Outfit Details – Similar Top: Nordstrom | Similar Skirt: ASOS| Loafers: Nordstrom | Black Ray Bans: Shopbop
When I first started LifetoLauren, I was a year out of college and looking for something to fill a major void in my life. I was working in an industry that was less than glamorous and desperately needed a creative outlet. In the beginning, I started reading blogs to fill that void and as time went on, I knew I wanted to start my own. Looking back, I didn’t do as much research and I probably should have (lol) and instead went full force ahead. Before I get into the rest of this post, I want to start off by saying just how much I love my blog. LifetoLauren has brought more joy to my life then I could ever imagine and has filled the hole in my life I was missing for so long.
I wanted to write this though, because I think there is major misconception on what blogging is and the work that goes into it. That it’s not all just pretty photos. It’s actually a lot of blood, sweat & tears.
- It’s a ton of work. Imagine writing a final paper for your hardest professor every single day. No matter if it’s your birthday, a holiday, or a vacation. Now replace that with a few hundred people. On a typical day, I’m up at 5:30 a.m. working on my post for the day, then I go to work all day long at my day job, I come home, work on my blog all afternoon, eat dinner with Colton and then usually work on the blog some more. I also spend majority of my weekend preparing for the following weeks posts. I skip going out to the bars with friends because I know I have to work the next day (Sunday) and can’t be hungover.
- You’re not just a blogger. You’re also a stylist, a photographer, a photo editor, a marketing guru, a social media specialist, an editor, a website developer, a business women and an accountant… just to name a few.
- The blogging world never sleeps. Before starting my blog, when I would come home from work, I had all the time in the world. I had full weekends, holidays & evenings to do as I pleased. But after starting LifetoLauren, I quickly realized the blogging world never sleeps. You have Snapchat, Instagram, Insta Stories, Pinterest, Twitter, constant emails, a post every day (Christmas or not lol) & you also want to make time to personally interact with all of your readers. It’s truly a 24/7 job. Even on vacation, I have to work majority of the time because even though I may be on vacation, it doesn’t mean you guys are 🙂 My posts are still expected to be up, even when I am at the beach.
- Free product isn’t as great as I once thought. I remember talking to friends about bloggers before starting my own and saying things a long the line of, “These bloggers are so cool, look at all of the cool things they get to wear for free!”……& I won’t lie, at the beginning, I was so pumped to get free merchandise and post on it. I was ecstatic that companies wanted to work with me. Little ol’ Lauren. After a while though, between web design, photography, staying up to date and relevant with different trends, blogging can become expensive. Then, once you start to gain a decent following, you’ll get 10 emails a day from companies who want you to produce amazing content for them, that could take you up to 5 hours to produce, all for a $13 bracelet. You also have to become very selective with brands you work with because you never want to share something with your readers that you don’t absolutely love.
- Not everyone will understand nor support you. For some reason, I hate telling people that I’m a blogger lol. Idk why but I find it so awkward! It’s also just really difficult explaining my blog to strangers. While blogging has been relevant for many years, a lot of people still just don’t quite get it. Your family members and strangers will look up your blog, but not quite understand what you’re doing. Some of your friends will start to resent you and make fun of you behind your back and you’ll lose a few along the way. But at the same time, you will also be shocked by the over load and vast amount of support you will receive from the most unexpected people. You’ll realize who really cares for you and who truly want to see you succeed.
- It’s a very saturated market. Before starting LifetoLauren, I followed maybe 4 bloggers. I knew there were a lot, but I didn’t know just how many there were. Saying that it is saturated, is an understatement. At the beginning, this was the most discouraging part. At the same time though, it is what made me grow and work harder to do everything in my power to separate me from the girl next to me.
- The blogging community is fantastic. You heard me correctly, a community! This has been one of my favorite parts about blogging. I had no idea how big of a community it was and how supportive and helpful everyone has been along this journey. Especially for my Houston bloggers. I mean, these women are incredible and I have loved supporting and getting to know everyone of them. It’s funny, sometimes I refer to them as my “co-workers” when talking to Colton lol, because even though we do not work together everyday, we are all in the same industry. Constantly supporting and uplifting one another to help make this industry grow.
- Growth doesn’t happen over night. I mean, I knew that growth wouldn’t happen over night, but I thought that it would come fairly fast. I was wrong… For the average new blogger, it takes about a year to really grow and start to see results. It all comes down to how much time you can put into it. If you are working full time and running your blog on the side, you can’t compare yourself to the girl who has been blogging for years or the girl who is able to run hers full time.
- That I would find myself. Last but not least, I never knew the amount of joy my little space of the internet would bring me. I always knew something was missing in my life, but I never knew this was it. For the first time in my my life, I have an idea of what my purpose is. The blog is a lot of work, and I never knew I would end up devoting all of my life and time to it. But you know what? I don’t mind, because I believe in it. I love my blog and when you love what you do it doesn’t seem like work.
Have a great day!
xo,
Lauren
SHOP THIS POST
Similar Posts: Your Blogging Questions Answered