- Serena 2 Comments

some honest thoughts on full-time freelancing

some honest thoughts on full-time freelancing

Hey there! It’s been a while. This blog sadly tends to be the thing that falls by the wayside when things get busy, although I feel like now I’m doing a better job of juggling so I hopefully won’t go another whole month without posting (whoops.)

Today’s post has been a long time coming and I don’t have a snappy SEO-friendly title to use for it. As you probably know, I quit my full-time corporate job back in April to pursue freelancing full-time. What you might not know is that I’m currently applying for part-time jobs. That’s right, I’m giving up ~the dream~ to dive back into the working world, at least partially.

Why? Well, to be honest the freelancing thing was never meant to be permanent (although I certainly wouldn’t have said no if it turned out to be super profitable.) I needed to freelance over the summer because I had a lot of fun travel planned and no vacation time left at my old job with which to do it. Not to mention it was time to move on from that job anyway, so it seemed like the best idea to quit, freelance for a while, then see where we stood once the travel was over.

In this community, there’s SO much pressure to quit your day job and follow your passion/travel the world/embrace true freedom/whatever. I’ve always been against this idea because, as someone who’s had to struggle to get by, it’s frankly irresponsible to suggest that everyone’s goal should be to quit their main source of income for a big fat unknown. It’s not a trust fall into the Universe, it’s giving up your paycheck on a lark, and if you have a family or debt or even just bills to pay, I promise you the Universe is not just going to suddenly start footing the bill because it sees how much you hate your day job.

Freelancing for the past five months was so incredibly rewarding and also so, so incredibly hard. I wanted to share my candid thoughts on my summer of freelancing as it comes to a close. Note that this is just my experience – it obviously looks different for everyone! I’ll be talking a lot about money because I’m keeping it real here, so sorry if that’s uncomfortable for you – I really want to be as honest as possible. This is going to be a LONG post, so let’s jump right in!

some honest thoughts on full-time freelancing

it takes privilege to be able to leave your job.

I can’t stress this enough. What so many blog posts about how to “live the dream” fail to realize is that many people CANNOT just up and quit their jobs. I was in a situation where I could save up an emergency fund, I had no children or dependents to care for, and I had supportive parents and a partner to help me pay the bills, and I STILL struggled after losing my main source of income. It’s not a matter of keeping an “abundance mindset.” This is real life and some problems can’t be wished away by positive thinking alone.

It’s so frustrating to me to see blog posts that preach “don’t do anything you don’t want to do! you only have one life! the Universe will lead you to something better!” That might be true, but if I’ve learned anything it’s that the Universe rewards those who work for what they want, and it’s awfully hard work on your dream when you’re stressing about paying the rent. If you’re not in a position to quit your day job, don’t let those blogs make you feel like you’re not “living your best life.” I promise that your best life does NOT look like going into credit card debt over buying the cheapest groceries available.

If you do want to quit your job someday, I 100% believe you can do it. But don’t just up and leave without a backup plan because the Internet says that’s the way to higher vibes. Do it on YOUR terms, when it’s right for YOU.

you don’t need to do what everyone else is doing

If I had a nickel for every blog/website/whatever I’ve read that says freelancers HAVE to have their own website and HAVE to blog regularly and HAVE to be on every social media site ever, I’d have more money than actual freelancing ever made me.

The truth? Thinking about having ANOTHER blog/social media presence makes me wanna vom, so I didn’t do it. I went out to the job boards with nothing but a few writing samples and it was never a dealbreaker. Given, I was not applying for the types of writing jobs that would nab me a byline on a prestigious website (or even a byline at all), but I was still able to land paying jobs without a website or any social media dedicated to my freelancing at all. If the thought of making a website makes you panic, don’t do it. If you can’t decide on one niche, don’t do it. You can always figure it out later if you want to.

some honest thoughts on full-time freelancing

it’s a constant struggle

As a freelancer, you can’t take anything for granted. You might have more work than you can finish one week and crickets the next. There’s probably a better way to balance all of that and it’s easier if you have regular clients, but you still can’t take that for granted. I was making a consistent $400 a week from one writing job… for four weeks, and it’s been about $150 for the two months since then. Even a regular client can suddenly drop you with no warning or reason.

You’ve got to constantly be seeking out new jobs in order to find enough work to get by and hopefully get paid enough for it. It can be exhausting, but I recommend coming up with a solid cover letter template so you can get through a lot of applications quickly. It’s never comfortable, but that’s also part of the fun!

that said, finding jobs isn’t as hard as people make it sound

As mentioned above, the Internet really makes it sound like you’ll never make it as a freelancer unless you do X, Y, and Z (usually blogging, networking, and social media.) I honestly found that it was super easy to get started finding freelance jobs. NOW, these were not the high-paying, $1000 an article jobs that some people making a living off of, but there ARE jobs out there that pay a decent amount that don’t require you to have years of experience or a million social media followers. Once you have a few jobs under your belt, you can use those to apply for better jobs.

You don’t need to stick to one niche, especially not at first, and you don’t even have to have published writing samples in many cases. Just see what tickles your fancy and use any existing writing samples to apply, or write one especially for the job application! Honestly, I had 0 freelancing experience and I managed to find LOTS of work this summer (not enough to pay the bills, but way more than I expected!) You can do it, too!

I feel like so many people dream about freelancing but never try because they’re intimidated. Just jump in! A lot of jobs are either one-offs or not very demanding, so you can totally start building your portfolio while working your day job. Give it a shot and see what works for you!

some honest thoughts on full-time freelancing

not having a routine is not always good

Part of the appeal of freelancing for me was breaking out of the 9-5 grind and being able to do WHATEVER I wanted, WHENEVER I wanted! Yeah!! Well… it didn’t really turn out that way. It turns out having more time doesn’t mean you’re going to get more done, and having a routine is surprisingly essential for me to stay on track and be productive. My freelancing routine looks a lot different than my corporate job routine, but it’s still a routine and it still involves working for at least 8 hours a day (honestly closer to 10).

There were still hobbies I didn’t get to, my mornings weren’t full of sunshine and yoga (more like coffee and forgetting to shower until 2 pm), and not having a full-time job to “keep me down” didn’t magically transform my circumstances into my dream life. You still have to work to make that for yourself.

you really need multiple sources of income

Honestly. My freelancing alone probably only managed to nab me about $600-700 a month, and there were plenty of dry spells where I didn’t make any money for a while week. I’d sort of planned on doing an income report but it made me depressed, so instead I’ll just list my sources of income, in order of what supports me most to least:

  1. Freelance writing
  2. Course sales from the Lavender and Lupine School of Magick
  3. Young Living (you can view their income disclosure statement here! and if you have any questions about how I’m building my Young Living business, feel free to shoot me an email.)
  4. Tarot Readings
  5. Residual income from Amazon Affiliates

So it’s a good idea of branch out if you can and not rely 100% on freelancing to pay the bills, at least not at first. It took me a long time to navigate the freelance world and find a level of work that I could accomplish while still having time to do other things, and I’m grateful I had these other sources of income to support me while I did.

some honest thoughts on full-time freelancing

you might end up being super broke

I realize that this is a very privileged realization to have this late in my life and I’m very grateful that I grew up without ever having to struggle to keep a roof over my head or food in my stomach. The last thing I would ever want is to come off as a spoiled white girl who never fell on hard times before – that’s truly not it, and I’m not whining about my current financial situation. I just want to communicate to anyone dreaming of quitting their day job to travel the world or whatever that poverty could very easily become a part of your freelancing world.

Like, so easily. I went from making $40k a year to less than $1000 a month in an instant. I thought I’d saved up enough of a nest egg to hold me over until I had more jobs, but the REALLY profitable jobs never came and some weeks I couldn’t find any work at all. I had to put off paying the electric so I could buy groceries. I’m three payments behind on my already-massive credit card bill. I’m taking the necessary steps to get out of this situation and I’m very fortunate that I have the experience and opportunity necessary to find a new job now that I need one, but many people aren’t that lucky, and that’s something to consider before you quit your job. If it happened to me, it could happen to anyone.

Now, my situation is completely on me. I’m not blaming freelancing for making me poor. I knew it would be tough, but I really didn’t take enough precautions before I left my job and I probably could have tried harder to find higher-paying freelancing work. But I promise you that I did the manifestation meditations and burned the green candle and made gratitude lists and did the abundance rituals and while that all helped, the Universe did not magically grant me a check to get me out of debt.

Some people will probably say that my fault for not thinking enough good thoughts to attract all the abundance I need, but I’m honestly not on that bandwagon. Life is hard and bad things happen to everyone, even people who live on green smoothies and high vibes. It’s important that you don’t go into freelancing thinking that all your problems will be solved just because you’re “on the right path.” (Note: I didn’t think that. I just want to make sure YOU don’t think that.)

but all in all, the freedom is really, really nice.

Was it amazing to stay up at late as I wanted and wake up whenever I wasn’t tired anymore? HECK yes. It was refreshing to drop everything to go camping in the middle of the week. I felt super posh doing my assignments from the beaches of North Carolina on vacation. I didn’t have to ask for time off to go to the doctor, I got to the grocery store before the dinner rush, I could take a four-hour break in the middle of the day to watch the North and South BBC miniseries if I wanted to (it happened once.) As hard as freelancing was and still is, as much as I sometimes missed having a regular paycheck, it was also everything I wanted it to be and more.

Would I freelance again? In a heartbeat, and I probably will once my partner and I move on to the next stage of our lives (exciting changes to come in 2018, stay tuned! it’s not a baby though, sorry.) But this time I’ll be sure I take all of the necessary precautions before I do it, and hopefully – hopefully! – I’ll pay off my credit card before then. Because yikes.

Do you have any questions about freelancing? I’m obviously not an expert, but I might do a post in the future about how I got started because that’s something people ask me a lot. Do you have any advice for freelancers? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear it!

- Serena 4 Comments

how to start your own metaphysical blog: setting up and growing your audience

how to start your own metaphysical blog: setting up and growing your audience

Hi friends! So I’ve recently put together a resource library that you can access for free if you sign up for my newsletter. In it are all of the resources I’ve used to start this blog, as well as how I’ve learned everything I know about tarot, witchcraft, crystals, and all that stuff. If you haven’t already subscribed, you should check it out! But putting it together got me thinking: is this really enough information for someone to start their own blog from scratch?

I’m a big enabler and I want everyone to start a blog, all the time. I’m constantly trying to pressure my friends and fam into making blogs because I’m a creep who likes reading about everybody’s lives. So I think YOU should start a blog, too!

While there are 572098065983423 blog posts out there about how to start a blog, I feel like the witchy niche is pretty small compared to, say, the beauty and fashion niches, so I feel that there are some different things you need to keep in mind when starting a metaphysical blog (whether you want to blog about tarot, spirituality, witchcraft, or what have you.) Today I thought I’d share how I got my blog started, and maybe some of these tips and tricks will help you out! Note that affiliate links may be used on this page, marked with an * – that just means that if you make a purchase through the link, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Because I might as well use that link instead of a regular one, right?

how to start your own metaphysical blog: setting up and growing your audience

1. picking a platform: blogger vs. wordpress vs. squarespace

The very first thing you’ll need to do is decide on a platform to use for your blog – Blogger, WordPress, or Squarespace are pretty much the big three. Blogger and WordPress.com are both free, WordPress.org and Squarespace cost moolah. (If you’re confused about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org… me too. More on that later.)

Here’s my take on this: a lot of bloggers out there will tell you that you can’t hope to grow your blog using the Blogger platform. I call BS. Blogger is super user-friendly, it’s free, you can use your own domain name, and if you’ve never had a website before I think it’s a great place to start if you want to have a blog. You don’t have to mess around with self-hosting and like I said, it’s free – the paid options are pretty darn pricey and that’s not accessible for everyone. It can look super professional and you can use it for a long time with no issues. I love Blogger.

BUT.

Here’s the but.

Blogger is pretty much only good for having a blog. If that’s all you want, that’s great! But if you might eventually want to expand into a website with a landing page and all that, Blogger is not gonna work for you. And then you’re going to have to deal with switching over to WordPress or Squarespace and importing all of your posts and praying they don’t get lost in the shuffle and crying into your wine when your new website doesn’t work and spending two hours on the phone with customer service and throwing your laptop out a window. (Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.)

So my advice is this. If you truly can’t afford one of the paid options at this time, go with Blogger. But if you can, even if all you want right now is a blog, I would go for one of the paid options I’ll discuss below.

I’m going to briefly touch on WordPress.com here (the other free option) and say that while I’ve never used it for long, I didn’t like it. I couldn’t find a way to use my own domain name (meaning your url would always be website.wordpress.com instead of just website.com) and I also couldn’t find a way to use custom templates, so I was really limited as to how I could get my site to look. There’s pretty much no customer service for WordPress, either, which makes it really hard to get things set up if you don’t have any experience with it. If you can get it to work for you, that’s great – it’s a lot easier to upgrade from WordPress.com to WordPress.org than it is to switch from Blogger to WordPress.org. But I prefer Blogger by leaps and bounds in terms of free sites, and importing my posts didn’t kill me even though it tried, so I’d really just recommend that.

OKAY, so now, which paid site to use? That depends on what you want to use it for! Squarespace has a great option if you want to have a shop built in to your website (so if you want to sell your tarot readings right on your website, for example, they make it really easy.) However, they’re expensive, they don’t have a huge selection of templates, and their blogging feature doesn’t work as well as WordPress (from what I’ve heard.) I used the free trial of Squarespace but couldn’t get my website to look the way I wanted and also couldn’t afford it in the end, so that wasn’t the right option for me. Plenty of people LOVE it though, so maybe check out some other reviews before making your decision and see if it sounds like your thing!

I use WordPress.org, which is the paid version of WordPress, and I’m really happy with it. They do have a way to add a shop to your website, too, so don’t fret if that’s your goal but you don’t want to go with Squarespace. It takes some getting used to, but after that the navigation is really easy. I like how customizable it is and I’ve never had any problems, except when I was trying to import everything from my Blogger site and it took me two months of blood sweat and tears.

Okay, so once you’ve decided on a platform, it’s time to think about getting your own domain name!

how to start your own metaphysical blog: setting up and growing your audience

2. getting a domain

I really recommend purchasing a domain name for your website if you want to turn it into more than just a hobby. It looks professional and it’s a good way to make sure no one else takes the name! I don’t know how this works with Squarespace, so I’m just going to show you how I did it with WordPress.

I used BlueHost* to purchase my domain and to host my website. It was pretty easy to get it all set up – once you sign up with BlueHost, you can follow this tutorial to install WordPress and get started. This is pretty expensive if you’re short on cash, so there’s absolutely no shame in just riding the free websites for a while to see if you’d even be interested in keeping up with it long-term! I was kind of shocked at the amount of shaming that’s out there for people who just want to use Blogger or WordPress.com, so if you come across that on the Internet, just ignore it. Those people are trying to make commissions off of your signups so they want to scare you into switching to the paid sites. Super uncool. (Side note: if you sign up for Bluehost with my link, I’ll make a commission too, but that’s not the part I have a problem with. Shaming people into buying your stuff is a crap business model.)

I will say, though, that finally buying my domain and setting up my WordPress site was the kick I needed to take my blogging more seriously, so if you can afford it, I really recommend it!

how to start your own metaphysical blog: setting up and growing your audience

3. choosing a template

Now that you have your site set up, it’s time to choose a template for it! Squarespace has its own templates, but if you’re using Blogger or WordPress, the Internet is your oyster. There are tons of gorgeous templates on Etsy to choose from – I got my first Blogger template from SkyandStars on Etsy, and then I got this template I’m currently using from Beautiful Dawn Designs*. I really recommend them for WordPress.org themes because they do this thing… I don’t have the vocab to explain it, but basically their themes come with a lot of customization options and tutorials for using them, whereas some other themes just leave you high and dry if you want to do something like change the font color.

ALSO, be careful that you’re checking whether a theme is for WordPress.com or WordPress.org. They’re not the same!

I can’t stress enough the importance of a good theme. I don’t think you need to pay for one in order to get a good one – there are plenty of free options you can customize no matter what platform you go with. But the theme is really the first thing people notice when they go to your site, so I recommend trying to put as much of yourself into it as possible! Give them an idea of what they can expect from the rest of your site.

how to start your own metaphysical blog: setting up and growing your audience

4. growing your audience

Okay, so now you’ve got a killer site with a template you love and possibly your own domain. How do you go about getting readers? Well… as much as I’d like to say “if you build it, they will come,” the fact of the matter is that you’ve gotta let people know you exist before they’re going to check out your blog. I think the tarot/witchcraft/metaphysical niche has an advantage because we’re smaller than other niches, so it’s easier to make genuine connections with people even if they have a SUPER popular blog that makes you feel intimidated!

I do have an old post (look at that old Pinterest graphic, yikes) about how to find your people and make meaningful connections on various social media platforms, so I won’t rehash that, but here are a few other tips for growing your audience:

  1. Support other bloggers: I can only speak for myself, but if someone leaves a nice comment on my blog I will 100% check out their website in return. Comment on posts you like, reply to people you follow on social media, include bloggers in roundup posts and tell them when you do. That not only gets your name on their radar, but also might score you a promo in return if they like your stuff! (Note: no one is obligated to do this, so please don’t expect things from total strangers, but if you’re genuine there’s no reason to think people won’t gravitate towards your site in return.)
  2. Engage on social media: This goes along with the above, but don’t just creep – comment on peoples’ posts! This is how I’ve made 100% of the friends I have on various social media platforms. If you leave a meaningful comment (keyword: meaningful, none of that BS where strangers comment one emoji on an Instagram post) people are going to want to respond to that.
  3. Automate your social media: This is in addition to engaging, not in place of it! Sign up with a social media scheduling program like Buffer or Hootsuite so you can schedule your social media posts head of time. This is a great way to be sure you’re promoting your posts on social media without needing to remember, or take more time out of your day. Once your posts are scheduled, all you have to worry about is responding to people and using social media for fun! I’ve used both of those sites and enjoy them, and I schedule all my Pinterest posts through Tailwind*. I highly, highly recommend it. Tailwind is $15 a month, but most of my traffic comes from Pinterest so I think it’s well worth it.
  4. Have a mailing list: You can sign up with Mailchimp for free and easily add a little signup button or pop-up to your website. I won’t tell you what to do with your mailing list because to be honest I kind of suck, but it helps to have a base of people who like you so much they want to let you into their inboxes. If you have some kind of incentive for people to sign up, like a free eBook or something, your list will grow WAY faster.
  5. Be patient: Blogging is truly not easy. It takes a lot of time, effort, planning, and engaging, and if you have other commitments like a job or a family it’s going to be tough. You’re not going to see growth overnight, and it can be so frustrating when it feels like you’re just shouting into a void. But honestly? It’s so, so worth it. Stick by your blog during the hard times and you’ll see such a huge reward when you see your first successes.

And that’s about all I’ve got! If you read through that whole thing, you’re a trooper. And if you have any questions about any of this stuff, feel free to ask me, whether in a comment or an e-mail. I remember how frustrating it was to try and figure all this stuff out on my own, so I’m happy to help anyone else if I can.

And if you have a metaphysical blog or just set one up… dude, let me know in the comments. I’d love to check it out! (Also, let me know if you want more posts about blogging. Do you guys blog or do you just read blogs? Tell me what you wanna see!)

- Serena 4 Comments

all the ways I dropped the ball in 2016

how I dropped the ball in 2016
This is the time of year that everyone is posting things they learned and accomplished in 2016, and while I want to jump on that bandwagon and write SOME kind of conclusion to that hell of a year, I feel like it’s kind of amazing to me how much I DIDN’T accomplish in 2016 that I set out to.

2016 was a very strange year for me. I had so many highs and did so many fun and amazing things, but there were also some very extreme lows, not just personally but on a global level. That’s probably why it’s so easy for me to see clearly what I didn’t do that I meant to, how many things I let slip through the cracks. A lot of my goals were simply too lofty for me to complete – I’m a big-time dreamer, but a lot of times I forget about the little things and the whole operation falls apart. Other goals I just got lazy with, quite frankly, or pushed aside in favor of other things.

I’m not sharing this to be hard on myself. Actually the opposite – I think it’s important to look back on our failures and learn from them (and in some cases, laugh at what I thought was feasible while working full-time and traveling practically every weekend and also trying to have a social life every once in a while.) It’s hard to build a blog and a business and still be a functional human and honestly, truly, sometimes you just have to let a goal go for the time being rather than let every other area of your life suffer in order to achieve it. So without further ado, here are all of the goals I set in my personal and professional life that I DIDN’T meet in 2016!

Things I Dropped the Ball On in 2016:

  • weight loss (in fact, I met my weight loss goal and then gained it all back. Whoops.)
  • reading 20 books (after spending all day everyday reading work stuff, it just wasn’t that appealing to read even more afterwards. I read a lot of blogs, does that count?)
  • write both a novel and an eBook (I did neither)
  • send out a newsletter every week (LOL)
  • starting a YouTube channel
  • tarot readings (did you guys even know that I sell those? my advertising strategy kinda sucks.)
  • blogging twice a week (try “once a week maybe if I remember”)
  • visiting Seattle
  • going to a blogging conference
  • meditating every day (unless naps count)
  • yoga every day (unless stretching to reach the peanut butter on the top shelf counts)
  • going all-out for the Sabbats (I nailed Beltane and Mabon though!)
  • having a savings account (no comment)

It’s easy to see a huge list of failures and feel a little defeated. But there were good times, too!

how I dropped the ball in 2016

Things I Nailed in 2016:

  • road tripping all over the Midwest
  • moving out of my parents’ house and into a perfect apartment, and my boyfriend moving in with me a few months after that
  • launching my first e-course, and then another one later in the year (!)
  • dyeing my hair BLONDE (a lifelong dream) and then discovering red is my best color after all
  • growing my Instagram from 0 in January to almost 2k followers now (THANK YOU, everyone!!)
  • writing my first guest post
  • making so many amazing friends
  • landing my first freelance writing job
  • starting a book club despite my social anxiety
  • successfully switching from Blogger to WordPress through blood, sweat, and tears
  • sticking with this blog for a WHOLE YEAR despite everything else going on in my life
  • connecting with YOU, who is reading this RIGHT NOW

The moral of the story is that you can’t measure a year by what you did or did not accomplish. It’s both of those and more – the things you accomplished but felt bad about, the things you let slide but realized you were better off without, the goals you set but then laughed about later and the achievements you made that you didn’t expect at all.

If you’re looking at all of those 2016 reflection posts and feeling bummed that you didn’t achieve your goals, don’t. Don’t beat yourself up about what you meant to achieve last year but didn’t. Look at all of the marvelous things that happened to you anyway!

Happy New Year. Let’s kick some buns in 2017. ♥ What do you want to accomplish this year? Let me know in the comments!

- Serena Leave a comment

how i found my community on social media

Whether you’re starting a blog or just wanting to engage with a community, social media is an amazing tool for bringing people together. Connecting with others is pretty much necessary if you want to have any kind of audience, even a small one. That said, every platform is different and can be used for different things. I’m of the firm belief that if you want to find your people, especially if you’re trying to grow a following, you don’t need to be everywhere all the time (although it certainly helps!) Instead, it’s better to pick the mediums that most appeal to you and engage with them regularly. 


I thought it might be helpful to someone who either wants to start a spiritual blog, is interested in learning more about spirituality, or wants to make some friends in the community if I broke down each of the social media platforms I use and how I use them! This is NOT a post on “how to get a bunch of followers” on any of these platforms, mind you, but rather a post on how I’ve used each one to make meaningful connections (although of course it’s nice to see those numbers go up, right?) I can honestly say that I’ve found a wonderful community of like-minded people who lift others up and celebrate each other and that’s an experience I think everyone should have. It helps that in the “spiritual” community, most people are interested in putting good out into the world instead of tearing others down (not to say there aren’t still problematic people, but I’ve been lucky enough to avoid them so far!)


Note that spirituality looks different for every person, and I’m using it as a blanket term to cover a lot of things, many of which are completely not considered spiritual to other people. I found that my people are mostly tarot readers, witches, and wildcrafters who are into stuff like crystals, herbs, essential oils, yoga, energy, rituals, astrology, and keeping up with the moon. That’s not to say that liking those things makes you a witch or that you have to read tarot in order to be spiritual, of course! These are just the areas where the overlap happens for me and my community. If your spirituality is Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or none of the above, you might find some overlap here too or not at all. That’s okay! I just wanted to throw it out there because I know that the specific niches you pursue will have an effect on which social media platform might be best for you – there are probably a lot more Christian Facebook groups, for instance, than ones for tarot, which might make it a more successful platform for you and your purposes. 


 I’m totally not a social media professional by any means and as I mentioned before, this is NOT a post on how to get the most followers – it’s about what I personally did to connect with others on social media. I’m not claiming to have a huge community by any means, but it’s a good size and I think these are good tips if you want to find your own folks!


Anyway, enough with the disclaimers. Here’s what I did to find the community I have today! 


Tumblr
Tumblr was the first platform I joined, before a blog was ever on my radar, before I ever thought of reading tarot for complete strangers. I actually joined it to gather resources and create a sort of digital “sacred space” as I learned more about the different spiritual paths that are out there. I had had Tumblr blogs in the past and never accumulated more than about 100 or so followers, so I truly never expected it to become anything big. Reaching 1k followers completely blew my mind, and now I’m close to 4k! 


What I Did: Basically, I followed everyone I could who posted things I liked at first. After a while you come to see certain people on your dashboard over and over again and you sort of form a bond with them, especially if they follow you back! I reached out and sent messages to blogs I really liked, and in many cases struck up genuine friendships this way. I found my niche in the tarot community and reblogged things I thought would be helpful or enjoyable to others like me. I’m not going to lie, my growth was pretty slow until I made a text post that got reblogged by one of the larger blogs and BLEW UP. I was in Croatia at the time and every time I checked my phone, my eyes about popped out of my head! When I hit 1k followers I held a giveaway that ended up earning me almost another 1k by the time it was done. Tumblr is great because you get to see a little bit of everyone’s personality from the things they blog about, and it can be an amazing resource if you want to learn more! 

My Tips: Use the tags. Always tag your posts (although I think only the first five are used in search results, so be strategic). Be patient, as you have to post using the tags for a while before your posts will start showing up there. The tags I used most often are tarot, tarot community, divination community, witches of tumblr, and witchcraft (but obviously yours will vary depending on what you post!) Go through the tags to find other people to follow, and then engage with them! Support others and they’ll have your back, too. And be genuine – don’t just send the same message to a billion blogs. Also, don’t get discouraged by slow growth. These things take time, and the more followers you have the easier it is to gain more (since more people are reblogging your stuff!) You’ve just gotta power through the beginning stage to get to where you want to be. If you really want to grow quickly, host a giveaway – but be careful. Tumblr’s rules about that kind of thing are weird and pretty specific. 


Instagram
The next platform I joined was Instagram, and this is probably my favorite of all of them, honestly! 


 What I Did: I browsed through the tags to find people to follow and also asked on Tumblr if anyone following me there had one, which allowed me to connect a little more and make more friends! I didn’t go follow-crazy with this one – while that might be a quick way to get followers, I really wanted to use Instagram as a way to connect with people. I follow people I genuinely like seeing updates from and I always try to like their pictures and comment on them when I can. I met a lot of really awesome people this way and now my Instagram is like a little oasis full of cool peeps and pretty pictures! I find that Instagram is a pretty personal platform, weirdly enough – while someone might have thousands of followers, not everyone takes the time to leave a comment and if you DO leave one, most people tend to respond to it! Plus, scrolling through your feed you can’t really tell how many followers a person has – it feels one-on-one, a little peek into their life delivered right to your screen. I love it!


My Tips: Show your appreciation for the pictures you like. Like them with the heart and leave a meaningful comment – it’ll make peoples’ day and they’ll probably check out your account, too! I regularly spend a half hour a day just going through tags and liking pictures I think are cool. Also, with Instagram there’s no limit to the number of hashtags you can use, so make sure you find the best ones for your niche and use those in your posts when they’re relevant. Instagram has this handy feature that shows you how many posts are in each hashtag when you type it in, but note that more isn’t always merrier – the really popular tags like #happy move very quickly, so your photo might get drowned out! Stick to a balance of tags that are more generally about your niche as well as specific to your post to make sure your pics are getting seen. Most bloggers will tell you to keep your photos consistent, like very similar to each other. I agree and disagree. While I think it’s aesthetically pleasing if you always use the same filter or whatever, at the end of the day, this is supposed to be fun. And I like seeing a glimpse into peoples’ lives, so post that selfie or that picture of your tea even if you’re a tarot blogger. If you’re looking to form genuine connections, that will go a long way towards putting your personality out there! Also, DON’T BE THAT JERK who follows a bunch of people only to unfollow them all once they follow you back. It really hurts a small account when they see their tiny follower count dwindling – be genuine!


Twitter
I am fully aware that I’m not using Twitter as well as I could be. As a whole, it overwhelms me – I can’t check it more than a few times a day, and every time I do it’s like 10000000 new Tweets for me to read and I just can’t, you know? 


 What I Did: I made a list for people I like and connect with regularly and for the most part I just check their updates. If I strike up a convo with someone new, I add them to the list. It makes it a lot easier to keep up with the people I care about even if it’s not a good way to gain new followers!


My Tips: Interact with people! Retweet their stuff and like their posts. Even if someone is a celebrity or an idol of yours and you’re 100% sure they won’t see your tweet, try anyway. Tweet at them, share their blog posts and tag them in the tweet, reply if they ask a question. Chances are they WILL see it, and if you’re constantly supporting their work they’ll take notice of that. I’ve gotten to chat with some seriously cool people on Twitter that I would have thought were WAY out of my league, but it turns out they’re nice humans just like anyone else! Also, participate in Twitter chats – they’re a fun way to meet people.


Pinterest
UGH, PINTEREST. Okay, that’s not entirely fair: I love my personal Pinterest. I scroll through the Weddings section all day erryday despite NOT being engaged because wedding things tend to be pretty, which I like, and pastel a lot of the time which I also like. BUT when you’re trying to grow your Pinterest, you can’t just pin whatever you want. So I have another Pinterest just for my blog and like… what am I even doing with it? Figuring out how to use it right is too much effort, tbh. I use Tailwind and I just queue up a bunch of pins and leave it to do its thing until the queue is empty and I have to stock up again. Pinterest isn’t really as interactive user-wise as the other platforms, in my opinion. While I have connected with people by joining group boards, we don’t like, message each other or anything. HOWEVER, it has been a good source of traffic to my blog, and THEN I can interact with people from there! So it’s worth it to have one, in my opinion.


My Tips: If you want to gain followers, have a cohesive theme. My page is mostly purple, for example, since that fits with my “brand.” Try to keep your pins themed around your niche (although you can make a secret board for all of your other pins if you want to still save them!) Also, I highly recommend using Tailwind (and not just because that’s an affiliate link, which it is.) It’s $15 a month and I seriously have seen growth every single week since I started using it despite the 0 effort I put into it. Because who has time to be pinning consistently throughout the day?? Not me. I’d rather be Instagramming.


 Facebook
Fam, I am not a Facebook expert. I didn’t even really want to make a Facebook, but then I was like “man, but it’s really cool and convenient to keep up with brands and people I like that way,” so I figured I’d just have one because why not? When it comes to Facebook, I’m a creeper, not a poster, so this one is hard for me. I also don’t advertise it as much as I should… and just now realized that I haven’t put a link to it in my e-mail signature or newsletter footer yet. Whoops! I don’t really have much advice for making a page because I have not yet figured it all out, but as far as Facebook-for-connecting-with-others goes, be careful not to just join every group out there that’s relevant to your niche. You’ll have a hard time keeping up and participating in all of them. Instead, find groups that you really love and be sure to engage with others. I’m only a member of two Facebook groups and I think that’s about the max that I personally can handle right now. 

I think my #1 tip that’s consistent through all of these platforms is: engage with others! Even if you’re shy – you have nothing to lose. People are generally kind unless they have a reason not to be. Respond to as many comments as you can, leave comments of your own, respond to tweets and messages, things like that. Finding a group of people with whom you have a meaningful connection is SO much more fulfilling than seeing that follower count go up, trust me. 


 What’s your favorite social media platform? Do you have any tips for me? ♥

- Serena 6 Comments

a day in the life of a blogger with a full-time job

a day in the life of a blogger with a full-time job

I’m always surprised to hear what the folks in my online communities are up to outside of our little social media bubble. Many (if not all!) of you have other jobs, other hobbies, and other interests that are in a totally different genre than things like tarot and spirituality! I certainly don’t mean that in a bad way – I’m one of those people, after all. I work full-time as an editor, I like reading romance novels and watching anime, and I spend a lot of evenings having a beer with friends or hanging out with my boyfriend – not exactly the most mysterious lifestyle. But I realized that people might not necessarily know that about me – I spend most of my online life talking tarot, after all!

Because of that, I thought it would be fun to break down a typical weekday in my life. You can see the places I try to squeeze in the things I like to do and how I spend my time when I’m NOT blogging or reading tarot! Weekends are a totally different story, of course, but my weekday routine looks a little something like this:

a day in the life of a blogger with a full-time job

5:30-6:30 Wake up and get ready for work. I shower, make tea, and do makeup when I feel like it. If I have time, I’ll do my daily tarot draw and maybe take some pictures for Instagram in the morning sun.

6:30-7 Morning commute. This isn’t usually too bad – I have a favorite morning show I listen to on the radio!

7-11 Work. I like to start the morning with catching up on e-mails (even though some pros recommend NOT doing this!) because I feel like I don’t have to use too much brainpower to read and reply, and it makes me less anxious when I start the workday with an empty inbox!

a day in the life of a blogger with a full-time job

11-12 Lunch. I usually eat something small for lunch, like some healthy snacks or a salad, because if I have anything heavy then I am falling asleep at my desk for the rest of the day. I’ll usually spend my lunch break in my car with the windows open, reading a book! It feels nice to get out of the office even if it’s just to sit in the parking lot. Sometimes I’ll treat myself to Starbucks or a green juice because it feels nice to have something at my desk to sip on for the rest of the afternoon!

12-4 Work.

4-5:30 Evening commute. This is honestly the worst part of my day. I am an angry driver so I spend this whole time frustrated, and above all feeling like I’m wasting my life away sitting on the expressway!

a day in the life of a blogger with a full-time job

5:30-6 Get home, make and eat dinner. Nothing I cook takes more than 10 minutes to prepare because I’m usually pretty hangry by this time. My go-to dinner is TONS of broccoli, a tiny handful of pasta, and meatballs, all tossed in pasta sauce. It satisfies my cravings for carbs without me actually eating that many carbs at all!

6-6:30 Nap. I’m usually so drained from the workday and annoyed because of traffic by this time. A short nap serves as a reset and helps me feel more awake and recharged for the rest of the evening.

6:30-8 Side hustlin’. I do freelance editing work on occasion in addition to the tarot readings I sell, and if I don’t have any of those to work on then I’m working on my blog! I’ll write posts, schedule social media, read through other blogs for fun and inspiration, and build my newsletter if I have one that week. I also use this time to read tarot for myself – I like to pull a card for guidance and take some time to journal about it. There’s always something more to do!

a day in the life of a blogger with a full-time job

8-9 Exercise. I have an exercise bike in my bedroom, so I’ll prop up my laptop and watch YouTube videos, anime episodes, or a TV show (-cough-OUTLANDER-cough-) while I exercise. I also use this time to scroll through Instagram and like/comment on pictures, because the less I have to think about the work my legs are doing, the better!

9-9:45 Bath time. Baths are my happy place. I’ll put in some Epsom salts and read a book. Sometimes I just sit and think for a while, too – I do my best thinking in the bath! I’ll usually put honey on my face as a mask during this time to kill the workout bacteria and do whatever other magic honey does to your face. It’s a lifesaver.

9:45-10 Get ready for bed. I have a pretty intense face routine that takes some time, since the products need to sink in between applications!

10-11 This is my wind-down time. While I usually end up having to use this time to finish up work from earlier, I’ll dim the lights and my laptop screen and start getting cozy. I know they say blue light keeps you up or whatever, but I sleep like a rock and am always tired so I don’t have that problem! If it’s a light work night, I’ll read a book. I also use this time to journal. Around 11, I shut things down for the night and fall asleep.

If it’s a night I’m seeing my friends, my parents, or my boyfriend, then it’s the same until about 6:30 when I’ll head over to wherever I’m going. Those nights I usually get back around 11 and am in bed around 11:30 or 12, just because I never want to leave! I’m trying to find room to still get some exercise in on those days – I’m thinking I might try walking on my lunch breaks, because I definitely can’t give up my little naps without being grumpy the rest of the night.

I don’t really feel like this schedule is the best or even really sustainable in the long run – I’m always tired and drained from one job or another. But I’m still figuring things out, so I think it’s fine to have for now as long as I make sure not to overdo it!

What does your day typically look like? What do you wish you had more time for?

- Serena 16 Comments

10 tarot blogs you need to be reading

10 tarot blogs you need to be reading

Hello friend! Mercury turns direct again today – whew! I’ve had about enough of retrograde to last me quite a while. Of course, it wasn’t all bad – I probably have Mercury to thank for reconnecting with an old friend I haven’t spoken to in a decade!

Today I thought I’d take a minute to share some of the tarot blogs I’ve been reading (and LOVING) lately. They’re all great resources and are run by super-amazing, super-talented tarot readers! I’ve learned a lot from all of them and I hope you will, too.

I’m always looking for new ones to read, so if you have any suggestions let me know and I’ll check them out! 😀

1. The Tarot Lady

I am a HUGE Theresa fangirl. She’s got it all figured out: witty and relatable writing, seriously helpful resources, and a social media strategy that’s to die for – seriously, she’s on just about every platform and consistently killing it. Theresa has decades of experience in the business and her blog is an essential read if you want to become a better tarot reader.

2. Ethony

Ethony is consistently creating amazing content (which she often shares for free), interviewing other amazing players in the tarot community, being a business boss, and doing it all with grace and style. Her deck reviews are super useful if you’re looking to make a new purchase, and if you take her free personality test you get a free ebook full of resources catered to your exact reading style!

3. Benebell Wen

Benebell’s blog is a great resources for those who want to take their tarot readings to the professional level! She offers business advice for tarot readers (sometimes even inspired by the cards) and thorough deck reviews in case you’re wanting to make a new purchase.

4. Modern Fortune Teller

Formerly known as Fiona Benjamin, over on Modern Fortune Teller Fiona blogs about the tarot, from beginners’ resources to tips on going pro. She also is behind the creation of the gorgeous Lunar Fire tarot deck that’s due to be released this summer!

5. Little Red Tarot

Beth’s blog is amazing. I can’t get over how gorgeous her writing is – she’s so insightful! She’s currently living in a caravan on the Isle of Skye. Like what? It doesn’t get much dreamier than that. You’re definitely gonna want to follow along with her adventures!

6. Spirit-Centered Awakenings

Shelby has really put a beautiful blog together – the layout is so calming to look at! Currently she’s working through the gorgeous cards of the Lumina Tarot in a series on their meanings, so you should definitely check that out if you want to understand the deck better or just have a case of decklust!

7. The Woman Who Married a Bear

Okay, so this one isn’t exactly a tarot blog, but Milla does read tarot and talks about it sometimes! Mostly it’s about her and her husband living what’s basically my dream life on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Come for the tarot and stay for the gorgeous prose, dreamy pictures, and the feeling of belonging in a place you’ve never been.

8. The Cackling Moon

Rose has turned her YouTube channel into a seriously amazing resource for beginners and more advanced readers alike. She does video readings as well as informational tutorials showing you things like how to cleanse your deck and how to learn the meanings of the cards. I love her witchy haul videos!

9. Happy Fish Tarot

Carrie shares tarot spreads, deck and card analyses, and general tarot positivity over on her blog! She’s got some super great resources over there (and some really unique blog post topics, like the use of lines in the Wild Unknown tarot!)

10. Gala Darling

This is super not a tarot blog, but Gala does blog about tarot and witchery sometimes! Mostly it’s a lifestyle blog jam-packed with inspiration and her take on Radical Self-Love. If you want to put a little more magic into your life, you have to check her out.

Of course this isn’t anywhere NEAR all of the amazing tarot blogs out there in the world – these are just a few that I’ve been loving to read lately! I’d love to hear which ones you love to read – like I said, I’m always looking for new blogs to check out! (And if YOU have one, please let me know and I’ll definitely look at it!)

P.S. If you like MY blog, you should totally follow me on Bloglovin! It’s the best way to keep up with all my latest posts 😉

I hope Monday is being good to you!