What Being an Influencer is REALLY Like

*contains sponsored content*

Hey Owlets,

There’s no doubting that starting a blog has changed my life. I’ve written a different post for every anniversary of starting my blog - they normally look back at some of the amazing things I’ve done that year or what I’ve learnt as a blogger, but this year I decided to take a step back and talk about some of the articles that changed my life from my first post to the dream cruise ship press trip. I talked about how I got there, what happened and some of the amazing experiences I’ve had along the way, but what I didn’t mention is what it’s like behind the scenes of being a blogger.

In my (very biased) eyes, being an influencer is the best job in the world but, in stark contrast to what mainstream media might have you believe, it’s anything but easy. When I tell people I’m a blogger for a living they see fancy holidays for free, gifts arriving at my door every day and people stopping you in the street to tell you they read your blog - in their minds it’s almost a “money for nothing” situation when in reality it’s a really hard and stressful job. As a travel blogger I’m a photographer, copywriter, graphic designer, editor, SEO specialist, travel strategist, publicist, social media manager and accountant. In the traditional world of work you probably wouldn’t go through that many careers in a lifetime, but I do that in a week.

From the outside being an influencer looks like a dream job, but it's usually chaos behind the scenes

Personally I find that creating content is the easy part. As stressed as I can get sometimes, I always love creating content and there is honestly no better feeling than having a “lightbulb moment” where you suddenly think of a brilliant idea that you’re so excited to sit down and write, and when you finally finish and press publish knowing that you’re posting something that you’re really proud of I can’t help but be reminded that I really do love my job.

I find that the hardest part of my job is keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of social media; as much as I want to just write about what makes me happy, you have to consider what people are talking about so you know that people will want to read your article when you hit publish. Another part of this is that you have to keep up with how different social media platforms work, so even when I’m not actively at my desk working I’m still probably scrolling through articles giving advice on how to become an influencer, the best ways to grow your following or engagement, or I’m just scrolling through Twitter to see what’s trending. As a blogger you genuinely just don’t switch off, and multiple times my boyfriend has looked over to see me on my phone and had to tell me to stop working, because it’s so much a part of my life that I genuinely don’t even realise I’m doing it, and I need to be reminded that I can actually take time off! If I go on a family holiday for two weeks I still end up working, because if I don’t I feel like a year has passed by the time I come back - in a world where everything online is instant, it’s all too easy to be left behind if you take your eye off the ball.

As much as I sometimes don’t enjoy the more technical sides of my job, I love that I can both be myself and be surrounded by others in my industry that have a genuine passion for what they do. Building a successful blog can take anywhere from a few months to a few years - there aren’t any shortcuts or easy options to take, so you could be building your blog for years before you even see a penny in revenue. A blog isn’t a get rich quick scheme so if you start your own platforms with the specific intention of making money then you’ll very quickly get burnout - your audience can also usually tell if you are doing what you love or just trying to make a bit of money, so if starting a blog isn’t your passion project then you won’t last very long. The most quickly growing category at the moment is that of art and photography influencers, which goes to show that if you're doing what you love you will build an audience that resonates with your passions.

Honestly, if 5 years ago you had asked me what I wanted to do in life I wouldn’t have known what to say, but now I’m here I genuinely feel like I’m in my dream job. Yes, getting the opportunity to travel as a job sounds like a dream, but it’s not an opportunity that I was given - I worked hard for this, and put thousands of hours into my little passion project before I ever got anything back. So next time you see a photograph of an influencer lying on a beach or on a rooftop with a beautiful view, please don’t think “well that’s better than working for a living” because trust me, we are working just as hard!

I know a lot of you ask what it’s like to be a blogger so I’m planning a part two of this article, talking about what it’s really like to go on a press trip so if you have anything you specifically want to know please let me know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Love and Feathers, 

 The Owlet 💜 

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest