For quite some time now, I have always had the mindset that I wanted to be my own BOSS! You know, so I could label myself as a #bossbabe or #bossbitch (lol, I'm kidding), but I have always possessed an entrepreneur spirit. I work a full-time job, and I'm also a full-time mom. I am grateful for my job, but I've always wanted a way to make money without having to work for someone else.
In 2015, I opened an online boutique called Category919 (my birthday is 9/19). This was by far one of the best and most humbling experiences I have endured because it taught me a lot about the business world. I invested a lot of money in my boutique and slowly began to break even. Running an online store can be very challenging because there are SOOOOOOOO many people that run online stores and boutiques. You have to come up with a game plan that will set you aside from the competition. Not only that, you have to spend money.... a lot of money, in order to properly run your store, advertise, market, and keep stock in regularly.
As fun as this was, it started to become stressful and the income was coming in, but not at the rate I wanted it to in order to compensate me for the hard work I was putting in day and night to keep 919 afloat. It had gotten to the point where I wanted a steady stream of side income (because I never stopped working my full-time job), but wanted an easier way to make money without having to constantly invest money as I did with the online store. I really wanted to do something I was passionate about that would be beneficial to me financial wise.
I loved clothes, my kids, and being that I'm a makeup artist, I loved makeup also. One day, after praying about my purpose in life, I put two and two together and came up with the great idea that I would become a blogger. I have seen so many bloggers on Instagram, but never really paid it much mind. Once I tapped into blogging, I realized this was something I enjoyed doing, and I even started making money while doing it. I'm not talking pennies on the dollar, I'm talking up to $800 for a sponsored Instagram post only after blogging for only 4 short months.
It blew my mind that companies would actually pay me for doing something that I do everyday, which is use social media. Prior to blogging I was using social media during most of my spare time. We are all guilty of scrolling, liking, and lurking throughout the day. I decided to monetize my time on social media by rebranding my Instagram account into a business page for my personal blog. If you are reading this article, you are visiting my blog right now, and if you haven't joined my mailing list, you can click here. I promise not to spam you, I just send out a few interesting newsletters each month about what I have going on and the latest tea!
I did not write this article to discourage you from opening an online store, but to share with you my journey as to how I ended up blogging and how it has been beneficial to me. I want encourage you to do something you are passionate about. Once you start doing something you love, the money will eventually come. You cannot be motivated on money alone, but on what drives you. I love to write. It comes easy for me, and I love receiving free products in the mail. Since I've started blogging, I have consistently started receiving a numerous amount of free products to test and blog/post about. Not everything I receive and blog about is a paid partnership, but the ones that are make up for the posts that are only compensated with free products. My goal is to have the pay from my blog to be equal to or more than the pay from my full-time job. So far, this month alone, I have made a little over half of my full-time job pay through sponsored blog and Instagram posts. LOOK AT GOD!!!
Be sure to sign up for my mailing list because next, I will be telling you how using a professional service to rebrand myself and my blogging business helped me to land almost thousand dollar sponsorships. Check out my personal branding coach here. Not only does she help strategize your brand, but she is a professional photographer who offers photography services for your business also. Whether you are a blogger, author, boutique owner, aspiring rapper, model, lawyer, hustler, this service is sure to benefit you. It's kind of like a one-stop-shop for your brand!
Xoxo,
Krispin
