6 Things We Learned From Three Years Of Blogging

Blogging Is More Than Just A Job

Hey Y’all! So today I have a bit of a different post then you guys are used to seeing. We don’t tend to cater our posts about blogs or blogging tips, but I thought it was necessary to share some things that we learned in case any of you are aspiring bloggers. We have been doing this for almost 3 years now, and let me tell you it is completely different than I imagined it being. Let’s start from the beginning. Ashley and I pretty much knew that we would always do something together in the future. My senior year of college As Told By Ash & Shelbs was born over a cup of coffee in our hometown. Back then I still don’t think we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Ashley was an avid blog reader and I was an avid YouTube watcher! Is that a term?  I have no idea but I’m going to make it one. We put our strengths and weaknesses together and have built this lovely little corner of the internet with all of you. Here are some of the things we have learned over the past 3 years.

Everything changes. Fast.

Today things are SO incredibly different from when we started blogging 3 years ago. Snapchat was just gaining traction, and now it is obsolete. Instagram was just to post a few pictures, and now it is a blogging platform within itself. YouTube was really taking off, and now it is a major platform where anyone can make money by posting their videos. Twitter only had 140 characters. hahahaha I know this one just happened, but still it is a change. When we first started we didn’t even post on Instagram everyday or feel the need to keep up with social media that much. We weren’t necessarily wrong, the times just changed very quickly.

You Have To Spend Money To Make Money.

This is something we knew, but didn’t really want to believe. You really do have to spend some money to make any. Whether that be on services, products, or advertising it really is necessary. When you start doing this is does pay off. Literally. This also helps in gaining readers trust. They learn that you are actually buying these things yourself and not just being paid to talk about them. *Disclaimer: We NEVER take on sponsorships if it isn’t something we are very passionate about and actually like. Some bloggers do not follow that way of thinking.

It’s Not Easy.

This was one of the biggest lessons I learned personally. I really did think it was going to be a little easier. I have a lot of friends and reach and so does Ashley. I thought it would be really simple to gain a quick audience and get up and running. Turns out, a lot of the people we knew were not familiar with blogging, and still quite frankly don’t understand it. Breaking through those barriers are tough.

You Will Never Please Everyone.

You will never forget the first time you get a hate or troll comment. It really does hit you hard, but they best thing you can do is get back up again. You just have to think, they really aren’t attacking you. They are attacking themselves. The good thing about this industry is that you are your own boss. You can write and do whatever you want on your blog. If someone doesn’t like it, they have the choice to leave.

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It Takes Time To Gather An Audience.

This goes back to my point above. I honestly thought we would gain a bigger audience quicker, but that really was me being naive. It takes so much time to build a genuine audience. You can’t lose hope when someone or several people unfollow you. It just means they weren’t meant to be. We have built a good group of people here and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We would much rather have genuine followers who we have a connection with than have millions of people who don’t care.

Never Compare Yourself to other bloggers.

I’ve never really been someone who compares themselves to others based on looks or beauty or clothes, but at the beginning of us blogging I started comparing our blogs. Is it clean enough? Do we post enough? Oh we should do a post like that they did. This can kill you, and I think it did for awhile. The first year was hard, but when we found our own voice we really found our niche. Everyone’s blogs are different and that’s okay.

We absolutely love each and every one of you. We are so thankful that you come over to our blog and watch our videos. We love sharing our lives with you, and can’t wait to continue doing so. When we all have eachother’s backs we can conquer the world!

-Shelbs xx

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