Before I discovered blogging, I enjoyed writing - whether
it's my thoughts, my idea of a song, a story or movie synopsis. I knew about
websites but had no idea how it works; I would search Google for news (well
mostly celeb gossip or anything entertainment) and it gives me different sites
to check information).
Growing up I did a lot of writing (not sure if they are still relevant now) and I had so many things I wanted to do - like being a singer, writer, actress, dancer, presenter, talk show host (just anything that has to do with entertainment). I did the singing thing for some months, acting for some time as well, danced in a group in my university, presenting and hosting a show I have not done yet (was a host for a friend's birthday...that counts, no? Okay...). Anyways out of these career choices, one I've been able to keep doing is writing.
I invested on my first laptop
After my NYSC, which was in rivers state, we were paid off 110,000 naira and since I wanted to work on my scriptwriting skill, I got a laptop with 80,000naira (yeah I know you are wondering why I used almost all my money to buy a laptop. To me it was an investment and I believed in my writing that I was so excited about this new phase. They probably ripped me off with that amount but that's by the way now... besides laptops were quite expensive back then and I needed something that would last and it did - for five years, was that not a good investment?).
I was making a few dollars in few months and Google sent me the second approval after six months. It was exciting because I have never been able to make money from what I enjoy doing. As all these things were happening, I became more obsessed and wanted to get the best for my blog, I hired a web designer to change the look of my blog. Let’s just say things didn't go well with the engineer, he was unprofessional and it really messed up my blog for months - he took it to Word Press, I wasn't technically inclined and was finding it difficult publishing my post which involved lots of images and videos. What he told me would take 2weeks was taking months so I told him to take it back to blogger. Only God knows what else he did cause since then my blog has never been the same and not in a good way... I felt like giving up but I kept on sharing blog post after almost six months without posting. My page views dropped drastically and my corporate job was not permitting me to post regularly and it kept tanking. Sometime in 2015, Linda Ikeji revealed she bought a house in Banana Island for 650 million and my obsession began again –this time is was all about making money that i doing what I hope to do for my blog when I first started.
Growing up I did a lot of writing (not sure if they are still relevant now) and I had so many things I wanted to do - like being a singer, writer, actress, dancer, presenter, talk show host (just anything that has to do with entertainment). I did the singing thing for some months, acting for some time as well, danced in a group in my university, presenting and hosting a show I have not done yet (was a host for a friend's birthday...that counts, no? Okay...). Anyways out of these career choices, one I've been able to keep doing is writing.
Weird cause I never saw myself as a writer, though I enjoyed
writing and love telling stories as a child. No matter how I got distracted
with wanting to be this person or that person, I always end up going back to
writing. Somehow, writing to me is like
my safe haven; where if I'm feeling sad, happy, confused or overwhelmed and I
just start writing, I get this sense of clarity, in some cases, closure....it’s
also really therapeutic.
After my NYSC, which was in rivers state, we were paid off 110,000 naira and since I wanted to work on my scriptwriting skill, I got a laptop with 80,000naira (yeah I know you are wondering why I used almost all my money to buy a laptop. To me it was an investment and I believed in my writing that I was so excited about this new phase. They probably ripped me off with that amount but that's by the way now... besides laptops were quite expensive back then and I needed something that would last and it did - for five years, was that not a good investment?).
Why I'm I telling you my life history? I'm just trying to
show you why I started blogging. The thing is I read entertainment website on
celebrities, fashion, movies and music. But I discovered blogging from beauty
and lifestyle blogger Bellanaija, after a while I discovered Linda Ikeji in
2011;it's from Linda Ikeji's blog I realized I can get a blog without paying a
dime (I didn't have money at the time, fresh out of university ,so yeah I could
use a free platform). Linda was using
Google platform blogger at the time and I started doing some research on how to
start mine in 2012.At the beginning, I was just interested in starting my blog
and sharing my thoughts, I wasn't researching the technical part.
PS:
life and dating is my second blog. My
first blog was an entertainment blog (still on but not ready to share the info
since I'm trying to keep my identity for sake of this blog).
Vanity
sets in…
Anyways, I opened the entertainment blog on blogger and
began sharing news on my favorite celebrities, who they were wearing, movies,
music and all of that... It was so much fun, I felt so cool that I had my own website, blog... Then Linda Ikeji bought
her first car and revealed it was from money she was making on her blog, i
started researching on how to make money as well and discovered Google AdSense:
I applied thrice before I got approved, it was on the second year (I became
obsessed that I didn't know when I got approved, it was like three months after
I got approved that I noticed). From 2012 -2014, I was just publishing randomly
(wasn't a consistent blogger-it was due to my corporate job and to be honest,
blogging was a hobby to me, I never imagined making money from it).
Wanted my own car so I hired a web designer
I was making a few dollars in few months and Google sent me the second approval after six months. It was exciting because I have never been able to make money from what I enjoy doing. As all these things were happening, I became more obsessed and wanted to get the best for my blog, I hired a web designer to change the look of my blog. Let’s just say things didn't go well with the engineer, he was unprofessional and it really messed up my blog for months - he took it to Word Press, I wasn't technically inclined and was finding it difficult publishing my post which involved lots of images and videos. What he told me would take 2weeks was taking months so I told him to take it back to blogger. Only God knows what else he did cause since then my blog has never been the same and not in a good way... I felt like giving up but I kept on sharing blog post after almost six months without posting. My page views dropped drastically and my corporate job was not permitting me to post regularly and it kept tanking. Sometime in 2015, Linda Ikeji revealed she bought a house in Banana Island for 650 million and my obsession began again –this time is was all about making money that i doing what I hope to do for my blog when I first started.
Where I'm I going with this? I got distracted by other
bloggers making money from their blogs that I lost sight of why I was blogging.
I started blogging because I enjoyed writing, telling stories and socializing
with people (considering that I'm an introvert, being behind my computer and
conversing with different people online was the perfect way to socialize). When
I was blogging for fun, things were going pretty well without even trying but
when I started blogging to make money like Linda; I made a lot of mistakes and
didn't even make the money.
Decided
to go back to why I love blogging
Blogging started from a childhood hobby and trust me it's
the reason why I'm still doing it despite failing with my first after investing
my time and money. That's why I started
this blog –to have something I can do without trying to please my family or
friends, somewhere I can share my views without worrying about competing.
Normally, I wanted to open another entertainment blog but I wanted a blog where
all contents are originally mine, besides my entertainment blog is still running
(is it where I want it be? Not even
close) and I believe it would excel someday; I just have to patiently keep
working on it - though I'm trying to manage both. If lifehacker.com and bloggertipstricks.com
authors can manage different blogs, I can do that as well *smiles* (I promise
I'm not getting obsessed again, i just need this experiment. Hopefully one 'blog' will not suffer for the
other.
So friends, this is why I started blogging. Writing have
always been a part of me, both consciously and unconsciously so what other way
to showcase it, if not through blogging (well for a start, I hope to be a
bestselling author someday)? In case you are wondering what your purpose in
life is or what you should be doing, try to remember your childhood - what you
did growing up that you were so passionate about (don't underestimate what you
are passionate about) and has financial prospect (you should not starve cause
of your passion).
Side note: its only when you value yourself that people will
value you. Appreciate what you have and put it to good use, you never know who
you are educating, inspiring or entertaining.
Care to share why you started blogging? And how is it going
for you? Everyone must not have a blog; it could be anything...why did you choose
your career path, start a certain business and so on? Please share in the
comment section.
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