This month I’m celebrating 9 years as a paid professional blogger. That’s right. I’ve been paid to blog since 2011. Even though I started blogging in 2009, it was just an outlet to express myself. Then September 2011 rolled around and I decided I would make blogging a career option for me. Now here we are 9 years later and I’m still creating content that is authentically transparent. If you have been blessed by my content in anyway over the years, please contribute to my cashapp $VernettaRFreeney Thanks for rocking with me. Your support means so much to me.
A couple of years ago I was in a pivotal moment in my life. Not even at a crossroads. I had dug myself into a hole I felt I couldn’t climb out of. A friend reached out to me and told me I needed to remind myself and others just how amazing of a blogger I am. How much I accomplished. Because that would motivate me to recenter myself and keep moving forward. I did that. Now I can celebrate my divine 9 year blogaversary.
This post I will highlight 9 interesting things I’ve done as a blogger that I probably would not have done otherwise.
1 In 2012 I had this idea to host networking events because my anxiety was so high attending others. Just the thought of talking to other people would break me out in a sweat. I remember my first big event to attend a week before I launched my blog and I literally cried for hours before my mom pushed me to attend. Y’all the event was less than half a mile from my condo but I was so nervous that I just cried. So Fusion Tour was started from that experience. A safe, intimate place for women introvert entrepreneurs to connect, learn, network and build their business. To this day, women are still connected to each other, using what they learned and expanding what they had. On top of that this event series won awards for it being different. When I did this there weren’t many other bloggers who travelled the country hosting events to promote their blog.
2 The expansion of Fusion Tour needed cash. I was self-funding and it was overwhelming. I created a concept that I thought was just going to stay in the Houston area. Well, I started receiving requests from other cities across the country. And with those requests came more expenses to take this event there. I entered a pitch competition some investors in Austin, TX were hosting and won. I was shocked because I was competing against “real” businesses to me. I did have an LLC for the blog but I just saw myself as a blogger. They told me the reason I won was the fact I could clearly articulate how the money would be invested and how the tour would make a profit. Having insight into the investing part of business really opened my eyes to possibilities for my blog.
3 In 2013 I had a TV show, Ms. Gamechanger Knows, on the Urban Houston Network in Houston. It was based off my blog at the time, Women Are Gamechangers. The owner of the station came across my blog and invited me to a meeting. The meeting was initially how my blog and the TV station could work together. In the middle of the meeting I guess I impressed him so much that he offered me my own TV show because of how I was able to explain what my blog stood for. It only lasted 1 season but I don’t know any other blogger in Houston who has had a TV show concept created off their blog. I learned so much about TV, producing, getting advertisers, etc. Oh ownership. That was a problem and I learned the hard way. Whew….that experience taught me to never give ownership of the content that is all me to anyone else ever again. That experience really propelled me into a different realm when it came to doing business.
4 When I started blogging I didn’t even know awards were a thing. Yet, I’ve won numerous awards over the years for the content I’ve created for Women Are Gamechangers. I won Best Business award 2 years in a row from the Black Weblog Awards as well as a host of others. What touched my heart was how often my blog was nominated for awards. The content created came from my heart and to be recognized for it, I was honored. What I love about the blogging world is how supportive people are when they know you’re genuine. And their support will show up for you in ways you could never imagine. That support is why Women Are Gamechangers won so many awards. I pray to build a strong, supportive community with this blog as well.
5 In 2014, I met at a Starbucks with 2 other bloggers about turning a local Facebook group into something more. By June 2015, it was just me and I started to build. I created the country’s first city specific blog association for Black bloggers, Houston African American Bloggers Association. Through blood, sweat, tears and some swears I was able to do something that hadn’t been done. From offering monthly training, paid opportunities, celebrity events, social events, mentoring and more for just $10 a month was unheard of. Yet, it was done. My only regret was not leaving it in the hands of someone capable of growing it when I left. The stretching and growing that happened to me took a couple of years before it clicked on what I actually gained from that experience. I learned how to run an organization that never went in the red, kept a profit and was the top choice when people thought about the industry. That’s only done through precise, strategic execution.
6 I sold Women Are Gamechangers. I had no idea you could sell a blog until I learned that during a twitter chat in 2012 I believe. Either 2012 or 2013 from Kathryn Finney. She shared how she sold her fashion blog so she could focus more on Digital Undivided. Again, the things you learn when you least expect it. The process of selling a blog, getting things unregistered and registered in the new owner’s name, changing over the trademark to the new owner, getting assets to them, etc took a minute but I learned so much. I understand you need to know the value of what you create. There is a market for others to buy that value if you position it correctly. What you created can live on even if you aren’t the one running, managing or operating it.
7 A lady I am connected to on LinkedIn contacted me out of the blue one day. She asked would I be interested in being a judge for the National American Miss pageant in Houston. And it paid. That peaked my interest, lol. I had no clue what judges did but I agreed. The pageant was held at the Royal Sonesta hotel in the galleria area in Houston. So it was a big deal. I was a judge for 2 years. What I liked was definitely the talent the girls brought to the stage. I will never forget this one contestant did a traditional Chinese dance and blew away us judges as well as the audience. It was mind-blowing. What touched my heart the most was the awe-struck looks of the Black contestants and their “entourage” ie their family when they saw a Black judge walking into the room. You can tell it relaxed them a little more. Honestly, I have always enjoyed watching pageants on TV. So to actually get to be a judge was like a dream come true for me. And I was chosen because they thought blogging would be an interesting career choice for the contestants to learn about.
8 I’ve gone on 2 memorable international trips thanks to blogging. My family and I went to Abu Dhabi in 2013 for a month to visit my mom who lived over there at the time. So technically I wasn’t there for blogging. But due to me blogging full-time at that time it allowed me to not worry about a job telling me ‘NO’ I couldn’t go. Also they were filming ‘Furious 7’ when we were over there. It was the movie Paul Walker died while they were filming. Anyway, of course I blogged the experience so people could be there with us as we experienced life in the Middle East. The other memorable trip was to Haiti. Of all the countries in the world I wanted to visit, Haiti was at the top of the list. I have always been fascinated with Haiti since I learned about the Haitian Revolution. I always cheer for people standing up for themselves. OMG, that country is just breathtakingly gorgeous. Yes, this introvert came out of her shell and engaged with the other ladies on the trip. I believe it was about 45 of us from around the world who came to vacation and do some community service. Y’all have to check out my blog post and podcast episode I did about this trip. When ‘rona is over, over I plan to visit the northern part of the country because I didn’t get a chance to travel around up there.
9 Wrote for several major publications. I am a blogger not a journalist. I like to write from my perspective. From a personal viewpoint. But to be able to share on other platforms was huge for me. My niche I wrote about was in the entrepreneurial realm on those platforms. Some of the sites have shut down since, others have given credit to others for my work. Y’all that’s a whole ‘nother blog post about the things I learned working with editors who take credit for the work you researched and wrote. But anyhoo, I did enjoy getting to write about topics that didn’t exactly fit my audience on my blog. As well as expand to reach new people. A few of the pieces you can still read are on Madame Noire, She Owns It and Walker’s Legacy. Read my writing on my blog portfolio page.
As you can tell I have some experience you just can’t buy. I have gone deep in the trenches to learn about the blogging industry in ways that ebooks just can’t ever reveal. If you take nothing else from this post, I challenge you to look at what you’re doing and see where you can create an interesting pivot. You never know where that pivot can take you on your journey. Because these 9 interesting things I’ve done have given a depth to my life’s journey that breaths richness I can inhale forever.
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