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Hey There, Chelsie

a blog for beauty, style & the pursuit of a vibrant life

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The 2016 Blog Report: How I Grew My Blog Following by 224%

Last year I did my first comprehensive yearly blog report for my blog and it was really eye-opening and motivating to see how far I had come. I knew after putting together and sharing the 2015 Blog Report, it would become an annual post to put together and share. Although it’s a little terrifying to dig into my stats and to be this transparent with my success (and failures) with my audience, it’s also really rewarding and refreshing to see how far I’ve come. I belittle myself and my success because I forget to look at the big picture! Taking the time to look back on my blog for the whole year gives me a bit of a reality check - and shows me that I am successful and making progress with my space here!

So, without further ado, I give you the 2016 HTC Blog Report!

2016 Blog Stats (January 1st - December 31st)

Total Pageviews: 140, 182 ( 33% increase from 2015)

Average Time on Site: 4:18

Bounce Rate: 45%

New Visitor: 79.7%

Returning Visitor: 20.3%

Facebook was my number one traffic referrer, mainly because one of the companies I work with paid to boost/run ads for several of my posts throughout the year, capping in at over 47,000 page views. This was closely followed by Pinterest, sending me over 30,000 page views through several pins that went viral.

Social Media Stats & Growth

Facebook Fans: 1315 (+370 from 2015)

Pinterest Followers: 3200 (+1800 from 2015)

Instagram Followers: 15000 (+12,300 from 2015)

Twitter Followers: 1800 (+350 from 2015)

Email Subscribers: 400 (+203 from 2015)

Total Growth in Social Media Followers: 15,023 followers (or 224%)

What I can Learn from my Stats:

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The Best of Hey There, Chelsie 2016

Although this year was crazy, I definitely don’t feel like it flew by as fast as others. Between all the crazy moves and huge life changes we made, this year definitely had times where time went by a little slowly, and other times where it sped right up. All in all, though, I am really grateful for this year and all the lessons I learned from it. But, I’m also really looking forward to 2017 (hopefully the year of NO major moves) and to continuing to grow HTC in new and exciting ways.

I wanted to round up some of my best posts this year (a combination of those that did well on social media and some of my favorites that I wrote.) It’s a really good way to look back at the work I did and to see the fun partnerships I had, along with the growth I’ve been able to accomplish. So, if you’re new around here or if you want to take a peek at some of the posts you might have missed, here are the best 25 posts from HTC during 2016!

The Best of Style:

10 Affordable Fall Outfits to Wear - This was one of the most intensive fashion/style posts I put together, but it was so much fun! I loved being able to rebuild my fall wardrobe on a budget and sharing several style ideas for fall!

Thoughts on Leggings and 2 Ways to Style Them - Sharing my opinion on the great “are leggings pants” debate and two ways to style them!

3 Ways to Style Your Inner Harry Potter Nerd - Not even sorry that I deck myself out in HP graphic tees and jewelry! If you are a Potter head, this post is for you!

Edgy Valentine’s Day #ootd & Loving Myself - I love dressing up for Valentine’s Day for my husband, but this year, I wanted to get dressed up for me, as well. This may not be a typical Valentine’s Day outfit, (it’s definitely on the edgy side) but I love that I am learning to embrace my flaws and rock clothes that I most definitely would have shied away from before.

December Weekend Outfit & Simple Addiction Coupon Code - Sharing my most favorite shoot from the year, a cozy jacket, and a 15% off coupon code to use on Simple Addiction’s site! You know you want to treat yourself to some super soft leggings!

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7 Time-Saving Hacks for Bloggers

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CentrumFunFlavors #CollectiveBias

I know I might sound like a broken record, but ever since we moved to Utah back in September, life has become busier and more hectic than ever. Between our new jobs, only being 20 minutes away from some of our best friends and family, and projects for my blog, we have just been going non-stop. I won’t lie, it’s been downright exhausting at times and my health and blog have suffered from my lack of energy and endless to-do list. Thankfully, I’ve been able to implement several time-saving hacks into my life recently that not only help me stay on top of my blog but also my health!

7 Time-Saving Hacks for Bloggers

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The #myvibrantholiday Challenge + 30 Holiday Photo Ideas for Instagram

Instagram and I have a pretty complicated relationship. I mean, I started my Instagram years before I started blogging seriously and used it like any normal person would: to share 10 overly-filtered photos a day of Rosie and the food I was eating. No pressure to have a perfect picture or feed and no stress on how many people were unfollowing me. Just photos of my life.
When I started blogging seriously, I started a long journey on redefining my Instagram account. I knew I had to treat it more like a business and put a bit more effort and thought into the photos I was posting, but it was a struggle to find the balance between gaining followers, sharing “perfect” pictures and remaining authentic to who I am. I think I finally have figured it out (for the most part) because in the last four months, I’ve grown my account from 5,000 followers to 13,000 followers and have a healthy engagement rate to boot. My growth on Instagram has opened MANY doors for my little business and the community I have found there is by far one of the most supportive ones out there.
One of the biggest challenges I faced when starting my Instagram was trying to figure out what to post and how to build a community around that. It took me a while to figure out that hashtags were the key to Instagram community…the right hashtags, that is. Obviously, there are a lot of them out there, but finding the right ones was a challenge. So, I decided to start my own.
I started the #myvibrantlife hashtag a couple of months ago and today I realized that there are over 1,000 photos using it! THANK YOU! I never though I would have 100 photos using the hashtag and it has been SO inspiring and wonderful to see so many people using that hashtag to connect through Instagram. I am constantly in awe of the beautiful and vibrant lives you all lead and the time you take to share that with me.
So, because it’s my FAVORITE time of the year and because I am loving the #myvibrantlife hashtag community, I wanted to extend a little hashtag challenge to you all for the rest of the month!

Introducing…the #myvibrantholiday hashtag challenge

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The December Report (Personal & Blogging Goals & Stats)

It’s my favorite time of the year (and the most wonderful time of the year, too, in my opinion.) I really can’t believe it’s the last month of the year, but at the same time, I’m excited it’s here! I wish time would slow down just a tiny bit so that I can enjoy my Christmas tree for as long as possible.

November was an exceptionally crazy month with the holidays and the people who live below me (if you get the Hey There, Monday newsletter, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.) It started off a little rough but it ended with family, food, golden snuggles, and some exciting future projects in the works, so I’m stoked about what’s to come!

I’m going to change the format up for these kinds of posts for the next couple months, so let me know if you like them or not!

November Goals Recap -

Work through Materials from the Ultimate Bundles Genius Blogger’s Toolkit - I purchased this huge toolkit of materials that only goes on sale once a year and have been slowly (but surely) working my way through the courses and eBooks. I have about 1/2 of the eBooks read and 2 courses done and have been learning a TON about things I can change or improve to continue to find success here. I’m really excited to slowly implement those things here and for the changes to come.

Conduct Reader Survey - Done! I launched a reader survey a few weeks ago and got some amazing feedback. It was really encouraging and refreshing to get some opinions from the people who frequent this space and helped me brainstorm new ideas and content to bring here for the new year. So, THANK YOU for taking the time to take it!

Plan out Editorial Calendar for the Rest of the Year - Done and done! I’ve got all my content planned out for the rest of the year and into the first week of the New Year! I’m really excited about the projects and ideas that I came up with and hope that you all find them helpful and enjoyable, too!

Consistently post 3X a week - I did pretty well on this for the first half of the month and then it was Thanksgiving and I decided to unplug from pretty much everything to enjoy my time with my family. I’m actually really proud of myself for doing that and feel more inspired and motivated to end this year strong!

Send out weekly email newsletter - I started doing this two weeks ago and am going on 2 weeks straight, so I’d consider that a minor success! It’s been really awesome to be able to open up about some more personal things through that email and I SO appreciate those of you who actually email me back! If you want to be on the Hey There, Sunday (sometimes Monday) newsletter, you can sign up here:

Personal - Get into a morning routine - While I definitely got better about getting up every morning and getting to work faster, I still don’t have a set routine down.

Personal - Continue to eat healthy and lose 5 pounds - Well I don’t know what I was thinking giving myself this goal during the month of Thanksgiving! Let’s just leave it at the fact that I ate a lot of pie. A lot. And I’m not sorry.

The December Report: Blogging Goals, Stats & Income. Sharing the growth I've seen in my blog this month, how I grew social media channels like Instagram and what my blogging income was! // Hey There, Chelsie

December Blogging Goals & Stats (and Income) Report:

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5 Ways to Get Re-Inspired to Blog

It’s been no secret that I hit a bit of a rough patch with my blog this summer. I was in limbo, I lost my motivation and inspiration and couldn’t see the bigger picture for a long time. I didn’t have a clear focus on what my whole point was, I kept getting overwhelmed by what everyone else was telling me to do and I was frustrated with my lack of growth on social media channels. It was #badnewbears. And I pretty much just did the bare minimum to keep my blog running.

But that was this summer. And now it’s basically the end of November and I can say (very happily) that this is no longer the case. I’m feeling REALLY motivated and inspired again and wake up every morning excited to get to work on my blog. But, there was definitely a bit of a journey that got me back to a good place with this space, and I wanted to share the five things I did to find inspiration to blog again! So, if you’re stuck or in a rut (or limbo) with your blog, know you are not alone and that it IS possible to get out!

Examine & Realign your Mission Statement

As a human being, I am constantly changing, growing and evolving. When I first started blogging at Life with Rosie, it was simply to give me a creative outlet and something to fill my spare time in. Since it was named after my dog, I briefly thought about being niching down and being a dog blogger, but as much as I love Roo, I couldn’t find the passion to write about how much she loved dog treats.

When I rebranded to Hey There, Chelsie, I thought I would narrow down again and start writing about blogging and teaching others how to blog as well. I had a lot to say about the topic and, let’s be real, I could talk about blogging and social media strategies for dayzzzz. I launched an eCourse (which is in the process of being revamped into new blog content) and did some mentoring, but after a few months, I realized that I felt very limited and backed into a corner. I was having some serious anxiety because I felt like I couldn’t write about other topics and I started avoiding writing for my blog because of that. Plus, it didn’t help that so many other bloggers were pursuing the same path and I felt like I would have a hard time standing out in the blogging world that was full of others doing the same thing.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love me a good blogging post and I still plan on sharing my tips and tricks when applicable, but writing JUST about blogging wasn’t for me. And that’s okay. Recently, there’s been a big push in the blogging community to get back to the origins of blogging, like writing more personal posts that tell a story and I’ve been loving it. It’s been awesome to feel more connected to my favorite bloggers and to not feel the pressure to write an informative post EVERY time I want to write.

So, over the summer while I took some serious time off from most of my blogging responsibilities, I thought day and night about what I wanted my purpose for my blog to be. I thought about the things I wanted to still inform others on (beauty and fashion) and topics I just wanted to bring back into my blog (like life updates, personal stories, and being open about my continued journey of cancer survivorship) and I realized that if I had a simple focus for my blog, everything else would fall into place.

I wrote about how I redefined my blog’s mission here in depth, but here’s the gist of it all: I want to encourage others to live a vibrant life, despite their scars or past. Whether it’s through fun beauty/fashion posts or the deep and dark emotional posts, I simply want to share my pursuit of a vibrant second chance life. I hope I can remind others that they are worth taking the time and effort to live a life they are proud of. I also hope I can encourage them to spoil themselves and practice some self-love because they deserve it!

Ever since I redefined my blog’s focus and mission, it’s been SO easy to not only write posts and come up with topics but to open up and be more personal and honest here. It’s been life changing.

Revamp your Social Media Strategies

What’s that saying? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results? I think it goes something like that - and that’s how I was feeling about my social media strategies. I was following the same old strategies that I had implemented over a year ago and not getting anywhere. Social media wasn’t fun for me- it became a huge chore and I dreaded it.

I plan on going into more on exactly what I did to change my social media strategies in the 2016 Blog Report, but here’s a brief synopsis of what I stopped and what I started doing instead.

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Why it’s SUPER important to OWN your Blog (and not rely on just social media)

I haven’t talked about the actual topic of blogging in quite some time, but two different things happened a couple weeks ago that made me want to get on here and chat to all my blog/small business friends because they both scared the crap out of me. I apologize in advance if this get’s rambly, but I had to share these thoughts!

The first thing that happened that scared me? Well, it was a bit creepy, to be honest.

Someone tried to Impersonate my Facebook Page

I was searching for the Hey There, Chelsie Facebook Page and realized I had clicked on a page that wasn’t mine…but my photo was in the profile and header picture. Yeah, that’s right. Someone took photos from my Instagram and blog and created another Hey There, Chelsie FB page and was pretending to be me. They had shared one post from my actual blog and then started sharing a bunch of other random websites as if it was me. The worst part? There were several insensitive websites/posts shared about being a cancer survivor.

So yeah. It was creepy to stare at a page with my photos plastered all over it and know that I wasn’t on the other end, sharing those things. And it freaked me out that someone else would stumble across that page and think that it was the official HTC page and get the wrong impression of me and my brand. It was just all over #badnewsbears. Not a fan.

Thankfully, I got it taken down within 24 hours (although Facebook makes you jump through A MILLION hoops to prove that your being impersonated) and have not seen another imposter account since. But now I check every few days. Because I have no clue who was behind that fake FB page and no idea if they are going to attempt it again.

The second thing that happened?

Vine announced that it was Shutting Down

For those of you who may not know what Vine is, it’s an app that allows you to record 6-second videos and share them. Basically, Vine was like a mini version of Youtube. There are several users on Vine that have become super popular from their video feeds and even got sponsored posts and deals through them.

Now, I’m not on Vine and never used it before, but the fact that this once immensely popular social media platform is getting it’s plugged pulled still scared me. Why?

Because I don’t own my Instagram account or my Facebook Page or my Pinterest profile. I mean, yes, I own the content I share on it, but I have no control over the actual platforms. We could all wake up one day and Instagram could be gone and I will have lost touch with all 12,000 of my followers.

Let that one sink in for a minute. It’d be #badnewsbears x100.

Social Media Changes Constantly

And so does blogging in a way, but for the most part, blogging stays the same. You type in a URL and you are brought to a site that is owned and run by the person behind it. On the flip side, social media is constantly changing, new platforms are arising and new algorithms are coming into place. What was once popular one day can be completely irrelevant the next. So, if you put all your eggs in to one basket (like Instagram or Facebook) you are really risking a lot more than you realize.

This isn’t to say that you should ignore social media all together! Social media is a VITAL part of marketing these days and expanding your brand, influence, and connections. Grow those profiles and connect with your audience, but ALWAYS have something solid and safe to direct them back to (like your blog.)

FURTHER READING: 6 Reasons Why I Follow you on Instagram

Blogging is NOT dead

That’s been something that we’ve been hearing a bit more of recently and I think that is so silly for people to think or say. Yes, blogging is changing. Yes, it’s harder to get people to view your blog if they are all on Instagram. But guess what? No one owns Instagram but Instagram! And if you decide to ditch your blog for just a social media presence, you are building your business or blog on a sand foundation instead of a solid rock one. And it’s not just the risk of not owning the platform, but having to rely on someone else to fix your problems.

A couple months ago, the owner of Instagram profile Men & Coffee had her account hacked. The hacker changed all of the security measures so that she couldn’t recover her profile at all. Not only did the hacker start posting pictures asking for money to be donated to a random account. When the owner got in touch with the hacker, he said that he would sell the account back to her for an insane amount of money. And it took her a very long time to get ahold of someone at Instagram who could help her get the account back.

Although the Men & Coffee account is totally different from a blogger’s account, it still shows how tricky it was for her to recover her account and get the people at Instagram to actually respond and help her out. And as vital as Instagram is for businesses and blogs, it’s still important to HAVE A BLOG at the foundation of it all.

Why you need to Own your Blog

Hopefully, you can catch my drift of where I’m going with this all. Whether you are a business owner or a blogger or even work in direct sales, you NEED to own your own blog, as in you need to have your own domain and be hosting your own site. Yes, technically you could still “loose” your site to your host (there are a few horror stories) but as long as you perform weekly backups, you will never LOOSE your work.

There is some information out there that people on the Blogger platform don’t even own their own site (Google does) and they could still lose their content. I’m not sure if this is entirely true, but if you are on Blogger, it’s definitely something to look into.

Owning your blog ensures that your work is copyrighted and protected (so that you can prove that YOU own your content and the people impersonating your on FB do not.) In the United States, the moment your content is published it is immediately protected under copyright laws. That being said, it still will not prevent people from stealing your work, so it’s a good idea to have clear terms and conditions somewhere on your blog AND to formally register your content with the Copyright Office. Having a formal Copyright in place will allow you to sue for Copyright infringement should you ever need to.

(For more info on Copyrights & Trademarks for blogs, check out this post from Jade & Oak)

Further still, this is why it is critical to be building an email list of your readers/followers/customers because that is the ONLY list of people that you will “own.” No one can take your email list away! Even if you don’t have any ideas for a weekly newsletter, you should STILL collect them and have them on file so you can get in touch with them if need be. For example, if Facebook didn’t take down the imposter page right away, I could have emailed all of my followers on my email list (about 300) and let them know about the imposter page and that it wasn’t me to prevent any confusion in case someone stumbled upon it!

And yes, you can start an email list for free! A lot of people use MailChimp, but I just switched to MailerLite and LOVE it (It comes with free automation and landing pages.) If you are interested in learning more about creating an email list, leave me a comment below.

And, I can’t go on and on about the importance of an email list without a shameless plug for my own list. (So, if you aren’t signed up for the HTC Hey There, Sunday weekly email, you can fix that by signing up below!)

So. It’s been a crazy couple weeks between all of this social media nonsense. But through it all, I’ve had this little space on the internet to express myself with, to share with, and to connect with. I am so grateful for HTC and the knowledge that it is MINE!

Leave a comment below on what you’re going to do TODAY to protect yourself and your business!

How to Start a Bullet Journal

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PilotYourLife #CollectiveBias

I’m not even kidding when I say that I have spent over 100 dollars in planners over the last 6 months, trying to find one that would work for me in this season of life. Each one has been used faithfully for 2-3 days and then ended up in a drawer of my desk or in the trash. It’s been so frustrating for me, not only because I kept spending money on planners, but also because I needed a flexible system to keep my life and my blog organized. Since I’m not in school and work from home, having a pre-printed planner just wasn’t working for me. I’m in control of my own schedule and my schedule looks a little different depending on the day.

Thankfully, though, I found bullet journaling and all of my planner woes have finally been put to rest. I’ve been using this system for 2 months now and it is everything I could have wanted in a planner for my lifestyle: flexible, inspiring, and memorable. Because it literally has been life changing, I wanted to share it with anyone who may be in a similar situation as me!

What is a bullet journal?

A bullet journal is a customizable planner system that works on two ends: it allows you to organize your life and to journal memories. The concept was originally created by Ryder Carroll, who, like me, needed something quick, easy and customizable to organize his life. And, that’s the absolute beauty of bullet journaling! Because is a customizable system, it can be whatever you want or need. It can be to-do lists, calendars, routines, sketchbook or diary. For most, it is a combination of all of those things!

Bullet Journal Terminology:

Spread: the name given to a specific page layout (aka monthly spread or daily gratitude spread)

Index: the table of contents that organizes where different spreads are throughout your journal

Topics & Collections: Different from planning spreads, where you can list or collect different ideas or materials (ie. favorite quotes or books to read)

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Why I Continue to Blog

First of all, Dustin, Rosie, and I are all safe and dry. If you haven’t heard about what’s going on in LA, here’s the short version of it: Over the weekend, Louisiana got hit with 6.9 trillion gallons of rain, causing over 40,000 homes to be damaged, 20,000 people to be displaced and 13 deaths. The locals here are saying that this flooding is worse than Katrina. You can read about the flooding here.

Thank you to everyone who reached out over the last couple of days to check in on us; your texts, facebook messages, and phone calls have meant the world to us. We live on the third floor of our apartment building, and while we did have a bit of a scare with the water flooding into our cars, we were able to move them in the nick of time to some higher ground. We spent much of the weekend hunkered down with our ADT family and the Olympics and just waited out the storm. We are very, very lucky.

But we are surrounded by many, many people who were not. The devastation from the flooding in Louisiana is unbelievable and utterly heartbreaking. The ADT family went out yesterday morning to help some members of our church whose homes needed to be gutted from all the water damage. It literally took the words out of my mouth and the breath our of my chest to drive down the road and see piles of people’s lives at the edge of the road, waiting to be picked up by the trash.

It’s been a hard summer for Louisiana. Having never lived here before and having no desire to live here permanently, I didn’t realize I would be so affected by the things that have happened in the state. Being so close to the Baton Rouge shootings and then watching the waters creep up around our apartment here has shaken my core. The people here are good. Their way of life is different, yes, but the people are good and kind. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, Louisiana has a little piece of my heart and I have been hurting for them this summer.

It’s been hard, to be surrounded by so much tragedy, to find the motivation to write for my blog. I’ve been asking myself what is the point of sharing my favorite beauty products or what cute dress I wore last week when there are bigger problems in the world right now? Every time I have sat down to write, I have felt frivolous and shallow. So many people in my community have literally lost everything and I’m writing about lipstick?

So as I sat down today, I asked myself why do I continue to blog?

Because there’s so much sadness and devastation surrounding us in this world and sometimes, reading about lipstick is a much-needed escape. Because sometimes looking at pretty pictures helps you take a break from the sorrow around you. Because sometimes you need a little bit of hope that life can get back to simple worries of “what shoes should I wear tomorrow” instead of “do I even have shoes to wear?”

Because I know how hard it is to move forward from something wipes your future out in midflight. I know how terrifying it is to move forward with the fear of something tragic happening again. And I know that it is possible to pick up the pieces from a devastating event and to rebuild it into a vibrant life.

My blog isn’t going to cure the world of all the problems, and it certainly isn’t going to help much with the flooding down here in the Deep South. But I hope that by continuing to blog, I can help spread the hope and courage of so many people that I am surrounded by here. I hope I can remind you all in the humblest of ways to enjoy you dry homes today and to take an extra second to appreciate the shoes you have in your closet and the car you have in your driveway. And I hope you know, that no matter what storm in life you are facing, it’s okay to grieve. And it’s also possible to rebuild. And that I’m here for you, cheering you on and sharing my favorite lipsticks just to give you an escape if you need one.

If you are able to, please consider donating to the flood relief efforts here in Louisiana (you can specifically select the flood relief efforts in the drop down menu.)

Hey There, July (Personal & Blogging Goals)

I must have really been in a blogging rut because last month was the first month I didn’t sit down and write out my goals in over a year on the blog! And boy, not having my monthly goals really did put a damper on the progress I made during this last month. I didn’t realize how much writing out small, actionable goals that the beginning of every month really helped me accomplish some big things over the last 1.5 years.

That being said, I am going to set just a few goals for July because Dustin and I are traveling at the end of the month to Chicago for my brother’s wedding. I don’t want to put too much on my plate and get overwhelmed, but I do have some specific goals in mind that I want to work on.

July 2016 Personal Goals:

Read 2 Books: I’ve actually been reading a lot recently and finished two books in the last couple of weeks. I forgot how much I love reading in the summer and have a small list of “pool reads” to finish before it gets cool!

Spend 20-30 minutes a day picking up the home: I’ve been trying to do this the last few days and it’s made a big difference my productivity. I used to let the clutter and chores build all week and then have to set aside a huge chunk of time during the weekend to clean all day long. It just wasn’t working for me anymore, so I’ve been trying to do just a little every day. The result? My house has been relatively clean all week, the dishes haven’t piled up and all the laundry is done! On a Friday!

Continue to Eat Well & Drink Water: I’ve cut out soda almost completely from my diet, except for an occasional root beer on date night. I also have been working on replacing my typical afternoon snack of Oreos & Ice Cream with some form of veggie or fruit. The results have been amazing. My skin has cleared up a ton, I haven’t woken up with a headache in a couple weeks and in general, I just feel a lot better. Plus, it helps that I’ve dropped about 6 pounds!

July 2016 Blogging Goals

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Bloggers, BEWARE Passionfruit Ads

I’m livid. My blood is seriously boiling. And what’s worse, after doing a little bit of digging, I’ve realized that I am not the only one.

When I first started blogging in early 2015, one of the first things I jumped into was creating a sponsorship program for my sidebar of my blog. I’ll admit, I was anxious to make a little money off of my blog as fast as I could so I could buy some equipment I wanted for my camera and running a sponsorship program seemed like the easiest and fastest way to monetize. (A sponsorship program is when other bloggers pay a small fee to put an ad on the sidebar of someone else’s blog and have that blogger promote their content on their own social media channels.) I started off by doing a couple swaps and then proceeded to signup for PassionFruit Ads, a website that worked as the middleman for those running sponsorship programs. Almost ALL of my blogging friends were on the platform, it was receiving tons of amazing reviews and it took out a lot of the legwork.

Here’s how it worked: You signed up and paid a monthly fee (I paid 3 dollars a month) to have your blog on the marketplace. You picked the different sized ads on your blog, what came with them and then advertised it where you wanted. Someone who wanted to sponsor your blog would be directed to Passionfruit, add the spot to their cart and pay to Passionfruit. Passionfruit would take care of coding the ad to your sidebar and would then pay you out every week that you made money. It was easy, it was fast, it was professional and it was organized.

I didn’t have any problems with my account when I first started using it. The customer service team responded fast to any questions I had and I happily went about running my sponsorship program without any issues from April of 2015-December 2015.

Why I cancelled my Membership

In January, I decided that I was putting in way more time into a sponsorship program then was worth my time. I didn’t like how cluttered my sidebar was looking, I didn’t like having complete control over what blog posts I needed to promote and I wasn’t into sending my audience away from my site to other sites. I wanted them to stay a while. So, as I got ready to relaunch Hey There, Chelsie, I canceled my account with Passionfruit Ads. I had other means of monetizing my site to keep it running that were far more conducive to my business and future goals.

In March, as Dustin and I looked over our finances to prepare for our move, I noticed that I had been charged the $3.00 for February and March for my PassionFruit Ads shop. Perplexed, I logged on to the Passionfruit site to make sure I had canceled my account. I had. There was nowhere for me to remove any credit card information or even log into my old account. So, I sent an email off to customer service and didn’t think much of it for the next couple of weeks since I was more preoccupied with moving.

After we got to LA, I realized that I had been charged AGAIN by PassionFruit Ads for an account I canceled and did not have. I sent another, more pointed email to customer service. Nothing. I sent several tweets out to their accounts. Radio silence. So, I waited to see if it would resolve itself or if I would have to take more drastic measures.

And of course, a month later, I was charged AGAIN! I was pretty upset that my credit card was being charged and I had NO control over stopping the charges. I called my credit card company and filed a dispute. They refunded me the money for the last 5 months, put a stop to all future requests and even issued me a new credit card/number. Frustrated, but relieved, I finally felt like I could move forward.

[Read more…] about Bloggers, BEWARE Passionfruit Ads

HTC Happenings, Updates & Favorites // May

It’s been a while since I just sat down and shared what’s been going on in life and behind the scenes here at Hey There, Chelsie. Today I just wanted to chat about life lately, where my head’s been at in terms of my blog and share some of my favorite reads from the month! Thanks for being a pal and just catching up with me today!

Happenings:

// We’re finally getting used to Dustin’s job and the lifestyle that comes along with it. Although it’s been a huge adjustment to having a husband who is gone from 12-10:30 weekdays and 9-6 on Saturdays, the risks of leaving his other job and coming here is totally paying off. Dustin and I recently paid off ALL of our credit cards (they had crept up on us during our move,) paid off the rest of our car loan, invested almost 1K in the stock market, and built our savings account up to the most it’s ever been. In all three years of our marriage, we have never been this much in the positive and it’s been such a relief to finally feel like we are ahead of ourselves instead of working to make ends meet. I have never seen Dustin work so hard at something and I know that this job is one of the hardest jobs out there, but he’s been putting everything into this job and making our dreams come true. Future house and brand new car, here we come!

// Last Monday I woke up and decided that I was tired of feeling so crummy physically and emotionally in my body and decided to make a change. I had been waking up with headaches for almost two weeks straight and was just feeling so fatigued and wiped out. Chemotherapy did a toll on my immune system and I always struggle with stamina, but the last few weeks were a whole new level. So, I decided in an instant I was going to overhaul my eating habits and do a detox for the week. I wrote out a strict meal plan, went to the store and bought everything I needed and started my week. I mainly focused on cutting out sugary snacks, excess carbs, and sugary drinks and worked on eating more veggies throughout the day and staying more hydrated. By the end of the week, I was feeling AMAZING and had lost 6 pounds! And then….

// I got the cold from Hades and my immune system (which has the capacity of a teaspoon) failed me miserably and I crashed hard. I was so wiped out and miserable and ate a ton of soup, crackers and homemade rolls (thanks, Aubryanne!) We also ate out a ton because I just wasn’t up to cooking, like pizza and hamburgers. I’m still not feeling 100% but I once I am, I’ll be getting back on my healthy eating train!

// Any Bachelorette fans out there? I had some of the ADT wives over on Monday to watch the season premier with me and we ate chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, and chocolate covered mangos and couldn’t believe how many times Chad said “hey” like he was the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread. I already can’t stand him. I know that so many people are already smitten with Jordan, but Dustin actually went to high school with him and doesn’t have very fond memories so…we’ll see how it all plays out. But, JoJo is the perfect Bachelorette and I love having girlfriends to watch it with (and eat lots of fruit covered in sugar.) We can’t wait for the special two-nighter next week!

// Dustin and I officially had an authentic Louisiana experience this last weekend! We went to a Crawfish Boil with some of our good friends here and it was…an experience. Basically, it’s 2 pounds of crawfish, a 1/2 pound of shrimp, potatoes, corn, mushrooms all boiled with cajun spices and served in a big bowl. The tables have trashcans built into the middle of the table so you can just dump the crawfish into them when you’re done peeling and eating them. I’m not going to lie, it was a little creepy having a huge bowl of dead crawfish and then having to crack them open, but it was a definitely an experience.

// I recently discovered bullet journaling and finally feel like my organizational problems have been resolved. I’m still working on mine, but can’t wait to share it with you all soon!

[Read more…] about HTC Happenings, Updates & Favorites // May