The first perk is that rush of excitement I get when there is a big response to one of my posts. I’m sure that more successful bloggers still experience that rush, but I can’t think it is the same rush a little ol’ blogger like me feels. I appreciate and am grateful for every comment, follower and retweet I receive so much that words cannot explain it. And it’s such a nice feeling that, somehow, someone has stumbled across my little blog and has taken an interest in what I have to say.

I also get to be 100% honest about anything I review on here. Again, I’m sure that most successful bloggers are relatively honest about the products they feature on their blogs-- or, at least, I hope they are. But I would imagine there would be some hesitation when giving a negative review as a big time blogger. You might be severing ties with a company. Other companies might hesitate in sending you products to review. You might feel obligated to give a product a better review than it deserves, or to mask a negative review in flowery language. It’s not a bad thing; these feelings are just part of being a blogger, especially a popular one. But because I’m so low on the totem pole— no sponsors, no free products to review— I can be as honest as I want to be. 

I don't have to deal with figuring out how to do my taxes as a blogger-- which is probably pretty easy once you figure it out, but when numbers come into play my brain checks out. I feel a sort of camaraderie with other small-time bloggers that urges me to follow them instead of a blog with over 10,000 followers, so I see what I think is much more unique and heartfelt content on a daily basis. 

But I think the best thing about being an 'unsuccessful' blogger is that I have so much room to grow. Not only in numbers-- readers, sponsors, income (should that ever happen)-- but in my content and with my personality. Sometimes I look at my reader count and get really discouraged, because what is the point of creating content if no one sees it? If a bear shits in the woods are no one is around... You get it, right? But then I realize that there are certain perks and that, beyond that, the people who do come around to this blog and leave comments and follow me on social media make me feel just as successful as if I had hundreds of people commenting and following.

To those of you who read my posts, comment or follow me on here or on social media... Thank you!