frances sales Archives - Mommy Ginger

After going through your WHY (why you want to create a blog or vlog) and after contemplating if you can actually be consistent enough to sustain this, then it’s time to think about creating content.

THE FIRST TEN

If you’re a first time blogger or vlogger, try to start creating your first 10 articles or your first 10 videos first. The first 10 that you’ll create will be important, because during this time…

You’ll be able to identify topics that you really want to write about.

As time goes by, there will be many distractions. Distraction comes in many forms like brands inviting you to write about their products and services. Another distraction is seeing that not a lot of people are reading your content. You’ll try to shift gears and try out a lot of tactics like holding a contest, etc. Sure, it may work once or twice, then your stats (number of page views or visitors) will go back to how it was before you ran contests. Also, you may be distracted by what other bloggers or vloggers are writing or vlogging about. You’ll think “I should write more about what these bloggers are writing about.” Creating content will surely stress you out!

I’m not saying that experimenting on different things is bad. In fact, I encourage it. But during this time that you’re thinking about the first ten things, this is time that you’ll be least distracted

You’ll start knowing yourself better and you’ll start thinking of your Personal Brand.

In the first part of this series, I mentioned that consistency is key. In the process of creating the first 10, you’ll know if this is something that you can sustain. You’ll also have a clearer idea on where you want to take your blog — what topics do you want to write about and if you’ll have enough content to last you a lifetime. The ten topics that you choose are most likely the things that you want to talk about.

Also, you’ll, be able to start thinking of the type of audience that you want to talk to or you want to attract.

I’ve written a few articles in the past about Personal Branding and Branding for Blogs. Check out these links:

Blogging and Branding

My Portfolio Site is now Re-branded! (with Personal Branding Tips)

Create a Blog and BRAND It!

In creating content, some of you may ask, where do I write my articles? Just write it in a Google Docs or in Microsoft word. For the videos, you may do simple edits even or just use a raw file for your first few content. These things need not be perfect. You just have to get it done and then review it.

HOMEWORK:

For aspiring mom/dad bloggers or for any aspiring blogger out there, you can do this first Homework.

Please create your first 10 posts or videos

If you’re done with this, I can help you by going through the content with you, and we can even talk about branding and content after. For those who also want to learn more, you can fill out this form as we’re thinking of running a blogging workshop soon with my friends Cat Arambulo, Jackie Go and Shari Poquiz.

Now, in creating content for your blog, my basic tips for you are:

Choose topics that are somewhat “evergreen”. Evergreen content are topics that can be read, re-read, used, linked back to for all eternity. No matter what year it is in the future, it will be RELEVANT.
Another thing that you want to do is at least check and edit your content. I am guilty of sometimes not checking and reading the posts that I create. I’m the type of person who thinks and writes with PASSION and gusto. Haha! Then I just hit the publish button. That may be something that you might do when you’re confident enough that you won’t be making major Boo-boo’s. But if you know that your weakness are sentence construction, spelling, etc., you might want to use https://www.grammarly.com/. Not endorsing here, but a lot of my content writer friends are using this tool.
Have a relevant and catchy title (at least) for your first few posts. Let’s face it, people love to click on posts that have catchy titles. Write a clear title and please have content that’s really related to the title. I’ve seen content with titles that are way unrelated to each other.
Length (for me) doesn’t matter. So there is no expected number of words or expected length for your video. Put yourself in your readers shoes, would they get the gist of what you’re saying in 2 paragraphs? Will they want a longer post or video so that you can give them the lo-down on the stuff that you want to teach? So it really depends on what your audience will eventually like to read or watch from you.

These are just a few tips on creating the content that you need for your blog / vlog. If you have other questions or if you’d like to share more tips, please feel free to comment below or share your tips and questions on social media and use #GINspiration and tag any of my social media accounts (FB: http://facebook.com/mommyginger / IG: http://instagram.com/gingerarboleda / Twitter: http://twitter.com/gingerarboleda )

Hope you can connect with me and I’d gladly reply and respond to your inquiries! Again please feel free to sign up above if you want to join our blogging workshops coming soon!

We have a lot of mom bloggers in the Philippines. And I mean a L-O-T! Just scroll through Instagram or search on Facebook and you’ll find them. My own team in ManilaWorkshops.com conducts business and freelancing workshops, and oftentimes, people ask us to do Blogging 101 workshops.

Those mom bloggers who have been in the industry for a long time now find this space to be very congested already. Notice that I used the word congested, since I didn’t want to describe the landscape as competitive. There is nothing to compete for anyway. The reality is that more and more people have started blogging and that’s okay. What’s sad though is that most of them join this industry not because of the love of the craft, but because most think that this is the easiest way to earn extra income.

Image captured by Veni Anabo: https://journeyofthevees.wordpress.com/

That latter reason of wanting more income isn’t bad, too, but then it leads people down a path of depression and loss of self-worth. We equate the number of readers, the number of followers, the number of comments and the number of likes with our worth.

There are many challenges that mom bloggers have to overcome. This is the reason why Mommy Pehpot of https://www.pehpot.com/ and I did this live session. Check out the video above.

When I asked my friends who are deemed successful bloggers like Frances Sales of http://www.topazhorizon.com/, Cat Arambulo – Anotnio of http://catarambulo.com/, Shari of http://www.themistymom.com/ and Jackie Go of http://gojackiego.com/ though if they really planned to earn from blogging, all of them said that it was purely accidental. Looking back at my journey, too, as a blogger, I never really intended to earn from MommyGinger.com. I just love writing. I also am very passionate about learning trying out new things. Family and friends know me as an early adopter when it comes to trying out new platforms, new activities, etc.

So in terms of monetizing your mommy blog, it will take time. When you create and start your blog, don’t think about money first. Money will come eventually.

The first thing that you need to take care of is creating consistent content for at least 5 months, then see if this is something that you can do and something that you love doing. Why 5 months? When you want to come up with at least 21 posts every week, that will take you 5 months.

Aside from writing the content in your blog, don’t forget to use social media to amplify your message. Create a Facebook Page, Twitter account and an Instagram account. Then every time come up with content, share and announce your new content in these channels. It may even be good to think about creating videos, too. People love watching videos on Youtube, Instagram TV and even other platforms like Kumu (please follow me on Kumu @ginger… hehe!).

After 5 months of delivering consistent content and see if you can continue doing this for the rest of your life. I’ve been blogging for 11 years already, and i’m still happily doing this. So if you’re like me after 5 months, comment on the section below and say, I’m READY! haha!

I’ll be coming up with other topics about mom blogging soon so stay tuned for those!

Also, my friends (Cat, Shari, Jackie and I) have been talking about creating a workshop on blogging. We will announce this to people who are truly interested! If you are VERY MUCH interested to join, please fill out this form:

So just to recap on how to get started, the first thing that you need to do is to know the reason why you want to have a blog. Will you be able to remain consistent in the years to come? Try to write (even without a blog) your first content this week and see if this is something that makes you happy! 🙂

Stay tuned for my next post for mom bloggers 😉

It’s 1:00 PM here in Manila and I am in my “Game-On” mode. It’s been weeks since we launched our Beauty Biz Bliss Community, and admittedly, I have had not time to write this announcement. It’s not because I’ve been slacking off, but on the contrary, I’ve been making things happen. I wanted to spread the news about this community at the proper time. And I think, now is the perfect time, since we will be launching one of our projects (the website) in a few weeks.

We have received questions on what Beauty Biz Bliss is and what’s it all about. Apparently, one of the buzz words in this day and age, is COMMUNITY. By definition, this is what a community means.

A community is a social unit of any size that shares common values, or that is situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a village or town).

Why has this become something that is so talked-about, when it has been there since time immemorial? I think it’s because of the fact that with the advent of technology, sharing of ideas and common values can now be communicated and shared faster. You can now more efficiently connect with people, in our case, ladies with the same beliefs and values. Before, these people gathered in a certain geographical area, but with the advent of the internet, we can just gather online — in a Facebook group, in a platform like Meetup.com or create a circle in Leanin.org, etc. We can even just chat using Viber, Whatsapp, etc.

As a testimony to this, the core idea of establishing Beauty Biz Bliss started when Martine of MakeitBlissful.com, Frances of topazhorizon.com and yours truly, was formulated in Facebook messenger several nights in the past when we talked about our own issues as women. We then realized that we could grow this community and give the same support (support that we were getting from each other, thus, becoming more successful in the things that we get into) to other women. This was when we finally decided to create Beauty Biz Bliss. We then sought the help of our ever reliable Project Manager, RJ Dancel to join us make things happen.

Frances, Ginger and Martine with RJ!

What is Beauty Biz Bliss?

Our mission for Beauty Biz Bliss is to empower women to love themselves, pursue their dreams, and to build a blissful community of like-minded women that can act as a support group for each other. We know that there are women out there, of all ages, stature and who come from different walks of life, who would want a solid community who understands their needs and who would be willing to work with them to achieve their goal. We all ourselves #bossbellas and #happyrebels because we have succeeded in pursuing our unique passions and earning well from our endeavours—even though we were told this can’t be done, and we know there are so many talented Boss Bellas and Happy Rebels out there. We want to find these ladies!

What our community does?

To fulfill this goal, we set up different Beauty Biz Bliss projects, which will help women learn more about and appreciate themselves, give them knowledge and confidence to hone their craft, and connect with other women who will be their support group. We will do this in an environment that inspires creativity and casual but empowering conversations. Everything will be beautiful and blissful!

BeautyBizBliss.com Website: In this site, ladies of all ages can engage with different members of the community and look for potential collaborations. They are free to create personal messages, create group discussions or start forum topics. We will have a free access and a premium membership access, where we will give more perks like free tickets to events that we create and access to different materials, tools and tips! Those who are premium members will also be featured in a portion our page as the Boss Bella of the month.

Beauty Biz Bliss Gatherings: We will create beautiful and inspiring gatherings and in those gatherings, we will tackle topics on beauty, business and bliss. We will invite women experts who are also part of the community to do that talks. We will also invite brands who support women to be part of the event by giving out fabulous freebies and tools that these women can use to achieve your personal and professional goals.

We definitely have more in-store for the women in this community. Our goal is to build this community and have women not only from the Philippines, but from different parts of the world, gather, share share stories and lend support to each other.

What happened during the BBB’s first gathering?

Okay, just to share with you what we do during gatherings, I will share with you what happened during the first ever Beauty Biz Bliss Gathering. Well, first of all, prior to the launch, I had a great time coming up and collating the wonderful Beauty Biz Bliss Kit that was given to all the attendees. The kit was made up of items that Martine, Frances and I use.

The Beauty Biz Bliss Kits!

Inside (and outside since the items could not fit inside the box anymore) the Beauty Biz Bliss are items that we love and use!

The Boss Bellas were all given a mini 3-tiered cake from La Dolce Vita (https://www.facebook.com/ladolcevitaph/)

We also had products from A Vanilla Story (https://www.facebook.com/avanillastory)

Cookies from The Little Whisk https://www.facebook.com/The-Little-Whisk-1687884504787602/

Emergency kits from Oleia (https://www.facebook.com/oleia.ph/?fref=ts)

Products from https://www.facebook.com/AloeCurePH/ and https://www.facebook.com/PhysiogelPH/?fref=ts and of course, printing from https://www.facebook.com/alfoxprinting/

Product from Girlstuff (https://www.facebook.com/GirlstuffForever/?fref=ts), Cusina (https://www.facebook.com/cusinahome/?fref=ts), Design Hatch (https://www.facebook.com/designhatchph/?fref=ts) and Huile Solutions (https://www.facebook.com/HuileSolutions/?fref=ts).

We also had boxes of Ready Coffee from BTL (http://brewyourbestyear.com)

We had the gathering at Co.Lab. We knew that this was the perfect venue for an event that exuded both power and grace. And not to mention, the Co.Lab team is also made up of powerful women!

Thank you Co.Lab for hosting our first BBB gathering!

The styling was care of Hey Holiday. Let me tell you just how amazing Alessa of HeyHoliday is! She really understood the vision and executed it well. The venue was inspiring, motivating and comforting! 🙂

This is how the beautiful and powerful the place was!

The tables were send for the journaling activity that we had. Thank you Gourdo’s for the materials (http://www.gourdos.com/)

Speaking of activities, we had two activities during that afternoon! Well, four, if you count eating and networking! BTW, thank you Bobby of the Cuisinero for the yummy food and Bayani Brew for our drinks! Thank you, Ron, for supporting this event!

We started the afternoon by introducing Beauty Biz Bliss and what we stand for. We also introduced what was in store for all the ladies in the community. Then, each one introduced themselves to everyone else. It was such a nice feeling getting to finally know and meet people whom you normally would just follow online or read about online. There was a lot of “oh! So it’s you!” reactions from the ladies. The mix of women was just perfect — we had creative entrepreneurs, bloggers, women in tech, women in traditional businesses, coaches, authors, women in beauty and fashion, women community heads, leaders in the corporate world, startup founders, and other fields. I loved the diversity and this is what we really want to achieve for each gathering.

*Photo from RJ of TheMillenialPanda.com 🙂

After introductions were done, we moved on to an activity that was sponsored by Moleskine! We all created the first pages of our journals. We had materials also from Gourdo’s that we could use.

The 3 winners got books from author and Boss Bella Marianne Mencias. The book was What’s Your Life’s Masterpiece? 🙂 I have a copy and it is a very inspiring book!

The next activity was to design our own shoes! The shoes were lovingly customized for the BBB gathering by Boss Bella Elayne from Spring Manila.

Customized BBB Shoes from Spring Manila (https://www.facebook.com/springmanila1/?fref=ts)

We also invited Boss Bella Jeng of Sucker for Succulents to teach us how to decorate our shoe!

Thank you, Jeng and Elayne, for all the support!

The contest of designing their shoes is still ongoing and the prize are totebags from Brownroots Creatives! Each one also went home with a GC that they could use to have a customized Boss Bella or Happy Rebel Shirt made!

We had such a great time during the launch. The ladies are so thankful to these brands for all the support that was given! We appreciate all the help to inspire all these women in our country!

Thank you again to:

Moleskine / Biogenic Alcohol / Oleia / Bayani Brew / Hey Holiday / Co.Lab / Spring Manila / Design Hatch / The Cuisinero / The Little Whisk / Cusina Home / Gourdo’s / The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf / Aloe Cure / A Vanilla Story / Carlos and Veronica / Girlstuff / La Dolce Vita / Aloe Derma / Jolly / Physiogel / Alfox Printing Services / Brownroots / Biscoff

We are thankful for the support that these brands have given!

So, are you excited to be a Boss Bella? A Happy Rebel? Support us by subscribing to our newsletter at http://beautybizbliss.com 🙂 We will be announcing a lot of things and developments really really soon!

Be a #BossBella!

Love,

PS: Would you like to partner with us?

Beauty Biz Bliss will be a strong brand and will do so much in helping partner brands build brand awareness and engagement with our audience. If you think you have something to share or contribute or if you are a brand who wants to tap our community, please contact rj@beautybizbliss.com

PPS: We have a circle in Leanin.org. Please visit http://leanincircles.org/circle/beauty-biz-bliss and join us!

PPPS: The #OleiaMoments contest is still ongoing! Post a picture of your Oleia Moment and use #OleiaMoments and #BossBellas #BeautyBizBliss and get a chance to win a Php 1000 GC from Charles and Keith! We will announce the winner on July 15! Post away on Facebook!

You only get one chance to live, so live it to the fullest.

As cliché as it may sound, I just had to start my article with that statement. I still see that we all don’t FULLY get it. I know this for a fact, because I don’t FULLY live my life to the fullest. I had my birthday yesterday and I know that I haven’t really lived my day to the fullest yesterday. I woke up in the morning and my husband and little cutie of a daughter came and woke me up with flowers. I was grateful, of course, but after waking up, I went straight to my computer and worked. Then I went to the bank with my loving husband who wanted to be with me the entire day. Yes, my entire morning was spend doing bank errands. Yes, I know. I’m weird that way.

The rest of the day was better than how the morning went. I eventually, let go and dropped my laptop and did the minimum amount of work that I could do from my phone. What can I say? I admitted that during Martine, Frances and my talk at the Work at Home Expo 2015 that I’m a workaholic. But digging deeper into how I felt and who I was, I have always felt that I wasn’t good enough for anything. And my birthday was not an exception. I felt like I did not have the right to celebrate. I have always felt that my birthdays are just like other day. I don’t understand why people need to celebrate my birthday when I haven’t even done something significant.

So there, that’s how I felt. But waking up this morning and upon talking to my friends, Frances and Martine over Facebook Messenger, I again realized that I am VALUABLE enough to celebrate my birthday. We, three, have so many plans for helping other women achieve outer and inner beauty, succeed in achieving the dreams that they are so passionate about and achieve a life of bliss that they have always wanted. I realized that my feeling of insecurity is just normal and a lot of women feel the same way.

This is the reason why Frances of MommyTopaz.com, Martine De Luna of MakeitBlissful.com and yours truly of this blog, MommyGinger.com decided to come together to start a lifestyle brand that would ignite change, inspire and empower women to live their lives to the fullest. This brand is Beauty Biz Bliss or BBB. BBB’s credo is collaboration over competition! We aim for the inclusive growth of all women no matter what age, stature or race. We want to help women achieve their full potential and help them build the dreams that they have always wanted for themselves.

Beauty Biz Bliss will have several components. We will have intimate social gatherings so that people will get to know other like-minded women. We will have workshops that will tackle three components in our brand. We will also work with brands who believe in the same cause and see how they can fully help the community of women and vice versa.

We would love to meet all of you! Let’s change the world, Ladies, one step at the time by achieving our dreams! We will make it happen. We are here for you!

Frances, Martine and I are very excited for this. Get to know more about us and about BBB at facebook.com/beautybizbliss. For brands that want to work with us, please email me at ginger@mommyginger(dot)com.

I learned how to put on makeup back in 2010 and ever since then, I haven’t really actively looked for ways to learn more about it. With things constantly changing, what ever was in and hip before is not anymore. We have to unlearn and learn things again.

I don’t believe that you can’t teach a dog new tricks. I believe that each one is capable of expanding their own knowledge. It’s just a matter of deciding if you really want to learn. This is true with anything in life, be it blogging, business or even beauty.

Last Saturday, I attended the Topaz Mommy and Bobbi Brown intimate get together. I was invited by my good friend, Topaz Mommy herself, Frances, to come and join her learn how to put on make-up. The event was attended by a handful of blogger friends and readers of Topaz Mommy.

Boobi Brown Philippines Store in Megamall

Bobbi Brown Makeup Lessons

Leuchtturm Notebook and Bobbi Brown products!

Supporters of the event were Leuchtturm Notebook, Eats Happy and Bobbi Brown Philippines!

What I learned from the event:

1) For ladies who are always busy, and for those who want to put on makeup but feel that they don’t have enough time, you can turn to tools and makeup that are multi-functional. I was introduced to the Pot Rouge (my favorite is Pale Pink!). It can be used as blush for the cheeks and color for the lips.

Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Pale Pink

I also found this really great make-up brush that I just had to buy. It’s the Bobbi Brown full coverage brush. I really love how you can use it for anything — from foundation to blush to loose powder. It feels like sponge when you use it. What I like about it (tried it for the Bobbi Brown foundation) is that it spreads liquid evenly. No lines are seen!

Another multifunctional product, which I am coming back for is the bb intensive skin serum foundation. It’s so nice because it’s perfect for daily use. It acts as a moisturizer, sunscreen, anti-aging cream and foundation all in one.

2) The next thing that I learned is that mom’s best ‘make-up’ friend should be the corrector and concealer.

Corrector / Concealer from Bobbi brown

Mommy Ginger Before – without Corrector / Concealer (without makeup!)

Mommy Ginger After – without Corrector / Concealer from Bobbi Brown with Serum Foundation, too 🙂

See the difference! I think I definitely look fresher and cleaner (haha! I have so many pimple marks!) on the after picture!

3) The third thing that I realized is that I think we overuse using powder too much. Tamara said that our skins were made to look hydrated and moisturized. Having a matte finished face shouldn’t be the norm. Another reason why sometimes our faces look flat and large in photos, is because we put too much powder that everything looks like one flat and ‘white’ canvas. That is the reason why contouring and color is needed. That is why we need great looking eyebrows, bronzers, blush, and lip color.

These are the things that I picked up from attending this Make-up workshop. Thank you, Frances, for inviting me. Thank you, Bobbi Brown Philippines, Leuchtturm Notebooks from National Bookstore and of course, Eats Happy who provided the yummy food that was so interesting to look at — didn’t want to eat it at first.