Rather than witter on about the romantic passing of time, today I thought I’d check in with a practical six-month review of all things Daisybutter. In part to hold myself accountable to grow my blog even further, but also to celebrate everything that I’ve achieved and done thus far in 2018. For around 8 months now, I’ve managed to check-in on my goals and achievements from a slightly detached perspective which means I don’t instantly send myself into a disarray of emotions. As a business owner as well as founder of this blog, it can be hard not to feel deflated when numbers aren’t what I expected, but I’ve also learned that while growth might start slow, it’ll bloom in its’ own time.

Highlights

• By far, the highlight of my blogging year has got to be making the final 5 for Blogosphere Magazine’s Blogger of the Year award. While I didn’t win, it felt amazing to be shortlisted and certainly motivated me to take things up a notch.
• I’ve really found my groove when it comes to my editorial calendar and it’s definitely paying off. Not only are my numbers slowly increasing, I feel much happier and more inspired about my own content, which I hadn’t done in months.
• Partnering with Quorn Foods to create three vegetarian/vegan traditional Cantonese recipes to commemorate World Meat-Free Week. I really wanted my content to be meaningful and mindful this year, and I finally feel like my lifestyle and blog are marrying together perfectly.
• Reaching 9 million unique views!! I honestly can’t even. Don’t forget to enter my celebratory giveaway here.
• Being invited to an event at The Ritz! Pinch me, honestly.

Places Been

• I’ve only been abroad to Amsterdam so far this year! Must. Try. Harder.

Most Clicked

• The Money Diaries: 27-Year-Old Freelance Writer in Hertfordshire on Changeable Income
• Designing Your Life
• Growing Up British-Born Chinese
• The Daisybutter City Guide to Amsterdam
• Embracing New for Growth

My Favourite Posts

• Why I’m Not Letting My Career Define Who I Am
• Books I Read Growing Up That Made An Impact
• Self-Care Alchemy, the Daisybutter Cheat Sheet
• Egerton Terrace
• … and, of course, my Sundaze series!

Growth by Numbers

Lastly, I wanted to round up this review by sharing some of the stats and numbers. For around 3/4 years, I flat out refused to look at my numbers unless a brand asked for them which led to me feeling shocked upon checking to see they were often declining. While numbers aren’t the be all and end all, engagement on blogs overall seems to be in decline as audiences shift to Instagram, so I made a point of recording my stats this year in order to really hold myself accountable and hopefully drive myself to see results.

Overall, I feel really motivated to continue writing on this platform and sharing all manner of content. It isn’t lost on me that this blog is the one constant I’ve had through the last 8 years of my life and its’ digital pages hold milestones, secrets, thoughts and musings that I haven’t even shared with people IRL! In an age where the digital world moves ridiculously quickly from app to app, I really savour having this blog to bring all my content together and I hope it’ll long outlive my Instagram page (constant love/hate relationship!) or my YouTube channel. Alongside working with some incredible photographers to up the ante on Daisybutter, I’ve also been working with a blog and small biz coach and can’t wait to see where the latter half of 2018 takes me and the blog. See you in December (eek!) for a full-year review!

I’d love to hear what YOUR favourite posts and highlights of Daisybutter (blog and social media channels) have been. And what would you like to see more or less of? Welcoming all constructive criticism!