Having reached the top of the food-blogging chain, we sat down to chat with blogger and author, Tess Masters of The Blender Girl, on how she made is big in the blogging world straight from her passion of creating healthy and delicious time-efficient meals and beverages with a blender, mixer or food processor. She was kind enough to throw in two of her favourite recipes as well.
RESCU: You’re one of the stellar stand out success stories in turning your passion into a business. We would love to know when you started getting serious?
Tess Masters: So I’m an actor and a voiceover artist and I lived with my partner at the time who was the creative director of a big advertising agency. We would always entertain people and I just thought I was the handbag that would cook dinner and make margaritas.
Flash forward to ten years later…I’m highly strategic. I don’t work with anyone or do anything without knowing where that piece fits in five years from now or ten years from now. So when I decided I was going to start my website, I worked on my branding for a year. I saw my niche, I did my research and I knew it was going to trend.
RESCU: So it wasn’t accidental. It’s genius! Who worked with you? When you say you worked on it for a year what does that mean?
Tess Masters: So I literally researched and looked at hundreds of websites. I read trade papers…I started with asking myself what am I interested in? What is my story, what is my passion, what can I offer and what’s unique about me? That was part of my research. Just about me – what drove me and what was going to get me excited.
RESCU: Where you in the US or Australia at this time?
Tess Masters: I was going back and forth between here and America. I lived a lot in Missouri because I fell in love with the colour of the sky and it was just in the middle of nowhere. So I had a lot of time on my hands, it was great. Not only did I research what else was out there, but you know…we all cherry pick out what we like and leave the rest.
So that’s what I did, then when I kept looking for green smoothies and going over Vitamix I was like “Yes, that’s it!”. I wanted to explore Vitamix and why this company was experiencing so much growth.
I don’t typically introduce myself to companies, I lay bread crumbs. It’s a much sexier introduction. Instead, when I pushed publish on my website, I thought ‘I will be the face of Vitamix’. That was one of my goals. It was the intention and it made everything clearer. I was focused and I was going to set things in place strategically to make it happen.
RESCU: You planned it all from the start. How did you find that helped you later on?
Tess Masters: So that was one piece and I was encamped. It was the first piece of that way of thinking that unlocked that impresario part of my personality. I would always look at a family like we were employees, not entrepreneurs. So I had all these ideas but I didn’t know I had that part of me to put these together. And I thought okay, I’m going to use this to lead people to me. The Internet is such a wonderful way to be able to do that. Everyone is on a level playing field. You can watch anybody, you can interact with anybody. But, you have to make sure you’re doing it in the right way that’s classy and integral to your story and bringing other people into your story with whom you’ve got synergy.
RESCU: Do you have a Youtube channel?
Tess Masters: That’s one thing I haven’t done deliberately, because that’s not my style. Being a Youtube sensation was not something I saw as authentic to who I really am so I just thought I’m not going to put a lot of videos out there unless they’re incredibly well produced-which is expensive-and I’m going to go down this road instead because it’s interesting.
RESCU: What road was that?
Tess Masters: I backdated my posts for a year before I launched my website. Because there are so many websites out there we have reached saturation point. You have to look like a star before you are a star. Perception becomes reality. So I spent a lot of money designing a completely custom website that was not word press, that looked like no body else’s and now I gets copied constantly so I have to flip it every 6 months. I wrote 52 posts, one for every week.
I sat in my pyjamas for 6 months and put all these high quality recipes and whatever else out. So I launched the site and within 3 months shower.com and CBS approached me and the directors opening line in his email was ‘how do we not know about you?’ business, well in life, you have one chance to make a first impression and that’s it. So you better be a cracker.
RESCU: You cracked the market with relative ease. How did you go about starting out with a bang?
Tess Masters: I thought okay. I’m going to use vitamix. I hung the lantern and they came to me. They asked if I would do their recipe and technique videos and I thought okay, did that, then the publishing houses started coming. Again I was laying crumbs on the internet just mentioning people, using products, doing things and thinking who are the family of companies that I want sitting at my table to move this brand forward for the next five years? So I started to work with these people in a very very small way. So its interesting you know I went very very differently than most bloggers out there in that I don’t charge money for giveaways, I don’t do sponsored posts. I’m not interested in paid opinions. For me I call it banking currency. Its all about how I like to develop a relationship on a personal level with a brand or a writer or a publication or whatever and really get to like those people and for them to know who I am and I know them so we start to develop a common language. Then we think about how we might mesh our stories. So for me, it’s not about money, its chase the excellence and the money follows. If you chase the money it’s a road that leads no where in the end. So I just kept sinking money into this brand and putting out beautiful websites and I really for the most part started working with every sponsor I had. I have about ten sponsors now.
RESCU: What advice would you give to someone who has come out in this avalanche of bloggers and qausi-health experts?
Tess Masters: Define a point of difference that makes you different from everybody else, stick to it and only put out high quality product that sets you apart from everybody else. There’s just too much noise out there. And even when all the TV stuff started floating around, again it hasn’t been the right fit yet. Holding out and standing in your own right is great and then you know that a stop in itself is a complete sentence. Saying no means saying yes to something that is a better fit.
RESCU: How did you know it was the right time to make your move into print when you did?
Tess Masters: Finally when I decided okay that’s it and my agent talked about this TV stuff floating around and he said it’s time to say yes to the book’. Because you need to be on the today show when you have something to sell. Right now you don’t have anything to sell but your ideas which are great but you cant really sell them. So I said okay. I went home on a Friday afternoon, sat bolt up on a Saturday morning at 8 O’ Clock and went okay I’m doing it. So I emailed this agent in New York who I knew and I thought she’s the one and my God has she been the one!
RESCU: So you already had a vision where it was going to go, but how did you go about getting the publisher you wanted?
Tess Masters: I didn’t want to bid people against each other. I wanted people to embrace this book no matter who gets it, and I wanted it to do well. So we didn’t want to get people off to this you against me game. By the following Tuesday morning I had seven meetings. By Thursday I had a house offer. I had no idea what that meant at the time, but it means basically there’s this rule where publishers from Random House Publishing cant bid against one another. A house offer is where this no longer applies and you get to choose form all their sub agencies. They couldn’t decide so I got to and I chose Ten Speed Press.
RESCU: Who are your favourite websites to follow?
Tess Masters: I’m a Jamie Oliver fan. I think he makes things accessible and easy and fun. I actually love Kylie Koglin in Australia because she’s a legacy of a style of cooking. It’s all about family and a story. I love Matthew Kenny, I think he makes the most inspired beautiful raw food in the world and people take the first bite with their eyes in so many things in life, particularly culinary related and particularly on the internet. It’s a very visual medium.
RESCU: How long did this all take? You’ve skyrocketed so quickly it seems, what’s your secret?
Tess Masters: Last 18 months to two years. It’s like learning to surf. I don’t know how to surf but you know, you lie on the board. You paddle in, you test the temperature of the water, you learn a few tricks, you stand up and you fall over. And then eventually you ride the crest of the wave. For me it’s been four years of hard work in my pyjamas and being broke. And pouring in every spare scent I had developing that website and that brand. For me, I’m so grateful that I’m standing here right now with this space and this abundance but what’s next? How am I gong to keep putting the pieces together for moving forward, to make sure I stay on top of that wave? No one is an island. Our stories are about relationships. Which companies do I align with, which companies do I continue to align with, which other stories do I mesh my story with? It’s exciting for me to be in Australia where I can meet other Australians discovering people I don’t know about and people that don’t know about me. I mean that’s what’s wonderful about the internet. You can have a million followers and no one knows about you. There’s a space for everybody.
RESCU: Let me as you, you were talking about how you don’t so sponsored posts and you don’t run adds. Where do you think blogging is going to go then? Where to next, what will the evolution be in your mind?
Tess Masters: Well with advertising there’s too much saturation now. There’s just too much out there. Actually too much is probably the wrong term, because its great that anyone can start a blog tomorrow. But compared to twelve years ago when there were a handful of hippies writing, committed writers and a few poets, now there are so many people. Maybe they’ve realised they can make money from home but I feel like that’s not a motivation to be a blogger. You have to have a voice or a message and you have to be passionate about it. About getting something out there.
Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff Recipe
serves 4
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup (75g) diced yellow onion
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
- 6 cups (540g) sliced white button and cremini mushrooms
- 2 cups (480ml) vegetable broth
- 12 ounces (345g) firm silken tofu or firm regular tofu
- 3 tablespoons wheat-free tamari or soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon chopped thyme (not dried)
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- Natural salt
- 12 ounces (340g) gluten-free or regular fettuccini or spaghetti
- 1/4 cup (12g) chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus more to garnish
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and saute the onion for about 5 minutes, until soft and translucent. Reduce the heat to low and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Throw in the garlic and mushrooms and saute for about 15 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Put 1 cup (240ml) of the vegetable broth and the tofu into your blender and puree on high for 30 to 60 seconds, until smooth and creamy. Add about 1 cup (180g) of the mushroom mixture. Pulse a few times to break them up. You want a speckled, grainy consistency, not a puree.
Pour the blended tofu-mushroom mixture into the saucepan and stir in the tamari, thyme, and pepper. Bring the mixture just to a boil over high heat; reduce the heat to medium and simmer, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Increase the heat to high and add 1/2 cup (120ml) of the remaining broth. Bring the sauce just to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-high, and simmer for about 10 minutes, until reduced by half. Increase the heat to high again and add the remaining broth. Bring the sauce just to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes more, until creamy. Cover and keep warm. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain the pasta and add it to the mushroom sauce. Add the parsley and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve family-style in a big bowl garnished with the chives and parsley.
Chai Rice Pudding Recipe
serves 6 to 8
- 1/4 cup (60ml) plus 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup, plus more to taste
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
- 1 cup (240ml) canned coconut milk (shake, then pour)
- 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Pinch of natural salt
- 3 cups (450g) cooked short-grain brown rice (soft but not mushy)
- 1/4 cup (45g) raisins
- 1 cup (240ml) unsweetened almond milk (strained if homemade)
- 1/3 cup (40g) chopped raw pistachios
In a saucepan over high heat, bring the 1/4 cup (60ml) of maple syrup and the water to a boil (this should take less than a minute). As soon as the mixture bubbles, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the apples. Cook the apples for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they caramelize lightly and soften slightly but remain mostly firm.
While the apples are cooking, put the coconut milk, the remaining 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, the vanilla, ginger, spices, and salt into your blender and blast on medium-high for about 10 seconds, until combined. Add 1 1/2 cups (225g) of the rice and process on medium-low for a few seconds, until creamy but rustic. (If you’re using a high-speed blender, be careful of overdoing it; you don’t want a completely smooth blend here, and it can happen quickly. The pudding will be goopy if you overblend. If you’re using a conventional blender, your machine will let you know when the mixture is ready; it’ll thicken and be difficult to blend.) Add the blended mixture and the raisins to the cooked apples and stir to combine. Stir in 1/2 cup (120ml) of the almond milk and the remaining 11/2 cups (225g) of cooked rice. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the mixture thickens slightly. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup (120ml) of almond milk and simmer for 5 minutes more, until you have your desired consistency
(I take my rice pudding off the heat as soon as the liquid has been absorbed). Tweak the maple syrup to taste.
Serve warm, at room temperature, or even chilled; add 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup (60ml) milk if you serve it chilled, to soften it up. Sprinkle pistachios on each serving.