Okaaay, I realize that the title of this post is very very negative, but I wanted to have a little chat with you all! I was talking to one of my blog friends last week, and we were discussing whether we think having an assistant as a blogger is really necessary. Then we started to talk about the whole production of blogging – the cross-promotion that is super time consuming (sharing posts to FB, Twitter and pinning images), the cut of our income that goes to having a manager, the price we pay for the assistant, and we started to wonder – WHEN DID THIS BECOME SUCH A BIG PRODUCTION? I’ve had this conversation with tons of bloggers, some of them proud of the team they manage and happily sharing that they have multiple employees, and others laughing at that idea and thinking that is ridiculous, this is an independent job without the need for tons of overhead.
I think about this ALL. THE. TIME. This blog started as a way to snap photos of my life, as I lived it, in the moment, and then as I began to work with companies and book jobs for specific products, it turned into a whole new monster. Suddenly I had to plan shoots, shop for specific props like picnic gear for a picnic post, or bathing suits for a day at the pool, etc. in order to make sure MY photos stick out compared to the 39483908 other bloggers out there. I guess the long and short of it is that it became a job, and it became competitive. With the followers and the income comes a lot of extra duties, which requires extra manpower. But it’s always funny to me when I think about it in perspective – at the end of the day all of the this time and money and energy is going into taking photos for an app! I guess you can think about anything and diminish it – but it does still put it all into perspective for me.
In growing a business, it’s always so important to ask ourselves where can we cut from to add to the bottom line. At what point is what we’re putting out not equal to what we’re putting in? And is the growth and the extra expense even worth it at the end of the day? These are all questions I wish I knew the answers to, but there is not a right or wrong answer, only our own gut feelings on it! What do you all think – is the energy that bloggers put into growing a following and posting photos on the internet worth it? Is sharing an inspirational lifestyle, and creative ideas something that is WORTH the time investment? I’d love to hear your thoughts about it all in the comments.
