A Career In Blogging| The 10 Amazing Benefits

On Monday, I published 'Is Blogging As Glamorous As It Seems? 10 Downsides of Being A Blogger' and believe it or not, this was the most popular post of the week. So, as I couldn't leave my whole blogging experience on a negative note, today I am going to tell you the 10 amazing benefits to being a blogger. I have been a blogger for almost 4 years and I still absolutely love what I do. This post was written with the aim to inspire you to do something that you are truly passionate about, so, here are my 10 benefits to being a blogger.

Opportunity: The opportunities that I have received through blogging have been insane. If you told me 4 years ago that I would doing half the stuff that I would be doing right now, I wouldn't believe you. Not only has blogging allowed me to work with some incredible brands, but it has also facilitated other opportunities online and offline. 2016 was an incredible year, I won 4 national awards, I went on Channel 5's The Gadget Show, I was published in Blogosphere Magazine, quit my full time job, worked on ITV's This Morning, and the list pretty much goes on (you can read the rest by clicking here). Again, this year has already been insane too. Not only have I been able to tremendously grow Eltoria, but I have done some pretty amazing things already. I've become the brand face of Sally UK, I've filmed with Schwarzkopf and New Look, I launched a clothing store on Trendeo... and again, the list does go on. I've been able to re-route my career into some exciting things, and there's some pretty big announcements coming very soon (so watch this space).

Always learning new skills: Everyday I learn something new, but the best thing about being in this industry, is that I get to work with a whole bunch of people. Not only do I work for myself, but I also work with marketeers, PRs, journalists, designers, advertisers, and much more. Not only am I expected to produce the content, but I also write up marketing and campaign briefs, manage social media accounts, report back on analytics, create new strategies, and again, the list goes on. So if I ever wanted to go back to a full time job, I definitely have the experience to go into PR and marketing. It is wrong to assume that bloggers are unskilled.

Working for yourself: I'm not going to lie, but working for yourself is amazing. Don't get me wrong, it's bloody hard work, but being able to manage your own schedule is absolutely amazing. I've been self employed for nearly a year now and I haven't been severely ill once. When I was working for a company I would get ill at least 3-4 times a year. Additionally every week is different, so you don't get bored of doing the same thing every week. I haven't once dreaded a Monday morning or going to work since becoming my own boss, which for me, is key to career happiness. It's also nice not asking someone else if you can have the day off, or sticking to just an hour for lunch. It's certainly is a new lifestyle!

Building a business: Some believe that running a blog isn't a business, but it truly is. Every business starts off small and if you play your cards right, you can turn it into something more. All of the big bloggers are examples of this, they've released merchandise, invested their money into property, written books, and some have even gone off to start up new companies. In my opinion, they have pretty much done business backwards. How? Well normally a company creates a product and then works on its marketing. But an influencer on the other hand, has already established their brand and following before releasing any products. There isn't just one way to it, so it's quite refreshing to know that doing business isn't just a one trick pony.

Some people think that I just do blogging, but as a firm believer of 'not having all your eggs in one basket', I actually have several things on the go. As well as all things Eltoria, I also run a content consultancy business where much of my cliental is based in the USA. Services include writing content for websites, brands, and magazines, with video and photography as an option too. As a model and a presenter, I also commit a large amount of time to my offline presence and this month I am excited to be sharing some extremely great news (so keep your eyes peeled on social media). Building a business takes time, for instance, I have been working on two projects for the last 6 months now and one of them will not be ready until the end of this year. Patience is key!

Networking: I must admit, some of the events that you get invited to are pretty high profile and the people you get to meet are pretty incredible. Over the last few years, the saying 'it's all about who you know' has never felt more true. I thoroughly believe that good networking skills is one of the most important skills to possess in life. Much of my work and opportunities has come from networking, and it's extremely important to say yes to everything (even if you are not getting paid for it). If you're not networking at least twice a week, you need to step up your game.

The ability to be as creative as you wish: Over the next few weeks you will totally understand where I am coming from here, but I love the fact that you don't have to refer to a higher superior to materialise your ideas. You can be as creative and as whacky as you want. Before I found blogging, I studied law at university with the view to pursue a career as a lawyer. I started working for a few law firms and I absolutely hated it. Not only did I dread going to work but I also felt that I was losing myself- I wasn't happy at all. Now I can pretty much do what I want without the stress of satisfying a superior, all of my work is done for me and I'm happy with that responsibility.

The money: Whilst I will always keep my earnings to myself, but here is what I can tell you... blogging is a fantastic career if you have the numbers to back you. Don't forget, it's taken me 3-4 years to be able to make a Eltoria full time job, so just stepping into a blogging career isn't possible. I've just had a chartered accountant project my 2017-2018 earnings, and the figure is a lot more than my previous employed salary.

Free products: I think it's common knowledge that bloggers get a lot of free stuff- I've actually got a dedicated room in my house where I can store it all. It took around 1-2 years before I started receiving frequent blogger mail, and not going to lie, it's the best kind of mail to receive!

Travel: Personally I love travelling for work, and with blogging, there is a lot if you do not live in London. Currently I head into the city at least 3 times, but I'm quite fortunate as Paddington station is only 1 hour  from where I live. Some bloggers get to go on amazing trips to LA, Spain, Italy, France, so the opportunity to travel is there.

The community: The blogging community is amazing and I have been extremely fortunate to meet the most incredible people. I find that people in the community are very like minded, so they understand what you do much better. A great example was when there was outrage when The Daily Mail decided to tarnish Zoella's reputation in an article- #TeamInternet didn't have any of it!

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Much Love

Eltoria x

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Eltoria- South West Beauty, Fashion and Lifestyle Blogger and South West YouTuber

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