Let me tell you a little story about how blogging gave me the confidence to negotiate my worth.
I remember the first time I ever made any money off my blog. I was astonished that somebody would pay to place content on it. Blogging - still the easiest yet hardest thing I've ever done to earn money.
From then on, it was a slippery slope, I admit. There was a time when I accepted way too many sponsored posts.
But despite that, I still didn't say yes to everything. I was reasonably picky. There were some compromises I just didn't want to make.
I started negotiating, somewhat regularly, with potential advertisers. It was easier than I thought. Faceless people behind an email address. A business transaction. If they didn't want to pay my rates, that was fine. No deal. There are plenty of other advertisers out there who can, and do. I don't need your money.
I've lost count of just how many email threads with stingy lowballers I closed off with 'if your budget increases in the future, feel free to get in touch'.
And if my blog is worth more than that, then I'M certainly worth more than that.Turns out that was really good practice for real life.
And that is how blogging helped boost my confidence, leading to my first actual pay negotiation.