I received so many kind messages after posting the first post in this new series, so I am back for another week full of blogging pros and cons! I really love showing some of the back end of this job, because while an instagram feed may look perfectly curated, behind the scenes there’s tons of e-mails, contracts, post reviews, copy edits, back and forth between blogger/ manager and brand and then FINALLY the post that you see will go up. It is sometimes organic, and other times there’s a LOT that goes into 1 post, so I am here to share some of that with you!
As usual, let’s start with the pros!
PRO:
A lot of you always ask how I constantly come up with new ideas for blog posts, and sometimes I have the good fortune of being handed a paid idea that I know that you will all want to see. That is my FAVORITE part of this job. I can’t express how excited I get when an e-mail shows up in my inbox for a product I am really really excited to share with you. I am of course a fan of everything I share, but naturally some things make me more excited than others. This week that happened, and I was able to shoot an entire blog post (coming out soon!) about how to make cold brew at home in under 30 minutes. Matt and I basically snapped photos in our kitchen yesterday morning just the two of us (Hudson was in daycare) while sipping cold brew and it really felt too good to be true that we were making an income from doing this. I feel so much gratitude in getting to do this job, but especially when a campaign like that one finds its way to me. HOW LUCKY AM I!
CON:
So I’ve mentioned the financial side of blogging quite a bit on my blog, but I haven’t dived deep into how getting paid works, and to be honest, it’s a lot more difficult than working a 9-5 job, and in my opinion is a huge con. In a 9-5 job, when you’re hired, you are usually told whether the employer pays weekly, or bi-weekly, you set up your direct deposit, and then the money comes in. You’re able to plan around your paychecks, and everything is very predictable. Blogging income is similar in that when I sign a contract, I’m notified of what the “net” pay is once my work is submitted. So there’s two cons here:
I don’t think many non-bloggers realize any of this! There’s also many cases where a check will come later than the NET pay date – and I am talking WAY later. There’s been jobs where I haven’t been paid for 5 months. The moral of my story here is that you have to be really organized, keep great records, follow up a ton in order to be paid (sometimes) and be a really smart saver. You cannot ever really know when ANY check is going to come in for a job, you just know “it’s coming soon.” Having a cushion of savings isn’t just smart, as a blogger it is a MUST. It’s really tough some months when I feel like I am working constantly, but I haven’t seen a check in weeks. Then suddenly a ton will come in at once. That’s the nature of freelancing, and it’s just different than a 9-5 job and takes a while to get used to being paid this way!
I hope this post was eye opening for some of you! Let me know in comments, or DM me!
