5 Year Blogiversary: Celebrating 5 Years of Just Kels

As I am typing out today’s post, I cannot believe this month I am celebrating half a decade of my blogging journey, so crazy! I still remember the day I was sitting in my college dorm room five years ago, wrapping up my freshman year of college when I decided to pursue my creative passions. What started out as a hobby and online journal has evolved into a side hustle that has become a huge part of my life that I am forever grateful for and cannot imagine my life without.

While it feels like a long time ago that I started my blog, in a way it also feels like I just started. My blog has evolved so much over the years and I feel like I’m still learning something new every single day in this unique self-taught industry. Back in 2016 when I started Just Kels (or at the time, formerly known as the Pacific Northwest Brunette) fashion and lifestyle blogging was still somewhat new and I had no clue you could actually monetize blogging. It honestly makes me feel so ancient saying that given how much the influencer marketing and blogging space has taken off over the past two or three years. In some ways, I consider my blogging journey starting in late 2018/early 2019 when it really started to turn into more of a side hustle when I monetized it and the influencer marketing industry sort of boomed. But looking back to 2016, it’s when I really grounded my roots. We all start somewhere!

While I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, I knew I wanted to start and knew it would be the perfect fit for me. And while there are many things I wish I had known or had done differently starting in this industry (and admit, completely underestimated how much work it is and the hustle that is required to succeed), I’m glad I pushed through and have now come to the place where I’ve found my niche and style preferences, come up with a consistent business strategy, treat it like a business and put in so much time and energy into it each and every day, and see positive results as an outcome. I feel as though I am starting over again and it just keeps getting better.

To those of you following along, whether you’ve been here since day one or are brand new to my little corner of the internet, I am beyond grateful for your support. With each blog post view/like/comment, purchase made through my commissionable links, social media follows and engagement, know that it doesn’t go unnoticed and always makes me so happy!