Blogging is dead!…or is it?

My journey to 100K subscribers

I’ve been a ‘part time’ blogger for a few years now. In 2019, when I started my first blog, earning money online, writing about your passion and watching the money rolling in was pretty unheard of.

It was the kind of stuff that most of us thought could only happen to a few chosen ones.

At the time, I was working for myself, running my busy wedding cake design studio. If you haven’t guessed it, that’s just a fancy name for being a cake maker. I was doing alright and after a slow start, I started to make some ‘real’ money.

Now, please! Don’t let this distract you. I suffered far too long from a terrible disease — shiny object syndrome. To the point where I could have (and probably should have) written a blockbuster sequel to the ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’. My obsession was on other level.

But despite the pretty picture I just portrayed to you (and please don’t rush to set up your cake parlour), things were not really the way they might have seemed on the outside.

There was always this nagging voice inside. While I loved designing the cakes — I would obsess over colour palettes and flower arrangements, creating compelling illustrations for my customers for way too long. This was the fun part.

But then of course, the day came when I had to deliver The Cakes. As I classed myself to be a boutique baker; that’s short for a baker who charges shit loads of money for something that someone with less self worth would sell you for a fraction of a price — I had to deliver each time.

The pressure was on. Especially that I was baking and decorating most of my cakes with my 2 kiddies, aged 3 and 6 months at the time, sitting on the counter, covered in royal icing.

I also have to admit that my design skills were far better than my baking skills. But, determination and hard work always paid off. Receiving only 5 star reviews on Google and across all other media was a nice feeling.

But then.

I was delivering one of my biggest cakes to date, a whopping 6 tier beauty, filled with over 500 handmade sugar flowers, already assembled at the back of my car when a van pulled out in front of me from a junction. I was doing just under 50 miles an hour and as I slammed my brakes on in my 2014 Beetle, the cake went …— I let you use your imagination.

“Oh Sh*t!!, what now??” — a was screaming to myself whilst at the same time pulling a straight face at the driver who had almost got my car written off, stripped me off of my boutique baker title and ruined some poor youngsters wedding who decided to splash out £1500 for a wedding cake.

“Sorry mate.” — he mumbled sincerely, lifting his thumbs up as if to say, “It sucks to be you.”

I think he could probably tell from my expressions that I was pretty pissed.

But, I got my shit together and showed him ‘thumbs up’ as I was whispering to myself, “Fuck you.”

Once he drove off, I parked my car up in a lay-by to examine the damage.

I was shaking like a leaf and could literally see my heart trying to jump out of my chest. As I opened the car boot with a knot in my stomach, bracing myself to face the humiliation, the negative reviews and my life being destroyed because of a m.o.r.o.n who forgot to pay attention — to my surprise, I found the cake fully intact. I mean there were a few squashed sugar flowers, but nothing I couldn’t covered up.

“Phew. I think we can get away with this.” — I gathered myself together and slowly drove the 6 tier beast to the wedding venue, half an hour down the road from me.

But on the way home, I couldn’t help but reflect.

Counting my blessings, I had to face reality. As much as I enjoyed getting paid for my cakes, working for myself, spending hours creating visually pleasing designs, being a cake maker was hard.

It was bloody hard. Especially that I didn’t particularly enjoy baking, neither was I good at it. But there was one thing I was good at — design.

I loved being creative, bringing ideas to life. I didn’t however want to be an artist. I was yet to figure this thing out.

The beginning of my blogging journey

I spent that weekend in great introspection.

I also received an email from the bride saying that she loved the cake, but by the time they went to cut it, they noticed it was noticeably tilting to one side. She did not however notice the squashed flowers at the back .. phew.

I explained what had happened and she accepted a £100 refund. After this, we all went on our merry ways and lived happily ever after.

I set up my cake business as a way of escaping my previous job as a nurse. I was working for the national health, earning a few pennies above minimum wage, doing shift work. A soul-sucking, mentally and physically exhausting job. You might have guessed it, I did not enjoy it. It paid ‘alright’. I mean, I could get credit cards with high credit limits to continue fuelling my shopping addiction, but that’s not something to really brag about.

My cake business was my first real entrepreneurial venture.

I invested thousands into equipment and even had my kitchen redesigned to fit for purpose. And whilst it got me out of the shift work and shit pay, I somehow always had a different vision in my mind.

A vision where I would wake up in the morning, take my dog for a long walk along the 3 mile beach 10 minutes from my house, taking pictures of her in nature, then spend ours editing them in photoshop and get paid for it.

That’s right. I know it sounds pretty absurd. It sounded even more insane four years ago. But, the universe works in mysterious ways.

I was scrolling through Instagram later on that day when an ad kept popping up.

“Businesses aren’t born babe. They’re built. I’ll teach you how to build a profitable creator business. Blogging is the future. Say goodbye to your 9–5 and enjoy eternal freedom for the rest of your life. Come and join me for my free masterclass. Click the link below and I’ll see you there.”

Wow! Really? This young lady is willing to give away the secret to eternal happiness for free? Count me in babe!

And after listening to this sweetheart for a mere 60 minutes, I was in. I could feel it in every cell of my body. I was meant to be a blogger.

I spent £560 on the course, and the next few days glued to my computer screen, soaking up the knowledge this wonderful soul was sharing with me. In as little as 7 days, I built my first WordPress Blog, created my first email campaign, I was introduced to online tools and social media profiles I’d never heard of before.

I could feel my life changing rapidly. I was becoming a blogger. I was making my dreams come true.

After what seemed like an eternity, but in ‘reality’, although time is just an illusion, was only about 10 days in total, my awareness expanded exponentially. I could feel my new life unfolding right in front of me.

I could almost touch the keys to my new home overlooking the sea. I could taste the Mediterranean air in my lungs, I was so ready.

But after 100 blog posts and 12 long months making a total of £0.00 from my blog in the year of 2020, I took the decision to close down my new business experiment and stop investing more time and money into it.

Here I was in 2020, and just before the world went into a complete standstill, I was still baking. I went from creating 6 tier masterpieces to a box of 12 cupcakes at a time, if that. My earnings hit rock bottom, despite supplying cakes to my friend who set up a take-away coffee trailer that became an absolute hit during lockdown.

I wasn’t happy. But I wasn’t happy about not being able to bake. I was unhappy because I stopped writing.

This is when during the pandemic, I launched my second blog. I put everything into practice I learned in the Blogger Bootcamp less than 18 month ago.

I was posting between 20–30 pins a day, writing multiple articles daily, putting together countless ‘How to’ tutorials and e-books, giving them away for free.

The first few weeks, I barely had any visitors. All my hard work and efforts would convert to around 20–30 website visits a day. Most of them coming from Pinterest. My e-books weren’t doing that well either.

But, I was happy and fulfilled. I was writing about a topic close to my heart at the time — design.

My cakes were still making me just about enough money to survive. I’d maxed out all my credit cards and used up all my savings. Then May 2021 came. I decided to close the doors on my boutique wedding cake business for good. All I was left with was a £560 investment that had yet to yield any returns.

Every day I kept going. Networking on Insta, publishing pins religiously, writing consistently.

And slowly the subscribers started rolling in. Some days one, other days a 100. I was very pleased with my progress. Celebrated every little win.

Twelve months later I had almost a 100, 000 subscribers to my email list. My hard work was paying off.

One day I was chatting on Insta with a guy I met at the beginning of my journey. He was interested in collaborating with me. I turned down the offer as in my heart I was already ready to set out on another adventure. My mind was filling up with a new vision. Slowly but surely it became apparent that my design tuition journey was coming to an end. After 14 months of consistent writing, I decided it was time to move on.

I sold my blog and shut the door on yet another one of my entrepreneurial endeavours.

If I Could Do It, You Can Too

I’ve come a long way in the last 4 years, and so has the world. Having a dream of making money from your bedroom whilst typing away in your pyjamas, sipping your morning coffee is now becoming the norm.

More and more people are waking up every day and giving this lifestyle a go. But as millions are flooding the internet, creating infinite number of ‘How to’ tutorials, and sharing their wisdom online, is there really any room left for you?

The short answer is, YES! As long as you are ready for a rocky adventure, your ego being shattered into a million pieces, prepared to open your mind to possibilities and prioritise learning to trust your intuition — you’ll do just fine.

There’s plenty out there for all of us.

Creating your own blog is no different to writing on a platform like this one, except that you own all the rights. Whilst social media platforms and blogging websites are great to get your message out there, and maybe even make a few pennies here and there — they are completely out of your control.

One minute you could be on top of the world, the next sinking deep into sorrow.

If you are serious about taking your writing and life to the next level, launching your own blog could be the thing for you.

As for me, I registered my two new domains a few days ago.