Bonnie Stone (@haveakidtheysaid) will tell you she doesn’t have a niche, and she says it like it’s the best thing about her page. What she has instead is something harder to replicate: a community of women who have grown up alongside her over eight years, trust her recommendations completely, and follow her not because she specializes in anything in particular, but because she shows up as exactly who she is every single day.
Growing Her Brand Alongside Her Family
Bonnie started her Instagram page almost eight years ago, not with a content strategy in mind but with a very specific feeling she wanted to address. She was a mom of young children, she felt alone, and she was looking for other women who understood what that season of life actually felt like. The page she built was a response to that loneliness, and it worked: she organized mommy meetups at local parks in Orange County where her followers could come meet each other in person, and some of the friendships that formed in those early years are still among her closest today.
As her children have grown — her youngest is nearly six, her oldest is thirteen — the page has grown with them. The motherhood content that defined her early years has expanded into something broader: a real-life lifestyle blend of Orange County living, homeschooling, sports, humor, and the thrill of finding a good deal. She describes her community the same way she’d describe a long friendship. “You just go through different seasons and you ride it out together,” she says.
The Content People Keep Coming Back For
Bonnie’s approach to sharing products is deliberately low-volume and high-trust. She doesn’t post dozens of outfits a week. She buys something, wears it constantly, and eventually shares it because her community has already watched her reach for it again and again. The same logic applies to household finds. When a wet/dry vacuum that mops and vacuums simultaneously made her days measurably easier, she told her community about it, and the reaction was immediate.
Her most consistently successful content isn’t glamorous. It’s practical, specific, and visibly used. “Stuff that I buy and then I wear forever all the time, every day,” she says. “And people see it.” That visibility is exactly what makes her community trust her. There’s no question of whether she actually uses what she’s recommending. They’ve been watching her use it.
The Standard She Holds Brand Partners To
When a brand partnership request comes in, Bonnie has a clear set of requirements. The product has to be something she already uses, has used, or would genuinely purchase with her own money. It has to align with how her household actually runs, which means fragrance-free, non-toxic, and responsibly sourced wherever possible. She lives on the crunchier side of life, she says, and she doesn’t apologize for it.
“When I’m looking for a company, it has to be something that either I already use, I have used, or I actually would buy with my own money,” she says. “I don’t expect people to buy something that I wouldn’t do.”
Her most memorable partnerships have all been in travel. Hyatt, Hilton, and TripAdvisor have each taken her family on experiences she describes as the biggest blessing of her creator career. The travel deals work, she explains, because they’re whole-family experiences, which means her whole family is vouching for them.
The Balance She’s Still Working On
Bonnie doesn’t soften the reality of building a business while homeschooling two kids. It’s hard. On the days when her children need her and a deadline doesn’t, she puts the work down and comes back to it. She’s learned that fighting the interruptions only makes everything worse, and says this is the key to staying present for herself, her kids, and her brand while avoiding burnout.
“If I’m trying to get something done and my kids are distracting me, which they’re children, of course they’re going to distract me, I get really upset,” she says. “So I just stop what I’m doing and go back to it another day.”
Content creation is what made her current life possible in the first place. She was working at a restaurant when her daughter hit major milestones while she was away from home. She started her Instagram page shortly after, and within about a year, her content income had replaced her former salary. “Content creation has 100% changed our lives,” she says.
Finding Mavely at the Right Time
Bonnie came to affiliate marketing in earnest around November 2025, and she came to Mavely at the same time. The platform won her over quickly on the thing that matters most to her: ease of use.
Creating a link takes seconds from the Mavely app, the analytics are built in, and the desktop browser extension fits naturally into her after-school editing sessions. She’s also vocal about what Mavely’s deep linking does for her community on the consumer side. She knows what it’s like to follow a link and have to hunt through a post to find the actual product. She’d rather not put her followers through that. “I want to go straight to Target or straight to Amazon or wherever you bought it,” she says. “Just send me there.”
Just Starting Out? Bonnie’s Message for You
Bonnie’s advice for new creators comes from watching what the comparison game does to people. She’s seen it, and she’s worked hard to stay out of it. Focus on yourself, she says. Do what works for you. Be genuine, because the community that sticks with you will stick precisely because they can tell you’re real.
“Lead with authenticity and stay in your own lane,” she says. “Just do what feels right to you.”
It’s the same thing her community has been responding to for eight years. The content changes. The approach doesn’t.
Follow Bonnie on Instagram at @haveakidtheysaid.
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