Before I start rambling on about my very first “Real Talk” post, let me give you some background into why I decided to start this segment of my blog.
If you guys follow me on Instagram, you won’t be surprised to hear that I get pretty passionate about certain topics and have urges to share those topics/rant about them via Insta Stories. While I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, (and let’s be honest, I’m still gonna share the odd rant on there..lol) I wanted a space where I could take the time to write out exactly what I wanted to say / share how I was feeling.
This new segment of my blog is mainly just for my own personal benefit – to get things off my chest that I need to. But if it helps any of you get through your own stuff, or provide insight into a topic that you didn’t know about, than that’s a bonus!
Soo here it is, Why I Started Calling My Blog A Business.
I’ve been wanting to talk about what it actually means to run an active fashion blog/share some behind the scenes things about my blog for awhile now. But just kept putting it off. If you know me, you know I don’t like to toot my own horn and I also just don’t feel comfortable justifying/explaining why I blog to people who just don’t get it. However, I had a conversation with an acquaintance recently that got me fired up and suddenly, I NEEDED to explain the time and work I put into Kiteen’s Closet and the reason I started calling it a business instead of a hobby.
When I first started Kiteen’s Closet, it was a place for me to focus my energy when I was feeling depleted and needing some “me” time after just having Violet. If you’ve been following me from the beginning, you’ll know that I’ve grown from one quick mirror selfie and paragraph post about what I was wearing to multiple DSLR images of an outfit and a story behind the clothing/brand that I’m wearing. As I built my blog, I started to become noticed by larger brands as well as become more confident in the content I was putting out into cyber world.
By January of this year, I found myself staying up until 2AM trying to finish blog posts for brands, edit photos and think of captions for upcoming Instagram posts, respond to emails as well as send out numerous pitch emails to brands I wanted to work with in the future. I was exhausted and frustrated – this hobby of mine was taking up more time than a regular hobby should.
So one day in January, something just clicked. Those of you that have been with me for a little while may even remember this Insta Story rant lol. I decided my time and my content was worth more than just a free sweater – it was worth monetary compensation as well. That’s when I decided to officially start viewing Kiteen’s Closet as more than just my passionate hobby, but as my business!
I don’t want to get into what I charge for posts & how I come up with my rates right now – we’ll save that for another “Real Talk” down the road lol! But it’s important to note, the moment I started valuing my own time and work and mind-shifted into business mode, the majority of the brands I work with started to see it that way as well.
I think the concept of blogging being an actual business is still foreign to some bloggers, brands, and viewers because not all bloggers view/promote themselves as a business. Some have chosen to keep their blog strictly a hobby (exactly how mine started) and don’t spend more than a few hours a week working on their content. But if you’re spending 3+ hours per day producing high quality images, editing those images, writing blog posts, pitching numerous emails to new brands, coming up with exposures strategies for the brands you work with, creating social content, researching social content strategy & implementing it….,
then you should be viewing your blog as a business too.
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