It's 2021!
Different parts of the world are either recovering from the pandemic or suffering immensely under the weight of the second wave. But life goes on and we have to find ways to survive and go on living, succeeding, excelling, and so on.
One of the ways I'll be moving on from all the negativity and even just being able to express myself is with my blog. I've been a blogger (scratch that), I've had a blog for almost 10 years now and while it has seen some exciting times, I'll be the first to admit that it has been hibernating for more years now than active. In 2021, I'll be reviving it and I encourage everyone to have a blog too.
People say blogging is dead but is it really? No, it isn't and that's why we will always go on Google or Bing or some search engine or the other to look for something and we'll find it. For as long as people are searching for something or the other, blogging will always be relevant.
Well, asides from people searching, here are some other reasons why I encourage everyone to start blogging in one form or the other in 2021
1. For Self-expression: 2020 was haaaard. Believe it or not and for some more than others. There was the mental health issues people had, the loss of livelihoods, the aloneness, the uncertainty, the deaths of loved ones and so much going around. A lot of it was bottled up especially in instances where family or friends didn't or just couldn't understand. Having a blog helps with the expression of your inner thoughts. You can decide to have your name on it or it can even be anonymous, the point is that you are letting it all out and helping someone else find release at the same time.
2. Tell Your Story: almost like the first point but not quite. Everyone has a unique story to tell. No 2 stories are the same - whether it is a brand story or an individual story. Telling your story makes you stronger, gives you self-confidence and in the long run, makes you a better person while also helping millions of others who maybe have the same story but are not able to share it the way you are.
3. Self-Improvement: Creating a blog helps you to become better organised. You'll learn a lot from the experience and the journey while increasing your skill level and even technical abilities. Blogging isn't easy and for beauty/fashion bloggers, it really is more than just taking pictures, looking cute, and wearing the latest fashion. Well, unless of course that is really what you want to just do and you don't care to make it a business or get anything tangible out of it. Just make it your visual diary and be done with it.
4. Thought Leadership: when done right, a blog helps you to become a leader in your chosen area of expertise (when I was a beauty influencer, I was top in my niche i.e. beauty; you couldn't talk about the Nigerian beauty industry without mentioning my name and I was often approached by foreign brands coming into the market and invited for their launch events). I was a leader in my niche. That's what blogging does for you. Trust me when I say you need to be a leader now more than ever because people are turning more and more to the internet for information and knowledge and you want to be there where they can find you.
5. Financial Gains: a lot of beauty bloggers started their own blogs back then mainly for the freebies and some still only want that now but there is more to blogging than freebies, you can get real financial gains out of it. You can get to be your own boss on the side if you aren't like me who for some weird reason likes the allure of a 9-5, and build an actual business out of it that you can live off of. Oh, did I mention that bloggers can sometimes become celebrities too and land their own acting or singing or book deals or ambassadorship?
Do you need any more reasons to start a blog?
For me, blogging is a creative outlet, if you have seen my creative portfolio then you know that my weird equally active right & left brain literally makes it impossible for me to not be a serious person while also pursuing something creative at the same time. It balances me out in a weird way hence my 9-5 and my creative blogging & content creation side-hustle.
Besides, blogging legit is fun and you get to meet awesome people while being a valuable member of a community of people.
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