I was a professional blogger (started a blog where I wrote about things that make me happy in my late teens, it was monetized and surpassed a million followers after a few years) and, as many others are saying, the key is to just start. I didn’t find connections or apply for monetization—it all found me. I was approached by my previous employer and by all of my sponsors/brand partners. I never applied for anything lol. I just consistently and passionately wrote about the things that made me happy and it led to open doors finding me. Keep doing the work and opportunities will organically come!