When I first started this blog to help set myself apart from the rest of the students in my Journalism classes, I never thought I’d actually fully commit to doing this blogging thing. The blogging industry seemed intimidating to me. I was just a college girl on a college budget living in a vacation city. I was never the popular girl or voted “best style” in high school. I always just dressed how I wanted to and dressed a bit different from everyone else. I started this blog to help with my writing, but it quickly turned into a fashion blog with some beauty, home and travel here and there. Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism-Media Studies is what truly helped me understand the blogging world and social media. The majority of my traffic comes from Instagram, so it’s a platform definitely worth understanding for brands and influencers. With all I’ve learned in my year and a half of blogging and not sharing too much of my personal life so far, I decided to finally do a Q&A blog post. So here it is. Enjoy, judge or share.

Q: What advice can you give someone that’s just starting out blogging?

A: Do the research. The number one thing I regret with starting my blogging is not doing enough research before hand. See what everyone else is doing and see what works. You definitely want to be yourself 100%, but make sure what you’re blogging about is engaging. Be picky with your name. I didn’t give my blog/handle name that much effort and I wish I would’ve gone with a more interesting name. You also want to make sure you have enough content to post daily when you first launch your blog. That’s something else I wasn’t properly prepared for.

Q: How did you get to become known on Instagram/ get all of your followers? I’ve been trying to get reposted by big names on hair Instagrams to get my hair Insta noticed. Any advice would be appreciated.

A: This is something that I think every influencer struggles with. Posting engaging content as much as possible is what really helps you grow though. Yes, hashtags and reposts can help too, but posting unique content that lets people see who you really are is what grows an authentic following in my eyes. You also have to give love to receive love. I live by that with social media. No one wants to follow a selfish, narcissistic person who is only interested in getting famous. For about an hour in the morning and an hour at night, I’ll go through people’s accounts just liking and commenting on their feeds. Be genuine though, not a robot. Then you’ll just seem like a spammer. Leave real, engaging comments. Some will follow you and some will just like your posts back, but that’s still another person aware of your profile now. They might follow you down the road too. You never know. Be real, be different and put in the time. Getting reposted by big accounts is always nice, but you honestly don’t get that many new followers from it unless different big accounts are reposting your content everyday. Sadly, most big accounts charge for reposts now too. If tagging an account on your photo isn’t working, try emailing or DMing them. It’s hard for them to see all their tagged photos, but they’ll definitely see an email. Some will respond, some won’t, and some will just send you their rates for reposts. It’s worth a try though!

Q: What type of dog do you have? He’s soo cute!

A: Thank you! I have a mini Australian Shepherd. His name is Francisco and he is 4 years old! I love him to pieces! They’re such amazing dogs!

Q: How do you have time to get new content with a full-time job?

A: I was so afraid when I graduated from college and got a full-time job that I wouldn’t be able to manage my blog anymore. I was afraid I would have to slowly take a step back from blogging. I live for the weekends now though! I feel like I’m constantly working now, but it’s totally worth it. I try to get as much content and work done for my blog on the weekends. I also take advantage of the fact that the sun doesn’t set until 7:30 p.m. now. I’m not afraid to ask my boyfriend, mom or friends to take a quick snap of my outfit that day while we are out and about. You do what you gotta do! Editorial shoots are awesome, but people like to see what you wear on an everyday basis as well. People like to associate outfits with places so that they have an idea of what to wear now when they’re there too! So basically… time management and taking advantage of every opportunity for a photo.

Q: Where do you get your outfit inspo from?

A: I follow A LOT of bloggers on Instagram. I’m always down for a good YouTube account or Pinterest board too. I look up someone I know I like and that usually leads me to other people and accounts that have similar style.

 

Q: Where are you from? Your voice sounds like you’re from the east coast?

A: I was born and raised in beautiful Southern California. I get this a lot. Everyone always thinks I’m from the east coast or another country, but nope that’s just how my voice sounds. I got it from my mama! My mom has the same exact voice as me. I DO NOT smoke either! I’ve never smoked before. I just have a raspy voice. It’s something that makes me who I am. I use to get bullied in school for it actually, but I’ve learned to appreciate and accept it.

Q: I remember seeing you had anxiety. Do you still get anxiety often? How do you deal with it?

A: Yes, I’ve always suffered from anxiety. I’m my own worst critic and I’m so hard on myself that I sometimes just get overwhelmed with it all. I get stressed out sooo easily too and when I feel out of place, that just makes my anxiety even worse. Unfamiliar situations or competitive situations also give me anxiety. You’ll always know when I’m anxious because I bite the side of my mouth. Lavender essential oils and stress relief hot teas seem to help. I also constantly need to remind myself to just breathe and think about something else. Thinking about the end result is what usually gets me through my anxiety attacks. Having a cute, fluffy dog always helps too! 🙂

Well, that’s all I got for now! Thanks for reading! Hope this helped in some way!

Thanks,

Kortney