Since the conception of momdot, aside from having a community blog in which to spend my time and knowledge, the goal ultimately was to make money while doing something I am passionate about.
Let me repeat: Make Money doing something I am passionate about.
That does not make me ashamed. I am not ashamed to put ads on the site I work all day on. In fact, I just signed another contract. I am not ashamed to send rates to companies that want my virtual real estate. I am not ashamed to sell text links. I am not ashamed to support the family that I so proudly represent here. And I am not ashamed to tell people that don’t believe that same sentiment that they are living in some nonsensical world where my time doesn’t equal money.
I cannot tell you how completely and utterly furious it makes me to see anyone downgrade the importance of moms being able to take their websites, youtube channels, and blogs to the next level of creating a full on income from their site.
And even worse, I am consistently seeing “big” bloggers give shoddy “advice” to others that they should work for free. In fact, I heard recently a conference even touted that moms need to work free for companies in order to market themselves. If this is the advice being passed out at conferences, I’ll pass. The second corporations entered the world of mom blogging was the second it became an industry.
My blog is not your internship program.
You want me? No problem.
But let me warn you, I’m no ones do-girl.
You can take me or leave me and its up to your company if I am the right representative for you, but the difference in me and others is I know my WORTH. I don’t sit here and get arthritis in my fingers, gain 7500 twitter followers, and sign up for every social networking site under the sun so I can spread the goodness and love of someones multimillion dollar corporation in hopes that someone else notices me.
Notices me for what? For more free advertising? Puhleese.
When was the last time you walked into Walmart and they gave you $20 in a gift card in hopes that your shopping experience is fabulous and you tell your friends about it.
If you don’t want to compensate me, hire someone in your office to be your social networking guru and I wish you luck and success and there are no hard feelings.
That should be everyone’s attitude.
You know why review blogging pisses me off so much? Not because I think moms are selling out too much (although some are) and not because content is a way of the past (even though partly it is), but because there are so many moms that have yet to figure out what their worth is.
Moms are allowing themselves to be used.
USED.
Companies are pimps and moms are the whores.
And guess what? The pimps are collecting 100% of the moola at the end of the day. Dude. Don’t whores deserve even $5 for new heels or something? And while “mom bloggers” are not technically a group that has a union and has to follow each other, nor would I ever want it to be, those that lead and stand out should realize that they have a responsibility. A responsibility to educate the companies and the bloggers and set an example. The more they accept free as a form of payment or encourage it to everyone around them, the more free will show up and everyone else hits a glass ceiling on monetary success.
And if you are new…it feels glamorous. Exciting. OMG, I got invited somewhere. They picked me. Yeah, I get it. Trust me. It’s cool when you’re on the “list”. But eventually those invites and requests and posts turn into real work- atleast if you are doing it right. And when they do, that’s the point you realize that what I am saying has a real ring of truth to it.
Do you know what happens to a company that gives everything out for free? It fails. You want to know why mom bloggers around you fail? This.
Its simply economics.
The time away from your family in traveling, or advertising, or marketing, or posting. It’s work. And its not just about the products. It’s not about the free product bartering. I’m actually in favor of some of that. It’s overall. If you haven’t taken your site and created an advertising value to it, a skill, a way to bring in some compensation, then why would you ever consider day in and day out of lowering your value to nothing?
Do you want to know how much money I made from MomDot site last year? Not products, in cash. Over $20K.
I can guarantee you that my site isn’t the most popular, has the most traffic, or has the most involvement online in social arenas. I cant even decide on a template from month to month. I hate twitter, I came to facebook late in the game, and I don’t hang out with everyone cause I don’t have time. In fact I know lots of bloggers with less traffic then I have that make as much as, or more than I do, with their blogs.
They’re non-niche parenting mom blogs. They know their worth.
And I realize $20K is chump change in the real world. I have a freaking college education and years of experience making millions of dollars for companies. I am a creative genius that refuses to spend anytime away from my child. But sitting in the privacy of my own office, hanging out with friends online, and creating content that I believe is interesting, controversial, helpful, or fun, I added a supplemental income to my families household because I came up with a plan and put it into action.
And my blog isn’t quite 2 years old yet.
Make no mistake here; that’s not a brag. That’s me telling you to stop selling yourself short and to stop letting other bloggers , “big bloggers”, tell you that you have to gain traction by working your butt off for free.
What you have to do is set some goals, put something unique together, get an audience, become a personality or presence, and make it happen. Not everyone will make it happen. Not everyone will make $1000 a month or even $100 a month. But I can assure you that your income will always be $0 if you keep taking on every little thing that comes your way because someone dangled a carrot in front of you, and 400 other bloggers, faces in hopes for some futuristic deal that may never present itself.
Do you know what I do when someone turns down my negotiation? I delete the email and move on. I don’t lose one bit of sleep over it. It’s not my loss, it’s their loss. Its one less thing I have to do in the morning. I put my energy into something that makes me money or makes me happy.
And you know, I do work with some companies for no cash-money compensation. I’m not saying if someone doesn’t pay you, totally move on. There are exceptions to every rule. I’ll help out friends who ask for my help, I do it for companies I really really love, I try to help out mompreneurs (like this New York Blogger) consistently, and I barter for someone if it has some benefit to my family like a trip or a household item I need or want.
Again, I know my worth.
Sometimes that worth really is the product barter! But it took me some deep involvement in the blogosphere for the past year to realize what others were saying before me. There is far too much undervaluing going on every day around us. And the sad part is, the goals women have online don’t match the perception they are giving.
Do you know what companies see when you work for free? That your worth is free. That the amount of effort you are giving out and the value you have assigned to that work is zero.
And you know, I don’t blame companies one damn bit. I don’t. Cause if I had a company, I would absolutely be using the lowest bidder with the largest audience. That, my dear, is us. We are the lowest bidder with the largest collective audience on the web. Where is all this free advertising going for companies? How much overhead is being saved? It’s not reflecting in my grocery bill, I can tell you that.
If you are a leader in this community, if people look up to you, start doing everyone a favor and support the collective goals around you by pushing them forward, not holding them back. There is no magic number. There is no “you have been a blogger for 4 years and NOW you can make money”. Could you imagine what it would be like if we turned our selves into more of a united front?
This is capitalism.
It’s day one, baby.
~Trisha
Trisha,
Just this week I got a call from a VERY WELL KNOWN high-end stroller company. They wanted me to host s giveaway for a new stroller for them. I said, great, what kind of marketing dollars do you have to support this….the conversation continued. Bottom line: They wanted me to host for free. I turned it down, but told them I welcome a paid relationship whenever they are ready. I value my site and my efforts. Thank you for putting this into words.
Yay! Great post!
Excellent post. I know just how annoying and frustrating it is when people think your blog is a free service. Yeah I was like free? Why is my time of no value? So I saw this and went oh hell yeah!!
This a great post and I have passed it on to a few blogger friends. It’s so weird how you look at things differently. I quit selling on eBay last year because dumb people came in as my competition, selling for less than the cost of shipping and offering FREE shipping! They were basically paying to sell and ship! I said “I’m Out!” I knew my time was worth more than that! But, here I am in the same boat with my site! It’s ridiculous, I never related the two. Thanks Tricia for opening my eyes and reminding me that my time is worth more! I’ll stand strong and remember that from now on.
Dian
I agree 100% with everythin you said – my Blog is starting to generate income and it is exciting, knowing your WORTH is Key! Great Post:)
Andrea
LOVE this post!! This is the reason I am reluctant to get into the mom blog game. I’m a mom and I’m a blogger, but it seems that the mom blog thing has turned into a charade where everyone but the women actually WRITING the posts are making money. Big brands pay agencies thousands to orchestrate blogger campaigns; in turn, the women actually doing the work and spreading the word for these companies, make either next to nothing or nothing at all. Bloggers are spending huge amounts of time writing, working on their blog templates, networking, traveling on their own dime….all for what? A free product now and then? A few bucks a month in ad revenue? A chance to win a gift card?
It seems to me there are very few “haves”–bloggers who are actually making appreciable income off blogging, and those are the ones who’ve been at it a long time and have built huge followings. But for most others, it seems like they’re getting taken advantage of at every turn.
What’s funny is that now Nestle is apparently trying this model with digital marketing professionals and they’re like “are you kidding?”
Great post. I have women in my (offline) mom’s group that blog and claim to do it just so their family and friends can keep up. I guess that’s okay. When I started, I totally wanted to see what was going on and what the opportunities were. I spent hours and hours researching and posting and marketing. Hubster complained that I was spending too much time on the computer and I explained you can’t start a business without putting time into it. I’ve always thought of my blogging as a business, albeit one I love. When I see posts about not monetizing I wonder “Why wouldn’t you?”
I’m no where close to that 20k, but I know I’m worth something. Thanks for posting this so others can see it from a different point of view.
I enjoyed your insight, thank you. This is a topic I am seeing more and more lately and I agree with you. It is hard to know where to start I think as far as what to charge for blog reviews and things like that. How did you decide?
You said, “I know my worth.” I’d LOVE to read more on how you finally came to that conclusion.
You so rock!! You just made me realize that I have been selling myself waaaaaay too short. As a matter of fact, I am going to remove some “free” publicity posts on my blog right now… why am I settling for way less than I deserve?? Thank you so very much for giving me the wake up call I so desperately needed!!
Thanks for such an inspiring post! You have motivated me to take another direction with my online journey! Thanks Again Jaime
Thanks for this. I’ve been sliding down the slippery slope of taking every opportunity that comes my way and needed this reminder of my potential worth.
Great article! I’ve only been blogging for a little over a month and was so excited when I received a box of someone’s product today for FREE because of my blog… I’ll think twice about that excitement and my response next time. Thank you! – Michelle
I made the mistake of responding to every pitch I recieved and was totally overwhelmed. I lost precious time away from my family fulfilling my obligatons. Don’t fall for it! Thank you so much for this post and helping me realize my worth!
AMEN! I couldn’t agree more, I just wish more mom’s would stand up for what they are worth. If none of us would post for free they WOULD HAVE TO pay us all!
*whistles* Woo! You go girl! I completely agree with everything you said.
Love Love Love your insight on this! I to agree, I don’t work for free. My time is too valuable to my family and life! Thanks for a great read!!! I will be sending it to all my blogging friends!
Could it be that the bigger bloggers are giving away this ‘free advice’ with the sole purpose of driving out the competition. Giving away your time for free is called charity not a business.
I’m still new to blogging and haven’t made any money yet, but I do have a part time photography business that is in its infancy. I have done a lot of research of the competition in my area and it’s ridiculous how some people don’t value their time and effort. I mean, it makes it hard for me to set prices that are adequate for my own compensation when, the knuckle-heads out there are undercutting me. I mean, when I do the math of some of their packages, it makes me wonder how any of them REALLY make any money. I mean a wedding is anywhere from 8-12 hours of time in one day, and then days of post production and supply costs…when does it stop being worth it, if you’re priced so low? For me the post production is irrelevant because it’s time at home that I don’t need a babysitter for, so I could either sit at home watching TV or spend it working on a client job that brings cash to my household. The actual photo shoot & material costs are where I want to make my compensation from.
I can imagine what you’re feeling, all the people accepting work for free makes it THAT much harder for the rest of us to prove our worth.
After being “on the bloggy scene” for almost a full year now, your post really struck me. I have had no problems up until now accepting goodies for a review in return, but when it comes down to setting up giveaways and ad space I’m going to keep your post in mind. “Knowing Your Worth” like you said – is key – Thanks Lady!