Establishing A New Vision
Wow - logging back into my blog, I see it has been pretty much half a year since I’ve written anything. Yikes.
I have to admit that I am a little disappointed in myself. It was just a couple of blogs ago that I wrote about how I was excited to potentially start writing a book and getting a better balance on things - plus plenty of other stuff. While the latter half of 2018 was quite interesting, in my typical fashion, I got a little caught in some things, while letting others fall to the back burner. Like the far far, suuuuuper far back burner.
But anyway, I don’t want this blog to be about how much of a flake I realize I am in my projects. I instead want to keep a positive tone and kind of just share my thoughts on some revisions I’m making to the strategy and direction for my personal brand.
No Longer A Brand Bitch
Now, I realize this heading makes me sound like I’ve literally just done anything for a brand deal, with zero stance and no dignity. That’s definitely not the case. I have never jumped at every collaboration opportunity, and I do believe that I have held a certain level of criteria for brands I am willing to work with. However, I will admit that I have gotten a little caught up in trying to compile as many brand collabs as I can to try and earn some solid side money outside of my 9 to 5 (or in my case, like 10:05 to 5:50).
I think I’m over it. To be honest, the best brand deals that have come my way have been the truly unexpected and unique ones - like my partnership with PayPal back in September. That was truly an amazing experience and incredibly empowering. However, based on my recent encounters with smaller and less intriguing collabs, I’m starting to see and feel things I don’t like.
My digital/social properties are mine. If I want to go in a direction that I think makes more sense for my brand, the collaboration opportunity and the audience, then I should have the freedom to go in that direction. I’m already at the mercy of brands in my agency job, I’m not going to be subject to that crap in my personal endeavors as well.
Free products don’t mean anything anymore. There aren’t that many products out there that mesmerize me enough to dedicate my creative energy to in exchange for free goods. My ideas and the energy I put behind them are worth money, and unless brands are willing to pay for the exposure AND the creativity, it’s not worth it. There are exceptions, but that number is quickly decreasing for me.
I am not a media channel. Like, I need to pump the brakes a little and make sure I’m not just allowing my feed or my blog to be considered as mere ad inventory. These online properties should be used as space of value and creation, not simply advertising. But that responsibility falls on me - and as I continue to develop a personal brand and hopefully continue to evolve it into something meaningful, boundaries need to be set on what is and is not permitted.
I may be getting a little dramatic, but I don’t know. Something just clicked in me this new year. I want to be a genuine creator, and not a glorified brand ambassador. For the most part, my brand collab experiences have been overwhelming positive, but right now there is nothing really setting me apart from others - and that needs to change.
Fledgling Blogger Turned Wannabe Entrepreneur? Question Mark?
But seriously, like what the fuck am I even doing anymore? Stemming from the above section about not being a brand bitch, I originally started a blog because I wanted to be an influencer, but then I really got into blogging and so wanted to be seen as an actual blogger, but then I actually achieved my goal of becoming a (micro) influencer, which then led to opportunities to be more entrepreneurial, which at the end of the day I have no fucking clue about.
If you had trouble following that confusing run on sentence - then that’s the point. What the fuck is this guy doing? But it’s not giving me too much of a complex, because I’ve found that experimenting and trial-and-error have been great means of discovery and growth. But in order to be truly successful, it takes a little more focus, strategy and knowledge, not just endlessly shooting arrows in the dark and hoping to hit a bullseye.
Taking a step back - I’ve been trying to give my personal brand more legs to stand on. In September, part of what got me that amazing PayPal brand deal was me starting my own dropshipping business. I had wanted to start a business for a while but had no idea what kind of products I could get my hands on and how to make that work within realistic investment. While I do believe that the dropshipping model could work for me - I need get better at doing for myself what I do for brands: business development, marketing strategy and advertising. While I’ve managed to get a few sales, I’m by no means profitable and honestly have no idea how to maintain a steady stream of sales. But this year, I’m committed to figuring out how - I didn’t start an LLC for nothing!
Time To Level Up My Content
I genuinely believe that this will help support both sections above. If I can get in a groove of creating content that I actually enjoy and can make more of an impact on others, then I believe my brand can go a long way. While I love the images I have taken to date, I’m no longer feeling inspired in buying a new outfit and posing for a generic Instagram photo, which is what all of these other “creators” and “influencers” are doing. Some people might still see the magic behind this, um, formula for lack of a better word. But I’m disillusioned, and to be honest, bored.
I want to get more into video creation, where not only can my creativity come through more, but my personality as well. I think my personality and character have taken backseat to outfits and locations in my Instagram and blog content. But ultimately, it’s those things that make me different from everyone else. And with all of the work that I put into evolving myself regularly, I believe that ongoing evolution can and will organically occur in my content as well.
For some reason, I keep getting really attracted to YouTube. This has been the case for several months now, but I’m still trying to figure out what my niche and platform are (outside of style of course). I’m getting really close to establishing some really tangible ideas and hoping to get those into effect soon. But the first step is doing - so definitely more to come.
Patience, Patience, Patience
I’m getting better at not getting ahead of myself and allowing things to fall into place as they should. It’s hard not to have certain kinds of FOMO as you get older - seeing people younger than you achieving incredible things in this new digital age and people older than you thriving off of things that they capitalized on years ago. It’s just kind of like, where is “that thing” that I can make my own and coast on for the rest of my life with? It should be my current career, but I just don’t think it is. But in any event, time will tell and I have to continue being patient. As long as I put in the effort where I know I need to, and have faith that sincere work doesn’t go to waste, I believe I’ll continue to find my way.
