How To Deal With Blogging Struggles

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Slowly and surely, I have been seeing major changes happening in my Blonde in Pink world, mostly over this last year. My journey into blogging began solely through Instagram, way waaaay back in May 2014, where I started off mostly sharing outfit flatlays and posting OOTD photos hiding my face. I had no idea what it would grow into, and I had no idea what I even wanted it to become. It was just something I did for fun, with pretty minimal effort at the beginning. I only read food blogs and definitely had never heard of Like To Know It. I was in ignorant bliss; I teetered between 0-50 followers for a while, always posted randomly and without advance planning, and was actually actively trying to keep my identity a secret, out of fear that people I knew would make fun of me, or think what I was doing was lame. Ohhhh, how times have changed… Today, I want to share with you all a little bit of my story of how I got into blogging, the hardships I now find myself facing, and how I deal with common blogging struggles.

My Instagram feed at the very, very beginning

When I was a senior in college, I was pretty bad about keeping up with my Instagram hobby. I think I only posted a few times during my first semester, and it became pretty evident that without consistent content, followers are gonna bounce. In January 2016, I decided that this little space was important to me, and vowed to post once a day, regardless of the struggle it was to come up with cool content when you have no one to take your photo. A couple months later, I took another important leap and bought a domain, and started a blog. I had no idea what I was doing or how it would ultimately change and shape my life. I kind of view this point as when I really started falling down the rabbit hole… I hit 10k followers on Instagram in October,  migrated web hosting servers and completely redesigned the look, feel, and even functionality of my website. I didn’t know what a widget was, I barely knew how to add a new post at the beginning. It was overwhelming and definitely a struggle, but I was just proud of myself for figuring out whatever I could and for simply trying my best. 

Now… Things have changed. Not to sound completely dramatic, but I’ve changed. I’ve changed as a blogger. Without me even realizing it, this blog has become the most important part of my life, and of my identity. I now spend hours and hours invested and working on it every day; my free time revolves around creating and planning content, and I have had to become an expert in styling, photography, photo editing, and writing (well, to the best of my abilities that is).

I wouldn’t change it for the world, but I’ve noticed over the last few months that the deeper I delve into this world, the tougher it gets. And frustrating, and at times disheartening. You put so much of yourself into this project, this huge part of your life, and all you want is to see it do well, for it to grow. There have been so many times when I’ve been at an Instagram follower standstill for weeks. There are times when I lose my streak of inspiration for outfit ideas, doubt my own styling choices, look back at pictures and wishing I had worn something different. I compare myself to other bloggers, wishing I could have their closets, their perfect Instagram aesthetic, or even just be overall really jel of how cool, awesome, and sweet they always are on Insta Stories. I now experience at times feeling left out; I see bloggers in my city at events I didn’t get an invite to or feel bummed when it seems like all my online blogger friends are better friends with each other than with me. 

I mean, seriously, it’s madness. There is always something. 

But, here’s the big secret. And the secret I remind myself whenever I feel down, whenever I need to get back to why I started this thing in the first place. Every blogger experiences feelings of doubt, frustration, comparison. I’m sure even the biggest influencer names are susceptible to this. In such an highly saturated market, it can be challenging to establish yourself among so many other amazing bloggers and be totally, 100% happy with the rate you’re growing at, or feel like your blog and brand is ~perfect~  I certainly have experienced my fair share of this. And it’s tough. But ultimately, a huge part of why I do this blog is for me. That is, after all, why I started The Blonde in Pink; it’s a creative outlet I hold very near and dear from my heart. When I remember that, really remember it, it’s easy to get that motivation, confidence, and drive back whenever I get discouraged. When I just focus on doing me, and celebrating the success of others and overall just enjoying all of the things I get and love from the blogging world, all is good. And to any other friends who may be new to blogging or have hit their own slump, I hope these additional tips help you as they have helped me:

• Celebrate the little victories
  • When I first started out, this meant 8 months of working towards my first 1,000 followers or the first time I got 100 likes on a photo. It was when I first launched my blog, even though it may have been a bit of a hot mess. It was when I applied not once, not twice, but THREE different times to Like To Know It before I finally was accepted. And then, the three months it took to finally get my first sell.
• Focus on the followers you do have, and not the ones you don’t
  • This is really handy advice for whenever you’re at a standstill. I’ve always been very anti “follower buying,” and I’ve watched countless bloggers do this… It sucks, it’s frustrating. Staying true to your principles often makes for a slower gain. But growing isn’t everything. Stay patient, and it will happen. Focus on creating great content for your followers, and ask yourself what more can you do for their user/reader experience.
• Don’t lose sight on whatever has been motivating you from the start
  • I started this for me, and although there are a whole bunch of people I need to think about and cater to now, I do this because I want to, because I love doing it.
• Don’t feel threatened by other people’s success and good fortune
  • Because there is literally no point in doing this. There will always be someone else getting what you want, in all aspects of life. Someone else getting an exciting opportunity does not hinder you from getting exciting opportunities of your own. There’s room for everyone, and girl power, women supporting other women cannot be beat 🙂
• Be patient, be persistent
  • It’s kind of like a rollercoaster; there are ups and downs, sometimes the pace is fast, sometimes it’s slow. If you feel like you’re on a downward trend, soldier through it and know that you’re bound to come up again.
• Don’t be too hard on yourself
  • No one is perfect and expecting yourself to be is going to be very challenging and only end up hurting you in the end. I like to remind myself that blogging and Instagram is supposed to be my fun, safe space. If I’m crazy critical and placing unrealistic expectations on myself, I’m just going to end up disappointed, it’s not going to better anything or help me achieve my goals.
• Remember that everyone had to start somewhere
  • Every. Single. Influencer. In the game. Think about that for a second. To me, this is crazy powerful. Even bloggers with followings in the millions started with just 1; they had to break their first 100.
• Don’t compare yourself to others
  • This is so, so important. And I will admit that I will do this all the time without thinking about it. With Instagram, it’s mostly about style and aesthetic. I’ll look at my fave bloggers and be like, “ugh Meghan why can’t you be more like so and so, their account is perfect!!” But ya know… I’m not them. I’m me. And my style is unique to me, my photos are unique to me, and whatever I put out there is going to be reflective of that; I’m always going to go with my gut.
• Don’t feel “trapped” by your own aesthetic
  • Power to those who have beautiful feeds that never falter. I’ve attempted this… Without much long lasting success, ha. Sometimes I feel like my feed is all over the place. BUT. That’s okay; I’m of the mindset that you should:
  • Post what makes you happy
  • Wear what you like, and what makes you feel good; follow your gut
  • Even if that means some of your photos are bright and saturated, and others are moody and dark and yellow undertones. If you think it looks good then it looks good!
• Don’t measure your success in numbers
  • Because how many followers you have or how many likes you get is not the be all end all. Ask yourself what you are truly proud of and focus on that. For me, I like to measure my success in the content I produce, and looking at how far I’ve come.
• Remember that there is no one right way to blog or Instagram
  • This one takes the cake for me. Only you can determine what you want your brand to be, and how you want to achieve your goals. There are a lot of people out there with opinions on how to start a blog and how to successfully grow a following, and I totally encourage you to seek out this advice, but on your own terms. At the end of the day, you are in control, and you are the one deciding what you do or do not feel comfortable doing.

More from the early days 🙂 Like I said, everyone’s gotta start somewhere! Below is my “somewhere”