I started following Kotryna Bass a couple of years ago and was fascinated with her content. Tired of personal style and fashion blogging, I was looking for blogs that would reflect my needs. At the time I had a blog and was looking for ways to grow it, and I stumble upon Kotryna’s per case. I was immediately smitten. I enjoyed her mix of lifestyle and blogging and business tips. Her lifestyle isn’t fancy, just like me she enjoys travelling, and finally, I like the honesty of her writing. It feels like when you are reading her blog and newsletter; you are conversing with a good friend.
A fully-fledged digital expert, I wanted to introduce you to her because I think what she offers is unique. While she is providing graphic design and consulting services, she also invites her readers to follow her growth as a person and a business owner through honest posts. People always talk about being authentic in blogging and Kotryna is precisely this. Authentic. In this interview, you will discover her blogging journey and how she integrated all her knowledge into her platform to turn it into a profitable business.
Find Kotryna on her blog and on Instagram
Can you introduce yourself and your blog please?
Sure, I’m Kotryna Bass, a lifestyle blogger seeking to inspire young creatives to blog and make living online. On my blog- kotrynabass.com, I share blogging + business tips mixed up with some lifestyle + travel topics.
Did you start your blog with the aim of helping people building their online presence from day one? if so, why?
Not at all, I’ve started my blog as a personal diary and as I had huge passion for web design, I made my blog look pretty decent. Soon enough, my readers started to ask for help in design field and as I grew I started to receive more & more questions in general.
From advice to start your blog and designing websites to blog consulting, you are a fully-fledged influencer and online business consultant, how did you get your first clients?
They all came very organically- through my blog. I also advertised my services on Fiverr and Etsy at first. I think I made around $40 in my first month of launching my online services and it blew my mind! I was so excited to see that I can actually earn money from this blogging thing and I’ve been obsessed with growing my presence ever since. Blogging brought so much freedom in my life and I want to teach show young people that becoming your own boss isn’t that hard!
Where and how do you promote yourself?
My blog is the best place for me to advertise my services, I then also share a lot of content daily on social media and sent our weekly newsletters to my subscribers.
What is your favourite social media platform and why?
Pinterest! It’s my main source of referral traffic and I find so many useful articles out there too. I used to love using Instagram, but with all the recent algorithms changes and all follow-for-follow madness, I just think it became a bit too overwhelming.
With all the services you provide to your clients on top of running your blog, how do you organise your day to day?
Not gonna lie, it can be tough. I’m lucky to have my fiance helping me in every aspect of the business. He’s a great web developer and he works on improving our blog design themes daily, he also helps me take pictures for my blog and brainstorms even the craziest ideas with me.
You are based in Lithuania and recently moved to a smaller town, how did this affect your work?
It hasn’t! If anything, I just became way more concentrated about my work. I love having free time and living in the capital city has become a bit too tiring lately, so we decided to move to a little fishing village by the seaside. We’re planning to stay here for at least 6 months and I can’t wait to complete all of the projects I’ve been postponing for ages.
Speaking of Lithuania, how is the blogosphere there? Are there any influencers you would recommend?
We have a pretty active blogging community over here, yet most of the creators choose to write in our native language, so it might be a bit hard for international community to find them. Some of my favourite Lithuanian bloggers that create their content in English are:
- Aimerose: http://www.aimeroseblog.com/
- Feed Your Fashion Animal: http://feedyourfashionanimal.com
- Gabriele Gz: https://www.instagram.com/gabrielegz/
Contrarily to many bloggers, you decided to publish the progress of your business and blog quarterly, what made you take this decision?
I think that in order to be able to help other bloggers grow their blogs and online businesses I need to be transparent about my own growth so far. Although it will also be a fun way for me to look back on my work in the years coming!
What advice would you give to someone wanting to start a blog to offer consulting service?
Don’t offer that you can’t deliver, be consistent with your work and be prepared to work hard.
Thanks a bunch for featuring me, ladies! It was my pleasure to take part in this! <3
Your story is really interesting! We love it! Thank you 🙂