By Hilary Rushford, of Dean Street Society
Why did you start your blog?
Let’s say it was to make money. A perfectly respectable reason. You wanted to make money on the side or own your own business. Or perhaps it’s because you looked up to one of your favorite “power bloggers” & thought you would enjoy the life they’re leading. A life with, appropriately, power; an element of fame in some ways, at least within the world of style blogs.
And so you began to write, photograph, edit, Tweet, Instagram, Facebook, pin, comment, pitch, collaborate … & it became an immense amount of work. Some days you’re tired. You’re behind, exhausted, spread thin, over-worked, feeling guilty you’re not blogging more, producing more content, frustrated you’re not growing your numbers more quickly.
This business slump, Dr Seuss might say, is hard to unslump from. And impossible to avoid. Everyone will go through these bumps. But when the lack of sleep & productivity guilt are getting you down, will the glow of money & fame be enough to keep you going?
I would propose that neither money nor fame are as powerful a motivator as passion. And if you don’t have the latter, a true vision for why you’re doing what you’re doing, it will get harder & harder to get out of bed early, stay up late & work weekends.
I believe you will only still be a successful blogger three years from now — or running a business that has come out of that blog — if there’s something you’re really passionate about.
This could be community. For Anna of Skin & Blister a primary motivation is the incredible friendships she’s developed since starting her blog, all around the world, at all sorts of events she would never have experienced otherwise. It might be the shop you’ve always dreamed of owning, that comes to life because of the eye for style you’ve honed as a blogger like Kendi with Bloom. For me, it’s a passion for education & attainability. I don’t think fashion should be exclusive — either that only a few understand it or only a few can afford it — so I blog, host videos & see clients to help people feel included & empowered.
Don’t get me wrong. Money & power are universal desires. But I think it’d be easier to achieve that by becoming VP of a local factory if those were truly your only desires. This is about what you want beyond that, that’s inspired you to take what — even though in our world you feel like everyone you know has a blog or is an entrepreneur — is a path only a small percentage of people take. And one that takes more hard work than oodles of other jobs out there. There’s no logic to why we would do it, & invest all the hours we do to make it perfect, unless there’s passion.
Why did you start your blog? What are you passionate about? If you stumbled upon a treasure chest tomorrow & money was no object, what would you spend the next 50 years doing?
About the Author:
Hilary Rushford is the blogger behind Dean Street Society
I started my blog, because I love to write and share my ideas with an audience, if it’s five people or five million people, but I also started it to unleash opportunities if I want to work in the field of fashion when I get older, because I am still young. If I could do whatever I wanted and money was no object, I would be and editor for an influential fashion magazine like ELLE or Vogue. *Sigh* Maybe someday.
http://girlofhour.blogspot.com