Good morning and welcome back to our latest Wise Words Wednesday where we have the super talented Asha taking to the hot seat.
Her blog is packed full of great things to do with the whole family in the Cheshire, Staffordshire and beyond. Brought to life by her beautiful pictures, it is a place to go if you are looking for inspiration this summer!
Time to hand over to Asha:
Tell us a little bit about you & your blog:
Hi there, I am Asha Carlos, the owner and lead blogger at Yeah Lifestyle which is a Lifestyle and Review Blog mainly covering Cheshire, Staffordshire as well as Manchester areas. Sometimes we ever travel afar and have covered Liverpool and Birmingham in our reviews. There are two other bloggers, Lex Ward and Colette Warbrook who help me with the reviews as well. We often cover family friendly travels and days out as well as theatre shows reviews / upcoming events, product reviews, book reviews as well as food / restaurant reviews. We also host competitions and free entry ticket giveaway to events.
What inspired you to start blogging?
I have always loved writing and have freelanced for various local and international and am also a photographer as well by profession, hence blogging came naturally for me. I realised that there was a gap in the market as not much information was available about the different kid’s places around Manchester, Staffordshire and Cheshire when I was researching to bring my family out. Hence, I decided to share our experience and blog about it for others to read and make their trip easier. The blog has since expanded to include other reviews as well.
What has been your highlight of blogging?
I love how I am able to travel to places with my family and meet so many different people. We thoroughly enjoy each and every moment so far and have done sleepovers, food reviews and visited so many places. Totally loved meeting Angellica Bell, Celebrity Masterchef Winner as well as bake off winner Sophie Faldo, Great British Bake Off Winner earlier this year for an event where they both cooked a meal for us, totally amazing experience.
Is there anything you have learnt about blogging which you wish you knew when you started out?
I wish I was more confident to approach brands and marketing agents, when I first started. I remember I used to be quite shy and think that they would not work with me because I was still an upcoming blogger. Every blog is unique and sometimes numbers are not as important as they seem.
Bloggers sometimes get a lot of stick however many work really hard and are reaping the rewards, what has been the most rewarding part of blogging for you?
The best part about blogging is actually being invited to a lot of high profile events and launches as well as getting some of the best seats when we attend shows. A lot of people think bloggers are only in for the free things, but actually we put in so much of hard work which is not seen such as marketing and sharing our blog on social. This does not include the hours we put in editing photos, writing the blog as well as creating our vlogs. I have lost count of how many days which I worked for 16 hours, and that’s so difficult as I also have two young kids as well. Blogging takes so much time and effort, so I totally think that we earned whatever that has been offered to us.
What would be your 1 tip you would give all new bloggers starting out?
Don’t give up. Building readership for your blog will take time, if you love what you do, you won’t mind the hard work and eventually you will start seeing it grow.
Who do you find inspiring to read/watch in the blogging world?
I won’t name a particular blogger as I totally enjoying picking ideas and inspiration from different bloggers. At the moment, I enjoy watching a lot of vlogs for inspiration and to see how different people share their experience.
Lastly – do you have any big plans/dreams for your blog in the next 12 months?
I would definitely like to double my readership by end of the year and also start doing more vlogs.
If you would like to keep up with Asha, you can find her on social media here:
