Reflecting on my 2017 highlights for Mrs Mummypenny
I love to read positive posts all about people’s successes throughout the year. It is an incredibly powerful way to close of the year to reflect and think wow did I really achieve all of that? And it helps you to move onto the next year and plan for even more success. I thought I would chart a few of my highs and things that I am so proud of this year.
The Year starts with a burst of media and modelling.
January started with Emma Bradley and I doing a big press day to launch our book – Blogging Your Way To Riches. It was such a crazy day where we had to get from TV station to radio to hotel foyer for interviews, we spent much of the day running to be on time for interviews and hurrying cabs along! We went on London Live, BBC Radio Scotland and many others.
The month also saw my debut as a model, where I was used in a Pensionbee billboard poster campaign. The shoot was in January at my home, with a crew of ten people including a stylist and make-up artist! I loved it, the campaign went live in April. Seeing yourself on a bill board poster is incredible.
I turned 40
March saw me turn the big 4-0. Of course, it had to be done with a bang. I had a party which created a whole new level of stress in a tough time of the year. The big anxiety being would people show up? The party happened and was lots of fun. Shortly afterwards 7 of us headed off to Las Vegas for 5 days of cocktails, amazing food, site seeing, gambling and fun. It was amazing.
Big work projects are agreed.
March and April saw big work projects being agreed with brands including Asda Finance, Powershop, Go-Henry. The year had started with doubt that the income just wasn’t enough, particularly as redundancy money and savings had run out. By March/April this world of blogging seemed like it could make a decent income, more than I was needing monthly to pay the bills. All it took was a bit of belief (and a lot of hard work!)
Expert Panel Speaking
I formed an amazing friendship and collaboration throughout 2017 with fellow money bloggers Charlotte Burns, Emma Bradley and Emma Drew. We have worked together on several blogging jobs this year and regularly help each other out with advice, pricing, technical questions and recommendations for jobs. During the summer, we spoke as experts at Lansons PR agency. We spoke about the world of blogging and how bloggers and brands can work together effectively.
Good Morning Britain Appearance
I appeared on Good Morning Britain back in June where a filming team came to my house. I did a feature on excessive packaging in branded food and grocery products. From fairy washing powder to quavers. It was lots of fun to film and amazing to see myself on TV. Here is the clip with a voice over from Jack and the first time he saw mummy on TV!
Huffington post and many other newspaper appearances
In April I wrote a big confession post for the blog, telling the world of my debt and the plan to pay back that debt. A shorter version of the post appeared in the Huffington Post a publication that I love and have wanted to appear in forever! Ironically writing about the debt has raised my profile hugely and resulted in lots of paid work where brands have seen the Huffington post article.
I have also feature in the daily mail twice this year with Aldi related posts, I was in the Mirror for article on the reverse advent calendar and I was in the sun talking about the budget and its effect on our car!!
Summer Holiday
The Summer holidays were packed with highlights from the blogging world. We got to go to Corsica on a Mark Warner holiday which was 100% amazing, best holiday ever for the family. As soon as we returned from Corsica it was straight onto Standon Calling festival where I was part of the press coverage. The Sunday of the festival was the best day ever with my best friend Neil, and the highlight being in the press pit right in front of Grace Jones!
Christmas in July
This year was my first proper experience of the retail phenomenon of Christmas in July. I got to head to so many branded events to see their Christmas range. Drink champagne and eat mince pies in the July heat. Highlights include the huge #julyfest where lots of brands congregated, the Aldi event of course was amazing and the Amazon event, incredible!
Awards Season
The summer holiday end and it turns to awards season for the blogging world and I was excited to win the best parent and money blog award at the UK Money Bloggers SHOMO’s event. The UK Money blogger community is a fab group of like minded people. We have a very active Facebook group and the big conference and awards once a year.
I was also shortlisted for three awards at the London Small Business Awards, including best new small business and best social media. I didnt win those awards though;-)
Ending the Year with a bang
My earnings, traffic and social stats have been building and building. Q4 has been my best ever quarter with lots of spare money going into paying off debt and into savings. And the final cherry on the top of the cake was appearing on the front cover of Woman’s own for a Christmas dinner feature!
It’s been really the most amazing year and reflecting on it all like this makes me so happy and proud. And so glad that I took the huge step of quitting the corporate world that I hated so much. Now I am in control of my destiny every step of the way.
A few other reviews of the year
I run a lovely, positive and inspiring Facebook group called Blogging Your Way to Riches, full of top UK bloggers and a few of them have written reviews of their year too. I wanted to share them on here as well.
Sandra in Spain wrote this rather fab post highlighting the good luck omen of wearing red knickers on New Year’s Eve to promote happy events and good luck for the future year. And 2017 has been a good one for her!
Leah Richardson of Behind the Blogger wrote about her year of discovery. The big discovery being meditation, I agree it is so powerful
Emma Maslin of the Money Whisperer has had a fab first year of blogging including press appearances and some fab blogging conferences.
7 Responses
2017 has been great for you Lynn – wishing you a fabulous 2018!
Right back at you too. Youve made such a fab start, am sure you’ll see 2018 gaining momentum really quickly
What an amazing year you’ve had! I hope next year looks even brighter for you x
Thank you honey. 2018 is already shaping up well:-)
Thanks for the inclusion x