A few years ago I attended an online summit for food bloggers.
Unfortunately I can't remember the name of it or who presented, but one of the speakers said something that has stuck with me...
"Why spend time building someone else's brand when you could be building your own?"
Before hearing this I was spending my days hustling - pitching to brands, negotiating rates & assets, creating recipes & content for them, etc. all on top of recipe testing, keyword research, social media, etc. for my food blog.
I worked with over 15 brands my first year but I didn't love doing it or really care about the work I was doing.
I did it because I needed to pay my bills & diversify my income, and brand work seemed to be the obvious route.
Then I heard the quote and it hit home immediately.
Why was I spending all this time doing freelance work for other brands? Why did I think this was my only option to monetize?
It was the path I saw other food bloggers taking so I thought that was it.
However, the truth is that there are so many other options out there. I was just too naive and afraid to explore them.
Nowadays I say no to most brands that reach out to me. I don't send pitches. The only brand I work with is one I've built a strong relationship with over the past few years.
These days my 3 main sources of income are from that brand partnership, ad revenue, and coaching other food bloggers.
They make use of my strengths and allow me to work on the skills I want to continue to improve.
The brand partnership helps build my brand (in addition to theirs) at Broken Oven Baking by sharing the recipes on my own blog and social platforms.
Ad revenue comes from sharing recipes on Broken Oven Baking.
Coaching food bloggers is what I'm most passionate about! It not only helps grow their blogs, but it helps grow my brand here at Food Blog Coaching and keeps me up-to-date on things needed to grow Broken Oven Baking as well.
I'm still hustling every day, but now it's doing things I care about! (for the most part ðĪŠ)
I never would've found my most fulfilling source of income without stepping outside of my comfort zone and trying something new!
I wanted to share this because I talk to so many talented, hard-working, experienced food bloggers who don't enjoy working for brands or other bloggers but still do it because they're stuck in this same mindset I was.
When I ask them why they don't try doing something that'll add to their own brand (like cooking classes, meal plans, e-books, etc.), I always hear the same excuses...
"Nobody would show up."
"The market's already too saturated."
"I don't have anything unique to offer."
Of course, I don't think these things are true at all!
If you can get brands to see the value in your work and pay you for it, what makes you think others won't when you're doing something authentic that you're actually passionate about?
We all have something to offer. It just takes a lot of courage to find it.
It takes experience too. I do believe it's important to do things you don't enjoy (at least for a period of time) because you learn so much about yourself in the process.
However, once you've gone down a path for a while and dread it, I think it's important to explore other options. After all, you're doing this because you want to be in control of what you do and enjoy it, right?
There's a difference between choosing a path and feeling obligated to go down it.
If you enjoy working for other brands and want to keep building that skillset, by all means keep at it! ð
But if you're doing it just because it's what other food bloggers are doing or you feel like you have nothing else to offer, I hope this encourages you to think outside the box and put yourself out there!
What are your strengths? What skills do you want to work on? What problems can you solve for other people in our industry? What do people repeatedly come to you for?
If you can't or don't want to answer these for yourself, ask your audience & colleagues!
Like building a blog, building a brand is not easy and takes time.
All the more reason to start now.
I truly believe that if you're resourceful, eager to learn, and willing to put in the work, you can do anything.
I hope this opens your eyes as much as it did mine all those years ago ðĐĩ
Happy blogging!
-Kayla
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I'm a baking blogger and food blog coach based in Chicago! I've been sharing easy, sweet recipes since 2020. In 2023 I started helping other food bloggers grow their businesses. You can find blogging tips & resources in my weekly food blog newsletter and coaching website!
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