Tis’ the season for holiday parties and gathering around and answering the same question a million times… So what do you do?
I always find this question to be so confusing to answer. On one hand I know what I do everyday. I am a blogger, an author, a creative director and a digital teacher – yet packaging all of this up into a job title that meshes with what is expected can be at best, challenging.
Normally the conversation starts with me saying simply I am a blogger. Then said person starts telling me how their aunt also blogs about cats for fun and it must be so great to be a stay at home mom… which then leaves me to say, hum, umm, that’s cool, but well, I really do it – like its my job. For real.
And then the blank staring starts and I fumble through trying to describe this amazing & crazy career I’ve chosen.
I still remember the day we had our first major feature in Better Homes & Gardens and how my wonderful MIL opened up the magazine and said, oh now I see you really do have a job. HA! I get it though. This online entrepreneur gig is hard to fit into the more structured view of a “real life” career.
But, it has completely become my career and although I didn’t know it 7 years ago, this is what I see myself doing FOREVER. It is a job my daughter might aspire to herself one day. It’s a job I get to encourage other work-at-home mommas that they can definitely jump into and succeed at.
So I figured it was time to work out how to explain it to people. Welcome to my fall career therapy session ;) here’s what I’ve figured out so far.
How To Talk About Blogging As A Real Life Career
Bloggers are the new world news outlets
Instead of picking up a paper and turning our fingers all black, we can now pick our favorite fashion, lifestyle, money and news sections to follow up with daily via our favorite blogs. At our core we give the people what they want: a free source of information that is 100% convenient to read. I get to serve tens of thousands of readers every single day by sharing my wisdom, expertise, and opinion for free 99! This is my favorite part of the job.
Bloggers inspire change in people & encourage action
I don’t know about you, but we don’t wake up every single morning ready to tackle the day. But, after taking in several cups of coffee and a few of my favorite social reads, I’ve got all the motivation in the world to do a total home renovation or take the kids on a craft run before nap time…well, maybe not every day but you get the gist. ;)
Blogs have the power to inspire people to do that DIY project they’ve always talked about, to get involved in the local community effort, and to even become entrepreneurs themselves! Hey… without the awesome home DIY blogs we would have never had the guts to tackle our current home renovation. There is no comparison to following someone photo by photo, or step by step on a video to help us all see that we can do, bake, create, wear or be whatever we want, right where we are.
Bloggers are good for the economy
Not only do blogs provide jobs and an income for our families (hey-o!), but we promote the buying and selling of all the things these days! We partner with a variety of companies on the blog and throughout our social following and we love to feature their products in creative ways. In turn, you guys get excited about those products and try them out for yourselves.
It is wild, but it is true… bloggers have major influence on purchase decisions! If you don’t want to take our word for it, Time Magazine featured 2 bloggers in their 2017 Top 25 Most Influential People on the Internet. And every year more and more ad money is being directed into the social/blogging/video realm. The companies we love and trust want to be were the people are and more and more the people are turning to their favorite online friends for all the recommendations they need.
Blogs allow for total flexibility in the workplace
Stay-at-home parents can make an income but also care for their families, individuals who wouldn’t otherwise be able to work outside the home can work from home, someone who is struggling financially and needs additional income can blog between jobs. The possibilities are endless. Creating a digital lifestyle business provides financial stability for thousands of people in our country and it’s an area that continues to grow every single year!
I love that I get to have a rewarding career and have all the flexibility I could want, while designing a business that has transformed my own little world in a hundred ways.
So to clarify, what exactly is it that I do…
I am a blogger, I get the chance to create free content that inspires people to take action while partnering with companies I trust to provide a life that I love for myself and my family…. And it only took me 7 years to figure out how to say this! :)
So this holiday season, be nice to the bloggers you know when making small talk and don’t compare them to your Aunt Marie. If you are a fellow blogger, let me encourage you to be fully confident in what you are doing – it is in fact a legit career (no matter what the MIL says) worthy of all that hustle, work and effort.
(Photography ©Clique Images/Stocksy United),
