necolebitchie.com
Resilience (an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change) is one of the identifiable characteristics evident in many successful entrepreneurs. The ability to overcome and bounce back from misfortune is what makes some stars shine brighter than others.
Just when all seemed lost, Necole Bitchie turned her life around. In December 2007, Necole overcame the worst of all odds – her parents had passed, she was jobless, penniless and found herself having to move back home to a small Maryland town with no outlet. In her darkest moment, determined to make it, she combined two of her best resources: her voice and the internet to create NecoleBitchie.com. Almost a year later, NecoleBitchie.com is considered one of the fastest growing celebrity urban blogsites on the Internet.
What made you get into blogging? I started to blog to pass the time away. I had no money. I was back home in a rural small town. About 7 days into blogging I told myself that I was going to make this work because it was the only thing I had.
When you first started how did you get your stories for your blog? When I first started the site I was blogging more from a personal perspective. I was giving readers a lot more of my personal life. I would also get content from other internet sites and put my personal opinion in it. I used to be in radio and the music industry so I also had contacts I could call to give me information on things as well.
There are a lot of blogs out there now, many seem to be attacking celebrities. You don’t appear to do that why is that? I started out in the music industry first. And I know the key to this business is my connections and me not burning bridges. I am very aware of what people say about me trying to be a celebrity and speaking negatively of me because I hang out with celebrities…some feel like it’s a conflict of interest because I am a blogger. I was in the industry first before I started my blog so why would I stop doing all that now. I really don’t see the point in being negative anyway and tearing people town.
Over the past few years several blog sites, including yours, have gained quite a fan base which gives your words a lot of power in the industry. How do you feel about that? The fact that I as a blogger can affect people’s careers makes me very aware of what I write on my site. If I don’t have anything nice to say I try to keep my opinion to myself as not to hurt anyone. Being able to influence so many people is a lot of responsibility. But I do like the power I have to make people look at different points of view and perspectives of situations. I was the only blog site that didn’t side against Chris Brown when the situation with he and Rhianna came about. I made people look at the situation from his point of view.
How do celebrities treat you when they meet you? No one has ever been negative towards me. When they meet me, I am such a regular girl that they just think I am cool. Most welcome me with open arms and sometimes they don’t even know who I am. Many times, I have other celebrities introducing me to them so they kind of accept me on the reference of that celebrity.
Are there any types of stories that you just WILL NOT publish? Oh yes. I don’t like doing gay stories that much. I get sent that kind of information all the time. I know who is allegedly on the down low but I chose not to entertain that stuff. I’ll leave that to someone else.
It’s rare to see a blogger put their photo on their blog I assume for security purposes.¦Have you ever had any problems? The tone of my blog has changed a little since I put my photo up. But, I put the photo up to earn more credibility with my readers. I want them to know I have integrity and I’ve worked hard to establish myself as credible. I am not hiding behind the internet. I’ve had people knock on my door before so some stories at this point are just not safe.
You making blogging look easy. Is it like having a real job? Absolutely. The moment I realized that I didn’t want to send out any more resumes and I wanted blogging to be my full-time job I treated it as such. I wake up everyday as if I was going to a job by 7am. I start compiling information, stories and photos of what is circulating on the internet. I do research and then I write. However, most of my days goes to putting together and sending out advertising proposals to generate revenue. I spend a lot of time on tasks that pertain to running a business to expand the brand.
Who do you send proposals to? Record labels and promoters for the most part. But Anyone who is trying to target my demographic and capture their attention.
How long did it take for you to generate revenue with your blog? My site was up for about two months and Global Grind which is owned by Russell Simmons asked me to blog for their site. I started blogging for Russell. This year it hit me that I wanted to live solely off my own blog site and I let go of all the side writing I was doing. I wanted to focus on my blog. So I wouldn’t say it took a year for me to start to be able to live off my blog because I could have probably done it sooner had I not been doing other things.
Do you consider yourself to be a journalist? I am the first to tell you…I am just a blogger. I didn’t go to school for journalism. I know my role. My writing is based on my opinion. I try to make sure its fact but its more so my opinion. And I am totally biased!
As a blogger are there any laws that you need to be concerned with as far as copywriting? When you use other people’s stuff you should at least link back to them and give them credit. All I ask for is a source credit or link.
How has Twitter helped promote your blog? Twitter is my number one traffic driver to my site outside of people just coming organically by typing in www.necolebitchie.com or Googling it. Last month Twitter sent 150,000 to my site. If you know how to use it right it’s amazing. Twitter really allows me to reach out and get personal with my readers.
What’s next for Necole Bitchie? I want to develop more of the personality behind my site. I want to get my story out there. There are so many people in bad situations or working at a job they don’t like. I think its important for me to step behind the site and let people know they can find something else. I am doing something now that I am very passionate about. I’m moving to New York and I am going to focus on more BitchieTV, video content and more exclusive reporting on celebrity lifestyle.
Respect the hustle… just because Necole makes it look easy, doesn’t mean it is. In order to be a successful blogger you have to make yourself stand out from the hundreds if not thousands of other bloggers on the net. You have to have a product that the public wants and you have to work hard to deliver it with quality and consistency. Necole has used her determination to succeed and worked hard to develop a successful and popular blog site. The site is currently rated in the Top 12 Urban Blogs on the internet by Electronic Villager blog rankings and was nominated Best New Blog and Best Gossip Blog by the 2008 Black Weblog Awards.
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