemojte pisati o karminu koji vam je poklonjen, a nije vam se ni dopao, jer se na taj nacin prodajete za cenu jednog karmina koji ste i sami mogli kupiti. Ne mozete platiti rentu bilo kojim poklonom, niti oni placaju vase racune, zato ne bacajte tesko zaradjeno poĊĦtovanje uzalud. Pravila su laka budite ono sto jeste, ostanite na svom putu i verujte mi nakon godina negovanja svog hobija sigurno cete ubrati neke plodove od istog. Mozda zvuci glupo, ali moj najveci plod iz blogovanja jesu prijateljstva koja sam izgradila u raznim drzavama ovog sveta zahvaljujuci upravo njemu.
Sve u svemu blogeri su veoma uticajni, uticemo na ljude da donesu odluke, da kupuju, promene frizuru, da razmisljaju o promeni posla i da budu motivisani. Da nije mojih citatelja, ja nikada ne bih otkrila svet mode, ne bih radila ovo sto radim i to je razlog zasto zelim i ja njima da pruzim nesto novo, nesto bolje. Blogovanje je divna karijera, ali ne zaboravite da uvek dajete ljudima koji su vas doveli tu. Kako? Na taj nacin sto cete ih motivisati da uvek budu najbolja moguca verzija samih sebe-a to vam je tajni kljuc uspeha u ovoj industriji. Motivisite ljude da budu potpuno srecni, a to je ono sto se desi kada su vam ono sto mislite, ono sto kazete i ono sto radite u apsolutnoj harmoniji.
