Blogging Resources

Why I Do Collaborations

July 8, 2022July 8, 2022

Updated: Nov 4, 2021

Behind the scenes “blogging” looks a lot like a middle school girl stalking out her latest Tik Tok to see if it’s gone viral! We pay attention to EVERYTHING; way beyond Likes. We look at our post’s reach, impressions, saves & shares and so on. As many of you know, I do quite a bit of collaborations. There are times when I notice that posts directly mentioning collaborations aka sponsorships, ads or partners, tend to not do as well. In researching possible reasons why, I’ve surmised that people probably think one thing…I’m a sell out!

This possible theory led me to write this post for you to read, because I want to set the record straight. I started this blog to do one thing; inspire, and I will do that for as long as people want to be inspired by me! I’m going to explain how I go about choosing my collabs and also how to land them, for anyone aspiring to do so!

The first thing you need to know, is I am as authentic as they come! I will NEVER promote a product or service that I don’t truly believe in. Some people may think I am rude by declining their offer, but if it doesn’t fit my lifestyle, if it doesn’t match the vibe of my feed, if it isn’t something I would wear or use, I won’t do it! I have prided myself, my entire life, on being an honest and ethical person and I am not going to give up 37 years of hard work for a social media platform! It also wouldn’t be a good investment for the company.

The second thing to know, is not all, in fact most of my collabs, are not started as offerings. I am a go getter. If there’s something I want, I go for it! So, I’ll think about how I spend my days, from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed and what I do, wear, use etc…then I will reach out to those companies to see if they would have an interest in working with me! This is where all of those behind the scenes insights come in. These businesses want to see that their invested time and product/money are going to be well worth it. That’s another good point…not every post is paid for in a monetary exchange. A lot of times it’s a barter system with product. For instance, I will post on my feed and promote said product, if you give me that product for free! Even more proof that I am authentic! I literally gain nothing, financially! I don’t make money for posting many of my posts or reels, but I was able to get the free jewelry, pillow etc…that I already love!

The Lull Mattress is a great example because this is such a large product, that to agree to a collab and not be authentic just doesn’t seem like a good investment on my end. If I blindly accepted and hated it, not only am I chancing losing the faith of my supporters but now I’m stuck with a King Size Mattress that I have to get rid of! My husband and I heavily researched this company and read too many of the 40k positive reviews on Google. To this, months later, it’s the best mattress we’ve ever had!

The other area is right here on my blog! From time to time, you’ll see me thanking someone for sponsoring a post. All this means, is that I was compensated for INCLUDING them in my otherwise natural and authentic post! For instance, my latest Raymour & Flanigan post; every word was my own, but they gifted me the furniture in exchange for writing that. Perhaps without the “push”, I might not have written about my office redo, but it was all REAL. My local business love post…same thing…I was asked to include one of those companies in a post, but it sparked my creativity to want to write about that topic and they are all my real opinions and recommendations!

I hope this makes you feel more comfortable spending your time reading and engaging with my posts/stories regarding sponsorships. My goal is to present things that make my life better, in hopes that they also help improve yours! Another quick fun fact about my selection process, is that if I don’t seem to think it’s something you, my supporters are into, I don’t share it…Keep an eye out for a blog post with tips and tricks on how to start landing collabs!