5 THINGS I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME BEFORE I STARTED BLOGGING

Some people think the blogging lifestyle is glamorous. And well yes, sometimes it can be glamorous, but us bloggers work really hard to produce exciting content for our followers and at times it can be stressful.

I thought I’d put together a blog post on things I wish someone had told me before I started blogging. It’s just a few things that probably would have helped me out and given me the heads up. I absolutely love the fact that blogging is now my full time job and I’m so grateful, because if it wasn’t for you lovely lot following me and engaging with my content, I wouldn’t be here today sitting and writing this.

1. You will receive hateful comments
It’s hard when I started receiving hateful comments. I didn’t know how to react ; it was quite upsetting. I used to sit there and question the content I had produced and I would ask myself why don’t they like it? Over the last year or so, I’ve learnt that some people aren’t going to like the content you’ve produced. Some people aren’t going to like you. And well that’s their decision. Not everyone likes the same thing and that’s ok. I still don’t appreciate it when I get called a b***h, but I’m not going to let it affect me and it won’t stop me doing what I’m doing.

2. You will forever be chasing payments
When I left my full time job to start blogging I wish someone had said ‘make sure you’re on top of your invoices and getting paid’. Because I’m taking on a lot of projects from different brands the days go past and I rarely get time to sit down and check my invoices. But when I do, I always see that months have gone past and brands still haven’t paid me. I now have a mortgage and bills to pay so I need to be paid on time. It’s crazy that I’m doing work and not being paid for 3-5 months. When you have a 9-5 job, you get paid the following month. And I know freelancing is different but come on, not paying bloggers for months is just unfair.

3. You will get stressed
I get stressed a fair bit, especially when things pile up. Since my Instagram starting growing rapidly I’ve had more and more brands contact me daily; and because I’m now blogging full time I can take on a lot more work than I used to be able to. Even though it’s just videos to film or photos to shoot, every bit of content is so time consuming. I don’t just shoot content I edit everything myself too and videos can take hours. There’s still never enough hours in the day to get things done, so sometimes it can be stressful. But even though it’s stressful, I know how lucky I am to be working in my dream job.

4. You won’t get any time off
I seriously thought that once I left my job, I’d be able to blog Monday to Friday and keep my whole weekends free to chill. That’s not the case. I wish someone had told me that I’d be working 24/7 and I’d struggle to take time off. My blog is essentially my life. I blog about my style, makeup and hair which is something that I do everyday. It’s hard not to take a photo or not to post on social media. Even if they’re small tasks I’m still doing it through my weekend. I don’t mind, because I love what I do. But sometimes it would be nice to have some me time. I put a lot of pressure on myself to post 3 times a day on Instagram, to get videos and blogs up. Would people notice if I took time off?

5. People will take you for granted
People know that bloggers get gifted the latest clothes, beauty products and accessories and because these people don’t really see what a blogger actually does behind closed doors sometimes they can be seen as a little bit for granted. I wish someone would have told me people might make comments. I don’t mind so much because I’m happy to offer a product to a friend or family, I feel so lucky that I’m blogging full time and get gifted that I’d love to offer it to someone else to experience what I do. I just don’t think people appreciate and realise the hard work I have put in over the years to even be able to get these gifted items. And they’re not being gifted to me so I can enjoy them. They’re being gifted with a goal in mind; that I will snap them on my Instagram or blog about them to promote the brand to increase their sales. There’s always an incentive with gifting. It’s part of my job. Sometimes it’s hard when you hear people say, ‘Oh why can’t you give me some of your free stuff’.

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Dress: Lazy Oaf // Boots: Missguided

sophie hannah richardson talks about blogging

sophie hannah richardson wearing lazy oaf aw16 dress

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