Next month this year will make 8 years I’ve been blogging. I honestly can’t believe how much I’ve grown and how much it’s grown as a platform so I thought a blog post would be good to reflect on.
Initially I started this blog as a style and lifestyle blog and it went through many forms until I was able to tie in a few of my favorite things (the Caribbean, culture, fitness, soca music and my love for dressing up) and that’s how I became a carnival blogger.
Starting a blog is a BIG DEAL. I feel like you struggle with so much but if I can break down my biggest struggles; it would be:
- Overcoming Fear
- Being Inconsistent
- Finding My Niche
OVERCOMING FEAR
When I think of bloggers, I think about how as a blogger you have to create content and become a Jack/Jane of all trades to convey whatever your message is and also make it palatable for others to understand (most of the time). Personally, I dealt with a lot of fear surrounding that. Fear of what my family and friends would say; fear of speaking out (which is probably why I’m better at writing) and just fear of putting myself out there and failing. I legit had to practice doing things SCARED (i.e. taking my own photos and promoting my content) and because I wasn’t consistent that was an ongoing uphill battle. Just know, if you’re struggling with it – fear is only a feeling and feelings come and go. But you LITERALLY have to do things scared to get to the other side of fear which is being afraid/nervous and doing it anyway.
BEING INCONSISTENT
I would be lying to you if I told you I was always consistent. In fact because of the #MJConsistencyChallenge; this is the most consistent I’ve been blogging since I’ve started and it is strettttttttchinnnnnng me. But it’s a good stretch. It just makes me think about how much further along I would have been if I had just stuck to being consistent. However, you do not have to be consistent to make great content but there are benefits to being consistent (i.e. working with brands, increasing your traffic etc.). KEY: honestly you just have to do it and practice doing it. Consistency is like building a muscle- you constantly have to work at it.
FINDING MY NICHE
Finding my niche as a blogger was TOUGH. Mostly because I loved so many things at the same time and I got bored doing just one thing. It’s weird to me how you’re “expected” to pick a niche or niche down as a blogger to “be successful” but I just didn’t see myself fitting in one box. So I did it all. I did style blogging, gossip blogging (LOL), travel tips, fitness and then came CARNIVAL. At first I didn’t even know if I could blog about carnival being from the Bahamas – but what I learned is that if you’re passionate about something that alone will guide your path. I always “blame” my love for carnival on having immigration issues as a graduate student in Brooklyn that left me immersing myself into the wider Caribbean culture simply because I missed home (the Bahamas).
From my Trini friends introduced me to the road; it was no stopping from there. So I went with it; my first carnival blog post was about re-doing a carnival bra I had from Labor Day for Miami Carnival. Then I realized that style was a big part of carnival, fitness and stamina was as well, travel was too and even the gossip part because Caribbean people love to tote news so it just fit. Even up to this day, I still don’t think I have a niche because I like a lot of things. A friend of mine said on Twitter, “You are your niche.”; which to me meant that I just need to focus on telling my story- whatever that was/is. So I’ve been going with that since then and it’s working LOL.
I guess my take away for this is I’m glad it fit when it did and I’m glad my journey took as long as it did because I don’t think I would have become this kind of blogger if I didn’t go through those necessary steps and setbacks. Also for the visual people or people who like listening instead of reading; check out more of my story here.
Til next post,
