Dainty Alice


A pretty little LUSH, Beauty & Lifestyle blog.


Blogging Expectations VS Reality


When we all first started out fresh-faced blogging newbies, we had big, shiny ideas of what to expect from blogging. Would we become famous overnight and be hailed as the next Zoella? Would brands be clambering at our feet to send us buckets of samples? As lovely as it would be, we quickly found out that this isn’t the case. Here's four classic blogging expectations vs the reality.

Writing posts

Writing posts is a blogger's bread and butter. It's the good stuff which fits in neatly between the photos and a pretty theme. We all like to imagine ourselves as gorgeous, Tumblr-esque girls sat tapping away on chic Macbooks in the park whilst sipping a Starbucks PSL, whereas in reality writing posts is more often being sat in bed on your dad's old laptop, slurping supernoodles and refusing to get dressed. (We've all been there.)


Taking photographs

A huge white studio, filled with gorgeous props, blankets and coffee on tap teamed with a Photography degree, state-of-the art photoshop and a £20000 DSLR camera as big as your head. This is the blogger's dream, and often what I assumed I would need if I ever wanted to make it big. Nah. Turns out all you actually need for blog photos is good lighting, a basic camera, white sticky-back plastic and a free photo editor such as PicMonkey. Job's a good'un lass.


Blogging space

Search 'blogging space' or 'home office' on Pinterest and you'll be bombarded with images of clean IKEA desks, fresh flowers and neatly arranged matching stationary. Walk into my 'blogging space' and you'll find me in bed with various notebooks scattered around me. While I would love a proper space to keep all my notes and props together, I'm certainly managing to still function as a kick-ass blogger without it and you should too.


Brand collabs

So now you're a super-duper cool blogger, you inbox is going to be filled 24/7 with awesome opportunities and the postman will be struggling to carry the weight of all your copious amounts of free makeup. Err, no. While I do receive a couple of brand emails every week, most of them hardly ever fit the theme of my blog, and some are just a bit rubbish. Not gonna lie, some collabs have been absolutely awesome and I have loved them, but I'm not exactly receiving bundles of MAC, Benefit & Too Faced through my letterbox everyday. That's just not what being a blogger is all about.


What were your initial blogging expectations?
And what was you biggest reality check?

25 comments

  1. That studio would be the dream haha :D
    Loved this!

    ~ Jasmin N
    Little Things With Jassy
    Bloglovin’

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  2. This is so true! You imagine having everything scheduled and ready to go but no...everything's a last minute scramble haha!

    Emmy x
    Whisperingtwenties.co.uk

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  3. Hey,
    Just came across your blog! (fellow Girl Gang awesome person!) This is such a fun post!
    You know in my case it's a bit dfferent though. I didn't go down the all-white route as a blogger. I figured my mind, heart, and soul were just way too colorful and so was my room. So, I ended up with a super colorful blog that's a cross between cute-sassy-fantabulous-awesome! :D Now I can pretty much use any corner of my room as a photo spot because I get instant backdrops no matter where I choose to potograph in my room! It's so cool!
    I hope you'll come find me :)
    ~ Saraallie
    Sara Writes ~ The Crazy Life of a Silly Little Sister

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  4. Love this, so true!

    www.libertylife.me

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  5. I think our expectations are pretty similar, however I do work from my desk majority of the time, because I hate hunching over on my bed to see what's on the screen haha! x

    www.sheintheknow.co.uk

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  6. Having my own blogging office would be such a dream haha! Fab post.

    Alice | alicemaysnell

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  7. I totally agree with this! I'm lucky enough to have some good cameras because of my uni course but I definitely don't have a blogging space except for my bed and some books to haha.

    Kayleigh Zara
    http://www.kayleighzaraa.com

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  8. This is the real things that happen to me as blogger too! Oh My God. I always think about this perfect set of working space etc. Turns out, I do pretty good writing when I'm on bed. LOL.

    Thank you for sharing this!

    Hanifa,
    honeyvha.com

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  9. Great post. I am planning something similar soon. My first 6 months blah blah. I wholeheartedly concur with all you say. My photography is my Sony smart phone. My work space as a table in the conservatory I am luck there (although I type this from my lap on the sofa) go figure and I assure you I have no desire to be the next Zoella. I just 'wanna' write.

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  10. Great post. I enjoyed reading this.
    When I started with blogging I had no
    expectations at all. I started because of pure love. I love writing, it's my way of expressing my feelings. Thanks to my blog I've done some great collabs, met an amazing new people, interviewed beautiful souls.. and I couldn't be more thankful for all those opportunities. I think the most important thing is - do this with love. :)

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  11. Haha - the photo-part got me as well. I remember wondering "does every bloody blogger own a piece of bloody marble to take photos with!?!" I'm quite happy with my basic camera and a little imagination... along with a VSCO app.
    Katja xxx
    www.katnapped.com

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  12. Yep sounds about right. I blog on my tiny chromebook at my little coffee table. And blogger collabs? Doubt it! Hahaha. It's fine though, I still enjoy it, it's therapeutic for me. :)

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  13. I may or may not be on a laptop, in bed, replying to posts and looking for new blogs.
    This post is not only fabulous but completely on point.

    Brecca
    Ohheywow.com

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  14. Couldn't agree more :D. Especially to the brand collaborations one - the only offer I ever received was to review a Clarisonic knock-off. Not my cuppa tea.

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  15. This was such a great post! I'll admit, the last one totally applied to me at first, but then I got into the process of blogging and felt better about not having a river of blogger mail.

    But I do have a (six year old) MacBook ;)!

    xx
    Emily

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  16. I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS POST!!! it is actually so true aswell

    Sophiaaaxo.com

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  17. This is so true!! Having an actual office to blog in would be dreamy but I write most of my posts at the kitchen table! xo
    www.misszarabelle.com

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  18. I had no expectations when I started blogging, knew nothing about it. Did not even know Pinterest existed. Now 18 months on I am loving all I have learned and all the opportunities that have come my way.

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  19. I didn't have any expectations when i started blogging. I had read a lot about blogging and wanted to do so many things but i am still learning something every day. I just hope that as time goes by i will do all blogging things a little bit easier and effortless.

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  20. Lovely read....I didn't have huge expectations when I started blogging. I believe little beginnings are important for us to appreciate growth...so yea...start writing on your bed and work towards that office space of your dream

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  21. That blogging space though 😍
    I have just recently started blogging so my expectations are on the down low. Your post really helps me in structuring my expectations even more appropriately and make the best out of my blog ☺️
    xx
    J

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  22. Oh my god, this post was so fun to read! Seriously couldn't agree more to the points you have written!!

    Oindrila,
    beforbeauty.com

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  23. So much of this rings MASSIVELY true - I would LOVE a studio! The great part about the new house I just moved into is that we chose one with an extra room so I could have a home office so I'm working on getting that set up now!

    Britt | http://alternativelyspeaking.ca/

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  24. Totally agree about the photography in that it is all about lighting and not so much if you have a big DSLR. I am working on my designated work space, but getting there!

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Every single comment means so much to me, thanks for making me smile! :)