Believe it or not, I started blogging in 2014, shortly after graduating college! The past 7 years have been such an exciting journey with so many lessons learned – and I am so happy and fulfilled with where I am at today as a full-time blogger! I’ve always loved to share my life & inspire others, so blogging has been the perfect outlet for me. I’ve pretty much tried and done it all when it comes to blogging – I did it on the side while working my 9-5 job, I’ve had seasons where I’ve posted everyday, and seasons where I posted once a month. I’ve tried just about every hosting website you can think of, I’ve created video content, long-form blog content, social media content & more. I’ve had zero brand deals and made zero money, and today I’ve made a career out of it! One of the things I love about blogging is that it’s something that can grow and change with me – through all of the different phases and seasons of my life!

Today, we’re going to dive in a little more on what it’s really like being a full-time blogger! I’ve spoken to so many of ya’ll that want to start your own blog, social media channels or YouTube channel but just don’t know where to start – and I hope this blog post & my story encourages you! If I can do it, so can you. I know that it’s a hobby & profession that isn’t completely understood by everyone, so I’m excited to give you a realistic, unfiltered look into what the world of blogging is really like by answering the questions that YOU all have asked! Let’s jump right in! xo

What got you started in blogging?
Well for starters, I’m a 2 on the enneagram – the helper! And it honestly couldn’t be more true throughout my life. I was always super involved in school, my sorority & community growing up – and it’s because I truly love to help others in anyway I can. And if you think about it, that’s totally what blogging is…so it all comes full circle! I’ve loved sharing my life & the things that have brought me joy in hopes of inspiring others, so starting a blog seemed like the perfect outlet to do that. It all started after I graduated college in 2014, when I got really into health & fitness – so I started a blog and an instagram to share tips & recipes. I had no idea what I was doing, but I loved it! From there & throughout the years, it kind of just evolved as I grew & evolved. I by no means have or never will have it “all” figured out, but I know that life is a whole lot easier when we help each other out, connect with each other, and cheer each other on. That’s what the blog is for me!

When did you quit your 9-5 and become a full-time blogger?
My career path has had many twists & turns! The one thing that has stayed constant through all of my career changes – is that I’ve actually always worked in social media! I got my degree in Journalism, and after graduating went straight into the 9-5 world working in social media for large brands. I loved it – it taught me so much! I then moved to Nashville for another social media/journalism job – while simultaneously working as a spin class & bootcamp fitness instructor. I was working two jobs, had my blog on the side & was just trying to figure out what would be the best fit for me long-term.

I’ll start off by saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the 9-5, corporate life. I loved my time in that world – but I realized it just wasn’t the best fit for me. I’m a creative, a creator & I really wanted to be in the driver’s seat of my own schedule & lifestyle. I personally just didn’t thrive and find fulfillment behind a desk working for a large corporation.

Long story short: after living in Nashville, I moved to Austin to be with my (now husband) Nick – and helped run the social media & marketing efforts for his growing company, Bare Performance Nutrition. I continued my blog on the side – and once I got to Austin, Nick & my family really encouraged me to keep focusing on growing my blog & personal brand because they saw how much energy & fulfillment it gave me. So I kept at it! I finally started to earn a (small) income working with brands & through commission. After about a year & half of working for BPN, Nick & I decided that it was best for both our professional goals & relationship to not work together full-time. So, in January of 2020, I became an official full-time blogger, and haven’t looked back since!

Disclaimer: I would not have been able to make the jump into being a full-time blogger without the support of my husband & our joint income. Like I mentioned, when I decided to go full-time blogging, I was making money – but it was not enough or consistent enough that I could have confidentally supported myself if I wasn’t in a joint-income situation. Today, I’m making more than any other salary I have ever made – and I am so proud of that! I truly believe that what you give attention to, grows – and that’s what happened with my blog when I went full-time. I’m fully aware that a lot of people don’t have the type of situation or lifestyle that we are in that allowed me to go full-time. I thank God everyday for the opportunity & blessings we have been given, and don’t ever take it for granted! Could I have gotten there eventually by keeping my blog career on the side? I fully believe so – it just may have taken a lot longer. My advice for those who can’t quite yet take the risk to start working for themselves: keep going at it on side and give it all you got, when you can. What you pay attention to, grows! The sacrifices will be worth it. It does not happen overnight.

How Do You Make Money?
I LOVE answering this question! Mainly, because a lot of people don’t think or understand that bloggers can earn a steady, sufficient income – and WE CAN! The key to making more money for me, has been having multiple streams of revenue. Here are all of the ways I generate my income from being a blogger:

– Commission through Reward Style // RS is a influencer platform that allows bloggers & influencers to make a small earning on products they talk about, feature or link. Pretty much every retailer you can think of is a part of Reward Style. From large brands like Target, Revolve, Nordstrom, Sephora, Walmart, to smaller clothing boutiques, to even random brands like Cabela’s (lol!)…they are all apart of Reward Style (which is the backend of Like To Know It) – and allow bloggers to make money off of links. So anytime you shop one of my blog posts or Instagram stories, you are supporting me – so thanks, friend!
– Commission through Amazon // Very similar to Reward Style, I am also in the Amazon Associates program which allows me to make earnings on anything from Amazon I talk about, feature or link. I also make commission through my Amazon Storefront favorites pages!
– Brand Deals // From time to time, you’ll see me work with brands I love on social media campaigns or projects. Depending on the brand or project, sometimes I get paid a flat project fee, or on a commission-base.
– Long-Term Brand Partnerships // An example of this would be my Revision Skincare partnership. These are year long contracts I sign with brands to represent and create content for them.
– YouTube // Although I’m not really creating many YouTube videos these days, I still earn an income through ads that run on all of the videos on my channel!
My Cookbooks
My Book/Audiobook The Next You

How do you start? How do you grow a following/community?
Starting can be so intimidating – but girl, you just gotta do it! As far as first steps to take when it comes to starting & growing a blog, I would recommend:
1. Picking a blog/brand name
2. Secure social media handles & your domain name for your website (Go Daddy is great)
3. Create your blog. I recommend Wix or Squarespace for beginners – it’s very beginner/user friendly! I use WordPress now, but hired a branding/web design company to build it out for me earlier this year. WordPress is a beast!
4. Post everyday. I know it seems overwhelming – but that’s how you build a community!
5. Recruit a friend or family member to take photos for you, or take an online course on photography to level up your photos!
6. Pick out your brand colors & fonts – and stay loyal to those! That will make your brand more consistent and identifiable.
7. YouTube & Google – my two biggest tools! That’s how I learned how to use Photoshop, film & edit YouTube videos, create my website, and more. All of the info is out there for you to learn from!
8. Engage with your community. That’s the whole point, right?!

How do you get brand deals?
Starting out, it is not easy y’all! I was a couple years into blogging/social media before I got my first email from a brand wanting to collaborate – and it wasn’t even paid, just an exchange for free product! But man, I was PUMPED. It wasn’t until about year 5 that I got my first big, paid brand deal. It was the best day ever – I was on top of the world! Starting out, I would get brand deals by tagging & talking about brands I love. You kind of have to act like you have it, before you have it, in order to get a brand’s attention. Create content & talk about a brand like you would if you were working with them, and that will get their attention eventually!

Today, it’s a mix. Sometimes, it’s me reaching out to brands I love & seeing if they want to work together. Sometimes, it’s them reaching out to me because they’ve seen me talk about their brand. I also work with a couple different influencer/talent management agencies that help find & present me with opportunities I can either pass on or move forward with!

How do you come up with content ideas? How do you organize/plan it all?
My mind is constantly turning! My blog & brand is centered around my life and the things I am passionate about – so ideas come to me at all hours of the day. I’ll set aside “brain dump” days – where I’ll lock myself in my office and create a list of content ideas…but most of the time I come up with my blog post ideas while I’m out living life! For example, I’ll be in the Target jewelry section and think, “Wow, this jewelry is amazing. You’d never think it was from Target!” – which then turns into a blog post: “Jewelry You’d Never Know was From Target”! I have an ongoing note in my phone with some of the most random topics and ideas, but that’s how my brain works! I just create content surrounding the topics and themes of my life in that season, and somehow it sticks!

As far as planning & organization goes – it’s changed a lot over the years. I used to be more of a on-the-whim type of blogger, but once I started to take on more projects & get serious about it as my career, I knew I needed structure & to treat it like a real business. Hiring my photographer, Presley – also really forced me to get systems & structure in place. Most of the time, I have my content topics planned out a month in advance, and we shoot photos a week in advance! We just use Google Calendars to organize it all!

What are the best & worst parts of being a blogger?
Best parts = the passion and fulfillment I feel everyday! And that comes from SO many things – creating content about things I love & with brands I love, connecting with all of YOU, the schedule/lifestyle flexibility & freedom. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again – I love that I can take this blog with me through all of my life seasons. It always gives me things to create around/about! And, it’s EXCITING! I love waking up every single day not knowing what kind of e-mails or opportunities the day will have. Each day is different!

Worst parts = I don’t even want to call them the “worst” parts – but maybe more so the most “challenging” parts. Every career has it’s challenges – and there are definitely some with blogging. I would say that a big struggle for me, is the pressure to be “on” every single day. I’ve gotten better about not being so hard on myself if there’s a day I don’t feel energetic or feel like talking on stories – I’m human. I have bad days. But some days, I don’t have an option because of a deadline or commitment. Those are the tough days, but I get through them! Another challenge is boundaries – people thinking they know every inch of you as human because you share your life online. That’s true – I do share my life, but only a tiny slice of it. Over the years, I’ve learned through experience, the parts I am comfortable sharing and the parts I’m not. Creating those boundaries have been life-saving and life-giving to me. As silly as it sounds, sometimes I forget that I’m the boss and I call the shots, haha! Especially in the climate that the world is in right now – everyone expects you to talk about certain things and always take a stance. But, what I choose to talk about is up to me. I know that the right people will stick around and support my decisions. The only other challenge I feel from time-to-time as a blogger, is people just not understanding what I do, or taking it seriously. I guess it’s more of a frustration, and that comes from me being a people-pleaser. People see the pretty photo of me with a glass of wine & charcuterie board…but what they don’t know, is that I immediately dumped out the glass of wine because it’s work and there’s a lot more to be done past the pretty photo! I’ve gotten better about caring less about other people’s opinions…but again – I’m human! It’s hard work, but it’s work that I love!

How do you deal with trolls/negativity?
LAUGH. That’s how I deal with it – haha! But trust me, that’s not always how I have dealt with it. I’m lucky enough to not get an outpour of negativity these days…but I definitely get unsolicited advice & opinions from time-to-time that is definitely *not* friendly or constructive. I used to let it tear me down – ruin my day, week or month. I used to get defensive, clap back & waste my time and energy defending myself. Trust me, there are still days where a comment or message will get to me and I’ll clap back – but now, I make it less about me…and more about them. I try to ignore it. Delete it. I try to have compassion and empathy for the people that try to tear me down with negativity – obviously they aren’t happy with their own life so they have to interject on mine. Sometimes, I’ll even pray for those people – because Lord knows, they need it! Ha! 🙂

How do you edit your photos?
Nowadays, I rarely edit my own photos because I have Presley for that! But, there are days where I post something on a whim or capture a moment/memory that wasn’t planned with my iPhone – and for those photos, I use Lightroom. I mess around with the settings, and sometimes use presets found online from other bloggers or Etsy!