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Episode 129: Working With Brands For A Successful Q4 with Maria Koutsogiannis

In episode 129 we talk with Maria Koutsogiannis, a food blogger that has found success working with brands while sharing whole plant-based recipes with her audience.

We cover information about just how important freelancers are to the U.S., potential threats that could impact freelancers negatively, how to navigate freelance life, and what we can do to make a difference!

Listen on the player below or on iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.

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Guest Details

Connect with Food By Maria
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Bio
Maria’s fierce honesty and stripped back approach to sharing her journey to self-love through overcoming an eating disorder has amassed a global following. By seeking a healthy relationship with food Maria has become an industry leader. She creates alongside brands that not only align with her values but are innovators and industry pioneers like; Bob’s Red Mill, Chiquita, Field Roast, Facebook, and Good Catch Foods. Over the last 5 years as CEO of FoodByMaria, Maria has educated readers and inspired vegans and non-vegans alike to embrace vibrant, wholesome plant-based foods into their daily life. Her straightforward recipes are thoughtful, healthy and nourishing while satisfying all cravings for classic comfort food and sweet indulgences.

Takeaways

  • The holiday budget for brands could either go big or be smaller than normal, depending on a couple factors – did brand budgets get reduced overall? Also, based on what happens with Covid, how much will we be able to return to our communities.
  • People tend to automatically expect low numbers and not to expect brands to want to spend right now. But many companies are going to be pivoting, finding new ways to work with bloggers and influencers so keep reaching out for work in the immediate future.
  • You should absolutely be reaching out to brands at this time and anytime you want to cultivate brand relationships. DM’s can help you connect and network immediately. You can link to a media kit or examples of your work. You never know when one will say yes, even under these circumstances were in now.
  • The types of things that were relevant to food bloggers when Covid first hit – shelf stable products, yeastless recipes, easy sauces to replicate in your kitchen – these are safe brands to reach out to still. shifts towards.
  • While sending out proposals, be relevant and suggest out of the box ideas to let them see how you’re able to work with these conditions and be flexible.
  • The holidays are coming up and people want to find ways to be together and share a meal, be together so we can’t just skip over the party foods and meals that people will make, just look for a different lens to creatively share ideas.
  • The last thing as content creators we should do is be afraid to create.
  • If you’re in one of those industries where its a bit confusing, just pivot, pivot hard and figure it out but just keep creating because the people who tried their best during all this they are going to come out on top.
  • If you’re good at helping other entrepreneurs, find a way to teach others or build them up with a course so they can find their footing and get back up on the wagon.
  • Brands are excited to work with smaller micro-influencers who want to share their big message so just keep connecting with them, reaching out.

Resources Mentioned

Check out Maria’s cookbook Mindful Vegan Meals

Want To Learn More About Working With Brands?

Alli Kelley joins us on episode 030 to share tips about growing long-term partnerships with brands.


Transcript

Click for full text.

Megan Porta:

Welcome to Eat Blog Talk where food bloggers come to get their fill of the latest tips, tricks, and insights into the world of food blogging. If you feel that hunger for information, we’ll provide you with the tools you need to add value to your blog. And we’ll also ensure you’re taking care of yourself because food blogging is a demanding job. Now, please welcome your host, Megan Porta.

Megan Porta:

Food bloggers. Hey, if you have not yet joined the new, amazing Eat Blog Talk community, you have to go do it. You will find so much value inside, including connecting with other food bloggers in a much deeper way and having access to all kinds of exclusive value, such as bonus podcast episodes and mastermind groups, and a resources and service providers directory, and so much more. Go to Eatblogtalk.com for more information, and we cannot wait to see you inside.

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Megan Porta:

What’s up food bloggers. Hey, welcome to Eat Blog Talk. This podcast is for you food bloggers, wanting value, information and clarity that will help you find greater success in your business. Today, I’m so honored to have a chat with Maria Koutsogiannis from Food by Maria. And we are going to talk about how to approach Q4 when it comes to working with brands. And specifically for this very unusual year of 2020. Maria’s fierce honesty and stripped back approach to sharing her journey to self love through overcoming an eating disorder, has amassed a global following. By seeking a healthy relationship with food, Maria has become an industry leader. She creates alongside brands that not only align with her values, but are innovators and industry pioneers like Bob’s Red Mill Chaquita, Field Roast, Facebook and Good Catch Foods. Over the last five years, as CEO of Food by Maria, Maria has educated readers and inspired vegans and non vegans alike to embrace vibrant, wholesome, plant based foods into their daily life. Her straightforward recipes are thoughtful, healthy, and nourishing while satisfying all cravings for classic comfort food and sweet indulgences. Maria, you are amazing, and I’m super excited to have a chat with you today, but first let’s hear your fun fact.

Maria Koutsogiannis:

Oh man. I mean, there’s so many strange things about me, but I think the weirdest thing and the most fun fact thing is like, I’m obsessed with vacuuming and I vacuum my house like 29 times a day. It’s an issue.

Megan:

Okay. I hate vacuuming. So will you please come down to Minnesota? Oh, so what are you, is it just like calming? What does it do for you?

Maria:

I have like a variety of OCD, I think. Like not, not the like clinical version that I would never make fun of, but it’s like, I think that’s what it is. Like if I see a spec on my floor, I’m like, I need to vacuum right now and I don’t have kids. Right. So like I’m still not at that level where I’ve let it go. And I’m like, Hey, no, like just deal with it later.

Megan:

For sure. Once you have kids, you get to a point where you’re like, okay, it’s like beyond me, I can’t even help it. So.

Maria:

Yeah, absolutely.

Megan:

So you have worked with a lot of brands, Maria and I so admire this aspect of your business because as you know, I don’t work with brands typically and I, I just admire people who really dig into that work because it’s different. Like it’s different than just plugging away at putting up blog posts consistently. But as you know, it has not been a super stellar year for working with brands due to these strange forces outside of our control. So I thought it would be worthwhile to have a chat with you today because having expertise in this area, you can maybe help to shed some light on how food bloggers should approach working with brands this year, specifically in Q4, which is, Q4 is typically an exciting time for food bloggers because of that extra revenue boost. And I think a lot of us are just wondering, especially if we work with brands, whether or not this year is going to look different than previous years. So just to start, can you talk us through how 2020 Q4 in your opinion will be different from previous years when it comes to working with brands?

Maria:

Well, I mean, it’s going to be so, so different in so many different ways. Uh, but I think I should sort of, preface everything I’m about to say by mentioning that I’m not sure what’s going to happen in our world. I don’t know if we’re gonna experience the second wave that people talk about. I don’t know if the government is going to put us in lock down again. So all of this is sort of being said under the impression that we are having that positive trajectory and that we are coming out of this and we are coming together to, you know, revive our economy and help small business owners and freelancers and content creators like ourselves thrive. Um, so based on that, um, I think there’s going to be a lot of different things as different things that occur. But for me, mostly, I think there might either be a larger, it’s so funny cause I’ve skewed opinions. So there’s going to be a larger influx in, um, holiday marketing budget or it’s going to be smaller, uh, just based on, um, whether or not their spend was reduced for 2020 entirely based on COVID. In my opinion, based on everything that I’m seeing, starting in about the middle of July, I started noticing an incredible increase of people reaching out to work with me on a long term basis. So whether that means, Hey, I want to work with you starting in August for a year. I think I had like seven or eight reach outs that were very interested in that type. So I’m hoping that a lot of other creators are noticing that upkick and I think that what that will do is it will reduce stress during the holidays. We’ll have that consistent income of clients that have already signed with us. Then I’m sure they’ll still be the one offs, but it might just look different. I know the holidays are typically a little bit more tight timelines. In my opinion, what I’ve noticed is there have been clients that reach out to me two weeks before they want a deliverable, two days before they want a deliverable. I don’t know if we’ll see that, but like I said, I don’t know what budgets are going to look like depending on what happens with the economy and what happens with COVID. But I think people are really doing some good planning and I don’t think it’s going to be as scary as people are saying, but I am notorious for being pretty positive. Then if I get in my head too hard, I can fall down the dark rabbit hole of being negative, but I’ve just tried not to do that super often, but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t.

Megan:

So I think that’s a good sign though, that people, that brands are reaching out to in July and that you saw more than usual. So you definitely saw more than in previous years.

Maria:

Last year, summer was super busy too. I’ve been really lucky to work with some amazing brands. For the past three years it’s been pretty consistent, but it’s been increasing steadily over the past two years. You can’t excite yourself too much cause I think, well, we didn’t sign very much in May, June, so is this just making up for that? But I think it’s important to not think monthly and think more so quarterly or, um, even six months in advance. So what I often do is I think to myself, I’ve made X amount of money in May. But that’s sort of a restricting scarcity mindset. It’s important to think to yourself if I made zero in May, but I made double what I normally do in June. I think that’s something that’s really important to not place too much stress on us like month to month, but just overall, how are you doing?

Megan:

I like your quarterly thinking. I think that’s really smart whether you work with brands or not, right. Just to think like you can’t go month by month because one month can be really bad. And then the next month is great. So what if people like food bloggers listening, are interested in working with brands, but maybe they’re not at the place you are where they’ve been reached out to , by brands in July or August, but they’re interested in doing so this year. Do you have recommendations for them? Like, are there certain types of brands that will or will not be looking for partnerships this year, do you think? Or even like certain types of products, what are your thoughts? If somebody is trying to get their foot in the door at this point?

Maria:

Well, first and foremost, you should absolutely be doing active reach outs. Um, conversions through DMS are so important. So just having like a little blurb created in DMS with like a link to your media kit and any examples of content or video, that’s always super useful because you catch them like at a high note and you introduce yourself and you kind of provide them with the assets they need to review it. Then what essentially happens is you receive a marketing email and then you convert that over to email and then you start the conversation, which is really nice. Um, but in terms of, uh, specific products or specific brands that I think will be doing collaborations, honestly, this one’s a tough one because I don’t know the answer to that, but I would say that depending on what happens with COVID or depending on what happens with the world, we’re going to see the same sort of timeline with everything. What were the first things to increase in popularity? When COVID first happened? Like let’s talk like food items.

Megan:

Yeah. Like yeastless bread, um, simple sauces, things that could be made with few ingredients, things like that,

Maria:

Things that were non-perishable, like in cans. So I definitely think they’re sort of a no brainer in a way, I think they’re safe because they’re not worried about their industry as much as let’s say a fresh banana or apple are, because I found that during COVID, a lot of people were leaning towards apples in bags versus putting them in their own bags. If that makes sense. I also feel like we weren’t talking very much about health and immunity during that time. So a lot of people were forgetting that it was important to still eat fresh vegetables and fresh produce. But I do think that things related to the fitness industry and anything related to, um, like money, so producing an earning income or things that like are in the photography world or freelance based. So kind of like what we’ve noticed is a lot of people are honing in on their passion and they’re taking this extra time to maybe delve into things that they wanted to do in the past. So I think that a lot of hot commodities will be, for example, Fitbit or learning how to better monitor your nutrition or we’re coming out of a really crazy year, let’s talk about new gear, new health. I feel like we’re going to notice a lot of like mind shifting, a lot of meditation apps, like Calm, I think will be really popular. I still think things like flowers and, um, yeast and cans, produce are going to be super important. I work with a lot of vegan substitute brands. Things like Field Roast, Lightlife. I think they’ll all still be very popular, but I guess ultimately my answer is, is it genuinely depends what happens with the world. But regardless of that, you can’t help, but try, right. So sliding into their DMS, sending them a small proposal, letting them know why you’re interested. You’re never going to do any harm. I think it’s important to just know your audience and understand the time of year. So just, um, approach it with like, Hey, I know this Christmas might be a little different and if you have a family of 40, it might look a little different in terms of like how your table is or whether or not everyone is at the table. We’d love to chat about how we could do like a virtual Christmas dinner or just like being aware of what the situation is and proposing it in that way. So it doesn’t feel like a little tone deaf. I think that’s one of the biggest suggestions. One of the things I learned during all this was just to make it relevant and ensure that you’re aware or that your client knows that you’re aware of this certain situation that you follow the guidelines and understand the sort of tone that you need to bring into a post.

Megan:

What if a blogger is focused heavily on like parties, especially holiday parties or Thanksgiving, Christmas dinners, things like that. Kind of that same thing that you were just saying, like approach it. Yes. Like assuming that we’re all gonna be kind of the same that we are now here at the end of August, 2020, but not being tone deaf, like you said, Maria, and just realizing that things are maybe going to look a little bit different than they did last year. But still having that kind of positivity. Is that kind of how you would do that? Or, I mean, what is your advice for party food people?

Maria:

I don’t know what it’s like, where you’re at, but I believe that at Christmas time we’ll be allowed to get together. I don’t know what that number will look like, but to me, even anyone over 10 people is still a fun little party. So I would still definitely gauge recipes, but maybe just, um, decrease the amount of servings, that is always really helpful. Just being aware of the tone in the blog post. So if you’re targeting someone let’s say in a certain country in Europe, they likely have different regulations than the States. I feel like you guys, are you still in a type of lockdown or anything or what’s the situation?

Megan:

There are states that are more locked down. I think like very, very stringent, but ours is not. I mean, I think most have freedom to do what they want. There are mandates in place about wearing masks indoors here in Minnesota, but I think it just really depends on where you live.

Maria:

I think the same should be like, don’t just stop creating party foods, party foods, but maybe you could even just, um, word it differently. So, uh, uh, I can’t think of a title off the top of my head right now, but I know for SEO purposes, party recipes are still really important. But just talking about 2020 party recipes or like, do you get what I mean, just like being a little bit more narrow about what that means. I would honestly, like I’ve done some stuff where it’s like virtual or, um, make it at home and stay safe and drop it off at their doorstep. Bringing people together by having a recipe and then zooming and making the recipe. I feel like we’re kind of past that and I do genuinely think that 20 people will be allowed in a space for Christmas. I’m just so hopeful that that has to be the case. I mean, even here in Canada, there’s allowed to be that many people, but I think the rules are just, um, no sharing food at the moment or something like that, depending on the amount of people. I imagine that as time goes on, hopefully, that will be reduced. Once again, I’m not a specialist. I don’t know anything about this, but if I was a party planner or recipe planner, I would still do it. There’s still going to be a family of four out there that want to have awesome hors d’oeuvres for Christmas. Food isn’t just going to disappear because there’s less people. They still want to have that homeliness and really fun, exciting vibe in their kitchen. You want to kind of escape it and feel like things are the same.

Megan:

I think now more than ever people want to be at parties, they want to be with people. I like that. I just went to a graduation party over the weekend and I was like, so freakishly excited to be around people. It was a high school graduation. So like, okay, not a big fan, you know, normally you’d be like, Oh my gosh, I have to go to this party. But I was so excited. Oh, there’s food here. And there’s people. And I was just like so happy. So I feel like that’s going to be the same this holiday season and this Christmas. So there might be limitations, but people, like you said are still going to be wanting to get together. And even if it’s on a smaller scale, um, just having like a different lens this year. So yes. Still enjoying your people, but just knowing that you have to go into it with a different set of eyes, I think.

Maria:

Being more aware of people’s boundaries and understanding that some people are going to be more or less afraid of what’s happening in the world. I think it’s just a great opportunity to bring people together again. I think the last thing we should be doing as content creators is being afraid to create because ultimately the thing is, next year, hopefully Christmas is going to be the same and we understand the importance of repurposing content. Don’t just halt your life because of the uncertainty. It’s important to just keep going and keep striving and keep trying. That’s going to help with your mental health. I’m not by any means saying to ignore what’s happening. I think it’s important to sit in the uncertainty and understand what’s going on, but like the only way to succeed at life is to just continue and keep trying and keep pushing. So absolutely if you’re in one of those industries where it’s a bit confusing, just pivot, pivot hard and figure it out, but just keep creating because the people that tried their best during all of this, and we both know this, we’re already seeing this, they’re going to come out on top. It’s just how it is. Kind of feels like we’re experiencing one of those things where, um, we’re fishing through and you know, the survival of the fittest. Cause some people did want to give up during this. I’m noticing that we are seeing either new food bloggers arise or older ones just kind of stopped if that makes sense to you.

Mega:

Yeah, I totally agree. And I could, I felt like I could see it right away when all of this started. Some people were just like, I could tell they were sunk right out of the gate. And then there were people that just immediately had a new spin for something. Or I don’t know, it was kind of cool to see that creativity flow. Don’t you think, like you could just see people’s wheels turning and I just like, I could pinpoint a few food bloggers. They are going to put a new spin on something and just kill it. I love what you said. I just have to say this again. Don’t halt your life because of the uncertainty. Amen. I mean, that is like for everything. Yes. Food blogging and working with brands like we’re talking about, but that is everything you’ve got to keep going and yes you have to adapt and change for sure, but you cannot stop.

Maria:

Nothing else stops for you. You know what I mean? COVID for you or your feelings or your emotions or your financial well being or jobs. That’s just the way life is kind of, sometimes you have to think for yourself and just do what’s best for you. Oftentimes more than not, that just means staying in your damn lane, doing this and getting it done. It’s hard because like I went through like a good six weeks where I was like, I don’t think this is like, I don’t, I think we’re just going to fall off the earth. I don’t think it just was one of those things where you hear the media and it’s like, Oh, this and that. I was one of those people right off the bat, I was quite afraid. It was just really weird. Then I eased out and I was a little bit more lenient with my thoughts and still very respectful of other people’s emotions and stuff. I mean, I have my own opinions, but it’s just one of those things where once I let that all settle in, this is no different than any other time of uncertainty. It’s just been the first time that we’re experiencing it full on. There have been so many other horrible things that have happened in the world and they’ve never impacted us, but we’ve always watched from a distance and you know, it’s so typical, sending our prayers, sending this, sending that it’s like, well, what do you do for yourself when it’s actually happening? That’s when you show up, right? That was really interesting to get pretty low and feel like crap. And then come out of it. Okay. I’m stronger than I think I am.

Megan:

Absolutely. I mean, this has not been easy, but I think it’s kind of good for all of us to experience. Just like you said, a lot of times we see things from afar and we’re like, Oh, too bad for them, you know, sending prayer. But now we’re all in it and we have to get through this. We have to show up and I love your perspective. I think that is a really, um, mature perspective to have because a lot of people don’t have that. So I really appreciate that about you, Maria. I just have a few more questions for you specifically about Q4. So we talked through maybe some ideas about approaching this year a little bit differently with a different set of eyes. Some things that we can have and keep in mind, like the types of foods that people might be making or thinking about. Do you have any other ideas about how food bloggers can profit from Q4 this year? So not specifically with brands, but other ways.

Maria:

Yeah, absolutely. So I’m a member of this awesome food blogging group and we discuss some cool passive ways that we can earn income. One of them was actually eBooks. What that can do is help bring people together. If they’re a part and they could like make recipes together and you can make like specifically, um, like specific themed recipe ebooks. So for instance, it would be so fun to have like a Thanksgiving dinner ebook or a Christmas dinner ebook. That’s  a way that you can drive traffic to your blog and earn passive income in sales. I think another way that’s really fun is like doing, I can’t really think of what the word is, but like actually this might not be related to, earning income, but a fun way to drive community towards Instagram is teaming up with other creators in the industry and creating recipes that you can make live or online. But if you’re looking to make more money right now, I would just say consistently, remind yourself what happened at the beginning of COVID. So with the blogs, we noticed a huge spike in March, April, May. I don’t think it’s going to be any different when the holidays come November and December are going to be massively spiked because we’re going to see less, um, what’s that word? Like holiday parties. I feel less people are going to have work parties at hotels or at venues, just doing them at home. So there’s going to be a lot more entertaining happening. I truly believe the world isn’t just going to stop like it’s Thanksgiving and Christmas. I cannot imagine this being a depressing time of year, even though it feels like it could be, but do you get what I’m saying? I still feel like the world’s going to go round.

Megan:

Yeah. And like you mentioned, the spike that we saw at the beginning of COVID and yeah. Everyone was cooking and wanting recipes more than ever. It was so crazy to see that traffic spike. So I think you’re right, like the holiday parties, like the corporate parties and, you know, work parties and things like that probably aren’t going to happen on the same scale. So people might be bringing those two smaller gatherings in the home. I think that’s a good thing to have on our radar.

Maria:

No, absolutely. Another thing too, depending on what type of food blogger or creator you sort of are, I think right now would be a good opportunity to also explore what the rules and regulations are around, catering, can you create food for parties and then just drop them at their doorstep? 

Megan:

Oh, that’s a good thought. I have not thought of that.

Maria:

If you’re really struggling and you need some ideas and you were an amazing chef or blogger and you have these incredible recipes. If it’s um and um, please make sure that you check the rules and regulations where you live. That requires a big pivot, but you just do what you gotta do. That’s a really fun idea just to get people eating your food and earning.

Megan:

Yeah. That’s a great idea. I just thought of this, literally just this minute, but I won this giveaway on Facebook and I got this cooking kit in the mail from a blogger who um just like she did exactly what you just said. She pivoted when all of this started. And so she put, started putting these cooking kits together for kids and they were so awesome. I have a 10 year old son who loves to cook and bake. So he dug into them like, it was crazy. I had no idea he would do this, but all of the instructions were in there. Like all of the ingredients, there were a few ingredients that you had to grab for your own, from your own pantry or fridge, but not many, just little things like salt and pepper and olive oil or something like that. But it was the coolest thing. And I never would have thought of that. So something like that, even, like maybe doing a holiday cookie package where kids could cook or something, I don’t know.

Maria:

Exactly, like putting together a bunch of nonperishable goods in like a jar. And then just like sending it and saying, add milk to make these incredible oatmeals cinnamon raisin cookies or something. Like there’s so many fun ways that things can kind of get done. It’s all about getting creative and figuring out like what your additional assets are. Like for me, one of the biggest things for myself that I’ve noticed through this is that I actually do know quite a bit about making money on social media. So we’re working on a course to help other people. What better time to do that than when everyone is at home trying to become more resourceful or, you know, earn a little bit of more income based on where they’re at financially or whether or not they’ve lost their job, or if this has finally led them to quitting their job, they were unhappy in. It was just a matter of figuring out what you are good at? I know you’re a food blogger, but what else do you have that’s an incredible asset. So many food bloggers out there have a presence, they’re really good in person. Some are shy and they’re going to develop worksheets and PDFs that people can work on. It’s just about honing in and figuring out what you are good at? What do you get asked most, ask your audience what they want from you. Then from there kind of just go with it. Honestly, you can’t help, but try and that’s, that’s all that really matters right now.

Megan:

So maybe even thinking outside the scope of recipes and thinking about how you can kind of help people in general, or even like, if you have been food blogging for awhile and there’s a part of it that you’ve just nailed down, why not figure something out for food bloggers? Help them figure out how to increase their traffic in some way, you know, there’s so many different ways and I love being creative in this way and just sitting down and starting that flow of just that magic flow of brainstorming. Just as we’re starting to talk to Maria, I’m like, Oh, I could keep going with this. I could go on and on. Get started with one thing, what are you really good at? Just let it kind of snowball and see what comes out of it. But there really are like a million different things that we food bloggers could do to make money because we do so many different things. Focus on a couple of those things and see what comes out of it.

Maria:

No, absolutely. That’s a huge factor. A lot of people just put themselves in this glass box and they don’t understand that. Just because they are confined to that specific job description right now doesn’t mean that they can’t go out and do something else. If that makes sense, it’s important to diversify and have different channels and avenues of income streams. So what better time now than the present? I know that this is coming from likely a place of privilege, depending on who’s listening. Maybe you don’t have enough money to start something new, but, that you just have to remember, where did you start when you first started? It can only go up from there. I’m just a huge believer that you can’t fall backward that hard, right? You don’t start things unless you know that you’re at least half capable of those incredible things, but that’s just my opinion. I do have that really positive mindset where I believe that I can do anything. That doesn’t mean I’ve always succeeded at what I’ve done, but I’ve always tried. I’ve always put effort in to see if it will work. So I think that’s really important. Something to really carry into 2020, Q4 is just like being positive and being confident in the reach outs and knowing that you are worth it. If you’re out there and you’re a micro-influencer, this is a great time for you. Brands are really, really looking into micro influencers. They’re super excited to have smaller accounts share their big message. Getting more people, just like you talking about it across the board. It’s just no issue here feeling not big enough. I think there’s an opportunity for everyone right now to kind of just go out there and kill it.

Megan Porta:

Well, such inspiring words and I love that you mentioned mindset. Mindset is everything. You can go into a season just assuming that it’s going to be horrible and you’re going to struggle. And if you do that, then guess what? You’re gonna struggle. But if you go into it, just thinking like I’m going to keep my mind open and I’m going to make something work, then it is going to be okay. I am such a strong believer in that too. So thank you for saying that. And thank you for everything that you’ve shared today. This has been so valuable. Maria, is there anything you feel like we’ve missed discussing just relating to this topic that you feel like we should mention before we say goodbye?

Maria:

I think we’ve covered a lot of it. I think genuinely, anytime that I’m giving advice, I emphasize the importance of having a good mindset. I would genuinely say too, that it’s already almost September guys. So that means we’re entering 2021 soon. And that’s hopefully going to be a much brighter light for us. There’s going to be a lot more marketing budgets that hopefully influx just based on how much they’ve had to reduce them in 2020. I’m not sure how that looks structurally, but just based on how I’m thinking, that makes sense. They’re going to increase their budgets somehow. I’m assuming unless they know something we don’t. So just think ahead, think for the future, how are you going to start proposing yourself out to new brands in January? It’s important that we talk about health. We’re entering the winter months. It’s going to get cold there. We need to boost our immunities. I know that this is a little bit of a sensitive topic because we’ve been told that our immunity isn’t going to protect us from this virus. But I think overall, all in all, you should always be protecting immunity. Regardless of the state of the world, it’s important to consider yourself first. Just doing a lot of cool proposals around health and well-being and mindset and you know, the plate method and better understanding what you’re eating. There’s so many cool opportunities that are approaching. So even if 2020 was pretty dark and crappy, just remind yourself that this is like, we’re turning a new leaf soon, got four more months of 2020. I know it’s also a scarcity mindset to think that just like, you know, January 1st, everything’s going to be different. It won’t, but things are gonna be better and things are gonna get back to closer normal. It’s going to be a new normal, but I definitely think right now, just hustle, do a lot of really fun partnership proposals, get creative with how you’re proposing them. Use really nice PDF docs and just make sure that you’re, you’re unique and you’re really calling yourself out and showing off your assets and just being super yourself and eventually good things come your way. I promise.

Megan:

Aw, that was amazing. Thanks Maria. Thank you so much for being here today. It was such a pleasure to talk to you. Maria, we’re going to put together a show notes page for you, and we’re just going to kind of write out everything we’ve talked about. Maybe write out some of our ideas, your ideas that you came up with for looking forward to Q4. So if you are interested in looking at those, you can go to Eatblogtalk.com/foodbyMaria. And also check out Maria’s Instagram page, Instagram feed. It is so awesome. It’s so inspiring. Your videos that you’ve been creating are gorgeous. Beautiful. So just yeah. Inspiration. So tell everyone where they can find you there and also on your blog.

Maria:

Yeah, absolutely. So check me out at, by Maria, at @Foodbymaria on Instagram and then you can find all my recipes at Foodbymaria.com. I also have an app that’s available on Android and Apple. Food by Maria app. And what else can you do? You can check out my cookbook, Mindful Vegan Meals. It’s available wherever cookbooks are sold and on Amazon. Stay tuned for the amazing course that I’m creating on how to make money and how to monetize yourself in 2020 and 2021 moving forward forever. There’s just a lot of really fun stuff. So whenever in doubt, just look up Food By Maria.

Megan Porta:

All right, well thanks Maria again for being here and thank you for listening today, Food bloggers. I will see you next time.

Megan Porta:

We’re glad you could join us on this episode of Eat Blog Talk. For more resources based on today’s discussion, as well as show notes and an opportunity to be on a future episode of the show, be sure to head to Eatblogtalk.com. If you feel that hunger for information we’ll be here to feed you on Eat Blog Talk.


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Megan
Megan

Megan started her food blog Pip and Ebby in 2010 and food blogging has been her full-time career since 2013. Her passion for blogging has grown into an intense desire to help fellow food bloggers find the information, insight, and community they need in order to find success.

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