Thursday, November 6
Do you consider yourself a “professional” blogger? Why or why not? What does that mean to you?
This question does not require much thinking on my part! Nope! I do not consider myself a Professional blogger by any means. “Professional”, as far as I am concerned, means that you make money doing whatever it is you are doing.
For example: A professional figure skater becomes one as soon as he/she starts making money doing the sport. Once upon a time, when I was a figure skater (not that I ever made it to a podium!), I used to coach the little kids on week-ends. It was imperative that we not be remunerated in cash for this so we were given coupons which we could apply to our own coaches’ fees. One coupon equalled one fifteen-minute session with our coach. If we had accepted cash, we would then be considered “professionals” and no longer be permitted to compete in the amateur competitions. Huge issue if you wanted to find yourself on an Olympic podium one day! Of course, over the years, these rules have changed somewhat (Olympic hockey, anyone?) but not in my mind.
That said: when I was “liberated” from my job I had huge (OK, not that big) dreams of making money off blogging. I had no idea how I was going to do it but I did have Marie Forleo’s B-School downloaded. Of course, all I did was buy the damn course, I had (have) yet to actually do it! I figured I would do it, and then know exactly what to do and would be free to work when I felt like it and make as much or as little as I wanted. Yeah. No. Way too much effort is required and, apart from having something to sell – which I do not – yet – you have to join affiliate programmes or have advertising on your page. I did try that for a bit and saw a whole lotta nothing. Of course you also need to have a huge following and be extremely vigilent and, and, and… Not moi.
What about my Dalectables blog/website? I went through a lot of effort, and some cash, to create this one (still not up to snuff, as far as I am concerned) with all sorts of intentions of creating my own biz. (See B-School mentioned above.) I am not clear enough on what I want from it to really make it work so I have spent much time looking at others’ blogs and just getting more muddied in my thoughts. So, other than posting a recipe here and there, it has lain dormant. There is a soupçon of a hope that one day I will actually get all my ducks in a row and make something of it but it has definitely not been my priority so far. I was too busy enjoying my year off to actually WORK!
Am I a professional blogger? No, I am not.
Do I enjoy blogging? Absolutely!
Hmmm, I am thinking gluten free cookies. There is not a lot of choice in that area here in the US. And the ones that are on the market are too sweet or taste like baking soda. I started to make my own but that is a lot of work. Of course you would not want to post your fabulous recipe on the internet but market the cookie itself…
Maybe… 😀
I’m not sure I’d want to be a professional blogger – I enjoy it too much to be hard-nosed about trying to get more followers or selling something – I always turn off if that’s what someone seems to be doing.
That’s what I’ve discovered… I think it’s great those who have managed to make a living doing so. I just don’t have the patience to figure it out. Some are not too hard-nosed about it and still manage to do well…
I think it would be nice to be paid to blog for a company or organisation ~ so long as one had a good deal of freedom and wasn’t forced into the ‘hard sell.’
Yes! As I wrote in my dream job post! 😉 My friend’s daughter writes a cute blog for a company that sells linens and stuff and her blogs are almost all, um, bed related but in a cute, fun way.
That’s the kind of thing. Sounds great.
Right with you about blogging because I do it because it’s very much part of my persona. It’s fun, plus serves as a good way to exercise the mind. Therefore, I’m not working for anyone, not promoting anything, … thus not making any money at it … and that’s on purpose.
By the way, while riding along during a cross-state trip, I was playing with a new app on my tablet … one about organizing thoughts. I recall doing a mindmap on Why Blog? … which means I need to use it for a post.
Exactly… I started blogging to see if I could actually write anything that anyone would want to read… Looking forward to your “Mindmap Blogging Post”!
Alright … now I have some incentive … well, as long as I remember.