May recap and lessons learned

June is my birthday month and all I want is to wear a ball gown dress and eat some cake. The ball gown idea came after I saw the Instagram stories of Swirlmagza.

Then a lot of other women, like Bonang Matheba at the Miss South Africa announcement, wore ball gowns and I just watched all of it for days. Normally I’m not this extra; previous years I didn’t celebrate my birthday, so this year is the first one I want to go big.

Anyway, let’s do a May recap:

The two popular blog posts published in May were “Life Coach: how to see your vision” and “Six things I learned about paying off debt“.

I started classes for a short course and I’m struggling so bad. It’s a course that I applied for (and got a scholarship) and it’s something I have no experience in. Meanwhile, a lot of private stuff has been going on and it just downed my energy. It’s mostly people I’ve allowed into my space, that downed my energy, making me procrastinate when it comes to studying. I realise though that this is a bad excuse. I can if I want to put my mind to do something no matter the circumstances.

Secondly, I made efforts to be part of Twitter chats again. And lo and behold, that’s how I got freelance jobs. Yay! Networking is important even if it’s through Twitter chats. Twitter chats are a great place to get to know people and also people start trusting you because you’re part of this online community. The Twitter chats I mostly engage in are @_WeTalk and @JobAdviceSA.

Related post: Benefits And Tips For Using Twitter For Your Business Or Yourself

Talking about jobs: I did two collaborations, individually, with brands on their separate campaigns. I did one with RapidStudio about their R79 soft photo book and then with Travelstart, about when is the best time to book a flight. I saw on social media posts of the blogger event #ECMeetup that Travelstart started an affiliate marketing programme. Now that sounds interesting.

Related posts: The best time to buy an airline ticket + Creating a photo book for the grandparents

Lessons learned through these brand collaboration experiences: Firstly, if you see an opportunity, pitch the idea to a brand. Like my mom says “Always ask; it’s either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.” Secondly, if your gut tells you something, listen to it.

I did two interviews for Swirlmagza.com. I interviewed Deidre MacKenna of the Hello Coloured Life brand and the singer Belinda Davids. You can read about the interviews here. Both ladies were so sweet; I enjoyed interviewing them and my highlight was the lessons their journeys have taught them.

I saw South African bloggers making money through hosting events, selling products and teaching online courses. This was something new for me because I normally just see bloggers collaborating with brands through reviews and competitions hosted on their websites.

I was interviewed on my blogging experience by the television show, Let’s Talk on the ITV Networks channel. When I got the invite for this, I thought it must be a joke or something. But later I thought, maybe this is a sign that I am on the right path. It was a good experience and I look forward to doing more those. You can watch my interview via YouTube, here (I’m from 51:40).

Lastly, for a week and a half, my child was sick. After she had recovered it had felt as if a weight was lifted off my shoulders. During her illness, she had been very clingy and I could do very little outside of taking care of her. I realised how grateful I am for health.

Favourite quotes:
“Self-discipline is self-love. Discipline your behaviour.” – Will Smith. “Protect your light with your life.”

“Have dreams but also have goals. Apply discipline and consistency.” – Denzel Washington

What about your last month has stood out? Let me know in the comments below.