Hi Friends,
1 Dream to make The Life's Way a brand to reckon!
9th Blog Anniversary on 27th December 2021
3.46 Million Pageviews Achieved on 2500 Blog Posts
Reached Local Guides Level 9 Top Contributor in Johannesburg, South Africa
40 Million Photo Views Achieved on Google Maps with 12300+ Photos
220k Views on 229 Reviews Posted for Google Maps #LetsGuide #LocalGuides
Posted 235 Videos on The Life's Way - Youtube Channel
Crossed 845+ Subscribers and gained 150+ subscribers in 2021
#TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay
Thanks to everyone who contributed and collaborated in the growth of The Life's Way!
2021 has been my best year ever in terms of getting some paid assignments in cash which is really good in terms of paying some of the bills and building on the equipment necessary to shoot the videos and write the blog posts. The next year of 2022 will be totally focused on getting more and more self-written blog posts and also getting more sponsored social media content deals. No free press releases will be posted on TheLife'sWay anymore in 2022. Before posting anything I will always ask the PR executives what's in there for me and if I feel value provided then only I will go ahead else TATA Bye Bye! as I don't want to waste my and theirs time spent on sending the same to my email ID etc.
The Life's Way in 2021 enjoyed goodies from a lot of contests as compared to the Blog and Media drops though it was much more than previous years this season. I received a lot of snacks and also a lot of online invites as the lockdown level was reduced. I did a lot of Youtube videos of unboxing goodies and also my biggest will be having a white desk of my own which I can now decorate with the RGB lights and all the gaming keyboards, mouse and mousepad. Some of the stuff I have to buy for which I am looking at the deals on takealot.com. I also factory reset my smartphone after many many years and it's a divine feeling of spring cleaning the device. Automatically, you will see that the phone starts working faster as compared to before. I also did a modelling assignment for one of the facemask companies and received a thousand rand for half a day of shooting with 3 dress changes.
This year there was no Christmas Gifts from any brands other than Nokia who sent 4 cupcakes and I didn't get to eat as we were 6 family members and my turn never came and now from Huawei just now in the form of macaroons and biltong. But luckily I participated in some contests on Twitter and won in one or two to receive to buy my own Christmas gifts, the main one being the R2000 Gift Voucher from #PredatorTreasureHunt to shop on Acer Shop where I bought Seagate SSD 500GB for R2300 which is really beautiful and small. Another one was a Twitter contest won from CNA Africa for 2 toys from SolarPop that my kids loved playing with. Earlier in the year I won a GV of R2000 from Nescafe Ricoffy in their Twitter contest and bought all the Lindt chocolates as well as some clothes from Polo during the black Friday sale. Taking two doses of vaccine has been the highlight of the year as after the first one I got Covid positive and took a lot of time to recover but thankfully I am back to okay health.
In my 9 Years of The Life's Way, I gifted a lot of Lindt Chocolates and other goodies to various people in PR companies and fellow influencers/celebrities who supported me throughout with launch event invites from time to time. I also packed a suitcase of products to be shared in India as I planned to travel to India in December 2021 but the flights got cancelled due to the new variant of Corona. Keisha's Youtube channel also was deleted and I intend to relaunch it in 2022. I also shifted my Internet Fibre connection from SADV/Afrihost to RAIN 5G and I am using the top package (R999 per month) which is giving me a great speed of 150+Mbps all the time. I travelled to the Northern Cape to see Namaqua National Park as well as Augrabies Waterfall in the month of Sep-21. Also, I received my first Thule Lifestyle bag ever from the Telkom Music Launch event and I am really grateful to Tencent who invited me to the event as a last-minute entry.
I also received the legendary Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G smartphone in Phantom Black colour which is my day to day device that I won during the Foldable Launch event in Aug-21 and received in Oct-21. For the first time ever I also bought something in the Samsung shop as I bought the expensive Leather cover for my Z Flip 3 phone for R1000. This is the most expensive mobile cover I have ever bought in my life as earlier I have always bought them from takealot.com or China mall. The last one I bought was R400 for my Galaxy Note 20 from the online store of takealot.com and one before that for R200 from Celcom Pty for Samsung Note 8. I did a lot of shopping this year in terms of setting up the house from paint to furniture to various other things. During this time of setting up my new home, I also loved the LeRoy Merlin Store in Edenvale and Fourways. I visited Edenvale store more than 10 times already and Fourways for around 4-5 times.
I fell in love with the Canon's EOSM 22mm lens but couldn't find it at the right price and am still on the lookout to buy the same. I am also thinking of switching to Sony Alpha 7 series mirrorless camera by selling all the camera gear I collected over the years but the camera shops are pricing them too low for which I think that I shall gift it to my family rather than selling it. I also intend to buy the MacBook with an M1 chip along with an Apple iPad with Pencil and iPhone 13 Pro to get into the Apple ecosystem in 2022 if I travel to the USA then I will definitely buy them from there and till that time I will keep collecting money by pitching sponsored posts to all the brands. Whatever cash is earned will be going to the Apple Fund for TheLife'sWay.
In the end, thanks to all the Brands, PR executives, Marketing managers, Readers and Followers for keeping me in the loop with their products and services. I hope I have done enough justice to their products offered to me and I intend to focus on the Technology niche going forward and a lot of self-written posts on Thought Leadership and the learnings I have had in all these 42 Years on Planet Earth. Have a great festive season and a Merry Christmas and wishing you all a great Happy New Year 2022!
I am also thinking of switching from Blogger to WordPress so that I can monetize my blog in 2022. I am only going to do the paid posts which is very much clear in my mind now. I don't need this biltong and other stuff which is of no use to me and not taking me closer to my goal of buying some of the Apple products and other gadgets of my choice. I have started writing my own thought leadership articles and you can check them on my blog going forward and I hope it will create some value in your life as it has been created in mines as I share daily habits which I also want to follow or is following already.
Cheers!!!
Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!