Let me set the scene for you. It’s 10am on a Monday morning, I’m out shooting for a really exciting campaign with a brand I’ve been wanting to work with for months. We’re snap, snap, snapping away when some guys leans out of a car window and yells ‘get a real job’.
This man doesn’t know me. He has no clue if I am taking pictures as a job or just because I was some cute shots for my Facebook wall. He doesn’t know the size of my following. He literally does not know me at all. And yet he feels the need (or in fact the entitlement) to be able to yell something spiteful in my direction purely for standing on a quiet street taking some pictures.
I don’t even want to go into the irony of the fact that the snaps I was taking was for a huge campaign, with a very well established company who clearly see the value in paying for my services…
Unfortunately, these kinds of comments and remarks are just a part of daily life when trying to navigate your working day as a blogger. We’re forever being slated in mainstream media. We’re laughed at for standing in the street. We’re told that we are ‘fame hungry’ and desperate to be Insta famous. We are demonised, we’re scrutinised and constantly being told that we’re not doing a ‘real job’.
And isn’t it funny when the tables turn. When stats are released on what the Love Island stars could potentially charge per post. Isn’t it funny how people start to look at those figures with heart eyes, saying how AMAZING that would be to be in that position.
I guess it all stems from jealousy, doesn’t it? People are jealous of the press trips, they’re jealous of the ‘gifts’, they’re jealous of this desirable lifestyle that it comes across as online. And in a way I get it. I for one have had my fair share of crappy jobs and have felt that pang of envy inside of me when I see some stunning girl jetting off on what seems like her millionth holiday that year.
But why do bloggers and influencers have to receive such HATE? Not once has anyone told Will Smith to ‘get a real job’. Because acting is a real job.
Just like blogging is a real job, too.
Just because it falls outside of the social norms of a 9-5, doesn’t mean it isn’t any less worthy of being classified as ‘real’. These women (and I do say women because it is a female heavy industry) have carved a career for themselves. They have put hours of hard graft into something that probably brought them no monetary benefits for years. They’ve worked hard to get to where they are and that should be something we are celebrating, not mocking.
So yes, blogging is a real job. It earns a real wage and is a real career. The person behind the screen puts in a hell of a lot of hours… probably more hours than you would ever expect. So please stop belittling our career choices and accept that blogging. is. a. goddam. job.
