In the end, she became more than she expected. She became the journey, and like all journeys, she did not end, she just simple changed directions and kept going. —R.M. Drake
Four years ago, I set a goal to publish an article five days a week. At the end of 2017, I realized I ran my talk.
I surprised myself by publishing an article every week day while I working my full-time day job, so what’s with the sporadic publishing for the last three of my four years?
At first, I thought it was my not being a “serious blogger” by being inconsistent.
Then I thought my love for fashion died. Then I contemplated if my love for writing was fading.
However, I realized that the truths are: 1) even though I haven’t been consistent, I was still successful because brands still knock on my door because they want to work with me. 2) Quality over quantity is still important to me.
And lastly, I missed writing. And by that, I mean real writing.
For the last month or so, I’ve been cleaning up my Pinterest boards. As I was purging thousands of pins that no longer inspire or appeal to me, old outfit photos of bloggers I’ve followed for nearly a decade made me see how far they’ve come, not just in terms of their personal style, but their success.
It also made me feel so nostalgic.
I started to miss the good old blogger days. Days where influencers actually had personal style, wrote about their lives, and included un-Instagrammed photos from their travels too. If I’m being 100% honest, I wish influencers would go back to that way of blogging because I’m tired of everyone putting stock into Instagram (and not getting exposure or seeing a return due to the “algorithm”). I’m tired of bloggers promoting the same clothing items because that eventually leads to everyone looking alike, including the homes they live in.
I’m tired of bloggers shilling products that they obviously don’t use, encouraging more and more fast fashion consumption, and yet, they are sharing the occasional sustainable item to appear to care about the environment. No, that doesn’t fly with me. You can’t share a sustainable brand one day and shill Amazon the next. It just doesn’t fly with people like me.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand everyone has to make a living. I also understand that the majority of society cannot (or may not have the desire to) live a luxurious, expensive lifestyle. And I certainly understand that times change so what we want to see from influencers can evolve too.
However, I’m a strong believer in the ability to be able to live a comfortable, sustainable, and luxury lifestyle.
And that led me to a lot of thinking, a lot of reflecting, and the idea to pivot my brand.
I’ve been gone from this blog pretty much for the last few months because I’ve been planning. Intentionally planning to pivot.
The point of pivoting is to not change the center of my brand: who I am and what I believe in. The goal to pivot is slightly changing the direction I want to go.
I still want to share beautiful images because I’m all about aesthetics, but I also want to tell stories. I also want to encourage you guys to buy mid-tier to high-end pieces, with the occasional Zara piece thrown in (love me some Zara) and teach you how to restyle items again and again.
And I want to normalize re-wearing your favorite pieces in your wardrobe. Whatever I invest in my wardrobe, I want to share with you, and I want to share it in new ways over and over again. And I want you to do the same.
To me, doing this helps us all save money, but it’s also important to love our planet by extending the life of our wardrobe by buying better.
And this is just a snippet of my pivoting I plan on doing! I don’t have everything laid out yet, but my goal is to provide beautiful value you can use to live the luxury lifestyle you deserve!
Tell me, do you still read blogs or miss blogs of the past? What do you miss from the “old blogging days”? What do you want to see from influencers now?
Tracy Colon
March 20, 2021It’s great that you’re taking your time to decide what direction you want to take this blog. I think that it’s easy to see what “successful” bloggers are doing and want to do the same by wearing the same things that they wear or whatever it is. Being true to yourself is so much more interesting!
Tracy
https://www.findyourdazzle.com
Huong
March 30, 2021I absolutely agree, Tracy! I cannot bring myself to wear the same things or create similar interiors in my home. I know we’re influenced by what we constantly see, but we don’t want to lose our own identity too, you know?
Rachel
March 18, 2021Yes, I am with you. I am not a fan of cookie cutter homes and for sure cookie cutter people. Variety is where it is at. Being unique out there, but also mindful of the world around you. I love the pivot, Huong. Excited to see new things coming down the pipe for SSD!
Huong
March 19, 2021Aww! Thank you, Rachel! Can’t wait for you to see!