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Modeling 101 Officially Has 500 Subscribers!!!

Imagine my surprise when I noticed that I had reached 500 subscribers today! It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating 400 subscribers. Man, do I love you guys!!!

Of course I also love my readers who aren't subscribers and I'm sure there are plenty of you...regardless of whether you subscribe or not, your participation in reading my posts, leaving comments and asking questions has all served to continually motivate me to make this blog all it can be.

Over time I've had people make suggestions about how to improve it, such as placing ads to generate revenue, adding a donation button, offering services and materials via my blog for a fee, etc, etc, etc. I've never taken anyone up on those suggestions because, frankly, I love my blog as it is (don't get me wrong--I truly appreciate the business savvy advice received from my colleagues over the years and don't want them to think my rebuffs are anything personal because they're not. I just have a habit of moving to the beat of my own drum, lol).

I don't make any money off of my blog, nor has it ever really been a priority to. Could that change in the future? I don't know--I can't predict the future but since I created my blog, my goal was to build it into a solid and legitimate resource for free information about the modeling industry.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Call me crazy but trying to make money off of my blog isn't important to me. I'm doing just fine with the earnings from my businesses and entertainment career. I don't have sponsors because I don't want to be obligated to anybody because they provided me with funds. I want it to be truly organic (if that's the right word) and to the point and I hope you'll agree with me that so far I've been successful with doing that.

I've always committed myself to telling people the most cost effective ways to get into modeling and maintain a career and to only invest their money when it is absolutely necessary. I believe in practicing what I preach. The only charging I do when it comes to being a modeling coach/consultant is for in-person sessions, which makes sense because I'm taking time out of my schedule to travel and meet with someone. But I just can't justify charging someone for email advice or to answer a reader question or whatever else could have a fee tacked onto it.

Sometimes I do think about charging like $1 per request to find agencies for people since that does involve taking time to track down agency websites, browse through them to see if they're legit, etc. But I haven't carried that out and if I haven't done so by now I probably never will, lol.

The bottom line: Modeling 101 - A Model's Diary is here to stay as is as long as I am living and breathing and while I may expand my consulting and coaching services into other ventures that require monetary compensation (i.e. selling my upcoming book, traveling for guest speaking opportunities, etc.), this blog will continue to remain a free resource to all those who rely on it. If anything can remain truly 100% pure in the industry, Modeling 101 will be it. :-)

Thank you from my bottom of my heart for subscribing, for reading and--most importantly--for caring about what I have to say and share. I'm forever humbled.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for creating this blog! <3
November 9, 2013 at 12:34 AM
Anonymous said…
Hello Dania! Firstly I love you and your blog!! Okay I'm kinda in a panic mode because I have a modelling interview in two days and im not prepared! I read through your'what the agency might ask' but i can't think of any answer to that! Any adivce? And also,can i say things like 'if I'm represented by (agency name)..."? Like if they ask "where do you see yourself in 5 years", can I say "Hopefully represented by you (as in agency)..."? And if they ask "why did you choose this agency" can I say "If I'm represented by you, I feel...etc"?
I'm sorry if some parts don't make sense! I'm just really panicked! Thank you so much!
December 10, 2013 at 5:35 PM
Dania Denise said…
Hi, Anonymous! You'll find the answer to your questions in its own post, titled "Answering a Reader Question #689," which can be found on my other blog: "Modeling 101 - Answering Readers Questions."

Please visit this link: http://amodelsdiary-readerquestions.blogspot.com/ and you can view your post there. Thanks for reading!
December 10, 2013 at 5:45 PM
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