One year of blogging + life update

balancing life, life struggles, adult life

I really can’t believe that my blog is already one year old this month. When I think back to writing my first ever blogpost it doesn’t really feel that long ago.  A lot has happend during this first year of blogging, which also makes me think about what I’ve accomplished in just one year. I really have to say that I’m proud of myself and I really want to share my experience in this blogpost. And the exciting things don’t stop after this first year of blogging! Lot’s of exiting projects are on the way!

 

The start

My first ever blogpost was about my Autumn/Winter skincare routine, where I made the picture with my phone and edited it in preview (Mac). Looking back on it now I really didn’t know anything about editing pictures and all that kind of jazz. It took me I while before I had the confidence to put this post online. I remember I did have to press the publish button, which took me forever to accomplish. Though, overcoming this first mountain (cause that’s what it felt like) made me realise that it actually was something I could quite enjoy doing. Although I didn’t post another blogpost for about a month my mind couldn’t stop thinking about all kind of creative ideas for future blogposts. Which made me realise even more that  I really enjoyed blogging. During our Christmas holidays last year I really couldn’t do much because of my ACL rehab, so I decided that when everyone was going skiing I was going to work on my blog. Which is kind of the start of me posting regularly on my blog.

 

Becoming more and more ‘professional’

I first started out on weebly, which I really liked at the time. It was easy to build my own website and post the things I wanted to do. After a couple of months I realised I wanted more control over my own website and I kind of outgrow weebly. I transferred my whole website into wordpress.org, which was (I thought at the time) the most scary thing I’d ever done. Trusting technology and hoping that all my hard work didn’t go to waist. Well, I soon came to the conclusion that this wasn’t quite as scary to do. This year back in April I decided to buy my own domain and transfer my whole blog onto www.actuallyanna.com. I doubled for a long time if I even wanted to do this, but I have to say it’s one of my best decisions ever. A big thanks to the people from FastComet (where I bought my domain name and host my internet space), their service is amazing and they helped my out a lot with the transfer to my own domain.

Just when I thought I was all set and becoming ‘professional’ (I don’t consider my self professional at all though), a new challenge came around the corner. My birthday came up which got me thinking about my birthday gift.  I was thinking about investing into a proper camera for a long time and with my birthday coming up it gave me the last push to buy one. I have to say I really don’t regret it, it was again one of my best decisions ever.

To become even more professional I wanted to create business cards, because Florint BV invited me to the Beauty Trade Festival in Utrecht. So I decided (after debating for a long time) that I wanted a logo for my website, which I could also use as a signature for my blog emails. I also wanted a nice signature for the bottom of my blogposts. So I contacted a couple of bloggers who offered this service. And I’m so happy with the result that Emmy Writes About created for me.

 

highlights of the year

It might sound cliche, but this whole year of blogging and everything that came out of it is one big highlight. Though the first ever highlight out of blogging for me was the increase in followers on social media. I remember me saying to one of my friends “If I reach 100 followers on twitter that would be amazing”. It still amazes me that I now have over 1.5K followers on twitter only! The second highlight for me is my first ever brand collaboration, which was with Jake Food. It still feels insane that brands want to work with me, since I’m still a relatively small blogger. My other highlights, besides all the development my blog has gone through, started with filling out a form on Facebook. Now I work with Emani Makeup and Dr. Spiller Benelux on a regular basis, which still sounds crazy to me. Through working with these brands I was invited to my first ever event: Beauty Trade Festival in Utrecht. During this event I was very honoured to meet the CEO and founder of Emani Cosmetics, Michelle Doan. And I even got the opportunity to interview here in a recent blogpost.

 

What I’ve learned

During this first year of blogging the most important thing I’ve learned is that I can write. This might sound a bit silly, but ever since we had to write stories etc. in high school I was told I’m not good at it. As I mentioned in one of my more personal posts I’m dyslectic, which always made me think I couldn’t do things like blogging. Well, I discovered I can and even in a language that isn’t my native language (I’m Dutch). The other things I’ve learned is that the blogging community is such a wonderful one. There is always a positive vibe and they are always so helpful towards each other. I also love the positive feedback I’ve got on my blog. Especially since I was so self conscious about putting myself out there. I’m also very proud of myself for example about my recent fashion post. The other thing I’m very proud of is recently starting my own youtube channel. I never thought I would have the courage to do it and surprise surprise … I love making videos !

 

Life update

During this first year of blogging my life besides blogging hasn’t always been stress free. My master research project and therefore also my thesis has been very stressful. The process and the guidance during this research hasn’t been optimal to say the least. I really hope to submit my first attempt within the next couple of weeks and finish the whole thing (approval and presentation) before the end of 2017. This will be a big weight off my shoulders! Another exciting and also very scary thing that has just sunk in is I’m graduating around may next year! It feels so crazy that I’m not going to be a student anymore and have to apply for real adult jobs.

I hope that you loved reading this post as much as I loved writing it!

signature, xoxo Annaleid, Actually Anna

 

 

 

 

12 Comments

  1. Leontien Bakker
    November 5, 2017 / 9:49 pm

    Gefeliciteerd en nog velen jagen bloggen ๐Ÿ™‚
    xxxx

    • Actually Anna
      Author
      November 11, 2017 / 8:46 pm

      Dankjewel:):)
      xoxo Annaleid

  2. Anne | Beautybyadutchgirl
    November 5, 2017 / 11:03 pm

    Wat leuk dat je alweer een jaar blogt! Wat gaat de tijd snel hรจ! Ik wilde nog even zeggen dat ik je logo echt gaaf vind, hij is zo clean maar wel echt toepasselijk bij je blog! Nog fijne blog-jaren gewenst! xo

    • Actually Anna
      Author
      November 11, 2017 / 8:46 pm

      Ahw dankjewel! Heel erg leuk om te horen ik ben er ook super trots op ๐Ÿ™‚
      xoxo Annaleid

  3. josypheen
    November 6, 2017 / 5:38 am

    Congratulations on your one year anniversary!

    • Actually Anna
      Author
      November 11, 2017 / 8:45 pm

      Thank you so much ๐Ÿ™‚
      xoxo Annaleid

  4. November 8, 2017 / 11:20 am

    Congratulations! Wish you all the best and I’m super happy I found you & your blog during a Twitter chat!

    • Actually Anna
      Author
      November 11, 2017 / 8:45 pm

      Thank you so much:) Yes I’m so happy to found yours during that Twitter chat too! ๐Ÿ™‚
      xoxo Annaleid

  5. Corinne and Kirsty
    December 2, 2017 / 7:14 pm

    Happy blog anniversary. One year is a big milestone! So much done in just 12 month!

    • Actually Anna
      Author
      December 3, 2017 / 10:24 pm

      Thank you so much ๐Ÿ™‚ Yes definitely a lot has happened in just 12 months:)
      xoxo Annaleid

  6. Sara lago
    January 4, 2018 / 8:30 pm

    muy hermoso tu sitio lo estare siguiendo

    • Actually Anna
      Author
      January 22, 2018 / 9:15 pm

      Thank you so much!
      xoxo Annaleid

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