My journey as an Influencer/Lifestyle blogger

When my youngest daughter was one, I was lost in motherhood and in desperate need of something that was ME. A friend suggested I start a blog, having written on years before and loving to write. It seemed a good idea, so one Jnauary day, I put fingers to keyboard and started writing.

In that first year, when I was writing about our days, I had no idea that it would grow into something I could call a career. Something that would support me and my five children. That would allow me to work around my family, and stay home as a single Mother.

What began as a simple diary, turned into a parenting blog. I started to write about my parenting style, our home education journey, shared crafts and recipes that my kiddos loved, and tips for managing motherhood.

I can remember the very first brand collaboration request I got sent. It was for a shoe website, and they sent me a gorgeous pair of Joules wellington boots. I was kind of in shock that I was being given a pair of boots in exchange for sharing them on my blog! From there, things began to take off. I got more requests, at first for items for me to review -sharing on my blog and across my social media.

Then I started to get paid work – working with brands on fun campaigns to showcase their products, talking about topics that were relevant, featuring brands on my blog and on my Instagram account.

Ten years on since I started writing this blog, it is my main source of income. I have worked incredibly hard} to build up my brand, to grow my audience and engage with them – I have made some fantastic friends through thsi platform, and had some amazing opportunities. Influencer marketing is so incredibly useful for brands to partake in. Utilising influencers to advertise your products is a great way to ensure that they get in front of your target audience, the approval of an influencer gives their followers confidence in the product. I only ever endorse products I would actually use, and that I acutally like. My followers trust that I am open and honest with them, and I would never push something that isn’t relevant to my niche, or that I haven’t actually found to be as good as it seems.

There has been a huge growth in lifestyle bloggers and influencers recently, one that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. People such as Jennifer Wakumelo are fantastic examples of influencers today, creating a brand that has a strong message and a following of people who connect with that message.

The key to successful Influencer marketing is to ensure that the brand is a good fit for your audience and message. I won’t accept pitches from companies that go against my ethics, or clash with the way that I live my life. I ensure that whatever I am promoting fits in as naturally as possible, and that I have an honest opinion to give – I am not here to parrot marketing spiel, but rather give truthful recommendations.

I am incredibly lucky to have seen the growth that I have from this blog, I have put hours and hours of work in behind the scenes to get where I am today.