Before I start off – I know that’s a really long blog post title. LOL

Moving on, so I received an invitation from omy.sg to attend a blogger sharing session featuring the topic of Leisure or Profit? A Blogger’s Dilemma at SPH (Singapore Press Holdings) and decided to sum up my courage to attend because I felt that it would be interesting.

Overview of Event:
[Highlight 1]
Blogging for leisure VS Blogging for profit
Which is your main motivation for blogging, and where do you draw the line? Have you lost sight of your interests and personal voice in the midst of doing sponsored reviews? Or did you venture into the world of blogging with the very objective of making money, but realise that you’re not getting much from your blog? Regardless of which camp you’re in, come join us for a unique “Insights from Bloggers” sharing session with 4 of Singapore’s popular bloggers as panellists who will share their opinions and experiences on blogging for leisure VS profit.

[Highlight 2]
Participants will also get an exclusive sneak preview of what’s in store for Singapore Blog Awards 2013!

Actually, the event was just over a couple hours ago and I’m just writing this post right after that because..gahhhh the number of overdue and to do posts just keep piling up!

Moving on, we were allowed to bring a guest, so no surprise to whom I went with:

And self entertaining myself while waiting for the event to start.
Sorry for the selca shots! Skip if you’d like!

The surrounding set up:

And so finally it started.

I won’t really go into much nitty gritty details here about the session but suffice to say, it was definitely interesting to watch the session unfold throughout the hour. All four of the panelists from different backgrounds started off by sharing about themselves, their blogging experience, their thoughts and opinions about blogosphere and of course, most importantly – the reason why they blog: for profit or leisure?

Most of them lean towards the latter, while maybe one or two lean more to the former. But the shared bond between them will be their unwavering determination to stick to their principles over profit – of which I applaud. And I have to say, it is indeed a refreshing change to hear and see these famous bloggers up close and personal other than just reading their blogs online (yes, I do read a couple of them – specifically Daniel’s & Grace’s)

P.s – still sniggering about the sex toy

Other than that, to me, during this session, I felt that the main questions that were brought up/debated the most were:

1) Is blogging really viable as a full time job?
General Opinion (And my own opinion after hearing theirs):
Yes, but it’s definitely not applicable to everyone. Great example is Grace. Do note that being a FT blogger is not easy as well. And sometimes you can’t earn much. Sometimes, it depends on luck too

2) Is it possible to reply on ONLY blogging as the main source of income?
General Opinion (And my own opinion after hearing theirs):
In Singapore, highly unlikely to almost impossible. You still have to rely on other sources.

Other than that, there were various opinions brought up from all 4 panelists – some of which I found myself nodding to while a couple, I disagreed.

This session also made me reflect deeply on a couple of things.

1) The main reason(s) why I blog?
My passion to write and share with everyone interesting things that happen in both my life, Singapore and the World. To market my online shop – GlamPuss (hahahhaha! doing it now) And lastly, I’m addicted to my blog stats! Ohhh and I like to write too!

2) How do I stand out amongst the rest of the other thousands of bloggers out there?
I’m not blessed with a pretty face or a slim body. And as you know and I proudly proclaim – I’m pretty short and plump. I’m also not the most outgoing person in real life – usually I’m that quiet wallflower at the event (unless I go with someone familiar then I’m a noisy chatterbox). Eh, my life isn’t very happening, I’m frankly quite boring I think. Oh and I’m obviously not musically/artistically inclined or whatsoever. So obviously there’s no reason for people to read my blog right?

As a result, the only thing redeeming factor that I can do is to – try harder than most and focus more on my content (the interesting and happening reads) instead. Like what I’ve been doing so far, and I think it’s the way to go for me!(:

3) Should I blog for leisure or profit?
Blogging to me at the moment is my hobby, and at the moment, a way of life and leisure. Plus I do give a lot of thought,  consideration and research when writing most of my posts. Well, if you didn’t know – depending on the type of post, I can take up to 2 – 3 hours (or more) to do up just ONE post. The fastest is 15 minutes, lol.

Profit is secondary for the moment – as seen from the fact that I don’t charge for advertorials (yet). I only just added in some charges for top ups as seen here. But I have been considering recently to charge for writing soon as it can be draining and time consuming for me to write as you mustn’t forget that I also hold a full time 9-6 job while juggling an online business at the same time while actively blogging.

I don’t want to spread myself too thinly especially because it used to be pretty carefree, till recently I’ve been receiving a lot of requests to write reviews etc as at the moment, I write for free. Yeah, well I don’t want my passion to become a chore in the future – but well, in my opinion at least if I get paid, then it’s kinda more of a job that I need to do then a chore right? Or maybe I should be more selective from now on.

Gah, did I even answer this question or go totally off topic? Well to answer it – 70% – 30%?

4) Does it matter that I’m putting up my life for the world to see and judge?
Not really. I’m already used to doing that on Facebook for all these years – by sharing my thoughts and happenings on my status. Except on my blog, it’s the longwinded blablahblahblahblah version.

But I’ve learnt to be careful with what I post ever since sometime happened last year. Plus social media can be a double edged sword. Hopefully it won’t cut me yet.

Well, enough with all that.
*Back to the topic*

After the sharing session, it moved on another interesting part – 1 that perks my interest instantly as I (and many other bloggers as well) have been waiting for it ever since I started blogging back in November 2012.

The Singapore Blog Awards (SBA) 2013

Singapore Blog Awards 2013 Theme:
The Sixties! #SBA60s
Date: 6 July 2013
Venue: Shanghai Dolly
Official Hashtag: #omySBA2013

The Singapore Blog Awards 2013 10 Main Categories that we bloggers can enter. The latest one being – Best Microblog

The Sponsored Categories in the Singapore Blog Awards 2013:

Highlights of the Singapore Blog Awards 2013:
– 60s Themed Challenge
– Fringe Activity to submit 60s-style photos using #SBA60s
– Awesome prizes worth over $35,000
– Custom made trophy designed by Singapore’s Tan Swie Hian

Timeline:

The Singapore Blog Awards 2013 starts next week – first week of April.
You can register or nominate bloggers from next week till 3 May 2013!
More details as seen in the picture (too lazy to type out)

The judges of the Singapore Blog Awards 2013:

So there you have it – a preview of the Singapore Blog Awards 2013 that’s coming up. And it’s in my 2013 New Year resolution and wish to be a finalist in any category of the SBA 2013. Still debating over which categories to enter at the moment, but we’ll see when more details are revealed next week I guess(: Fingers crossed xx

Moving on, this entire session ended with a catered dinner buffet and a networking session between the panelists and audience.

I was honestly too shy to approach any of them outright, but I wanted at least a picture of Daniel and myself! Hehe! After waiting for like quite awhile, I finally had the chance to do so after there was no ‘photo queue’. Ehhh! And I had an added bonus as well. Hehe

But in my haste, I totally forgot to introduce myself and just blurted out if I could take a photo with both of them. GAHHHH *smacks head*

Well, at least I got the photo! -.-
TADAAA!

Me sandwiched between Smith from Smithankyou.com (oh gosh, just read his blog and he is hilariously funny!) and my favourite food blogger, Daniel from Danielfooddiary.com!

Thank you for the photo opportunity!

Lastly, just wanted to end off by giving my thanks again (as always) to Omy.sg for inviting me to such events!

I truly enjoyed this particular one especially – and I’m looking forward to attend more omy.sg events. And of course, the Singapore Blog Awards 2013!(:

Till later,
♥ mitsueki