BTS on Blogging

Shop this look here! XS in romper, size 6 in boots!

Hi guys! I asked the other day if you all had any questions on BTS of being a blogger and I was planning on answering them in my stories but I had so many good ones that I figured I would just write a blog post about it to be able to expand a little more on each question instead of giving a quick answer! :) I apologize if I didn't get to yours, there were so many repetitive questions so I wanted to make sure I answered those :)

What does your assistant do if you have one? Yes - Mercedes has worked with me for a year now! I am so thankful for her. She is also a NICU nurse who works three nights a week and she helps me the other 4 days. She is the one making the majority of the graphics you see on my page and is always checking to see what the good sales are!

How do you decide the frequency of posting? So this one can vary for different people, but when I first started blogging back in 2015, I posted once a day, even if the photo was horrible, I just didn't want to miss out on the opportunity of getting in front of people. Around 2018, I started posting twice a day and it was tough to create that much content, I'm not gonna lie. I did that for about a year. In 2019, I started only posting once a day again and now I post about 6-7 days a week. I used to stress SO SO SO much if I didn't post, like people were just going to magically forget about me, but I know that's not the case. I don't stress about it anymore and if I don't have a photo I want to post or too busy one day, I just won't post!

Do you pay extra to get items shipped faster? YES! If I know something is going to sell out quickly or if there is a good sale coming up, I try to overnight items so I can share it with you in person instead of just on a graphic.

Do bloggers really are about their followers and do they see our comments? Ummm YES! I have met some pretty amazing women on this app! Obviously I can't speak for every blogger, but I am extremely thankful for the community that we have built and I love all of you girls!! P.S. I always go back and read every single comment on my photo! I actually HATE the word followers. You won't really ever hear me say that! I don't know why, I just think of you all as my girlfriends and followers doesn't seem very friendly to me! LOL. I always say my girls, girl gang, community, audience, friends, etc!

How do you find sales? Do brands tell you or do you just search all day every day? This one varies. I sign up for an email alert from my favorite brands like Abercrombie, Aerie, etc. so I will get an email when they are having a sale. Brands also email me and let me know if a big sale is coming up and rewardStyle (LTK parent company) also emails me a list of top sales of the week! Mercedes is always searching for good sales too :)

How do taxes work? Oh gosh... this is so hard because this is only my third year filing taxes for my blog and I legit have no idea what I'm doing. I have a CPA that tells me what to do, what to save, what to write-off, and I do that and he files them for me! This year I've learned A LOT more so I'm getting better. I do pay quarterly taxes though so I don't have to pay as much at the end of the year. We obviously don't get taxes taken out when a brand pays us, so we have to save $ to pay them once a quarter or once a year - however you choose to do it.

Do you ever promote something but then turn out not to like it anymore? I honestly don't think I have never stopped liking something I promoted... I'm trying to think. I will say when I first started out back in 2015, I used to try anything and everything (for free, might I add), and I don't advise doing that. When I started getting paid to promote products, I started becoming VERY picky! If I wouldn't spend my money on it, I wouldn't expect you too!!

How stressful would you say it is running your own business? The every day stuff isn't stressful, it's the taxes, making sure you have all your ducks in a row. Y'all, I procrastinate SO much. My poor mom came over at the end of 2019, and we had to do my taxes for the ENTIRE year because I didn't write one thing down. Does that give you anxiety? Bc it did me. I had no idea what I had to do so I just didn't do it until I HAD TO DO IT. LMAO do not recommend.

How do you gain followers? When I first started my blog, I'm not gonna lie I did the whole follow/unfollow game! I'd follow 500 people and then when I would gain a few, I'd delete. Now that I think of it, I have NO idea why I did that. LOL! But that was before I even hit 10k. It took me like a year and a half to hit 10k. I did participate in giveaways with my friends. I have never PURCHASED followers or did loop giveaways (plus they were like $2000 to be in and I wasn't spending that much money!!).

Do you ever get tired of being on here and wish you'd done something else? No, I think I am right where I need to be! :) I tried like 4 different jobs before this and I was bored, unhappy and not fulfilled.

Do brands find you or do you find them? Both! If I have a brand I want to work with, I will ask my manager if she has their contact and pitch myself. A lot of the brands will email too. I would say I reach out to about 30% and brands reach out 70%!

How do you buy all the items? Do you pay for them out of pocket? Yes, everything I purchase is out of pocket. I budget and a % of the money I make on LTK, goes towards purchasing items to share with you all.

As a blogger, what are some struggles you had when starting? Not my friends, but coworkers and a lot of people I knew made fun of me for "blogging". Actually they still do (and their older, it's actually sad the things people tell me), but like I pay my bills, so it's their problem, not mine! LOL.

Do you ever get tired of sharing your life everyday? I have my off days just like everyone else and y'all probably notice because I am not on as much as I normally am. I don't necessarily get "tired" of it, but I do get tired of people being rude for no reason at all. I'm very thankful to not have a lot of mean messages, and I have pretty thick skin when I do get them. That doesn't mean I don't get tired of them though, it's truly uncalled for.. I would NEVER message someone and just be blatantly rude. Haha!

Do you have to have money to start out blogging? Not necessarily. I had 0 money starting out. Tanner and I would meet up at Marshalls and buy a few items and style them even though we couldn't link to LTK. For the first 2 years, I had a free Wordpress account. I didn't really start spending a lot of money until about 2-3 years in when I knew it could become a legit business. I would recommend just keeping staple items in your closet so that you can style them.

Do you buy products and then approach the brand with numbers and ask to work with them? Actually yes, I have done this. I did this with the Lash Boost Serum from DIME Beauty, I used it and talked about it for 2 months before actually being paid to promote it! I also bought something else I wanted to try out before reaching out to a brand, and I ended up HATING the product, so I never chatted about it or reached out to the brand. I won't say the product either because it's nothing I've ever talked about and it may work for some people, but it did not for me.

How do you choose the companies you collaborate with? A lot of the brands are repetitive brands that I've been working with for months and even years. When it comes to new brands, I always have an open mind, and if I receive the product, I'll try it out a few times and if I like it, I will proceed with the collaboration. A few things I consider before saying yes to a brand: have I heard of this before? If not, I research? Is it legit or is it sketchy? Can I see myself using this? Do I think my audience will like this?

Can you see who purchases from your LTK? I cannot :) that would be kinda cool though haha!

Do you pay full price for the items you show on your stories? It depends, I definitely take advantage of a good sale, but if I know let's say, Abercrombie is doing a major sale then I will order things full price to show all of you when the sale happens!

What do you do with all of your clothes? I have quarterly closet sales, I donate them and I give them to friends & family!

What's the hardest part about blogging? Taking no time off. I know some people do, but I always feel like there is something I could be doing. I need to get better at that!

If your income varies, how do you know what you can afford? Income varies, but not in that sense. You know how much your making a month or two in advance. It takes 3-4 months for my LTK commissions to be paid out, so I know how much I'm making a few month prior. Brand deals can also be contracted for 3-6 months so I definitely have an idea! I also have a goal each month that I like to hit :)

Do you use an agency? Yes - I'm signed with Lola & Ivy and I love them!!

Ratio of what's given to you vs. what you purchase to share on your blog? I would say 60% is purchased and 40% is given! This obviously differs between every blogger. Some months may change too! I fee like those %'s are average, but if I don't shop a lot one month it could be 75% given to me and 25% bought. So it really just depends!

How do you work with really big brands like Abercrombie? Abercrombie is one of rewardStyle's major brands and they collaborate with bloggers who have a high conversation rate on LTK. They can see all of our stats on the backend of LTK. October was my first month receiving a campaign with them and I was freakin over the moon because they are also one of my top 3 retailers on LTK!

Is blogger income largely dependent on follower count? I don't think so! I think it's conversion rate and content/engagement.

How do you balance work & life when your life is part of your work? Still working on this. I told Lane that this is probably our last year (2021) to work our asses off before starting a family. So I don't really mind the crazy work schedule right now because when we have a baby, I am going to *try* to slow down!

If you could change one thing about the influencer industry, what would it be? The bad rep bloggers get for no reason. I get theres a few bad apples in a bunch, but it's truly unfair to say!

How much time is there between deciding to work with a brand and posting? This totally depends on the brand. I had a brand that reached out to me that I already worked with and they wanted me to post in like 48 hours. This particular situation I ended up saying no because I couldn't produce the content in time (it was Lane's birthday weekend). If I've never worked with the brand before, I need time to try out the product. Most of the time, I have about a month between!

How much can a blogger make? It depends on the blogger and how much effort you put into it! I have a podcast out there with Lane's business partner (Mille Moves Podcast) and I chatted about my first year blogging FT. My goal was to make $80k the entire year and I made it within my first 4.5 months. I put my head down, stayed in my lane, and was just grinding. This was before I had an agency too! So you can make pennies to millions!

How do you get past the fear of what people will think about blogging? Just do it. People are always going to be talking about something whether it's about you or someone else! Just grind and kill it! You can't care what other people think especially if it makes YOU happy! I was SO passionate about what I was doing, I just shrugged my shoulders at anyone who said something negative or rude.

Is the blogging world at capacity? Do you think there is still room for more? Of course there is more room! Everyone brings something unique to the table. That's like saying I can't open up an insurance business because there are already multiple out there! I think if you are passionate about something, go for it :)

Are you concerned about your future with blogging or how your career will evolve? Not necessarily concerned about our future! One thing Lane and I are great at is saving money, so we would honestly be fine if anything happened with Instagram or something like that, but I am interested to see how my platform will evolve the older I get and when we start bringing babies into the mix. I think it will be fun to share the new dynamic! This is such an interesting question though the more I think about it because we literally have no control over social media and we have no idea where it's going to go! I'm here for the ride :)

If someone asks you to collaborate, how do you normally respond? If I've never heard of the brand before, I will research it and see exactly what they are wanting me to promote and if it's sketchy, I'll delete the email. LOL! If not, I will respond saying I would either love to work with them or I pass.

What is the difference between linking on your LTK and on your blog? Nothing at all, it all links to the same thing. The only difference is some people don't have the LTK app and prefer to shop on my blog which doesn't require the app. You can shop the link directly from the website! :)

Okay - I think that was majority of the questions and like I said, if I didn't get to yours, I am so sorry! There were so many! Let me know if I need to add any other questions to this :)