Speaker 1: Carol. She's a queen of talking. He was. She's on
Speaker 1: the side. You got the scoop on on the on side.
Speaker 1: No one can do win clid my Carola, Carol, No
Speaker 1: one can do win quiet Caroline, Caroline. We are on
Speaker 1: part two of my influencer series What What I Got?
Speaker 1: The two Ashley's joining me today Ashley Houston and Ashley Wilson.
Speaker 1: Their blogs are Ashley Houston is Nashville Wife, Styles dot
Speaker 1: Com and Ashley Wilson big announcement is rebranding. Her blog
Speaker 1: is Bow and Bows and Ashley b E A U S.
Speaker 1: And Ashley because this is about her boy and hurt.
Speaker 1: So these two actually are incredible, their moms that each
Speaker 1: have two kids, and their bloggers, their lifestyle experts, and
Speaker 1: they are so real, so authentic. They're sharing all their tricks,
Speaker 1: tricks and tips. You guys, this is a great episode,
Speaker 1: especially if you're wanting to get into blogging and if
Speaker 1: your mom how to balance it all. This is the
Speaker 1: episode for you. It gets crazy her It's real life.
Speaker 1: It's called get Real. So we have tons of stuff
Speaker 1: going on, like babies, crying, people coming to the house,
Speaker 1: like interruptions galore. But y'all, this is real life and
Speaker 1: we are showing you how it is done in real life.
Speaker 1: So get excited. Here is Ashley Houston and Ashley Wilson.
Speaker 1: Oh work with my two favorite actually's we got Ashley
Speaker 1: Wilson and Ashley Houston. Yes, my father in law will
Speaker 1: be really unhappy. Prob and not only you guys, beautiful
Speaker 1: inside out, Thank you you're incredible mothers. We have a
Speaker 1: baby here with us today, always a baby of this group.
Speaker 1: Wilder is actually Wilson Younges and we're just a little
Speaker 1: milk battle right now. Ball service, but your service by
Speaker 1: incredible bloggers. So we're gonna talk about it. Okay, chouted out? Okay,
Speaker 1: First off, where you up from? How did you get
Speaker 1: into fashion? What was your upbringing? Like? All right, um,
Speaker 1: I'm from Kingsport, Tennis, which is northeast Tennessee. Um, and
Speaker 1: I already forgot the rest of your question. What every like?
Speaker 1: And how did you get into fashion upbringing? Like? How
Speaker 1: did you grow up? Really? Are we trying to get
Speaker 1: deep over here? Like I don't know what's going on? Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: like a nature girl, I was pretty much a tomboy.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, up until middle school and then I basically
Speaker 1: had to choose between like cheerleading and basketball, and I'm
Speaker 1: it was because I wanted to be popular, so I
Speaker 1: chose cheerleading. But you really loves yeah, um, I don't remember.
Speaker 1: That was a lot so long you're fast. I was
Speaker 1: pretty fast, so I was a sprinter also in school. Um,
Speaker 1: so cheerleading and I love cheerleading actually yeah um. And
Speaker 1: I cheered all from school and in college and then
Speaker 1: I didn't cheer anymore. Chear in college for her one
Speaker 1: year in college it was pretty chill. It was like
Speaker 1: a really chill college so um, and that's why I
Speaker 1: stopped cheering because I was a competitive cheerleader and like
Speaker 1: good stunts yeah yeah, and um, they didn't really do that.
Speaker 1: They didn't even do like stunts period, And I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm not fair to like actually cheer, so I wanted
Speaker 1: to do like the stunts, so equipment. And then I
Speaker 1: moved here when I was twenty six. I brought you
Speaker 1: to Nashville. Honestly, I just needed a a change. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And Nashal was close and also a great city. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I had a friend that I had moved here
Speaker 1: and I didn't know anyone here and I just like
Speaker 1: packed my stuff up. My lease was up in like
Speaker 1: three weeks, and I was like, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna move And so I put all my stuff
Speaker 1: in storage and I came here and stayed with her
Speaker 1: until I found a job and a place to stay.
Speaker 1: And you know, you know, I was but like that's
Speaker 1: I'm not like a sporadic person. I'm a planner. I'm
Speaker 1: really really an'tal. So that was really out of my
Speaker 1: element for me to do that. How did you get
Speaker 1: the sensation that this is what you're supposed to do?
Speaker 1: I just never beat Sheley the other day, She's like,
Speaker 1: I've never got to Nashville, But I just knew I
Speaker 1: hadn't here either. Actually, um, I don't know. I think honestly,
Speaker 1: probably partially because it was the closest big city was
Speaker 1: a big factor in it. But um, I just always
Speaker 1: you know, I grew up in a really small town,
Speaker 1: so like I always just knew I wasn't meant to
Speaker 1: be in a small town. And no nothing against small towns,
Speaker 1: but I just knew that that wasn't me. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I was like, I've got to get out of here,
Speaker 1: and I just I knew if I didn't do it
Speaker 1: right then, like on a whim that I wouldn't do it.
Speaker 1: So I was like, I'm just gonna do it, and
Speaker 1: I just did it. And it was, like, I mean,
Speaker 1: clearly the best decision ever made, because like, I love life.
Speaker 1: But I also like reconnected with my husband who I
Speaker 1: knew from. We're from the same town and actually he's
Speaker 1: younger town. My best friend babysat for his family. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you grew up with your husband. I did, but
Speaker 1: I didn't know him know him like I knew him
Speaker 1: because my best friend babysat for his family, but he
Speaker 1: his family was like rich in small town and mine
Speaker 1: was not. And I went to like the county school
Speaker 1: and he went to the city school. So he was
Speaker 1: like he was like a big fancier than me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he lived in the nice neighborhood I lived in, Like
Speaker 1: I mean, not that I was poor of any means,
Speaker 1: but like we we we were just different. But my
Speaker 1: best friend babysat for his family and so I stayed
Speaker 1: in his house before um when he was out. But
Speaker 1: he's also younger than me, and so we talked about
Speaker 1: this othern night. Yeah, and so I didn't I would
Speaker 1: never talk to him, you know. Yeah, that's yeah five years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I called myself a puma also, but he looks he
Speaker 1: looks older than me, but he's actually looked fine. Girl.
Speaker 1: He's actually younger though, and so yeah, we reconnected. Wilder
Speaker 1: who is this is my other boyfriend. Wilson's little boy
Speaker 1: is just staring at actually house loves me so much,
Speaker 1: crushing Hey, he's got this like for real. When I
Speaker 1: brought her dinner a few weeks ago and I was
Speaker 1: like holding him for he looked at me like this
Speaker 1: the whole time, like and I was like, can I
Speaker 1: take him? You know? Even that like you brought her
Speaker 1: dinner weeks ago? That is so great. Y'all are not
Speaker 1: only like beautiful people awesome as but like couple of blockers,
Speaker 1: but your friends are supporting, and that is something that
Speaker 1: I have loved this Influencer series. It's been such a
Speaker 1: treat because I don't know how I got to fall
Speaker 1: into this group because y'all are so much more advanced
Speaker 1: school are often to me coming in that world. But
Speaker 1: I have loved getting to know you guys because not
Speaker 1: all are your talenting, go all are so supportive and
Speaker 1: this whole group is so kind to each other. And
Speaker 1: that isn't always like face in blogger world. No, it's not.
Speaker 1: It's really not. And I didn't realize that until we
Speaker 1: are part of the Facebook group with other bloggers and
Speaker 1: they just talk about how competitive in each little niche
Speaker 1: market it can be and how it's a little cutthroat.
Speaker 1: But Nashville has a really great communal vibe bloggers, and
Speaker 1: everyone's kind and encouraging and it's the way to be.
Speaker 1: There's room for it is saturated, but there's still room
Speaker 1: for everyone. Yeah, there really is. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what people don't understand. Like Ashley and I are kind
Speaker 1: of similar in our niche just if you say that correctly,
Speaker 1: but like, yeah, I never know if I'm saying that correctly.
Speaker 1: But but I never feel competitive with actually ever similar. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, heck we have the same name. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: good mom ash and lifestyle bloggers. And she has two boys.
Speaker 1: I have two girls. Like it's kind of like plays
Speaker 1: off each other. But like I never ever like, if anything,
Speaker 1: I feel like I'll be like, oh, I'm working with
Speaker 1: this brand, do you want this contact? Like I think
Speaker 1: it would be a good fit for you too, And
Speaker 1: I feel like we help each other a lot and
Speaker 1: like not but not only do I not feel competitive,
Speaker 1: but I feel like we like grow off of each other.
Speaker 1: Like why do you think so many people don't catch that? Mough?
Speaker 1: I think insecurity rule to be competitive, and it's very
Speaker 1: especially when you're in fashion and homecore and all these things.
Speaker 1: It's easy to be keeping up at the Joneses. It's
Speaker 1: easy to play the numbers game to see, oh, she
Speaker 1: has so many thousand, now she's growing to this new thousand.
Speaker 1: It's very, very easy to be competitive, and you're like,
Speaker 1: I know how I like this. It's just yeah all
Speaker 1: the time. But it's just as easy to be kind
Speaker 1: and encouraging. It's just it's just a mindset and you
Speaker 1: just have to focus on it. But some people just
Speaker 1: don't see that and they just want it all really
Speaker 1: actually trying to have it really does. So basically like
Speaker 1: every time that you are friends with somebody in your
Speaker 1: encouragement and helping them, not only are you, you know,
Speaker 1: building relationship and helping each other, but you can you
Speaker 1: can sifen their audience. So if she has a similar
Speaker 1: audience to me, yes, it is competitive, but we're also
Speaker 1: we have the SATs in the graphic as their audience,
Speaker 1: so I can sifen that from her and she can
Speaker 1: sifeen mine, and it helps them along much. I feel
Speaker 1: like people shouldn't be as competitive in the sense that like,
Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna lie and say that I don't
Speaker 1: feel that way sometimes, meaning like if I see someone
Speaker 1: growing or that got a good brand new, I'm not like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, that's all I mean, and I am
Speaker 1: happy for them. But sometimes sometimes I'm like, why did
Speaker 1: I get that? Or why am I not growing like that?
Speaker 1: Like it's it, that's just human nature. But it's just
Speaker 1: the way you handle that. I feel like they define
Speaker 1: your character. But touch on what she said, like like
Speaker 1: her success is my success in my opinion, like in
Speaker 1: my success is her success because if you grow, that's
Speaker 1: technically helping me. And if so, that's why I like,
Speaker 1: I think it's so good to build your friends up
Speaker 1: because like you're helping each other, and much fun is
Speaker 1: it to hang out there? Yeah? Way more fun when
Speaker 1: everyone's in the same playing field. And also you are
Speaker 1: who your best friends are and write surround yourself with.
Speaker 1: So if you surround yourself with successful people that are
Speaker 1: positive and happy, in doing big things. Then that's what
Speaker 1: you're destiny. Well yeah, I love that. Okay, So actually, Wilson,
Speaker 1: tell me a little bit about your upbringing and how
Speaker 1: you got to Nashville. Okay, so do you want to
Speaker 1: go to your girlfriend? Oh my gosh, wild set. You
Speaker 1: can concentrate on talking. So I grew up outside of St. Louis's,
Speaker 1: small farm town, very small town, same as ash And
Speaker 1: the only thing to really do is focus on sports
Speaker 1: or dance or something like that. So I put all
Speaker 1: my energy into dance and cheering. Competitive Well there, cheerleaders too,
Speaker 1: were somewhere. I really are so somewhere. That's so funny really,
Speaker 1: But no one was really into fashion. My parents did
Speaker 1: not understand it at all. And they would give me,
Speaker 1: you know, a budget for Christmas or whatever it was,
Speaker 1: or pick on a present for something, and my sister
Speaker 1: would get fifty different things and items. And I've just
Speaker 1: always had it in me. I just wanted that one
Speaker 1: designer piece, and I was perfectly content with my one
Speaker 1: little thing compared to her fifty. It just part of
Speaker 1: me wanted like quality always always. And my grandmother was
Speaker 1: an artist. She's very artistic, and she is my inspiration.
Speaker 1: I love her, and she would always take me shopping.
Speaker 1: She kind of was a dress designer for a while,
Speaker 1: and I did some sewing, and so I really kind
Speaker 1: of got that from her. And then as far as
Speaker 1: like the blogging thing, I was always part of a team.
Speaker 1: So I was always like Dante cheered team teachers not
Speaker 1: It's always say I danced in college, and so I
Speaker 1: dance in college, NBA, NFL. So I was on a
Speaker 1: team with other women that were always built in friends,
Speaker 1: built in teammates. Are ye for it? Well yeah, but
Speaker 1: I was like that my whole life. And so when
Speaker 1: I moved to be with my husband, um, I was
Speaker 1: not part of a team anymore, Like I know, where's
Speaker 1: the team? And I really missed that feeling like a
Speaker 1: community and like a you know, just a built in
Speaker 1: little family, second family. And so whenever I tried several
Speaker 1: different things in fashion, I did styling. I actually Bow
Speaker 1: and Arrow Nashville was the name of the boutique that
Speaker 1: I was going to start with my girlfriend, and she
Speaker 1: ended up starting a successful men's store called broccol and line,
Speaker 1: just like there yesterday did my whole hood. His favorite
Speaker 1: was honestly, YEA sure she decided to take that route,
Speaker 1: and then I decided to kind of go to logger
Speaker 1: influencer space, and then I became part of the team
Speaker 1: again and part of like a communal vibe with other
Speaker 1: women can help each other and really, how did you
Speaker 1: love team for? Like, how did you like? How did
Speaker 1: this to actually meet? Okay, so how did him for? Oh?
Speaker 1: You know, So it's like weird because I feel like
Speaker 1: you just followed people because you want to support them,
Speaker 1: and they were like in Nashville, and so I think
Speaker 1: we just followed each other for when I very first
Speaker 1: started blogging, like um because I think actually be starting blogging,
Speaker 1: so like I would find people that kind of had
Speaker 1: blogged in Nashville. And then so my best friend Jessica
Speaker 1: and I went to UM we I was pregnant and
Speaker 1: actually had just had a baby George, so we alternated
Speaker 1: her pregnants basically, and so she had just had her baby.
Speaker 1: I followed her on social media. She followed me and
Speaker 1: I don't know if you even remember this, are actual
Speaker 1: with this? I don't know. I think we physically meant.
Speaker 1: But then I messed you after and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I didn't even know what that was you. Um,
Speaker 1: so you know I went to Stay Dinaho before my
Speaker 1: husband's event. Yeah, and um with Jessica and then we
Speaker 1: ran into mal Or, yes, and so we ran Yeah,
Speaker 1: we ran into Mallory in the bathroom and I knew Mallorie,
Speaker 1: but Jessica did it. And then before Mallory started doing
Speaker 1: any of this too, she was doing it already. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so she was like talking to Jessica because Jessica
Speaker 1: is like a makeup goddess, and she was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I'm obsessed with you. And Jessica was like
Speaker 1: and so that's how they met actually too. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so actually wasn't there yet, but so she was. I
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, I was gonna go to that event upstairs,
Speaker 1: but like, I can't just go for a second. It
Speaker 1: was like a boot event or something. I walk upstairs
Speaker 1: and Ashley was sitting at this table. Because I literally
Speaker 1: feel like I'm telling a lobster right now, It's just hilarious.
Speaker 1: And actually was sitting at the table, and I remember
Speaker 1: I kept looking at her and being like, God, I
Speaker 1: know that girl from somewhere. I know that girl from somewhere,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't like place how I knew her social
Speaker 1: media because I never actually met her in person, and yeah,
Speaker 1: so actually I just kept like looking at her like
Speaker 1: the creeper because I was like, I can't for how
Speaker 1: I know her, and um, anyways, we were just there
Speaker 1: briefly and then Jessica and I went to that's event.
Speaker 1: But um, I'm not trying to give him to you,
Speaker 1: but you can't. Like I was like, he's bouncing. Your
Speaker 1: cousin also had been there now, he used to be
Speaker 1: in it now he was nominated for like it's something
Speaker 1: for natural was a Man of the Year them like that.
Speaker 1: But when I message actually and I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: I didn't want you to think I was being rude
Speaker 1: because I didn't say hi, but like I couldn't figure it.
Speaker 1: But I was like, but I think that I saw
Speaker 1: you at this event, and and then she rubbed me
Speaker 1: back and she was like, oh my god. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: didn't know anyway, as it was just like that and
Speaker 1: then we would like started just like commenting on each
Speaker 1: other stuff and and she looked amazing by the way
Speaker 1: you mamas look like you've never had children and you'll
Speaker 1: both had too. And I'm like, I'm like, you're crazy,
Speaker 1: but I have had no babies, and I'm like, God,
Speaker 1: look like you're swimsuit models. So about okay, so that
Speaker 1: started the last for what year was that two thousand six? Recently,
Speaker 1: actually it was April of two thousands. It was April.
Speaker 1: That's just like warm time for Actually I love this.
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, I remember what about that. I feel
Speaker 1: like I love it. But then commably after that, we've
Speaker 1: been together like a lot because we used to live well,
Speaker 1: we we live really close together. We still don't do that,
Speaker 1: but like, yeah, we just had a lot in commons
Speaker 1: so much. We're fun to hang out a friend when
Speaker 1: and I mean I love my other friends, don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong, but like it's just different when your friend
Speaker 1: has kids and they understand. And it's also different when
Speaker 1: they do the same thing that you do, so they
Speaker 1: just stuff. And then yeah, and we just I mean
Speaker 1: it came to like at first like texting each other
Speaker 1: about like work stuff, and then it's just like evolved,
Speaker 1: I feel like, because we just had so much in common. Like,
Speaker 1: so tell me how I OT started separately to start? Like,
Speaker 1: how did you realize? Like the fashion and lifestyle blogging
Speaker 1: is my passion because I'm all about people finding their
Speaker 1: passions and all, and they're calling and like just living
Speaker 1: their life in a way where you can make money
Speaker 1: doing what you love, because it's the only way to live.
Speaker 1: And y'all have figured out a way to beat moms,
Speaker 1: to fulfill your passion and then have this great community.
Speaker 1: So how did you We kind of know that was
Speaker 1: gonna happen when you started your blog actually take off,
Speaker 1: it was gonna happen. So whenever I first started this,
Speaker 1: I was just looking. I was kind of lost a
Speaker 1: little bit of what to do. And that's the normal
Speaker 1: feeling I like to talk about because so many people
Speaker 1: are lost, like after you graduate college or like you're
Speaker 1: in those twenties, you don't know what to do and
Speaker 1: you feel like stressed out, like the life is like
Speaker 1: what am I SUPs to do? I'm I ever gonna
Speaker 1: find purpose. It's a really normal feeling. Woud I understand
Speaker 1: He's like, I got you. He has learned his voice.
Speaker 1: So I was doing some styling and working in and
Speaker 1: out of a couple of boutiques just a little bit,
Speaker 1: but I was trying to find something where it could
Speaker 1: still this is pretty baby, which it was not very
Speaker 1: long ago, and I had two in two years, but
Speaker 1: four months A. Yeah, So I was looking for something
Speaker 1: where I could still travel with Tray and still and
Speaker 1: your hasn't an a music inste He's a man, he's awesome.
Speaker 1: Here's it is pretty awesome. Um. Well his baby band,
Speaker 1: his main one is black or Smoke alf Um, Michael
Speaker 1: and your husband used to open for back in the day.
Speaker 1: Was just such a small, such a world. And now
Speaker 1: we're all hanging out again. Yes, so now he's got
Speaker 1: some other new clients and it's crazy, but that's that
Speaker 1: was our So you're traveling with him. So I was
Speaker 1: traveling with him all the time, and um, I still
Speaker 1: wanted to travel, but I needed something for myself. And
Speaker 1: in Nashville, I really only knew people in the music
Speaker 1: scene through Tray. I didn't really have my own friends
Speaker 1: necessarily at my own friends circle. And I was just
Speaker 1: really crazy that So my friend bringing I did want
Speaker 1: to open a boutique and we were really I mean,
Speaker 1: we had a business plan, we had a realtor. We
Speaker 1: were trying to find a space. During the whole nine yards,
Speaker 1: it just wasn't working. It was like square pay round hole.
Speaker 1: It just wasn't quite working. And when you feel that
Speaker 1: explained that feeling, because I've had that happen to me
Speaker 1: many times in my life, where I'm presented with this
Speaker 1: incredible opportunity, but yet it's just not coming together. There's
Speaker 1: resistance where you could push through and make it happen,
Speaker 1: but in your gut, you know that it's not about
Speaker 1: you have feeling. It was just a good feeling, and
Speaker 1: I'm all about going with my gut feeling. Even I
Speaker 1: just eat something to speak completely, and I still sometimes like,
Speaker 1: what if that would have worked? But this was pre pregnancy,
Speaker 1: and I became pregnant right after this happened, So it
Speaker 1: was it was meant to be. I don't think I
Speaker 1: could beat in a store. I like to be hands
Speaker 1: on mom. I like to be home with my kids.
Speaker 1: I like to have not missed your moment with them.
Speaker 1: So I don't think I could be in a store
Speaker 1: all the time and be happy with that decision. Some
Speaker 1: people would be great at that, I grant it wasn't.
Speaker 1: It just was the match. So I followed a bunch
Speaker 1: of fashion bloggers and I was just like, this is
Speaker 1: like kig, I mean, this is fun. So I started
Speaker 1: It's just truly just fashion blogging just here's the outfit,
Speaker 1: here's why I like this outfit, And it was just
Speaker 1: kind of and it still didn't feel quite right. It
Speaker 1: was I was phoning in it. I was getting that
Speaker 1: niche and like coning it on. Is this how people
Speaker 1: you starting to field that you think you like and
Speaker 1: then you just start whittling it down and trying it out,
Speaker 1: Guys like that's how Yeah, it's And I was going
Speaker 1: from the styling and I was still styling too, but
Speaker 1: it was like taking that styling and putting it into
Speaker 1: this artistic form of photography and fashion and everything. So
Speaker 1: I liked that. But then I had George and I
Speaker 1: kind of took a six month break. I didn't really
Speaker 1: I just spent all my time with him. I didn't
Speaker 1: really do it, and I didn't really feel right just
Speaker 1: doing fashion with George too. So now I'm kind of
Speaker 1: developed and evolved into this more um omnipresent space where
Speaker 1: it's home to core, it's mom life, it's fashion, it's
Speaker 1: everything that's part of my life, and it's just kind
Speaker 1: of it's essentially monetizing. Where did you get you? Where
Speaker 1: did you get that shirt? Where did you get that recipe?
Speaker 1: It's just kind of monetizing your life and making it
Speaker 1: a brand. And for me that just makes perfect sense
Speaker 1: because I get a keep all my moments with these
Speaker 1: precious boys, but then I also get to do something
Speaker 1: for myself that kind of curating artistic content and also
Speaker 1: providing a service for people for inspiration, and it's just
Speaker 1: all kind of brands. Tell me about your new brand.
Speaker 1: For anybody that's looking to start a business, really do
Speaker 1: your research on branding, because I just just kind of
Speaker 1: changed my name a Bow and Air in Nashville, which
Speaker 1: was the boutique, and we had saved the U r
Speaker 1: L and the Instagram and the Facebook from the boutique
Speaker 1: and I just changed it into the to the book.
Speaker 1: But really it wasn't paralleling where my life was. It
Speaker 1: was made for the boutique, and it just wasn't quite
Speaker 1: making as much sense anymore. So I decided to change
Speaker 1: it to Bows and Ashley, Bows being my boys and
Speaker 1: a husband, and then that being more of where my
Speaker 1: life is now. So I think that when you brand,
Speaker 1: and also I didn't realize that there were so many
Speaker 1: Bow and arrows, so I thought about just changing it
Speaker 1: to Bow and Arrow and dropping the Nashville because it's
Speaker 1: truly bigger than just Nashville. And side note, whenever you're
Speaker 1: doing a business, act like it's going to be the
Speaker 1: biggest thing in the world, and it would want it
Speaker 1: will be, because I believe in the power manifesting those
Speaker 1: thoughts and compositive thinking. But two, you really need to
Speaker 1: have your brand, your everything set up as if it
Speaker 1: were going to be a multimilie. So tell me those
Speaker 1: things that you need to set up for somebody's lyarting
Speaker 1: to brand and chime into with this and what unique
Speaker 1: into the game, and make sure that it's unique. No
Speaker 1: one else has it. So there's so many Bow and Arrows.
Speaker 1: There's event planning company is, there's other blogs, there's boutiques,
Speaker 1: There's just tons and tons of other boone ears. So
Speaker 1: for me, I had to switch it because I needed
Speaker 1: something that was unique and paralleled with my life better.
Speaker 1: So for me, there's such a big part of it.
Speaker 1: He's a jumper, he is that bows and my boys
Speaker 1: are the biggest part of my life. Feels actually a
Speaker 1: part of it. So when you're looking, make sure that
Speaker 1: the U r L is available, the Facebook is available,
Speaker 1: Instagram is available, and it's unique and it's on brand
Speaker 1: with what you're wanting to accomplish. Okay, so you are
Speaker 1: your little jobs like who you are. I'm sweating right now.
Speaker 1: And it's a strange thing for your brand to be
Speaker 1: your life and a crazy things, but it's it works
Speaker 1: in a weird way. Well, especially new moms too wise
Speaker 1: and new brothers, because I feel like so many new
Speaker 1: moms they don't have the time to go spin to
Speaker 1: figure out on the fashion unless that's like your job
Speaker 1: or your interests. Like it's just too much energy to
Speaker 1: have to figure out the cord to figure out the
Speaker 1: fashion to do what stuff. So you'd rather identify the
Speaker 1: work that you love and relate to and just be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is my girl and you trust. Building trust is
Speaker 1: the biggest like an actually the same thing, but like
Speaker 1: I didn't, I don't recommend something that I haven't either
Speaker 1: used myself or that I have been wanting to use,
Speaker 1: Like I don't just don't. I don't just take a paycheck,
Speaker 1: yeah girl, I don't do free Like yeah, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: talk about all that to tell how you started your block. Okay,
Speaker 1: so the biggest things that you encourage people and starting
Speaker 1: a block actually doing a three part series blog on
Speaker 1: that the first one you're good is how to start
Speaker 1: a blog, and then the second one is how to
Speaker 1: monetize it, and the segment the third one is and
Speaker 1: then the second one who had a greater following? Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's talk about how you start your blog? Then
Speaker 1: off your those plants. Well I'll give me summaries, but
Speaker 1: you have to cut the blog. But yeah, so that
Speaker 1: I lost my trade of thought. So I kind of
Speaker 1: had and I'm just gonna be honest, a little bit
Speaker 1: of a following already just because of Jessica and she's
Speaker 1: a bomb celebrity makeup artist, but but she she built
Speaker 1: that even you know, before the TV show. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean honestly, yeah, because people do that because they
Speaker 1: cycle off each other. So, um, so I had maybe
Speaker 1: like three thousand followers, which is pretty good for a
Speaker 1: regular person, That's what I'm saying. And um, I had
Speaker 1: people messaging me all the time and be like, how
Speaker 1: do you do your makeup? Or just because I love
Speaker 1: mine's more makeup and beauty and hair than fashion. I
Speaker 1: do love fashion, but I wouldn't say that's like mine
Speaker 1: one thing because I live in yoga pants. But I
Speaker 1: love to get dressed up. I mean, you know, but
Speaker 1: mine was mainly makeup. Um, and I'm not a makeup artist,
Speaker 1: but I I feel like I'm really good at makeup
Speaker 1: and I've really researched it a lot too, though, Like
Speaker 1: it wasn't just like it came to me, like I
Speaker 1: would read Mad magazine. Yeah, like I would just rip
Speaker 1: pages out of magazines. I wanna make pile folders and
Speaker 1: I'm crazy like that, like about recipes about makeup, hair, skincare,
Speaker 1: all at that. And I thought that was a doorbell.
Speaker 1: I think it is. It was here? Who was here?
Speaker 1: Oh well, this is a fun little segue because Chelsey
Speaker 1: Ashley Wilson's photographer. And another thing people don't realize is
Speaker 1: all these pictures that look so good a lot of
Speaker 1: times are real professional on Instagram. Yeah, well and a
Speaker 1: real professional first taking it. Well, that's okay, We're going
Speaker 1: to touch on that team, remind me to touch on okay?
Speaker 1: And so, um is it Chelsey? Okay, We've got a
Speaker 1: party going on in here. So sorry, this is real lot, No,
Speaker 1: this is real life. That's why talk a little, is it? Chelsea? Good?
Speaker 1: This is hey? She's gonna tell hey, Hi, Hi, um. So. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I had a bunch of people messaged me, asked
Speaker 1: me questions. How would always answer them just because I feel,
Speaker 1: you know, like I should And I was like what
Speaker 1: and then I kind of touching on what actually said
Speaker 1: I would see this because it was new. I guess
Speaker 1: Sami knew then, and I was like, I don't I
Speaker 1: just monetize this, like I'm already answering these questions. I'm
Speaker 1: already telling these people what's can't care to buy? And
Speaker 1: I mean, um, and so I let me just first
Speaker 1: off say that to start a blog, it takes a
Speaker 1: lot of work. I don't know why I'm looking at
Speaker 1: camera because it's not even then I don't realize. So
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people and that's because the
Speaker 1: number one question that I get is how do you
Speaker 1: start a blog? And I'm like, okay, this is not
Speaker 1: just me answering you in the Instagram message like this
Speaker 1: is a lot so and that it's way too much
Speaker 1: for me to even go into right now, but you
Speaker 1: need to know, I mean touching on what actually said
Speaker 1: your name is very important. So like that that took
Speaker 1: me the longest time I was figuring out my name. Um,
Speaker 1: and that um, and then you know your website, finding
Speaker 1: who's going to host your website, finding out I'm I
Speaker 1: literally taught myself everything. I didn't hire anyone to do
Speaker 1: my website. I coded everything myself. So and I'm not
Speaker 1: a Google Yeah, I was like, I'm not a tech person. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I watched a lot of tutorials and I spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time on that before I actually went live
Speaker 1: with my blog. And so basically you have to build
Speaker 1: up your website first before you can start posting stuff
Speaker 1: like sure and like the theme, like what it looks like, um,
Speaker 1: not just having a website, like making it look aesthetically nice. Um.
Speaker 1: And so then after all of that, then I went
Speaker 1: live with it, and then um, sorry I got Georgie.
Speaker 1: We got number two. But number two hey, so he
Speaker 1: just saw the camera and literally looks at it goes,
Speaker 1: are you a real show off? Yeah, Georgie, he's got skill.
Speaker 1: You go up staious things. See, this is real life.
Speaker 1: This is why these are boss days right now, this
Speaker 1: is we definitely juggle. It's a lot of patients, uh,
Speaker 1: a lot of hard work and every single day and
Speaker 1: you just had to be okay with it all. Actually
Speaker 1: actually laughed because every time I come over here with
Speaker 1: my without my kids, because usually I come over here
Speaker 1: without them, She's like, you thought your escape and your
Speaker 1: kids escape. But okay, so back to blow me. Okay,
Speaker 1: you like make sure that they ay work spathetically. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta get the website looking good. Yeah and so
Speaker 1: so yeah. So I was like, I'm already answering all
Speaker 1: these questions. I'm just gonna funn to let into that, um.
Speaker 1: And so then I started the blog. So I kind of,
Speaker 1: like Ashley said, I initially started with fashion, just honestly
Speaker 1: because I thought that's what I was supposed to do
Speaker 1: and it was easy, and I also felt very unfulfilled
Speaker 1: and very surface. Yeah I don't. I just don't like it, um.
Speaker 1: And no judgment to the people that do that, because
Speaker 1: I know how hard it is and how much work
Speaker 1: it is, but I just felt fake, um. And I
Speaker 1: was like, this isn't what um, this isn't what I'm
Speaker 1: trying to accomplish. And so I was like, I want
Speaker 1: to start incorporating recipes and stuff with my kids and
Speaker 1: like my life because my life isn't fashion, Like I
Speaker 1: love it. But the truth is, like I said, I
Speaker 1: wear yoga pants most of the time, so like, I
Speaker 1: don't even get to dress up that much. And so
Speaker 1: I just slowly started adding in to who you are. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and my name is lifestyles. That's the whole point. It's
Speaker 1: like the lifestyles get it, like but wife styles like yeah, um,
Speaker 1: so I'm like, it's my life. So my life isn't fashion,
Speaker 1: So yeah, I exactly right and so like, but people
Speaker 1: tell you like, oh, you have to pick a niche.
Speaker 1: No you don't actually like my lifestyle which is everything
Speaker 1: that embodies me, and you just have to have a
Speaker 1: healthy balance of it. No, you can't do straight fashion.
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden be like I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna start doing you know, hombocore or whatever. You have
Speaker 1: to like slowly start filtering it in and then you
Speaker 1: have to make it like well round it on your blog.
Speaker 1: And like I am very particular now when I wasn't
Speaker 1: in the beginning, but now I'm certainly realized that like
Speaker 1: looking at my feed and placing things strategically, you do that,
Speaker 1: like you like if you look at my fade right now,
Speaker 1: I have a straight road that's my family and children.
Speaker 1: I have a straight road that's like fashion, Like I
Speaker 1: try to make it a healthy blend. And it's like
Speaker 1: ashiony and I were talking about this other day, but
Speaker 1: like every you know, six or so picture I do
Speaker 1: of a home decore or skincare or whatever. So it's
Speaker 1: not just like, so tell me what your posts consists of,
Speaker 1: like what are the folks that you guys and what
Speaker 1: are I think that we're pretty similar in the fact
Speaker 1: that it's recipes because both of us. No, it's fine, Hey,
Speaker 1: this is this is residing momelife. What is there whether
Speaker 1: it's like fashion with the boys or just talking about
Speaker 1: struggles or kid products and what things I use or
Speaker 1: whatever it may be momlife, fashion, beauty, stoodcare, that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. Um here stuff home decore and then healthy living,
Speaker 1: So recipes and bitness, bitness the like. Just have a
Speaker 1: little healthy lifestyle because even the fashion um probably not
Speaker 1: what it feels. No, I'm not equally No, do you
Speaker 1: depend up getting worse? Do you have a more like
Speaker 1: one of your is more of your number one topic?
Speaker 1: For me? Fashion does the best for me. But I
Speaker 1: was getting really just it wasn't seeming real to just
Speaker 1: talk about and alf all the time. It wasn't fiddling
Speaker 1: to me. It wasn't giving me what I needed out
Speaker 1: of this, and so just see more Torge. So whenever
Speaker 1: I knew fashion, I try to pair the pictures in
Speaker 1: a cool photo shoot and fashion ideas that people can
Speaker 1: get to with a subject matter that is important to
Speaker 1: So with something that's goes a little deeper, or talking
Speaker 1: about being competitive and talking about for like girlfriendships, so
Speaker 1: talking about something with it. So the picture might be
Speaker 1: perfect on Instagram, it might look great in fashion, but
Speaker 1: there's like more meat on the bones, mean with the cashion.
Speaker 1: And then that this a little log all right, okay,
Speaker 1: So it gives me like a way to still express
Speaker 1: myself and still have are I'm trying to maintain my
Speaker 1: go harder. I'm like, I wonder if her sisters about
Speaker 1: the crop, well say okay anything okay, And this is hard.
Speaker 1: This is just so Hardlates. People don't realize how much
Speaker 1: work goes into a blog and how much time does
Speaker 1: he But when those kids and you start kids, yeah
Speaker 1: you have to put on a pause, but you also
Speaker 1: have to be so tiny. Management is so important, Like
Speaker 1: I do all of it during that time late at night.
Speaker 1: It's I think anyone who are hard as a mom
Speaker 1: is listening totally relates, and that's how I would love this.
Speaker 1: And when you're like there might any thing to try,
Speaker 1: its like that is yeah, this is what it is.
Speaker 1: So well, it's just she said, like I don't honestly
Speaker 1: I say this to my friends that do not have
Speaker 1: kids that blog. I'm like, so good up, like, because
Speaker 1: when you have kids, you're not I mean you basically,
Speaker 1: I'm like, you have no reason to not be killing
Speaker 1: it right now, Like you have no excuse in my
Speaker 1: mom because I am not being cocky about saying this,
Speaker 1: but I'm like, I'm doing all of this and staying
Speaker 1: at home with my children and and so I only
Speaker 1: Ashley can do it when they're napping or late at
Speaker 1: night when they're asleep, or the weekends when my husband's
Speaker 1: in town. So if you don't have kids and you're
Speaker 1: not talking about you, you're doing something wrong because Ashley
Speaker 1: and I bust her butts and how you grow your
Speaker 1: followers and how you get these brand deals and then
Speaker 1: tell me, like, when when can you start charging for
Speaker 1: a post? I think, now having experience, how should start
Speaker 1: charging as soon as you have five thousand organic U
Speaker 1: followers or so like to where you have an actual
Speaker 1: engagement and followers that are trusting you. I think I
Speaker 1: think that you should start targeting. You. Don't even think
Speaker 1: that the number matters. I think that as soon as
Speaker 1: you are a true influencer, meaning people are actually listening
Speaker 1: to what you're putting up, and when you put something up,
Speaker 1: people are buying or doing or taking action, then that
Speaker 1: means you can you have an actual influence as soon
Speaker 1: as you have an actual influence, because the number, to
Speaker 1: me is not nearly as important as the engagement. Your
Speaker 1: engagement just comments and life, which I mean, yeah, is
Speaker 1: um just whenever you know that you are truly making
Speaker 1: an impact and having it, Like when you post something
Speaker 1: and someone messages you specifically about that atom or you know,
Speaker 1: like it's just not even like what's your lipstick or
Speaker 1: what you're like, like, for example, like a lifestyle brand
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, like what I've been trying to
Speaker 1: eat healthier? Like what's a good yogurt? Like stuff like that.
Speaker 1: They're actually wanting your opinion on it, like they think
Speaker 1: that you may, I mean, but you are because you're
Speaker 1: testing it out like that. We're basically like reviewers testers
Speaker 1: for people. Yeah, so crucial, right because if people can
Speaker 1: if you want a long term business, I can't even
Speaker 1: tell you how many free things using air quotes I've
Speaker 1: turned down because it's not something I would actually authentically
Speaker 1: purchase myself. Every day. I turned down free stuff, which
Speaker 1: when you first start out is really really difficult to do.
Speaker 1: You want you want to pass up. And now I've
Speaker 1: come to a point where I where I have to
Speaker 1: turn down pay gigs because it's it doesn't alive with
Speaker 1: my brand and it doesn't make sense in the long
Speaker 1: term and building off that. The most important thing you
Speaker 1: can do is in this whole space and this influencer space,
Speaker 1: is gain trust from your followers. And the way you
Speaker 1: do that is to just be authentic to yourself every
Speaker 1: single time you post, every single day in every way.
Speaker 1: So just authenticity is king in this whole space. Like
Speaker 1: creating good content that's authentic to you is how do
Speaker 1: you do it? So how do you get brands? And
Speaker 1: then how how how do you know just based on
Speaker 1: your your brand is what brand deals you want? You
Speaker 1: reach out to brands and they reach out to you.
Speaker 1: I do a healthy bland. I haven't personally been able
Speaker 1: to reach out to brands as much lightly just because
Speaker 1: thinks have been hectic, and that actually takes a lot
Speaker 1: of time. The pitch where the pitches a lot people
Speaker 1: don't realize so much the pitches I do reach out
Speaker 1: to brands. I go through my daily life and think,
Speaker 1: what are these products got to use? What are these
Speaker 1: brands that are really liking right now? What are the
Speaker 1: even down to the little things like the laundry of
Speaker 1: the churchip, like the swinger you put your coffee whatever,
Speaker 1: maybe things you already are authentically you say in fettle
Speaker 1: cash about like I really love this product for whatever
Speaker 1: reason I mean. And then I will pitch a proposal
Speaker 1: to a brand with a specific campaign detailed out how
Speaker 1: I would how I would promote the products, how it
Speaker 1: would work in their favor and my favor. You you
Speaker 1: send them, okay, I seen them a plan, a campaign plan,
Speaker 1: and when I send it to them, it's pretty detailed.
Speaker 1: And it can even include a media kit which just
Speaker 1: has a rundown of you know, past partnerships that you've
Speaker 1: done services, there are services you offer, And then that's
Speaker 1: how I start, because that's the most authentic, that's what
Speaker 1: I'm actually using in my life. I love that. And
Speaker 1: then sometimes there's agencies that work with brands and they're
Speaker 1: kind of a middleman. Yeah. There, it's basically like the
Speaker 1: bloggers world of applying for jobs. Right, you go on
Speaker 1: there and you a property specific campaign, so let's stay
Speaker 1: for qualities. Yeah you're so, well, it's already on there,
Speaker 1: so can aligned with somebody that they think. So I
Speaker 1: will get emails from a brand from an agency, and
Speaker 1: you can kind of align with the ones that you work.
Speaker 1: So if there is someone that reaches out and I
Speaker 1: hadn't heard of them, but it's a way to find
Speaker 1: a new brand. But I truly like it, and that
Speaker 1: you know, it's a good man. I get something I
Speaker 1: think you would use, So you would you tell your
Speaker 1: followers I haven't used this that I've loved it for
Speaker 1: a long time. I never posted about it until I
Speaker 1: actually tried it, so I would if I truly didn't
Speaker 1: like it when they sent it. I sent the back
Speaker 1: before and said this, like one time, I really liked
Speaker 1: this necklace, but the second that I pulled it out
Speaker 1: of the back, it literally broke in my hand. The
Speaker 1: first second was just not a good quality, just didn't
Speaker 1: feel right. So I just sent it back and said
Speaker 1: I just don't think this is gonna work, because I
Speaker 1: didn't want to promote that to your and then have
Speaker 1: people messaging and bailing and then the cally not either.
Speaker 1: So I always try it before I posted, because we
Speaker 1: are for the like reviewers. Yeah, so I'm really really
Speaker 1: active on It's Too stories. That's like my main thing.
Speaker 1: So I try to be like, I think it's yeah,
Speaker 1: and so like I will show them the whole process,
Speaker 1: so I will be like, hey, I haven't tried this,
Speaker 1: but I'm trying it now. I'm gonna show you guys
Speaker 1: like my because I told you I just started the
Speaker 1: supplement company or supplement thing last weekend. So like right now,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of going through the process with my followers
Speaker 1: because I can't personally recommend it rot this moment, but
Speaker 1: I can tell you how I'm feeling on day four
Speaker 1: and day five, and then after you know, a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks or however long it takes to see like
Speaker 1: the full results, then I can be like, Okay, and
Speaker 1: this is my point right now, you know. So I
Speaker 1: think it's good to just bring them along with it,
Speaker 1: um and it feels more authentic and genuine because they're
Speaker 1: actually witnessing it and they I mean, and they are
Speaker 1: they feel like they're a part of your life and
Speaker 1: they are part of my life. Like it's crazy because
Speaker 1: I really weirdly connected to my followers, but relationships in
Speaker 1: the end, building these I talked to them like we
Speaker 1: we messaged, like it's all about building relationships exactly why
Speaker 1: this whole influence of space is such a great way
Speaker 1: of marketing, and it's really where the future is going.
Speaker 1: Like this here is a five billion dollar industry. It's
Speaker 1: really it's supposed to turn into a ten billion dollar
Speaker 1: industry in the next five years. So this is going
Speaker 1: know where it's a media that's just more organic, it's authentic,
Speaker 1: a new wave of marketing and advertising just vaccines or print, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and the and touching on what she said,
Speaker 1: Like the thing is is that like literally anyone could
Speaker 1: do that even if you're not making like a really
Speaker 1: good amount of money and you're not like a top influencer,
Speaker 1: you can still do it because like you're still asking
Speaker 1: your friend, like what skincare do you recommend? Or like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm my face is breaking out, what should I do
Speaker 1: for this? You know what I mean? And like just
Speaker 1: making that suggestion, like you're being an influencer, so like
Speaker 1: you might as well. I mean, you can write about
Speaker 1: it if you like. I enjoy writing, so like, yeah,
Speaker 1: just talk about it or just talk about it on
Speaker 1: Like I have friends that aren't like full on influencers,
Speaker 1: like that's what they do, but like they touch on
Speaker 1: it and like they'll go on there and talk about
Speaker 1: whatever product they're using um at the time, like the
Speaker 1: Central Oils or the Whole thirty like stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and they're still educating people, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So now there is so many of those George George
Speaker 1: is like I agree on there, there's now it is
Speaker 1: becoming saturated. But every field is saturated. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of mans in New York, there's a lot of actors
Speaker 1: in l A. Everything is saturated. There's always room for something,
Speaker 1: there's always room for greatness. But no matter how saturated
Speaker 1: it is. With that being said, though, you have to
Speaker 1: set yourself apart. Like for me, a pretty Instagram feed
Speaker 1: is not enough anymore. People love the incestry where they
Speaker 1: can really see into your life and see your personality.
Speaker 1: It just takes a little bit more so the pretty
Speaker 1: Instagram There is great because it used to be it
Speaker 1: had a pretty Instagram feed. That's how it started. Now
Speaker 1: you want to eat, that's the video, it's the story.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's, honest to god, the best thing
Speaker 1: that they have ever done that has skyrocketed my engagement
Speaker 1: and my I mean can claim my following. I feel
Speaker 1: like that's like I prefer instant And I started to
Speaker 1: pitch that to brands because I'm like, that's actually authentic
Speaker 1: to me because it takes trying to get filtered, but
Speaker 1: it takes a consumer at least three times to see
Speaker 1: a product before they usually about the bullet and make
Speaker 1: a decision on it. Like I can post about it
Speaker 1: on my Instagram feed and it's beautiful and it's there,
Speaker 1: but like it might put it in their mind, but
Speaker 1: then if they see it on actual's feed and they
Speaker 1: see it on this person's feed, it might take them
Speaker 1: like three times. Actually makes a purchase if they see
Speaker 1: you using it in your daily life and you're constantly
Speaker 1: talking about it, that's more making that sale for that
Speaker 1: consumer than just posting one picture about Instagram feed. At
Speaker 1: least for me, it's more of an artistic So Instagram
Speaker 1: feed is artistic. It's carefully curated. It's gotta, you know,
Speaker 1: a cohesive look to it. It's about the editing and
Speaker 1: the photography, and that's fun for me because it's an
Speaker 1: artistic space and it's supposed to be that. And then
Speaker 1: this instant story in the video and even you know
Speaker 1: YouTube vloggers and all those things. That's where it gets
Speaker 1: deeper and shows your personality. It shows like you were
Speaker 1: saying the product more detail, so you might have a
Speaker 1: pretty picture of the product that kind of They can
Speaker 1: use that kind of for an ad as well. Right,
Speaker 1: that's more their ad like more of a typical. Um,
Speaker 1: you're creating an a typical like no different than a
Speaker 1: picture of right exactly. But then what goes what penetrates
Speaker 1: even deeper is the video where you're slaming it or
Speaker 1: where you're opening it. You can go from the whole
Speaker 1: at choosing the whole process, opening it out like trying
Speaker 1: it on your inside. You can save those in stories now, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can put them on your organize them by what
Speaker 1: they are, so I have to go away. So that's
Speaker 1: also great now that you know, grants are also starting
Speaker 1: to catch on to that, and like that's part of
Speaker 1: a lot of my deals now like is maybe permanence
Speaker 1: or just talking about on into stories to it's not
Speaker 1: even just on my feet anymore. And you know, and
Speaker 1: I feel like catch showing to about this, but like
Speaker 1: I feel like not as not as many people were doing,
Speaker 1: like actual blog posts. They're doing antographer, we got the
Speaker 1: whole part, but like they companies aren't wanting actual blog
Speaker 1: posts as much anymore conversations but like a lot of
Speaker 1: companies I've realized aren't wanting as many blog posts. They're
Speaker 1: wanting more directed towards Instagram and then like the inst
Speaker 1: stories and video content, um, which is fine. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, again, I love to write, so I
Speaker 1: kind of want the blog post, but that's also given
Speaker 1: me and I actually do because I've noticed she's doing
Speaker 1: that all up. Sorry sorry, It's just like it's giving
Speaker 1: us more of an opportunity to like really right, if
Speaker 1: that makes sense, because now I can write actual articles
Speaker 1: that I'm wanting to that I've been wanting, right, but
Speaker 1: I haven't had time because I'm like doing all this stuff,
Speaker 1: and now I'm getting paid pretty well to just do
Speaker 1: like Instagram photos, which are a lot easier to me,
Speaker 1: but it's still creating content for that brand that's helping them.
Speaker 1: But I'm not having to like put all of my
Speaker 1: recent or says into a blog post, and I can
Speaker 1: funnel more like my creativity and my writing for the
Speaker 1: blog post, or I can have more time to do
Speaker 1: YouTube videos, you know what I'm saying. So, but you're
Speaker 1: still creating like beautiful content for them on your Instagram feed,
Speaker 1: which is to situally what they want. And now with
Speaker 1: the answer stories, they have that background of it tour
Speaker 1: before you would have to write like a blog post
Speaker 1: for them to have the background. I think the magic
Speaker 1: happens for brands and an influencer whenever, Okay, so whenever
Speaker 1: there's a couple of things done first, whenever they let
Speaker 1: their expectations be known in writing, because it's still like
Speaker 1: the wild West in this whole space. It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1: There's no actors guild where there's a skilled pay and
Speaker 1: the right it's it's very well West, and so it's
Speaker 1: kind of figuring it out. But there's a couple of
Speaker 1: things that I've learned the hard way that makes everybody
Speaker 1: happy in the long room, and it's putting the expectations
Speaker 1: up from from the get go. Someone a brand really
Speaker 1: knows what they want when she was saying, sometimes they
Speaker 1: want it it's the stories. Sometimes they want like a
Speaker 1: review like that. Sometimes they just want a pretty picture
Speaker 1: that they can use for their own marketing needs and
Speaker 1: also side being an audience, whatever they may want. Putting
Speaker 1: those expectations in writing from the beginning of the product.
Speaker 1: I love that. Then, um and in writing is important
Speaker 1: because you can reference it, and it's important to have contracts. Now,
Speaker 1: you really don't want to get yourself in a bad situation,
Speaker 1: So just laying it out in very simple contracts, laying
Speaker 1: all the expectations out, then letting the brand who's paying
Speaker 1: you or who's giving me the product or whatever it
Speaker 1: may be, letting them have some creative guidance. So I've
Speaker 1: even been telling them lately, send me a mood board,
Speaker 1: send me a picture of something that you really like,
Speaker 1: tell me where the campaign's going, let me know the hashtags,
Speaker 1: what's the field of campaign? Really, letting them have that
Speaker 1: guidance I call it, and then giving up. And then
Speaker 1: when a brand's too guided into control, has too much control,
Speaker 1: it doesn't work because pally paying you as they do
Speaker 1: not authentic. T is authentic Souid is that not control,
Speaker 1: guidance but not control, So setting up the expectations. Then
Speaker 1: the brand having guidance but not control, then they created,
Speaker 1: having created control to do what they take that to
Speaker 1: be and to me and what fits their life and
Speaker 1: is authentic with their life, resonates with their audience because
Speaker 1: they know their audience, and obviously the brand wants to
Speaker 1: tap into the audience audience because it's the same demographic
Speaker 1: of them or whatever it may be. So giving them
Speaker 1: that control and then executing it correctly, so executing the picture,
Speaker 1: having a great photography, having all the correct hashtags, having
Speaker 1: a great captivating caption, whatever it may be, executing that
Speaker 1: all the way through. And then on top of that,
Speaker 1: so everything being laid out, expectations, deciding who's you know,
Speaker 1: all the design control then um already for us, but
Speaker 1: this is no this is great, great geting it by
Speaker 1: executing it, and then on top of that, after it's
Speaker 1: all executed, keeping a long term relationship going with them,
Speaker 1: because one off that is the best ones do not
Speaker 1: do as well because it doesn't come across as often.
Speaker 1: Something and like you guys are saying earlier, this is
Speaker 1: your real life, you really use it. So you want
Speaker 1: to keep that relationship, keeping a relationship with brands where
Speaker 1: you're doing a campaign every spring and fall or whatever
Speaker 1: it maybe you're yeah, you're just working with them again,
Speaker 1: not just one offs that like really that's where the
Speaker 1: magic happens. Because this is I love that you guys
Speaker 1: are writing this done. It is real, Like you don't
Speaker 1: want to see your profession stre selling stuff, but any
Speaker 1: stuff you believe and not everyone does it like that.
Speaker 1: We don't. It is a long term business. It's just
Speaker 1: a quick paycheck for them and for you guys, this
Speaker 1: is your life, this is your brand. Okay, So we
Speaker 1: gotta wrap up. Tell me a piece of advice that
Speaker 1: you would tell a long one get started? What would
Speaker 1: you tell them? Knock knock it out, go ahead? What's
Speaker 1: the best Because of my detailing, you person, learn to
Speaker 1: get involved, um, do your research, and don't take the
Speaker 1: easy way out. So what does it not take an
Speaker 1: easy way on me by buying followers, doing multiple international giveaways,
Speaker 1: buying likes comments, it's just not real. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean and and and try to grow yourself or gamingly
Speaker 1: in the beginning. Also just because like that's that's your
Speaker 1: strong point, because that's who you are. Yeah, you're figuring
Speaker 1: everything out and yeah, I agree. Okay, so I don't
Speaker 1: want to talk more slow process. That's what people have
Speaker 1: to realize. It's one, it's a lot of It's not
Speaker 1: just putting a pretty picture up. It's a lot of work.
Speaker 1: It's branding, it's marketing, it's s c O optimization, it's
Speaker 1: figuring out the Instagram algorithm is constantly changing, and how
Speaker 1: to manipulate that. It's just trial and error, and the
Speaker 1: only way to combat all these algorithm changes is being
Speaker 1: authentic and creating content that is high quality and that
Speaker 1: answers a question of what people are meeting. And so
Speaker 1: just really knowing that it's going to take a long time,
Speaker 1: not taking the easy way out, and just always creating
Speaker 1: the highest quality content you can and authentic. I mean,
Speaker 1: actually I've been doing this for like two years or
Speaker 1: two years, like we're at the same time, so like
Speaker 1: we've I feel like we're seasoned. And the fact that
Speaker 1: we've done a lot of trial and air and it
Speaker 1: didn't happen overnight, Like people can ask us for advice
Speaker 1: right now, but like it took a full year before
Speaker 1: I even made money, period, So and then it took
Speaker 1: another six months before I was making an actual income.
Speaker 1: And essentially it is your life. So everyone's brand is
Speaker 1: so different because everyone's life is so unique to them,
Speaker 1: and everyone's brand is unique to them. So there's no
Speaker 1: cookie cutter way to do this. There's no business plan
Speaker 1: laid out to do this. Everyone's is different. It is
Speaker 1: trial and air. There are some things that you can
Speaker 1: do to push the mistakes to and not have as
Speaker 1: many mistakes, but it is tarlier and it is hard work,
Speaker 1: and there is a lot of world. Just don't expect
Speaker 1: it to be easy. Don't go in and thinking that
Speaker 1: it's just like an easy job and you're gonna be
Speaker 1: like a big sensation and taking I think that the
Speaker 1: mistake wise and that people think it is just take
Speaker 1: pretty qiit. Sure it's getting free stuff, but that's the
Speaker 1: farthest from the truth. Throat so much thought marketing. Well, furthermore,
Speaker 1: research free stuff doesn't pay your bills. So like, at first,
Speaker 1: that's great too, and I'm not gonna lie. I did
Speaker 1: a lot of free stuff in the beginning, but like,
Speaker 1: and you have to you have to pay taxes on
Speaker 1: that stuff, so essentially exactly and you're having to probably
Speaker 1: pay for photographer, Like, I know a lot of people
Speaker 1: have their husbands or friends do that, but you're still
Speaker 1: spending your time to create that content. So make sure
Speaker 1: it's worth it, don't just and I'm made that mistake.
Speaker 1: I'm saying that so like I would just take things
Speaker 1: in the beginning, and now I don't even take that.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, I don't mean it's just sitting in
Speaker 1: the house like it doesn't. Also, as a community, the bloggers,
Speaker 1: the community is really um kind of joint forces and
Speaker 1: joined together to say we're not doing this for free
Speaker 1: anymore because we are valuable. Right, you do have influence,
Speaker 1: we have an overhead, we have photography of our time,
Speaker 1: and our time is worth totally. It's worth something. So
Speaker 1: everybody just starts taking it for free, then it loses
Speaker 1: its value. This is its value. So that everyone pushes
Speaker 1: together and says we're all going to charge a fair
Speaker 1: amount the amount that compensates us for our time, our
Speaker 1: creative direction or photography or overhead. And when everybody pushes
Speaker 1: together and does that, eventually the space will change and
Speaker 1: brands are realizing that this is the way to go
Speaker 1: and that it's worth the value. Okay, So we're gonna
Speaker 1: wrap up and you all are just realize the late inspiration,
Speaker 1: how you learn inspire people, How you want your life
Speaker 1: to inspire people. What you've learned, that's inspiration, you want
Speaker 1: to share with people, it doesn't happen, that's necessarily give
Speaker 1: up wagging. Just how do you want to inspire people
Speaker 1: that are following you? Um? I, And this is the
Speaker 1: goal of my I want to inspire other women by
Speaker 1: showing them that, a they're not alone, and because I
Speaker 1: feel like that's the main thing. People feel so stressed
Speaker 1: out every day, especially moms, and that's I mean, god,
Speaker 1: I get off the topic. Sorry, that's like the number
Speaker 1: one thing I'm sure actually gets too but like just
Speaker 1: people being like, thank you for being real, thank you
Speaker 1: for being real, thank you for showing like the real
Speaker 1: sides of motherhood, the real sides of life. And so
Speaker 1: I just want people to know that they're not alone.
Speaker 1: And it's hard, it lots hard, but you can do it. Okay.
Speaker 1: So this is what we should. We have this bond
Speaker 1: over positive thinking, manifesting your dreams. And I think that
Speaker 1: if I had to leave my life, it would be
Speaker 1: that it is not easy to think that way and
Speaker 1: to be that way. But every little day you wake
Speaker 1: up and you choose to get it all done. You
Speaker 1: choose to be happy, choose to think in a positive way.
Speaker 1: You choose to encourage other women instead of being competitive.
Speaker 1: It's a choice, it's a hard choice, and it takes
Speaker 1: a lot of work. You choose to have a baby
Speaker 1: on the chip and still work in and you just
Speaker 1: have to choose to put yourself in a positive mindset
Speaker 1: and put yourself words all well, get done, and give
Speaker 1: yourself rest when it doesn't. I love that. I love
Speaker 1: I got bows and Ashley s and we got Nashville lifestyle,
Speaker 1: Nashville wife styles, not lifestyles Ashleys. How freaking precious was
Speaker 1: that interview. Not only are they so smart, so beautiful,
Speaker 1: so talented, they are real. I love that. There was
Speaker 1: so much going on. I just want you guys to
Speaker 1: know that being an influencer, talking to all these girls,
Speaker 1: getting to be a part of this group with these girls,
Speaker 1: it is a lot of hard work. It's not just
Speaker 1: I want to have a pretty blog. No, There's so
Speaker 1: much that goes into it. So I'm so thankful they
Speaker 1: shared that with me. Next week, you guys, I have
Speaker 1: two of my face favorite. It's my favorite twins ever.
Speaker 1: Megan and Liz. They have already joined me once on
Speaker 1: my podcast and they're joining me again. Liz just got
Speaker 1: engaged and we're just gonna talk about everything. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be awesome. So y'all tune in next week for my
Speaker 1: Influencer Series, Part three. H