Today marks Brunch on Sunday’s first birthday, or anniversary, not sure which would be more appropriate! In some ways I feel that it flew by, yet in other ways I feel that it dragged. Similarly to chapters of our life, I suppose. I’m sure many writers can relate to this. When your creative juices are flowing and things feel great, the time flies; ‘Wait, did I really just sit at my computer and four hours went by like it was an hour?’ Yet when you’re having those moments of writers block, struggle, and times you feel so uninspired, it can often feel like it has dragged. So long story short, it feels exactly like it’s been a year. Not a day late or a day too soon.

Truth is, I had been planning to create a blog for years. It finally hit me when I wrote an article for Her Campus when I was in college, completely on a whim. Through all of the planning of my blog and procrastinating (for years), advice I kept reading over and over again was to simply start. As cliche as it sounds, everyone starts somewhere, and in a way, I was putting it off because of fears of being inadequate.

Truthfully, I never saw myself as a creative, but then again, I also had this very narrow vision of what a creative was – and that I was somehow not part of that. Looking back on it now, it seems that I envisioned it as a very small box to fit into. I assumed that since I’m not necessarily musical, nor artistic in a drawing or painting kind of way, that I had no creative or artistic ideas to offer.

Since creating Brunch on Sunday from the ground up a year ago, I almost feel as if this other section of my brain – the creative side, has emerged and has made me feel incredibly fulfilled. Coming up with content that you guys want to see on my blog is one of my favorite things in the entire process. Styling my own photos, being my own photographer (for all of the photographs that aren’t of me), my own photo editor, my own copy writer, copy editor, and social media manager among so many other things has proven to be challenging yet empowering. Creating something that yourself and yourself only are in charge of is incredibly rewarding. Don’t get me wrong, I have struggles; my computer is definitely close to dying, I have written posts that delete themselves while my computer has run out of power, I have spent an hour taking photos, only to upload them on my computer and realize I hate all of them. But it’s all part of the process, growth, and for that I am thankful.

I thought it might be helpful to talk about five things I’ve learned after one year of blogging. Whether you have goals of starting your own blog, your own business, or none of these things, hopefully it can provide you with some insight and maybe a little bit of motivation for life and your career.

Continue reading below…

5 THINGS I’VE LEARNED AFTER ONE YEAR OF BLOGGING

1. DON’T STOP UNTIL YOU’RE PROUD

I read this phrase somewhere (unfortunately, I can’t remember where), but it hasn’t left my mind since I first read it: “Don’t stop until you’re proud.” The beautiful thing about creating something that’s yours, whether it’s a blog, business, or product, is that it’s yours and your name is on it. That being said, as a creative, influencer, and/or blogger, your name and your reputation are everything. Never publish something that you’d be embarrassed to admit is yours in a room full of other professionals in the same field. Of course we all have the content or work that we produced or published when we first started out that we may not be proud of now, but at the time we were proud of it and that’s what matters. It’s natural and healthy to evolve and become more skilled as you grow in your career. It’s impossible to know everything and have all of the answers when you first start out.

To be taken seriously in any profession, you have to produce high quality work or you will get overlooked, ignored, or even fired. Just because I work for myself (at least for my blog… don’t worry people, I also work a day job) doesn’t mean that it’s a chance to slack off. If anything, I work harder on my blog than anything I’ve ever worked on or for. There have been countless times that I’ve been so dang sick of looking at a computer screen at 12 AM to edit photos or write a post, however, I consciously make the choice to edit my work and keep redoing things until I’m proud of it. When you stop being content with “just good enough” you start to get noticed, and people are more likely to take you seriously, and that’s with any profession in life, and includes college.

2. THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE

Change, how I hate it, and yet I love it at the same time. When we’re going through it, we struggle with it, we fight it, we long for things to be how they once were. Yet when we’re in our new chapter, we find that we have been able to adapt, hopefully excel, and become content with how things are currently. Then, change comes right back and smacks us in the face again. Repeat times infinity, and it’s called life.

If you’re in the business, are a creative or a blogger, then you know the complaints. It start with wanting Instagram to go back to how it was before; before the new algorithm came and “changed everything;” before it was only Snapchat that had “stories;” and so on!

Here’s what I’ve learned about resisting change: 1. Complaining gets you nowhere. It leaves you in the dust while others are embracing change and making something of themselves. 2. It leaves you focusing on the negative rather than the possibility of something positive. 3. People start to become annoyed with you.

3. LEARN HOW TO SAY NO (POLITELY)

In my life, I’ve often been a person who has said yes to things over fear of hurting someone’s feelings. I’ve definitely had times where I’ve worried about what’s best for others, rather than what’s best for me. Every day I get at least one email from a PR rep, company, or person asking me to promote something, go to an event, or buy something from them that I simply do not like or don’t believe in. I share this with you not to brag or appear “higher” than others, but to share my experience and tips. If you don’t believe in a product and/or don’t like it, don’t promote it. It can become tempting when a company is offering you money or other perks to promote something, however, I believe that it’s so important to stay true to yourself. I never promote anything on my blog that I don’t believe in or like. If you are promoting things just for the sake of the benefits to you and are being deceptive to your readers, guess what, they’re going to start to pick up on it and not trust you anymore. When they don’t trust you, they’re not going to read your blog anymore. Start learning how to say no politely (ain’t nobody have time for people that are straight up rude).

Whether you’re in the blogging industry or not, this is still relevant. Of course, every day, we often have to do things that we don’t want to do. There’s often no way around it, and it’s part of life. However, that being said, if you truthfully have a choice one way or another, and really don’t want to agree to something because someone is pressuring you, SAY NO. The peace of mind you will have after being truthful is worth something – it’s priceless. You may have convinced yourself that the person you said no to now hates you, but guess what, they don’t. They probably respect you (when you’re polite about it) and their feelings aren’t hurt in the slightest.

4. STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO BLOGGERS WHO HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR 5+ YEARS

Let’s be honest, the blogging world was vastly different just three years ago, but especially five years ago. A lot of the women that I look up to (and many others) have been doing this for half of a decade (at least)!!! In today’s world, the blogging and influencer industry is extremely saturated, and it can be extremely hard to become noticed and make a name for yourself. I’m not saying it was any easier for the women who started this five years ago. If anything, it may have been more difficult, because the resources on how to create and start a blog were not there like they are today. Companies were only starting to have trust in influencers and bloggers to market products for them.

With everything we do in this world, the more experienced you are, the more successful you tend to be. So if you just started your blog six months ago, why are you beating yourself up and comparing your Instagram feed and blog to another woman who has been doing this for FAR longer than you? It doesn’t make sense. I know that we can all get into the rabbit hole that is comparison, but seriously stop it. If you need help, check out my post here about comparison.

5. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY & BE CONSISTENT

As easy as it is to pump out over-saturated, grainy cell phone photos complete with copy that hasn’t even been looked over once to edit, this is something you don’t want to do. Every company you hope to partner with and every reader would much rather you post less, but post amazing content, rather than posting every single day for the sake of posting.  When I first started my blog, for the entire month of March I was posting almost every week day. I was living and breathing my blog from the moment I would get home from work until the moment I would go to sleep. I literally didn’t have a life. My content was okay, but it wasn’t amazing. Also, did I mention I didn’t have a life? Be realistic with yourself about what you’re able to achieve in an average week. For me, pumping out five posts a week isn’t feasible since I work full time and also like to do other things than look at a computer and phone screen. Lately, I’ve been considering it a win if I post two or three posts in a week. If one post a week is realistic for you, then stick to that.

To connect this to life and those of you who aren’t bloggers, would you rather have one best friend or one hundred acquaintances? Quit the people in your life that aren’t quality people, whether that’s a significant other or a friend.

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Can you connect to any of these things? What’s something you’ve learned this year in your profession that you think everyone should know? Tell me in the comments!

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