Today’s post is an extremely exciting one for me – it’s something that’s been in the works for a few months now, but today is the day my dream becomes a reality.
When I finished my design and visual degree at the end of 2013, I knew that I wanted to be a full time blogger. I took on some short term work that ended up being a lot longer than I intended (you can’t blame a gal for getting comfortable with a regular pay cheque to spend on shoes!), and spent all of my spare time blogging, talking to other amazing bloggers, and learning about the business side of blogging.
In July this year, I decided that I was ready to put my money where my mouth was and get ready to leave the safety of my full time job behind. I started working with an agency that connects bloggers with brands, on a plan to make this a viable career. After all, a girl can’t live on lipstick alone!
On Friday I finished up my admin/digital media assistant role, and as of today I am officially a professional blogger. Well let’s be honest, I’ve been a professional blogger for a long time, but now this is my full time job.
Are you selling out? Not at all! In the same way that anyone else gets paid to do their job, I’ll be getting paid for doing mine. Sometimes people send me clothes and products for review, and sometimes (but not always) I receive compensation for my posts. I will never accept a product for review or work with a brand that I wouldn’t personally endorse, and I promise to give you my honest opinion at all times. I’ll keep writing about the things I love, and the things I think you’ll love. I will always mark sponsored posts with a sponsored tag here on the blog, and use #ad on social media. You can check out my disclosure statement for more info on the different ways I work with brands.
What does this mean for me as a reader? Well, you’ll be seeing a lot more of me! My posts will be more regular, I’ll be able to share more body positive posts and more great fashion posts. There will be editorial shoots, outfit posts, Fat Girls Shouldn’t Wear Stripes posts, and I’ll have more time to write about the things that you want to see. If there is something that you’d really like me to write about, please let me know! You can post on my facebook page, tweet me, or send me a message via my blog.
How can I support you as a blogger? Nothing much is changing here – if you like my posts, make sure you leave me a comment and/or share them with your friends (there are handy buttons at the bottom of every post to help you do that). Support the companies that support me by visiting their websites (I link them in my posts, and some of them are featured in the sidebar) and stores. If you buy something I’ve talked about on my blog, let me know – you can post pictures on my facebook page or tweet me! Basically, keep doing what you’re doing – being awesome.
I might seem cool, calm and collected about this, but I’m actually quaking in my ankle boots. I can’t wait to see what the next few months will bring!
What are you doing to chase your dreams?
Congrats and am sure it will go well for you, I too have found a dream that I am pursuing so next year, the dream will also be up and running.This next comment is not aimed at you in particular, it is just how I feel about professional bloggers in general, I have followed a few over the years and find that slowly there posts change over the years, and feel that a lot of them no longer do it because they genuinely love the product, but do it because of the money, especially sponsored posts – what led me to this was I was reading a blog about how they loved a certain brand, then over time forgot that, cause about 4 months later this person was bagging that brand on Facebook, a few people picked up on it and the person removed the post…. I suppose I don’t really trust professional bloggers opinions are actually genuine. But maybe you can change my attitude, and I know I should not let a few bad reads influence my thoughts on all professional blogs – and like I said above, maybe you can change my opinion and I can go back to loving professional blogs. Oh and just one more thing that really irritates me is when sponsored posts have been sent out to about 10 or 15 bloggers at approx the same time and all you read for about 2 or 3 weeks is about the 1 company, as the bloggers have been paid to sponsor 3 posts over a certain period, and a lot of the wording is similar so you can tell they have been sent the ‘words’ that the company want you to use….. Ok after all that, I am genuinely happy for you, (though it may not come across like that), but I am one to speak my concerns and please anybody don’t have a go at me. I debated posting this comment, but I know if it was me and someone wrote that I would be ok with it, so hope you are ok and do not think it is a go at you, cause that was not my intention 🙂
Oh and I have voted for you and spread it on my Facebook page, Good luck with it, it would be awesome if you got a scholarship 🙂
Hey Jackie,
TOTALLY understand what you mean! I think that an important part of being a professional blogger is being choosy about what/who you write about, and being honest about your opinion. Personally I will not work with a brand unless it’s one I’m enthusiastic about and something I would happily spend my own money on – otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it to you!
Because New Zealand has such a small blogging community, you’re often going to find that a lot of us are talking about the same thing at the same time – this is because when companies release new products they obviously want to get as many people talking about them at the same time. Something you shouldn’t see (or notice) is similar wording – we get sent press releases telling us about the product, but it shouldn’t be regurgitated word for word and should always have something from the blogger to make it more personal (a review, their thoughts on the product etc.)! They should also be open about whether products were gifted to them or they were paid to write their posts – you can check out more about the industry standard #officialblogger that Bloggers Club (which is the agency I’m with) recommends here.
Thanks so much for sharing your concerns – I think it’s important for bloggers to be able to get feedback from their readers, it helps us to become better writers!
xo Meagan
Congrats! Go you! x x
Congrats Meagan. You do wonderful work and it is fantastic news that you’ll be able to do more of it.
Live the life as you imagined! love that very much!
Wow Meagan that in wonderful and inspiring news. I have just started my journey in blogging and it is great to hear a NZ blogger story like this. Good luck for the future.
Thanks Alayna! Good luck with your blog – I’ve just followed you on twitter so I can keep up to date with what’s happening in your world xx
so Happy for you x I’m in your corner!
Thanks Lisa! xo
HUGE congratulations to you, Meagan! Good things happen to those that are brave 🙂
Thanks lovely. Sometimes being brave is hard, but from experience it’s always brought about change for the better xo
Congratulations, go for it I say 🙂
Thanks Wendy! xo
Congratulations Meagan!! I’m sure you are going to rock it 😉 Have fun!
Thanks Nishu x
Congrats Meagan!!
This is something I am working towards as well, so excited to see you grow now you can focus all your energy into the blog!
Thanks Amanda! Good luck for your blogging journey as well! xM
Congratulations meagan the skies the limit go follow your dream enjoy the journey
Thanks Julie! I can’t wait to see where this adventure takes me! xo
How exciting! Can’t wait to see where this new adventure takes you! Xx
Thanks Liv! xx
Congratulations Meagan!!
Thanks Ashley! xo
How cool is that! Well done! I’m 100% positive it will all work out! I’m going back to study next year in order to chase my dreams, a scary but also really exciting decision!
Thanks Emily! Leaving my job to go back to study was really hard but very rewarding (and put me on to a totally different path) – good luck! xo
Congrats Meagan!☺
Thanks Karen! xo
Congratulations Meagan – that is fantastic news. I am wishing you all the best and look forward to more posts! xx
Thanks Kelly! xo