The Origin Story of Content Queen — Content Queen Mariah

The content creator in me really came to play in 2014. I was at university studying Journalism and Public Relations.

My first ever blog…

I had recently come back from my first overseas holiday to Thailand and Singapore and decided to start writing on my travels (because I was planning so many more) for a blog.

So anytime I went on a holiday, I would document the journey and add some of my poor quality photos to my WordPress blog. It was my 2017 holiday to America and Mexico with some friends that saw me really take this seriously. I created a brand. Renamed my blog “A Travellers Antics” and started an Instagram.

At this time the blogs were pretty inconsistent. Only when I travelled. I came home from that holiday with $0 and a drive to write more and more, while travelling. So I started a profile on the Freelancer platform, Fiverr, selling $10 press releases to make extra money. While doing that, I created more and more blogs until eventually I was writing weekly blogs for A Travellers Antics.

Writing a whole book in a month…

During 2017 I was GOAL driven and loved to write. I even set myself a goal in November 2017 to write a book in one month to improve my skills. On November 30, I had an 86,000 word book on my life.

Storytelling was MY THING. At work, in my blogs, with my friends. I always had something to say. While Fiverr work was slow, I wanted MORE. I wanted to make money online. I wanted to share my stories.

However, Fiverr wasn’t really the confidence booster I wanted. At the beginning of 2018 I took a little Fiverr break after receiving 0 reviews on some of my work or some not so amazing feedback (even for $10 a blog/press release).

The podcast journey…

I focussed my energy elsewhere. On starting my own podcast “How do you Solve a Problem like Mariah”. The podcast on well, nothing really. It was a challenge and a goal. I used my love for 30 day challenges to get this podcast off the ground. I created weekly episodes on all types of topics from my Dad’s Spring Carnival Horse Racing tips to relationships as a single gal. It was fun. It was a way for me to gain confidence creating and sharing my story.

As I neared the end of 2018 (managing A Travellers Antics blog AND my own podcast), I still wanted to make some money online.

Starting the side hustle dream…

One night, drunk at a bar, I met a stranger who was telling me about entrepreneurs making money online through MULTIPLE ways. He told me about a woman who helped side hustlers go full-time in their own business.

I started listening to her podcast with the mindset that A Travellers Antics would make me money. I had no idea how, I just had a thought that would happen.

Although I was making money from Fiverr (after getting back on Fiverr from my mindset break), I didn’t see what was right in front of me as a business idea. I even turned to Network Marketing for a health brand to start making money online (that never kicked off as I got too scared to pay money to another business to start my own).

Birth of Content Queen…

January 2019 rolled in and a friend at worked looked at me and said “Mariah, you write for a living, why don’t you create a business from that”. Hmm, well yes. Good point.

So I shifted my focus. I started thinking about my writing and content creation being a means for a business. That is when Content Queen was born. A name that came from the show Broad City, “Yasss Queen”.

My focus shifted and while still managing my blog and podcast, I launched Content Queen on June 5, 2019. Upping my focus on my Fiverr profile and using social media and networking to build more clients.

Although telling my boss about my side hustle was a little scary, I set myself the goal and managed my full-time job, side hustle and side passion of travel blogging plus podcasting.

But the goal was - work for myself full-time to travel. To be a writer. To write stories and travel the world.

Everyday I worked on my business. I got up at 4:30am to work before I started my full-time job. I worked in my lunch hour, on weekend. With the goal, quit May 2020. Start travelling full-time in July 2020.

Of course, we know what happened. COVID. So instead of quitting. I worked part-time in my communications role in corporate and worked on my business at the same time. At this stage A Travellers Antics and the podcast took a side door and Content Queen occupied a lot of my time.

Going full time in business…

As I approach the middle of 2020 I felt my focus was too split and something had to go. I had to cut the cord. My corporate role was the cord that needed to be cut. So on July 24, 2020 I left the corporate world to start Content Queen.

So from $10 press releases to now a content marketing agency. It has been one hell of a ride! I am going to continue to share more about this on other blogs.

Let’s connect!

If you want to learn more about my journey, you can check out MANY more blogs or book in a chat with me!