The Unglamourous Side Of Blogging

Image from Career Girl Daily via Pinterest

If you aren't a blogger then you probably only see the 'pretty' side of blogging which admittedly includes rose gold of some kind, beautiful photographs, events, 'freebies' (note: not free) and on point candid photos but that's just one side of blogging, the other is...far less glamorous. Today's post is all about the unglamorous, tedious and behind the blog jobs that no one but other bloggers are aware of.

Recycling

I'm incredibly lucky to have been sent items from brands and PRs for years now but it didn't start off that way and it takes a long time to gain the skills to review, photograph and promote a product well enough and to create brand relationships. However, there is a downside, mountains of recycling especially during the christmas present buying months! Press releases, product packaging and boxes can all be recycled and I try to recycle as much as possible.

Spam Emails

Checking my emails is something I do multiple times every day as you never know when you'll receive an amazing opportunity but when one amazing email arrives, at least four spam email will appear too. Spam email can range from the annoying ones everyone gets and ridiculous brand 'opportunities' that are in no way equal to the plethora of newsletters that you never subscribed to, so glam.

Pressure, Comparison & Competition 

This next point is a little more personal but I'm sure that a lot of my fellow bloggers will have felt pressure to blog, the sadness of comparing yourself to a blogger with hundreds of thousands of followers or the feeling of competition in the blogging community. I have definitely experienced all three within my six years of blogging and I do have to admit that I have felt it often in the past couple of years compared to when I started blogging back in 2012 as it's no secret that blogging has become more of a mainstream media and with it will come competition of a kind.

Tax 

Lastly is a point that I think a lot of bloggers are a little terrified by or unsure of and with good reason! If you are a blogger and you receive money for an instagram post, sponsored blog post or something similar, even if it's only £10 then you'll need to declare it for tax purposes. I've been declaring payments as a self employed freelance writer for the past three years now and while the amounts aren't massive (sadly) you do have to let HMRC know if you're in the UK (I'm not sure about other countries).

Every year I have to fill in an online self assessment tax form which is an incredibly daunting task and I dread doing it each time as they seem to go out of their way to word the questions in the most convoluted way possible. Thankfully Talk Tax has a range of articles related to tax issues, queries and advice from guides to cancelling road tax, inheritance tax and how to spot a fake HMRC email to a council tax guide, benefits guides and more. They also have a range of HMRC contact numbers. Since I applied to become self employed and started filling in tax forms, I've found it a little easier but it is still such a stressful process so next time I have to fill in anything related to tax then I'll definitely check out Talk Tax for guidance!

What do you think the unglamorous sides of blogging are? Do you have any advice when it comes to tax/HMRC forms? As a blogger, do you declare payments? 

*This is a sponsored post
*Image from Pinterest