I’ve been blogging for about three years now and it has been a roller coaster ride. Like any other journey there have been ups and downs- but I’ve enjoyed every single aspect of it. I started blogging while I was still in college. I graduated in June’17 and I’ve been doing it full time since then. For all my readers, who plan on becoming food bloggers, here are some advantages of becoming one. To paint a realistic image, I’ll also be talking about the disadvantages of being a food blogger in my next blog post.
1. YOU’RE YOUR OWN BOSS
Your blog is your space and you’re the boss. You get to you be in control of the design, the content and everything else attached to it. And that creative freedom is very satisfying. Once you start blogging and put your heart into it, your blog will become your baby. It is a great feeling to be able to make decisions and implement them. As you grow, you can also expand and have a team working for you. I have a wonderful team working for me- I have someone who handles the technical aspect of the website, my video team, my CA, my content writers. I give myself a lot of credit to have started something from scratch and now build a little team working around it. That sense of accomplishment is definitely worth all the effort a blog requires.
2. YOU CAN MONETIZE IT
Your blog allows you to make your passion your profession. There are so many successful food bloggers in India who’ve been able to monetize their blogs and earn more than what their regular jobs were paying. Blogging is a legit career. The digital world that we live in allows a massive scope of making money through the blog. Once you’re able to build a substantial following, you’ll be able to use your blog to promote and advertise products and make money. I was able to monetize my Instagram and blog 2 years back when I started working with F&B brands. I now develop recipes for brands, create digital content for them and also conduct workshops. Would you like me to do a separate post on blog monetization? Let me know in the comments below.
3. EVERY DAY IS A NEW DAY
Working on a blog means being on a different adventure everyday. As a food blogger, I work with new ingredients, create different recipes and write on new topics almost everyday. On the work front, the opportunities are endless. You get to work with new brands, communicate with new people and work on new campaigns. Unlike a desk job, blogging lets you work on new projects and discover more avenues very very often. That makes sure I never get bored.
4. YOU MAKE SOME REAL CONNECTIONS
Being a food blogger not only brings you in touch with thousands of people who’re your readers but it also introduces you the beautiful blogging community. I’ve had the fortune of interacting with so many bloggers, not limited to just the food space. Over years, I’ve made some really close friends who I met through food blogging. These are people I connect with because we’re in the same profession and share the same passion for food.
Whenever I travel, I try and catch up with as many food bloggers as I can. I’ve found two of my closest friends through blogging. Amrita of Life Ki Recipe calls me her brother from another mother. I stay with her whenever I go to Bombay and she comes and stays with me in Delhi. We conduct workshops together, travel together, dicuss work and other things, party together and confide in each other. Radhika from Sugar n Spice by Radhika is one of my closest friends from the blogging world. From conducting my first workshop with her to attending her wedding and making world domination plans together, its been super special. We talk on the phone almost every day for hours and meet up up as often as we can. I’m so grateful for having found friends through blogging.
5. YOU GET TO TRAVEL
Another exciting advantage of being a food blogger is that your work makes you travel. I started travelling for my workshops and events. I conducted a few independent workshops in Bombay ( fell in love with the city and it’s people, made so many new friends and now I call it my second home). I also conducted a corporate workshop for SBI Captial there. I then conducted a workshop in Guwahati, Assam. In April this year, I traveled to Coorg to conduct a workshop at the Orange County Resort. As your blog grows, you’ll also get invited for media trips or familiarity trips. I got to travel to Singapore, Indonesia and Copenhagen through their respective tourism boards this year. I was also invited to Intercontinental Bali, Narendra Bhawan in Bikaner and Fairmont in Jaipur.
6. THE PERKS
Blogging comes with it’s own perks. You get invited to restaurants and hotels for tastings ( I, however, very very rarely attend these). You also get invitations to some really fun events and parties. Once your blog grows, you also start receiving expensive gifts like phones and laptops from the brands. You may not get paid holidays like other jobs do but you sure can get paid to holiday 😉
If you’d like me to talk more about blogging, let me know. If there are certain specific topics that you’d like me to pick up, please leave your suggestions in the comments section. Happy blogging!
After reading this article I can definitely say that I am now intrigued by the blogging career. I’d love to read another article centered on monotizing as well as an article about the obstacles often faced by bloggers.
Hi!I’m so thrilled to hear that. Thanks a lot. I’ll definitely write on the topics suggested by you. Thank you 😀
Please tell us the disadvantages along with how to monetize your blog. Also help with which platform works best like Facebook, Instagram, website etc along with the best way to get followers on these platforms.
Sure! Definitely going to share more information on these topics 😀
This is amazing!
Thank you 🙂
Great post!
Nicely written. I believe there is another advantage – you really get to see your friends/ acquaintances in true light. Some support you and push you to keep working on it when you have your doubts.
Some are just jealous and start their own page/ start copying you in the pretense of appreciation and inspiration. Some mimick you and later ask you to take them along for events- further making it clear that they are in only for the benefit !
Thank you! And yes, that’s very true 🙂
Mock * instead of mimick
Thanks for sharing your insights, Shivesh! I go back and forth about whether to do this full time, so this was definitely a useful read! I especially love the travel perks and having something new to do every day 🙂
Thanks so much, Nisha. I’m so glad you could relate to this 😀
What a fantastic read! Simple and insightful. Thank you for the first-hand information. A piece on monetizing a blog would make for a great read.
Thanks so much! Will work on it 😀
Thank you. It’s a great piece. I’ve been following you from the beginning and your story is inspiring. Could you write about the challenges you faced initially?
Personally, I have trouble with captions.
Thanks so much Arshiya. That sounds like a great topic to write on. I’ll definitely work on this one. Stay tuned 😀
Thank you so much : will do it !:)
Shivesh I must admit here you’re an amazing person. I can see that with your smile. Keep blogging keep posting and keep us up to date all the time.
That’s very sweet of you. Thank you 😀
Yessss! Please do a separate post on blog monetization. You’re an inspiration! Love your bakes Shivesh. Keep it rocking. May you rise high internationally. More power to you. ?✌?
What an insightful read. I’ve been following you since a while, I am about to complete my engineering but switching to the food industry, specifically baking. Can you please help me with what challenges did you face when you started off. The main problem for starting anything new is how do you really go about it.
I’m terribly stuck, so it’ll be great if you can help me in any way.
Thank you so much, would love to meet you some day.
aww! you made my day. Thank you so much. I will definitely write and article and talk about the challenges I faced. Good luck to you and lots of love
That’s very sweet of you. Thank you
What a blog, I really like to thank blog author for the wonderful post. Thanks for sharing.
Causes of love handles
thank you so much for this … i am actually 14 years old and wanting to take food blogger as a career option and this defenately helps a lot …… you are my role model …. pls share more blogs like this which could help people like me
Interesting article! Food blogs and bloggers have become a new staple of online food writing. They are everywhere, but bloggers themselves are still struggling to gain legitimacy. From photo-blogs like Tastespotting.com, with more than 10,000 contributors, to mass-aggregating food-review sites like Yelp, today’s food bloggers cover everything from a home-cooked lentil soup to three-star Michelin restaurants.
Despite the recent interest in food writing and food shows like Top Chef, food bloggers have had a hard time earning the same respect as their print publication counterparts. If you think Julie and Julia are all there is to food blogging, keep reading for a brief breakdown of food blogging’s challenges, obstacles, and successes.
Thanks for sharing, Cheers!
I’m not that much of an internet reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back down the road.