3 Year Blogiversary!

Today exactly marks 3 years since my very first blog post (which was more like car selfie haha)! I really can’t believe three years flew by just like that. Today I’m taking you through a brief timeline of some of my favorite milestones during my journey and sharing a bit of what I’ve learned along the way 🙂

When I first started, I knew little about the industry, in fact I only followed wedding blogs (it was right after my wedding)- I didn’t read any personal style blogs. Only when I started researching to figure out what days would be good for me to post, what camera settings, etc. did I stumble on other blogs and realized other people had websites like what I was trying to create- I felt like I stumbled into a world that I didn’t knew existed and was instantly hooked! lol Here are a few of my photos during my first year (my hair was a bit too orange too haha) they were a bit smaller sized than my blog photos now…

Jadyn allllways rode her scooter when we would take photos- it was the cutest thing!

Being consistent / Always Learning

Once I got more into the swing of what I was doing- things started to go more consistently, Anthony and I learned how to shoot photos with each other and not get super irritated (he would say it was me messing up the photo, I would say the photo was blurry and he didn’t have the right camera setting LOL) We really didn’t know exactly what we were doing in the beginning but one thing is for sure we worked soooo much.

We are both research junkies and I remember the first couple months being excited about building the website to how we wanted it to be. We would both be researching and reading different blog forums- it really was team effort from the beginning. Anthony trying to learn the camera in the very beginning took us a little longer to shoot each look but over the first year we seemed to get in our rhythm and were always pretty scheduled. We were also a little obsessed with our Google Analytics, anytime we had a few readers on I’d be like “Babe that’s progress!” haha

In January of 2015 things were getting a bit busier for me and I was starting to see my “blog” income equal to what I was making at my full-time job, so we set a goal: if I continued to make my same full-time job income (or more) for three months in a row, it would be safe for me to quit. I would have more time to be there for Jadyn but also working from home would make me more flexible for meetings and events (both things I consistently turned down while at my full-time job).

Quit my job

And it just so happened that… in the last week of May of 2015 I quit my full-time job! You can read the full post about that milestone HERE, but ultimately that was such a motivating month for me- I felt like I was on vacation, I didn’t have to clock in, no lunch break, etc. Anthony would call me from work and I’d be like “I feel like I’m supposed to be in an office or something- this feels weird that I’m just on the couch on my computer!” LOL Oh the memories.

Introduction of blogging tips

Because of now working for myself I was also motivated to start a “Blogging Tips” series for people just like how I was when I first started, but could cut down a bit on the research by having steps laid out in advance. Here is one of my first blogging tips post HERE. Since then, we’ve written 37 posts on the subject, Anthony writes most of them because he’s the one that helped me with so much of the backend, technical aspects of my website.

Winning Breakthrough Blogger of the Year

In September 2015 I attended my first New York Fashion Week! Not working full-time also allowed me freedom to attend that season and it was such a great first experience, I really didn’t realize how crazy it would be though- I thought I would be able to hang out in Central Park and sight-see a bit, haha what little did I know then!

I also won Breakthrough Fashion Blogger of the Year at the Bloglovin’ awards thanks to your votes! Here is the full post on that night HERE. That night really opened the door for me as far as website traffic and features, I also signed with my first management agency during that time! I was also really motivated to figure out how to do NYFW a bit more organized for next season lol!

Reaching 100K Followers

Shortly after in October 2015 I reached 100k on Instagram, all thanks to you guys following along and staying with me on this journey! It was such a cool moment, Jadyn and Anthony surprised me with donuts shaped in a 100k and Jadyn kept saying “You reached one hundred followers Mom, this is cool!” LOL she always has been my number one fan and she always motivates me to grow whether it be personally or professionally.

He Quit Too

Let’s skip forward after eight months of being crazy busy and at the point we were deciding if I should hire someone full-time to help me while Anthony was at work (he also traveled quite a bit for his job so that was hard for shooting content and delayed our turnaround time). We came to the decision it made more sense for Anthony to work full-time on the blog! He was already working on the blog with me non-stop but now he would be able to have a bit more free time while putting even more effort into the areas he wanted to focus on for our business. You can read more about his journey to quitting on a post he wrote about it HERE.

More Travel

Because Anthony was now on his own schedule, this past summer was the most traveling we did together as a family, mainly because we didn’t have the limitations of a full-time office job restricting when we could or could not travel based on our vacation hours. Us both free to leave when we want… was such a truly freeing feeling and Jadyn loved us both being home with her during the summer (beach and movie days were on her to-do list that’s for sure) lol

Sept 2016 was Anthony’s first NYFW with me and he was so great at getting all the photos I needed and keeping us on-time (lol he is a on-time freak, have I told you guys that before? It drives him nuts that I’m always about 10 minutes behind on life lol!)

First Paris Fashion Week

It was also our first Paris Fashion Week together and it was a surreal moment being there together knowing that we were only there because we decided to take a leap and start this random blog almost three years ago!

Where we are today

Busy as ever! Just kidding, we make it all work and it’s not as crazy as it seems. Anthony really is my rock though- even when I’m having one of my worst days ever he always finds the positivity in every situation and I’m so thankful he’s my partner in this business and in life! I wouldn’t want to do it without him 🙂

I also just signed with my new manager at DBA and I’m really excited for 2017 overall, we are in the process of planning the content calendar for next year and our travel plans. There is so much we can be doing better overall on my blog and I can’t wait to share with you guys what my team has been working on! My email subscriber list will also have more exclusive content you won’t be able to get on my blog or social.

Call to action: You guys really are the driving force behind all this that keeps me motivated everyday, I always love to hear your feedback and in this case in particular. Please let me know what you want to see more of whether on social, my blog or vlog posts in the next few months and upcoming year. Leave a comment below!

Thank you guys so much! Cheers to three years and many more! 🙂

xx Brittany