The hidden truth about blogging || Advice

 Advice posts go a bit like a two end stick I'm writing them here on my blog in hopes that it will help someone who sits on their laptop reading them, at the same time I find myself going back to them the most. It works as if I'm writing a personal letter to myself in which I'm giving myself advice and, when in the future, I find myself needing some wise words I always end up going back to them. 

Today I am going to talk a bit about being stuck in a root and about not evolving and how we sometimes feel that we are taking steps back when everyone else is taking steps forward, especially touching it from the point of view of my own blogging history.

I became a blogger in 2012 under the name Fashion Killer, back then, I blogged in Portuguese and I wrote mostly about makeup and beauty. I kept Fashion Killer alive for 3 years posting semi-regularly and then I felt like rebranding because the name Fashion Killer wasn't original enough and because I didn't blog about fashion. Then Anne's Perks was created. I still blogged in Portuguese for a little while but then I realized it was easier for me to write in English and that a simple change on language could make me achieve bigger audience and make my blog a worldwide platform (after all we all want to become as big as Zoella one day). I see the birth date of Anne's Perks as of 17th of May of 2017, the day I made a commitment to this platform and the day I decided what type of blogger I wanted to be. 

I decided that I wanted to blog about makeup and beauty as I always had and maybe talk a bit about fashion as well but that Anne's Perks, in opposition to what Fashion Killer was, was a virtual journal, something that I wanted the readers to relate with, something that I wanted other bloggers to read and find some kind of similarity. I wanted to be a real person that real people could relate too. 

The problem is, I've been blogging since 2013 and for that reason, and that reason only, sometimes I feel that it's unfair that I don't get certain opportunities or that I've never been asked to do a sponsored post by a brand. I'm sure that, if you are also a smaller blogger you can relate to this feeling. 

I then need to remind myself that I've only started seeing the blog and taking Anne's Perks to its full potential a year ago from now and see how much I've achieved in a year. I've grown my social media presence and I've fallen in love with this little corner of the interweb. 

I truly love the whole process of blogging, I love the planning and the writing of every post. At the same time, I love shooting pictures and editing them to their full potential.

I also adore the chats and the friendships I've developed with other bloggers from different parts of the world. It's amazing to feel like you have someone you can talk to in a friendly way everywhere you go. 

For me, blogging isn't about the numbers or about brand collabs as the industry has grown to make it seam. Of course, I'm not foolish enough to believe that the numbers don't count for anything but, they will come and they will grow as long as you present your best version of yourself. Blogging is, after all, a new industry and is as competitive as any other. Only the ones that truly love what their doing will succeed and as long as I keep writing my posts keeping myself as a reader in mind first and I deliver only the absolute best version of myself to my audience I really think that I will succeed one day, but by no means I'm in a rush.

 I'm here to tell you that you shouldn't be too.
Self-comparison is a successful woman number one enemy. It's not because another blogger has achieved something that you should feel jealous or pity yourself (believe me, I'm one to always see the glass half empty when most times it's half full), you should look at others achievements as a reinsurance that if they did it you can do it too and use the energy that would take you to self-pity to work harder and harder, the world is not made for people who give up easily and if you want to succeed (regardless of the area) you need to work harder than what you are, regardless of how hard you are working. Always give more of yourself, put more of your heart into what you are doing and you are sure to succeed at doing it. 

Photos by: João Machado