4 minute read
Blogger
PLANNING AND PREP
STORY BY STACIE GAETZ | PHOTOS BY SERGEI BELSKI
Airdrie resident Steph Todd turned her desire to save money and eat healthier into a fulltime career as a meal plan blogger.
“I started to meal plan and meal prep out of the sheer need to get organized to survive,” says the self-proclaimed “accidental blogger.”
“For 10 years, I was working on some really cool, large projects and my wallet and health suffered with all of the fast food, takeout and ordering in.”
In 2016, she started learning as much as she could about meal prep and meal planning to save some money and time and to eat healthier. She posted about it in a number of local moms’ groups.
Soon she was getting questions about whether there was a dedicated space that people could go to learn more and get ideas, recipes and tips for how to do it.
From there, her idea grew from a Facebook page to her own website and eventually the Meal Plan Addict blog.
In 2019, Todd, who has a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and a master’s in biomedical technology, left her six-figure job as a project manager to become a full-time blogger.
“At first it was just fun,” she says.
“Then once I learned I could make it a career, I was drawn in by the ability to pull an income while working from home, with my own hours, and the freedom entrepreneurship creates.”
WHAT IS A BLOGGER?
In addition to calling herself a blogger, Todd also uses the terms content creator and digital marketing guru in the food space. But you might be wondering what she actually does.
“In short, I look at a ton of data – I look at what questions I am being asked, I look at Google trends. What are people making? How can I help them? What do I know about a topic that can help others?” she says.
“I then create content to answer those questions, solve problems or teach something.”
She then plans recipes, makes the recipes, photographs the food, edits the photos, writes copy, and creates images for all social platforms. A single blog post takes about eight to 10 hours of what Todd calls “touch time.”
She posts to her blog about once or twice a week and posts to social media daily.
She also spends time talking to brands and working with them to create marketing campaigns with their product on her platforms.
Todd was an early adopter of the popular Instant Pot and became a resource for how to use it.
“I was asked daily about how to cook in it,” she says.
“So, I created a cheat sheet with cook times and which buttons to use, and I turned it into a magnet that sticks to the pot. That magnet was shipped to every single state, province and territory in North America.”
She adds that the magnet generated tens of thousands of dollars in revenue and to-date is the most successful product she has been involved with.
Other ways in which Todd’s and other blogs can generate income include: • sponsored work • affiliate marketing • website ads • selling services or knowledge • selling photography or videos to other blogs or businesses • speaking engagements • recipe creations • digital and physical products
HAVING A PLAN
What drew Todd to meal prep and caused her to give herself the title Meal Plan Addict?
“I hate the decision fatigue of trying to decide multiple times a day what to cook and eat,” she says of why she turned to meal planning.
“Freeing up all that brain space makes room for other, more important things.”
She adds she also enjoys the creativity of cooking.
“I like that for that moment, I forget about everything and am concentrated on just cooking,” Todd says.
“It was my therapy for a long time.”
Another of her passions is working with local small businesses to promote their products and help them succeed.
“I am super approachable and love supporting local small businesses so please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on Instagram or email,” she says.
She adds that the biggest misconception about being a blogger is that it is a “really cool little hobby.”
“I assure you it is far from a hobby,” she says.
“In this business, you become a master of all. I learned how to be a photographer, use many software programs, become an expert on all social media platforms, learn about Google and the science of search engine optimization (SEO), how to pitch yourself to brands, bookkeeping … just to name a few of the skills I have picked up along the way.”
She adds that taking your blog from hobby to real-deal entrepreneur is not something that is done overnight.
“The average income-generating blog takes two to three years of dedicated attention before it pulls in $1,” she says.
“Yes, there are a few overnight successes, but like any industry, they are the rare one per cent. [Meal Plan Addict] took years and tears to grow.” life
