Several years ago, I got pregnant with my son and my life completely changed. I became a stay at home mom for the very first time. This was all so new to me. I had always been the type to work outside the home and would normally spend very little time at my house.
Now, I was spending day after day, hour after hour, at home with a newborn. I also chose to exclusively breastfeed and was most comfortable doing that in the comfort of my own home. So, long story short, I was home practically all the time. That got a bit tough for me, but I didn't want to put my baby in daycare, nor did I want to leave him alone with a babysitter all the time. My son's father was the main one working and he worked long hours away from home.
I found myself reading a variety of blogs online. I read about a few people who used blogging as their main source of income, others who were reviewing products for hundreds of companies, and then some who just wanted to share their life journey. There are some really inspirational people out there, doing some incredible things. Reading their stories made me want to try to do the same thing. It seemed simple enough. Writing has been one of my favorite hobbies since I was a child, so I decided to give it a shot.
It's been about 12 years and I've reviewed over a few thousand products on my blog and social networks. I have not made it my main source of income, (YET), but I have definitely gotten to work with some amazing companies and have received so many great products in the process. Some companies that I work with love my work so much that they have sent me their entire product line and others have paid pretty well too. I love sharing my opinions and experiences with all of the new products and places that I get asked to review. I also love that I get the chance to hear about products that I never would have known about or purchased prior to being introduced to them in a campaign or by a company reaching out to me. (This does happen very often too.) Influencer marketing is such a good way to get unknown brands out there and these companies know that.
I enjoy doing this, but, I often get asked by people- "How do you get so much stuff for free?" The thing is, and I find myself explaining this time after time, it's not FREE. As most other product reviewers and bloggers like myself know- we have to do the work for each of these products or places that we visit. We have to write up an honest review, take pictures, make videos, post on each of our networks, follow guidelines, and even have deadlines to meet. And that's not all- you also have to network yourself if you want to be seen or heard. That can be VERY time consuming, and many of us who do this also have to fit it into our schedule. I have two kids. Besides blogging, I homeschool them, I work as an Internet Search Evaluator from home, I cook, I clean, and when I can, I teach Zumba, and make time for the gym. It's a lot of work.
However, I still love what I do!
Not only have I had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful companies, but I have also met some of the sweetest people in the blogging community through networking. Some of them have become a few of my bestest friends over the years. We all try to support eachother and help eachother out whenever one of us has questions about anything blogging related or not. It's been very rewarding and I wouldn't want it any other way. As of right now, I may still only be a microinfluencer, but I plan to continue blogging and reviewing for years to come. My goal is to one day bring in a steady flow of income from it and I believe that I can do it.
Have you ever tried blogging or considered it? Have you ever reviewed products or would you like to learn more? Let me know in the comment section below!
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