Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Hannah Blythe. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hannah, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
– I feel like the blogger/influencer world is huge, and it continues to grow everyday. Everyone seems to have their own style, so it was difficult at first to find my own way of doing things. I read books and articles, listened to podcasts, and even bought a few courses so that I could learn how to do things the right way, for example, setting up my own website. Once I felt like I had the process down, I was able to tweak things into my own style and make a brand for myself.
– I feel like I could’ve continued to take advantage of the resources that I had around me. I think that it doesn’t hurt to reach out to people on social media that have reached the goals you want to achieve. If someone has a big following and you want the same, send them a message and ask them how they grew their audience. If you like someone’s style of editing or camera skills, ask them if they can give you some tips. Use social media to your advantage, the worst thing someone could say is no. And my parents would always tell me, “You have not until you ask not”. I have gotten so many helpful tips from different people I’ve reached out to over the past 2-3 years.
– I think the most essential skills to have as a blogger/influencer is motivation, communication, networking, and authenticity. Motivation is important because there will be days when you don’t feel like creating or posting content, and that’s okay, but the important thing is to keep up the motivation. I have a binder of pictures I’m proud of taking and inspiring messages I’ve gotten from other people, and when I feel down or self-conscious about my content, I look in my binder. Communication is essential because that is what you’re doing with your audience, communicating. Even if you just take pictures, you are communicating to people through your photos. As a blogger, you are communicating to your audience through written words, and you still have to have your personality shine through. People connect with you through what you choose to share with them. Networking is important because you can open whole new doors for yourself by taking matters into your own hands and reaching out to brands on your own. As much as it would be nice to sit back and let the brands come to you, that’s not how you put yourself out there, and that’s not how it is in real life (at least, not from what I’ve seen). You can make friends and business partners from social media, and that’s all based on communication. Authenticity is just as important as the rest of these skills in my opinion, It’s easy to get imposter syndrome, or to feel like your content isn’t as good as other people’s, and that’s normal. But if you are proud of the content you make and you feel like you were truly authentic, then that’s all that matters. I think a lot of people write reviews about places but are not honest about their true opinions just because they were paid by the brand, and that can be harmful because then they end up misleading people. You can gain a community by being yourself and being authentic. Being true to yourself is the best thing you can be.
– I think my main obstacle that stood, and sometimes still continues to stand in my way of learning more about the blogging world is my self esteem. It’s something I’ve struggled with for years now, but developing those skills I mentioned earlier helps me conquer through it. I have things that remind me of why I continue to do what I do, from my motivation binder, to quotes I’ve saved on Pinterest, to verses in the Bible. Having low self-esteem can affect my will to learn more about my field because sometimes it can make me want to quit content creation and blogging. I just remind myself that this is something I like to do for myself. Find something that you can do all day, even if it was for free, and you just might have found your passion. I love to write, I love to take pictures, I love to discover cool places, and I would still post about my adventures even if I had no audience to share it with.
Hannah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi, I’m Hannah and I am a food and travel blogger located in the DMV. I started blogging when I first started college, but I didn’t fully launch my website to the public until about 3 years later (crazy, right?). I started to look into the blogging/influencing world when people kept telling me that I had good recommendations for things to do and places to go. I was already taking pictures and posting them on my account with 38 followers, so I kept going, and started to develop my own editing style, tagging brands, and sharing my adventures, and soon, I had brands reaching out to me. The first year I started taking this journey seriously, it still felt surreal, because I was still doing what I’ve always enjoyed doing, and realized I could turn this into a side hustle, and even a full time job! (I’m not there yet though, lol). I provide different things for brands that can allow them to get some extra exposure, this can include blog posts, static feed posts on Instagram, TikTok videos or reels, and even story bundles. My goal is to help get the word out about brands and share my experiences with the world. I am really proud of my pictures and my writing skills, I am confident that my personality shines through the content I share, and I am confident that I am being my true self. I want people to know that I am eager to share my adventures and I have a passion for helping people realize that they don’t need to have a lot of money to have a good time. And this is coming from a freshly graduated college student so trust me, I know a lot about trying to save some coins, lol. I would also like to start a Youtube channel because I think that’s another way to show my travels in an authentic way. I hope that one day, I will turn this into a full time job, but I am happily enjoying the process of getting to that stage. I hope that I can inspire people to get out of the house and explore the places around them.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
So, I started my blogging journey when I was in college, and I bought a course that gave the full rundown of the blog building process. The course was expensive, but they offered a payment plan which I used. I took the money I made from my college job and put it all towards building my blog. I quickly realized while taking the course that building a blog will cost way more than I thought it would. There are lots of components that go into creating a website, from the theme, to the domain name, and so much more. But I would pay for it all over again if it meant I could have a website that I’m truly proud of. Even though I think that course was super expensive, I think it was worth the money because it gave me the tips and resources I needed to start my blogging journey. If you’re going to invest in one thing, please invest in your resources, it’ll go a long way.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is to inspire people to go out and do things. I’ve heard from so many people that the place where we live is boring and there’s nothing to do here, that they hate it here, etc. And hearing that makes me sad because I know there’s things to do out here that they can enjoy, but they don’t take the time out to look for them. I want to motivate people to change their mindsets about the amount of money they feel like they need to travel. You do not have to be rich to explore the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://onthemovewithhannah.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onthemovewithhannah/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onthemovewithhannah