Blogging vs Reality
It is funny when something you create takes a life of it's own. I bet it is a realization that parents go through all the time with their kids. I am still amazed that people have heard, read, or follow my blog Seoul Eats. The blog started as a hobby for me and it enjoyable to write for but it will always be a hobby. When i meet people and they ask me what I do, I tell them I co-own a culinary tourism business in Seoul. When people refer to me as a "blogger" or "power blogger," I cringe. I am a businessman, a writer, and marketer. These are the skills thar have enabled my company to grow. Blogging, maybe a little, but as a marketing tool. Ultimately, I blog because it is my hobby. I think I went the 5 stages of a blogger:
1. Surprise because people actually read or comment
2. Dilligence because the blogger wants to create the best and most content.
3. Entrepreneurship because the blogger feels this might be his or her calling and it might become a way to make a living. Dreams of the future and wealth occur around this time and the blogger will do a lot of self promotion.
4. Ennui after doing the same niche thing over and over again also having to deal with haughty commenters and constant requests from businesses promising fame, wealth, and more visitors
5. Acceptance that the blog is just what it is. What comes of it comes of it.
Ultimately, it should be fun. I will reiterate this again: Seoul Eats is not how I am able to make a living. I do not get paid to go to restaurants everyday to write blog posts and take pictures. I do not recieve any special treatment at restaurants and I pay for most of my meals (unless I am on assignment for a magazine, with a friend, on a tour, or I have been invited.) I have friends in the restaurant industry and I promote their events because they help me as well. I also have a few sponsors and I have to promote their products and news- but I only promote people and products I believe in. This blog is a collection of my opinions of restaurants. What I deem to be a good place might not be a good place for others. I try to write as honestly as possible. If a place is horrendously horrible I might mention it but not as an attack but as constructive criticism.I want restaurants to succeed.
And to the grammar and spelling nazis on the blog, thank you for helping me edit and keep me vigilant on improving. I make changes pretty quickly. I don't have a budget for an editor so understand if a feu misteaks end up on the blog. My polished, edited articles and stories can be found in magazines, newspapers, reports, and books. The blog started as a collection of my thoughts and it still is. Although food is on my mind most of the time, understand if I have other interests that I would like to share. What I have learned in the years that I have been a blogger is: it should be fun and it shouldn't take over your life. These days I step back from the computer and I go outside. Running in the morning energizes me and gives me clarity. And I figure that as long as I am healthy everything else will follow.
Cheers,
Dan