If you’ve been blogging for more than a year consistently, and have tried to build a business out of your blog (monetise it), you would know how hard it is. It requires serious commitment and consistent efforts to get to a point where you can solely depend on your blog for income.
Not many are able to get to that stage. And that’s a hard fact that needs to be accepted.
And when you do get to that stage, it comes with a whole lot of experience – of how to deal with brands, what kind of content works and what doesn’t, which kind of campaign sells and which would go kaput. I’ve been lucky that *most* of the work that I get to do, is with people who understand their own brand, know what is it that they want, and know exactly how to convey their ideas. But sometimes, I (unfortunately), find myself in the middle of situations where all I can think of is ‘Why in God’s name did I accept this collab!”
I usually don’t talk about the ‘behind the scenes’ of work on the blog, as this space is only meant for the ‘final product’. There are struggles in every profession and bad eggs in every basket so I really don’t want it to seem like I’m complaining. One such recent bad experience left me wondering, how good am I at what I do? When the brand at the other end of the table is hell bent on scrutinising every minute frame that I click, the angle, the lighting, the expressions, and every last detail, is it possible that I actually need to be hand-held and walked-through exactly how I should create content for a particular campaign?
Have I just been fooling myself into thinking I am an awesome (okay moderately awesome) content creator all this while?
Well, I finally got my answer after the final draft of pictures/videos were approved.
My itchy hand and curious brain couldn’t stand following someone else’s instructions. I felt trapped with no creative freedom, and whether the brand accepted it or not, I simply had to give my version of the final edit – what I thought would work, constituted of a story-line and what I felt was simply better.
After making my entire day miserable, and making me re-shoot about ten times, I sent across two versions, one which was their idea and the second which was mine. I knew which one they would go for. Not like I needed validation. But when they finally did accept defeat it was just like I knew all along.
Creating content is probably why I love blogging. Not love for modelling or photography. In fact those are my two least favourite things since I know I will never have the patience required to enjoy either of those.
When brands try to restrict a creator’s creative freedom, or cut down on budget, or try to butt in too much, it affects the production value, it affects our business, it affects our output and overall it just makes doing what we love, what we are good at, so much more tough.
But we continue to do what we do, because we simply love it!
Jeans: Lee
Kurta: Max Fashion
Juttis: Local Store
Photography: Arpita Patel
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