My Mompreneur Success Story
Recently I was asked if I would like to share my mompreneur success story. I never feel like I am working at home aside from the job of being a stay at home mom, so this question came as a bit of a surprise to me.
I began really thinking about the idea of sharing my story after I was told that other moms would love to know how to get into the review blogging world, because this is what I do on the side when I make a little time here and there. Another reason I decided to share with everyone is because I don't believe I've ever talked about my review blogging and freebie hunting except with a few people I know in real life. Why in the world would I not want to share and help others learn how they can get products for free to test and review in their own home?!
I believe it all started back before I was a mom of 3 precious children. I'm going to say when I became a mom for the very first time, back in 2004-2005. I joined a few product testing/survey sites where if you qualify for whatever survey you are taking and it had a product to test, they would send you something in the mail to try. I really enjoyed this! I think I only tried some baby juice with my kids and some anti-frizz serum for me. After the trial period was up you either filled out a paper survey or an online survey of your experiences with the product given. I cannot remember if there was anymore incentive than that at the time but just the fact that I was getting to try out products in my home and sending in feedback to these companies felt great. Little did I know was this would lead to so much more later on down the road.
Fast forward my life a little bit and about to have my 3rd child in 2010. I decided I would keep close friends and family informed about current news on my pregnancy. Most of my friends and family live in North Carolina or Pennsylvania and I am currently living in Texas, so social media is how I like to keep in touch with them. A thought came to me to start a blog with pictures, updates & even a voice clip of the heartbeat of my little baby girl. I kept the mommy blog updated until after a month or two of my daughters birth. I really wanted to continue writing on my mommy blog even after I realized I no longer had the time to devote to new posts. A few times I tried making several other blogs to post of each child individually but I eventually gave up due to the demands of raising children.
Soon after my middle child started Kindergarten, I created my blog and Facebook fan page Blogging Mama, in June & July of 2011. To start with, my main focus was to hunt freebies down for me and my fans to save money in our homes. I then got interested in trying to get bigger items to sample and review. I started reviewing products I either had in my home or received free from marketing companies such as Crowdtap, Vocalpoint, Smiley360, Buzzagent, Influenster, Klout, SheSpeaks, MomsMeet, HouseParty, & most recently MomSelect. There's others out there but I plan on talking more in depth about each one at a later time.
I really enjoyed getting FREE CLOTHES from Old Navy, FULL SIZE perfume from Marc Jacobs, LOTS of Cottonelle toilet paper and clean wipes, hosting parties and giving out free samples called sample & shares, & so much more all through Crowdtap! Not only did I start with this company in beta with its ever improving system, I stayed way after the official site launched and through a point system, I earned Amazon gift cards. It later evolved into lots of other ways to earn even more gift cards, not just the point system. I am less active on the site now but would love to become active again in the various brand challenges, discussions, sample & shares, & hosted parties that always seem to be taking place over there. You should check it out if you love sharing your opinions with not only other members but the brands themselves.
Vocalpoint was no exception! They not only gave me chances at getting some little samples to try but a program called RSVP, where you get to host parties and they give you everything you need to get started. The only one I got into was the Little Miracle Missions Pampers baby shower. I was given coupons for FREE diapers & wipes, a newborn baby hat, cute diaper wallet, Pantene Shampoo & Conditioner samples, & a little game to play with my guests. Me, my mom & sister-in-law all had just given birth to little ones just months apart from one another so this was a great reunion for all of us when I was able to come in and visit them all.
Bzzagent, Influenster, SheSpeaks, & Smiley360 give you surveys to take and send emails when you might be a good fit for the next mission, vox box, or campaign. I have been very blessed to get many cool things to try and review for free from these companies. I will go into more detail in other posts to come, so stay tuned! Influenster and Klout almost seem similar, due to needing a higher social standing and building up a profile. In one you earn badges which will make it easier for you to get free items and the other you add people with similar interests and they rate you in the areas that most describe you. All of these sites continue to change it seems so I will be sure to update this information again as I get back into the swing of things, stay with me!
I want to briefly touch on the last few companies as they have become the most important to me. I will soon need to update this information, as I don't want you to miss out on all the fun you can have for your very own.
MomsMeet and HouseParty pretty much explain themselves a bit. They are parties that you apply for and if accepted, you will then be sent a party box and expected to follow the brand challenges given on the party page or the requirements given during signup and reply to follow up surveys. You pass the samples out to friends and family during a party or other group type gathering, such as a moms group at church or in home. You talk about the products given and make sure to answer the questionnaire. Pretty simple! The more you interact with the brand mission for each party, the better your chances will be to get to host a new and totally different party later on. There's also smaller freebie packs you can get called Chatterbox or chat packs and you would then just follow the directions given with that particular brand as well. As for MomsMeet, you might also apply to do a blogging program and chat on your blog about the products you were given and if told to do so, then you would hold a giveaway for a lucky reader to win a product from the company as well.
I was saving MomSelect for last because they are pretty new and fresh on my mind. I was given for 2 years now a very nice big box full of free items to host a #DisneySide @Celebration! They have not disappointed me yet and this year was even better than last, imho! I posted an unboxing video of the whole box from this year but I never thought of doing that last year. I took photos so I will need to go and edit all of them before posting. This year we got a Princess in Training or Sophia the First theme, and my 4 now 5 year old loved it! We turned it into a tea party fit for a princess and incorporated our very own Sophia the First items like the Magical Castle, figures, dress up costumes, and more. I will also post here a little slideshow of the entire box and pictures from our party as well. It was hard to choose which thing was my favorite item in the celebration box because I really enjoyed hosting this party, but the Mickey cake pan, Palace Pets, ribbon barrette maker, tea, nail polish, lip gloss, and decorations were just too cute! We even got tie dye cake mix and sprinkles and I made yummy cupcakes and then around Valentines I made a Minnie Mouse cake with pink frosting, 2 marshmallows and heart sprinkles for her hair bow, and for decoration. I was able to host more than one Disney Side Celebration Party even using the kit to help celebrate a friend of ours and her birthday. It was a totally different theme but the rainbow colors in the cake went really really well with her party. Another note I wanted to make that was the previous year, I got a full sized travel suitcase from American Tourister, along with the actual goodies to host the party. Now, MomSelect has other things like this but I never seem to get into them in time. I would so love to work with Chick Fil A and MomSelect, since we love Chick Fil A so much in this house, maybe next year if I check my email when it comes up! *fingers crossed!*
Along with the companies I just talked about, there's sites like Superpoints where you can press a button a few times a day and earn points to convert into gift cards. Sites where you can do searches daily like Bing, Swagbucks, DailyFeats, iRazoo, and others for gift cards. Apps to get cashback on purchases you are already making anyway, like Ibotta. There's a lot more out there and I will update them in time but I was just putting what I can out there for now.
In closing, I will say that while all of this is fun, it does take a lot of time sitting there at a computer, table, phone...etc. I was getting a lot of things coming in my mail, almost daily, but it did take a toll on my life and I needed a break for awhile. I was letting the free things take over me caring for my family and my daily chores. I needed to find a balance and I am working on that now. I will be committing to at least one good review, per week at least, and more if I am able to get it done earlier in the week. I ended up letting the freebies and bigger project overwhelm me and I need to sit down, make notes of everything I have and where it came from. Take it from me and don't do what I did, applying for these and then never doing anything with them. I will try to not let it buildup again!
I had been working with my children in creating a YouTube channel where we would be doing vlogs, unboxings, and random video clips. Recently, I have been enjoying having more of a consumer/brand relationship with various companies on Instagram and Twitter and building up my own following so that maybe one day I will be sponsored for fun activities and travel with my children. I would so much love to attend blogging and mommy conferences where you get to meet lots of neat people and get more samples than you know what to do with! These are just some of my dreams that I want to have come true for me and my family.
I hope I have brought you a little insight into my daily and sometimes crazy thing I call life and being a review blogger that mainly just hunts for freebies and contests online. If you like to tell others your opinions and don't mind sitting at a computer for awhile and hunting for free things to review on a blog or other website, then this might be a fun way for you to save money in your home as well. Feel free to ask any other questions that you may have or add on to the list of sites you have found yourself. I know I'm missing a lot such as survey sites and all but there's just too many to name. Hope to talk to you again soon!
I want to briefly touch on the last few companies as they have become the most important to me. I will soon need to update this information, as I don't want you to miss out on all the fun you can have for your very own.
MomsMeet and HouseParty pretty much explain themselves a bit. They are parties that you apply for and if accepted, you will then be sent a party box and expected to follow the brand challenges given on the party page or the requirements given during signup and reply to follow up surveys. You pass the samples out to friends and family during a party or other group type gathering, such as a moms group at church or in home. You talk about the products given and make sure to answer the questionnaire. Pretty simple! The more you interact with the brand mission for each party, the better your chances will be to get to host a new and totally different party later on. There's also smaller freebie packs you can get called Chatterbox or chat packs and you would then just follow the directions given with that particular brand as well. As for MomsMeet, you might also apply to do a blogging program and chat on your blog about the products you were given and if told to do so, then you would hold a giveaway for a lucky reader to win a product from the company as well.
I was saving MomSelect for last because they are pretty new and fresh on my mind. I was given for 2 years now a very nice big box full of free items to host a #DisneySide @Celebration! They have not disappointed me yet and this year was even better than last, imho! I posted an unboxing video of the whole box from this year but I never thought of doing that last year. I took photos so I will need to go and edit all of them before posting. This year we got a Princess in Training or Sophia the First theme, and my 4 now 5 year old loved it! We turned it into a tea party fit for a princess and incorporated our very own Sophia the First items like the Magical Castle, figures, dress up costumes, and more. I will also post here a little slideshow of the entire box and pictures from our party as well. It was hard to choose which thing was my favorite item in the celebration box because I really enjoyed hosting this party, but the Mickey cake pan, Palace Pets, ribbon barrette maker, tea, nail polish, lip gloss, and decorations were just too cute! We even got tie dye cake mix and sprinkles and I made yummy cupcakes and then around Valentines I made a Minnie Mouse cake with pink frosting, 2 marshmallows and heart sprinkles for her hair bow, and for decoration. I was able to host more than one Disney Side Celebration Party even using the kit to help celebrate a friend of ours and her birthday. It was a totally different theme but the rainbow colors in the cake went really really well with her party. Another note I wanted to make that was the previous year, I got a full sized travel suitcase from American Tourister, along with the actual goodies to host the party. Now, MomSelect has other things like this but I never seem to get into them in time. I would so love to work with Chick Fil A and MomSelect, since we love Chick Fil A so much in this house, maybe next year if I check my email when it comes up! *fingers crossed!*
Along with the companies I just talked about, there's sites like Superpoints where you can press a button a few times a day and earn points to convert into gift cards. Sites where you can do searches daily like Bing, Swagbucks, DailyFeats, iRazoo, and others for gift cards. Apps to get cashback on purchases you are already making anyway, like Ibotta. There's a lot more out there and I will update them in time but I was just putting what I can out there for now.
In closing, I will say that while all of this is fun, it does take a lot of time sitting there at a computer, table, phone...etc. I was getting a lot of things coming in my mail, almost daily, but it did take a toll on my life and I needed a break for awhile. I was letting the free things take over me caring for my family and my daily chores. I needed to find a balance and I am working on that now. I will be committing to at least one good review, per week at least, and more if I am able to get it done earlier in the week. I ended up letting the freebies and bigger project overwhelm me and I need to sit down, make notes of everything I have and where it came from. Take it from me and don't do what I did, applying for these and then never doing anything with them. I will try to not let it buildup again!
I had been working with my children in creating a YouTube channel where we would be doing vlogs, unboxings, and random video clips. Recently, I have been enjoying having more of a consumer/brand relationship with various companies on Instagram and Twitter and building up my own following so that maybe one day I will be sponsored for fun activities and travel with my children. I would so much love to attend blogging and mommy conferences where you get to meet lots of neat people and get more samples than you know what to do with! These are just some of my dreams that I want to have come true for me and my family.
I hope I have brought you a little insight into my daily and sometimes crazy thing I call life and being a review blogger that mainly just hunts for freebies and contests online. If you like to tell others your opinions and don't mind sitting at a computer for awhile and hunting for free things to review on a blog or other website, then this might be a fun way for you to save money in your home as well. Feel free to ask any other questions that you may have or add on to the list of sites you have found yourself. I know I'm missing a lot such as survey sites and all but there's just too many to name. Hope to talk to you again soon!
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