The year at Hedonistit: A Look Back at 2019
Wow! I can’t believe I’m sitting down to write a concluding post for 2019… Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure the phrase I’ve repeated most times, all year long is “time flies!” 🙈
But to be totally honest, 2019 was certainly a very significant year filled with changes and transformations, figuring things out, and bearing the fruit of hard work. It was a year in my life that more or less defined the beginning of my adult life.
Hedonistit, My “baby”, is no longer a baby… with over 300 posts and millions of views, a strong presence on social networks and a growing community of ambitious women from all over the world – this little blog that took its first steps while I was living in Eilat, today makes me proud on a daily basis.
I’m thrilled that this year I also got to keep doing what I love as my day job and managed to contribute, help, and advise so many people while realizing my dream.
With the end of the year and all, I thought it would be fun to look back at 2019 and ponder over this past year and start next year with a focused point of view. As always, I love sharing my thoughts with you so I decided to publish a summary of all the things that happened over the past year, to the blog, and because of it.
CHANGES AND TRANSFORMATIONS
2019 was a crossroads in my personal and professional life. The basis of all these changes was the longed for move to Tel Aviv, after a five-year relocation period in Eilat. {If you have no idea what I’m talking about – you better read this ASAP}.
Just as the move to Eilat taught me so much about myself, my values, and desires more than half a decade ago, so did the move back to the big city – this time at a much more advanced stage in my life.
In my last birthday blog post I published right after we moved to Tel Aviv, I wrote:
My “baby” has grown in Eilat over the past four years. Not once nor twice was I worried that the distance from the big city and the center of it all would keep me from developing in this way or that. You have no idea how many events, launches, and mingling opportunities were missed due to the fact that I was living so far away. {Every trip to Tel Aviv involved flights, taxis, and even overnight stays, so things got complicated}. Looking back, I'm glad that at the beginning I didn’t have these distractions which allowed me to devote most of my time to the development of my brand. Today I can safely say that my blog and myself are matured, and well established, and this is the perfect time for me to become more experienced in the industry, without losing my values of course, and see what direction is right for me. “
After only half a year in Tel Aviv, during which I participated in a number of new product launches, and received more offers for sponsored campaigns, I realized what I guess I always knew – only this time I was able to look at things from a more realistic point of view, based on my personal experience. My character and personality, and the values I hold to today, led me to decide that I would like to continue to develop the brand I have invested in and built up for the past four and a half years. I would like to grow more in the direction of providing professional help and advice to my target audience through my website, and less by taking part in PR events and promotional content on Instagram. Not that I have anything against these things, and I also won’t deny myself of attending something that is in line with my own values, perspective, and taste, but this year I realized that engaging in these things takes a lot of my time and energy, which I prefer directing at creating more valuable and more meaningful content for my brand. If you take a look at the content published on my blog and Instagram account this year, you’ll notice that almost all of the content I chose to post is not dependant on any external brand, and still, 2019 was my brand’s most profitable year so far. At the end of the day, I truly believe that the best way to become a successful entrepreneur is to go with your gut, and don't stray off the path of your brand’s values.
Another change this year was the decision to slightly let go of Instagram. Not only am I no longer interested in the endless preoccupation with the ever-changing algorithms and amount of likes and exposures, but I realized it is a lot less essential to my brand than I originally thought. Don’t worry – I’m not going anywhere, this just means I decided to focus on what I love most about this platform – generating good quality content and being inspired. The energy I “saved” was put into Pinterest, which over the last year became the social media platform that brings the most traffic to my blog
BLOG
I worked on a huge project that will be published very soon Don’t I always talk about how important it is to set goals and objectives, and divide them into sub-tasks in order to achieve the final goal? At the cusp of 2019 I set some pretty intense goals, the roads leading to them had all kinds of challenges, meetings, long hours, and whatnot. Like anybody, I too have moments of uncertainty and self doubt, especially when it comes to such big goals, the kind that you don’t see results for very quickly – but as they say “C'est la vie 🙂 Almost everything worth living involves effort and getting out of our comfort zone. So… I’m not ready yet to share what project I’m talking about, but I will tell you that this blog is about to undergo a big change! How big? Let’s just say I’ve been working on it since February with a whole team. So yeah, it’s pretty big 🙂
I’ve written dozens of new blog posts although I devoted most of my time this year to work on the big project I mentioned above, I also managed to meet my goals by regularly publishing content on my blog at an average of one post per week.
My blog and newsletter statistics have grown thanks to organic marketing that has seen a steady rise in traffic from any of the blog's traffic channels – search engines, social networks, referrals, and direct logins to the site, as well as the decision to invest in sponsored advertising on Instagram and Facebook.
The Blogging Babes – Israeli Blogger Community became home to thousands of Israeli Bloggers Our amazing Facebook community continues to grow each day and maintains its mission to constitute an open forum for blogging and social networking, and be a safe place to ask questions and consult with other bloggers – from fashion, to motherhood, culture, and technology. The community has over 2,500 members already and is constantly growing and evolving.
I launched my premium digital course The Blogger’s Photobooth after over a year of hard work, I launched my very first product at the start of 2019 – a premium course that includes the study of photography and editing with Lightroom. The decision to create this all-encompassing course stemmed from the desire of many of our community members to invest in self-development and specialize in producing professional content – and I’m so glad that I was able to approach this topic through a concentrated course in which anyone can learn when and where she wants!
I’ve partnered and collaborated with brands I love Like I said before, I made a pretty significant shift this year in terms of my professional endeavors and collaborations. I have always been careful about selecting who I work with, whether it’s brands I love, believe in, and that are in line with the spirit of my own brand, but this year I decided to reduce the scope of my sponsored content activity, and instead, invest my time and energy in developing my personal brand. The collaborations I enjoyed most this year were long-term collaborations such as my inclusion in the El Al airline's team of ambassadors, and my collaboration did with ‘Always’, along with others that allowed me to give prizes and giveaways to my community.
FREELANCE WORK
I’ve created visual content for brands worldwide I’ve designed visual content for the sake of social media marketing , for brands in Israel and abroad. Whether for still photography, gifs or videos, the same companies turn to me since they like my blog’s unique aesthetic style and are interested in good quality content including concept development, styling, photography, and editing. My blog and Instagram account have both attracted many potential clients and continue to serve as my business card .
I’ve built strategies for visual branding on social networks Besides visual content, I’ve also created branding strategies this year, for the social networks of each of the businesses I took photos for.
I’ve advised dozens of bloggers and small businesses This year saw a significant expansion of my consulting services, which have become highly sought after. Following our move to Tel Aviv, I get to do most of my meetings face-to-face , and take pleasure in getting to know the incredible women who decide to invest in themselves and go for their dreams.
Content I created for Rothschild 22 Instagram account
TRAVELS
I broke a personal record this year by traveling to 14 destinations around the world! I couldn’t be happier to have chosen a line of work that not only allows me to go on vacation pretty much whenever I can, but also presents me with amazing opportunities to reach dreamy destinations around the world and experience moments that will stay with me for my entire lifetime.
So where have I been?
Bucharest, Romania.
Mini Cruise in Europe.
This year 2019 was filled with hard work and endless investment, as well as self-realization, fun, and enjoyment, and I am already looking forward to starting the new year!
To sum up, I want to wish you a year of achieving goals, health, love, and taking pleasure in all things big and small. Happy new year! ⭐
I would really love to hear from you about your biggest achievements this year! Leave me a comment below !
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