Dear Pennies & Pens,
This Summer, de la Pen…All Pen Everything will celebrate its third anniversary. I can’t believe it’s been three years already. Creating and maintaining this site has been such an amazing journey. I’ve had a chance to attend and cover some amazing events, interview fashion influencers like Andre Leon Talley, as well as collaborating on different projects. However, as previously mentioned, I am transitioning de la Pen…All Pen Everything into an online lifestyle magazine.
So far the transition has been awesome as far as content but when I looked at my ROI there should have been more. For those unfamiliar with the term, ROI stands for Return On Investment. Return On Investment is how businesses measure what they’ve spent to produce a product or service and the profit they made. In essence, it’s a way to measure the success of your business. So if you’re spending money and time to produce something, you should be seeing a profit from it.
Alas, this was a lesson I missed. See, I was in an English major in college. We focused on writing, communication, and analyzing information. But we never learned about how to build and grow a business. I love my alma mater and I truly enjoyed my time at Hampton University. However, I’m finding that even liberal arts programs should include some type of basic business courses as a requirement. Think about it, it is the creative class that usually gets the short end of the stick. Why? Because they do not understand the nature of business and how to make money. And most are so focused on creating their art that they forget they need to generate revenue or income or else they’ll no longer be able to create.
And oh, by the way, I was one of those artists. Here I was all this time producing this blog and yet I did not see it as a business. So recently, I started doing research on building your blog as a business as well as other basic business blogs and books. That’s when I realized I needed to put that value on myself and de la Pen…All Pen Everything. In essence, I wrote a business plan, edited all the sites pages, and joined two blogger networks Collective Bias — Social Fabric and Viral Planet.
I’m excited about transitioning de la Pen…All Pen Everything from a blog into a business. All this means to you as the reader is that sometimes you will see sponsored posts on the site. I’ll also be promoting brands via social media so you’ll see that as well. But don’t worry, de la Pen…All Pen Everything will always keep it real. This means any brands we work with will be because we believe in their products and services and want to support them while generating revenue. I plan to work with a wide range of sponsors/advertisers that reflect the content on the site. In essence, I’ll be working with everything from fashion and beauty brands, to music, film, art, and sports. There may also be the occasional travel sponsor like hotels or airlines if I get sponsored to attend and cover an event.
Since this post has gotten so long, let me go ahead and wrap it up. Be sure to check out the edited pages: The Definition of de la Pen…All Pen Everything; Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself; Sponsor de la Pen…All Pen Everything; Pennies and Pens; Collaborate with Pen; and Contact Pen.
And there it is. de la Pen. All Pen Everything.
P.S. For All Pen Everything…All the Time — Follow me on Twitter: @LoudPen Foursquare: @LoudPen Instagram: @LoudPen and Tumblr: The Blogging PR Girl.
