“We were on the way here when I suddenly thought to myself, have I got dog hair on my legs,” laughs Victoria MacDonald, part joking, part serious.
“Scott had a look and it was like, well, of course I’m plastered in dog hair.”
The culprit is the couple’s rescue dog, Callie, who goes everywhere with Victoria and her partner, Scott Ross.
“We got her from the SSPCA in Banchory, she came from an abusive household,” Victoria says.
“We don’t know much more than that.”
Not one to dwell on the past, she smiles brightly.
“Callie has a great life now, though, she’s travelled all over Scotland.
“At the last hotel she stayed in at Loch Lomond, she was running about our room like crazy.
“I joined in, we were just so excited.
“She couldn’t really believe she was there with us.”
The well-travelled Labrador is clearly part of the family and has even become involved with the couple’s business.
While you might not recognise them in the street, you may well have come across their social media channels, or visited a beauty spot on their recommendation.
From their blog, to Instagram and Twitter accounts, Victoria and Scott have spent the past three years creating “The Aye Life”, which charts their life in Cruden Bay alongside trips around Scotland.
With 14,500 followers on their Instagram page, 30,000 followers on Twitter, and 5,000 readers on their website each month, plus 70,000 views on Tik Tok, the couple also bring in more than 100,000 views each month.
Although Victoria dislikes the term, both herself and Scott can be described as “influencers”.
The word charts the modern phenomenon of people swapping the nine-to-five for earning a living online – whether that’s curating a niche YouTube channel or an enviable fashion blog.
It may seem risky to abandon the traditional career path, but there is the potential to earn thousands and even millions of pounds.
There has been a steadily growing backlash against influencers, however, and not just those who don’t declare gifts or paid partnerships with brands.
While the term “trolling” isn’t new, it would seem keyboard warriors have found a new target in influencers.
The tragic suicide of Caroline Flack has been partly attributed to the hate she received online – after she was charged with alleged assault of her boyfriend.
In the aftermath, there has been a rallying cry for kindness – both in real life and on social media.
What is it like to live life online and are there positives to be taken from the dark depths of social media?
Alongside The Aye Life, I met Julie Brander, who receives thousands of views each month thanks to her Pinterest, Instagram and fashion/lifestyle blog, and mum-of-three Nicola Thompson, who recently quit her job in a pharmacy to make a full-time career from her baking blog.
Victoria, who moved from Inverness to Aberdeen, makes no secret of the fact that she suffered from depression in the past.
Thanks to The Aye Life, she has discussed mental health with thousands of people around the world.
The couple have also set up a digital marketing and web design agency, which accounts for around half of their work.
“I make no secret of the fact I had depression,” says Victoria.
“I left my job in the oil industry because of it, and I had other things going on in my personal life.
“For about six months, I didn’t do anything except try to get help.
“It was a dark time.
“Scott was working for a helicopter company at the time.
“He injured his back in the back of a chopper and he was told he would never be able to do manual work again.
“So he set up a website – he always wanted his own business.
“And he asked me if I’d do some writing for it. He told me to write about anything.
“It was a huge distraction for me.”
Victoria started posting about life in the north-east, and before long, the couple were approached by travel companies.
Their following steadily grew, although they only joined Instagram a year and a half ago.
“The distraction of writing gave me a purpose, and mentally I got a lot better,” says Victoria.
“People talk about blogs fading in popularity, but much of the internet is a blog.
“If you’re reading about places to go on holiday, the chances are you’re reading a blog post.
“Things happened so quickly for us.
“Around six months from first starting the blog, we were sipping cocktails in New Orleans thanks to a collaboration with the world’s biggest cocktail festival.”
Victoria credits her and Scott’s success to staying genuine and honest with followers.
Although she has never experienced trolling, she believes the online world can still be incredibly cruel.
“If you choose to surround yourself with fakery, I’m not blind to that stuff,” she says.
“There’s no airs and graces. This morning I was picking dog hair off my leggings,” she laughs.
“I say it as it is.
“You have to protect yourself online, distance yourself.
“So I won’t look at my phone in the evening, and it’s 9am before I start checking emails.
“If you’ve ever been bullied in your life, even by one person, and you’ve really felt it… Can you imagine what it would be like to have hundreds of thousands of people bullying you online?
“My big hope is that The Aye Life will be able to help people feel positive.
“I get at least 20 messages each day from people, saying that something we posted made them smile.
“There has to be some good in that.”
For account director Julie Brander, the online world offered creativity – and the freedom to explore her love of fashion.
Julie, who lives in Aberdeen, set up her lifestyle and fashion blog, Jules and the Crown, in 2017.
She originally posted sporadically, before ploughing her spare time into creating content.
Earlier this year she received her first pay cheque, having previously worked with high-profile brands included Boden and L’Occitane.
And although she may be classed as a micro influencer, with just under 2,000 followers on Instagram, Julie’s Pinterest pulls in 30,000 views each month.
“I feel quite proud of that, but also slightly terrified,” she says.
“Pinterest feels a bit safer, because you don’t get as much engagement.
“I’ve been gifted products in exchange for putting them on my social media, but I’ve also just been paid for the first time.
“The amount you’re paid can vary dramatically, it depends partly on how long it takes to create the content.”
Although Julie’s Instagram feed is filled with outfit snaps and her recent engagement, she made a decision from day one not to discuss her personal life online.
Whilst this may change in the future, she believes not divulging details means she is yet to experience any negative comments.
“I don’t deal well with confrontation,” she says.
“That’s partly why I don’t put personal things online.
“Whilst I like to relate to people, I don’t like reading moany posts.”
Strawberry picking and dog walks may make for good content, but Julie admits that her Instagram gives no clue as to what’s really been happening in her life.
Having recently undergone surgery for endometriosis, she is unsure as to whether she will reveal the crippling condition to her followers.
“I want to talk about endometriosis, but I think part of me doesn’t really want to accept the reality of it,” she says.
“I don’t want my blog to be about it, I want it to remain my happy corner of the internet.
“There have been moments when I’ve thought about life online.
“Someone obviously saw me in the street one time, and then they posted online that they really liked what I had been wearing.
“I didn’t know how to feel about that.
“For the most part, I enjoy blogging and social media.
“I do think that people don’t realise that the person they are looking at on the screen, they’re human too.
“I read every single comment and I’ve thankfully never had anything bad.
“Sometimes I wish I could be braver and post a bit more about my life.”
Mum-of-three Nicola Thompson also admits that she is “wary” about posting personal details online, despite swapping her part-time job in a pharmacy for focusing on her baking blog.
Something Sweet Something Savoury gets roughly 6,000 page views each day, and the Facebook page has 17,000 followers.
Nicola, who has three boys, says her online world now brings in a full-time wage.
“I set it up in 2012 but it was just a hobby,” she says. “It was my way of keeping a recipe book of stuff that my kids had enjoyed.
“After I had my youngest son, who is now two, the website lay dormant for around a year.
“I had to decide whether to shut it down or do something with it.”
Nicola was also diagnosed with an auto-immune disease following her son’s birth, and struggled to work part-time hours.
Making an income from her blog seemed like the perfect solution, as it would fit in around childcare.
“The success didn’t happen overnight,” she says.
“I did a lot of research into search engine optimisation, and I make sure I post most days.
“I stopped treating it like a hobby, it became my business.
“This meant investing money into stuff like a proper hosting company and running fees.
“I’ve only been doing this full-time for a few months, but I’ve already reached my goal.
“I wanted to earn a good living from it, it’s pretty amazing.
“I don’t put my personal life online, though, mostly for the security of my children.
“I get the odd comment when someone tells me a recipe hasn’t worked.
“Nine times out of 10, it turns out they didn’t add an ingredient or abandoned the recipe entirely.
“After I’ve been in touch, people end up apologising.
“They just wanted to take out their frustration on me. This is still a dream come true for me.”
